The New Spiritualist Worldview with Dr. Jeff Myers
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Dr. Jeff Myers: The Christian worldview deals with the question of what is God actually like? What is His plan for the world? How do we flourish? But, every other worldview has questions it tries to answer as well. We’ve looked at some of those as we looked at the Secular Humanist worldview, which asks the question, “Is God even relevant?” We looked at the Marxist worldview which asks, “Why does the world seem so unfair?” And then there’s the Cosmic Humanist / New Spiritualist worldview, which asks, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
People from the New Spiritualist persuasion look at the world and ask, “If there actually is a truth, and spirituality is really real, and God actually exists, then why do we have wars, riots, or violence? Why can’t we all just get along?”
Now, most people who embrace this worldview do have some concept of God. And it’s interesting to me that in recent history, “god talk” has grown dramatically. Even in the movies we watch today, the characters talk about God more than before. Even in the movie The Avengers (written and directed by Joss Whedon – an avowed atheist, by the way), there is the scene where Ironman is about to fight Thor over the custody of Loki. As Captain America is about to jump out and join the fight, Natasha suggests, “I’d sit this one out, Cap. These guys come from legend. They’re basically gods.” To which Captain America responds, “There’s only one God, ma’am. And I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that.”
And in theaters across America, Christians cheered… not just for the Avengers, but for God! It’s cool that it’s finally okay to talk about God without feeling embarrassed or unintelligent.
But, when you look just a little bit below the surface of what people mean when they use the word, “god”, you find something that is really uncomfortable. In fact, various studies reveal that 85% of people surveyed in the U.S. say they believe in God. However, 53% of people surveyed say God is not a person but a “cosmic force”.
Now, the Christian worldview very clearly says that God is a person. He has self-awareness, and He created us to be aware in that same way… we are made in His image. To say that God is a cosmic force is to say that He is more like light, sound, or energy than like a person. So, when you start thinking about the implications of this, you begin to see a pretty dramatic difference.
In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker is not told, “The Force loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” No, he is told, “Use the Force.” A cosmic force is something to be used. A person is someone to be loved. And, depending on which one of these fundamental understandings you have, you will go off in very different directions.
The Cosmic Humanist or New Spiritualist worldview is becoming much more popular in our culture today. Other terms that refer to this worldview are: New Age, Higher Consciousness, “Eastern”, Transcendentalism, Integral Vision, or simply “Spirituality”.
I recently saw a study on university professors. The results showed that over 80% of them labeled themselves as “spiritual people.” They don’t consider themselves to be religious. If you look at the ones who actually embrace Christianity and practice Evangelical Orthodox Christianity, you’re down to only maybe 1%. But, the idea of “spirituality” is very much of a “majority viewpoint”. Now, that’s good in the sense that, if someone is at least willing to say that they are a spiritual person, that gives an opportunity to begin really good, quality conversations. But, what would these conversations consist of? How could you actually discuss this worldview?
I’d like to share four underlying assumptions of the Cosmic Humanist worldview, and how they pertain to the New Spiritualist perspectives on theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, politics, law, economics, and history.
The first thing that is key to New Spiritualists is that Everything is spiritual. Contrary to the Marxist and Secular Humanists, which believe that everything is material and only the material world exists, the New Spiritualists say precisely the opposite: Only the spiritual world exists.
How could someone hold that view? Can’t they touch and feel their own bodies and the things around them? Aren’t they aware of their physical existence?
Well, consider the movie The Matrix. In it, Morpheus tells Neo that the space around them is merely a construct. Anything from clothing to equipment to weapons or training simulations… anything of need can be simply constructed. According to Morpheus, Neo’s very appearance is merely “residual self image”, or the mental projection of his digital self. Neo rubs his hands on a chair and asks, “So this isn’t real?” To which, Morpheus naturally responds, “What is real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, smell, taste, or see… then real is simply electrical stimuli interpreted by your brain.” Then, there’s another point in the movie where a little boy dressed as a Buddhist monk is able to bend a spoon. He tells Neo that the secret is not bending the spoon, but realizing that there is no spoon.
But that’s just a movie. It’s merely fiction, right?
The truth is that people actually, very strongly, believe this. For instance, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the nation of Tibet. Though it is centrally occupied by the Chinese government, there is an interesting coexistence between the Communist Chinese Government and Tibet’s Buddhist population. The Dalai Lama wrote about this in one of his books:
“Each of the physical and mental parts of which I am composed is similarly empty of any identifiable existence… Our initial reaction to recognizing that things do not possess objective or inherent existence is understandably one of surprise. We are discovering that the actual way things exist is so very contrary to how we naturally relate to them.”
Notice what he is saying here. He’s not saying that we don’t exist. He’s saying that the parts that we are composed of are empty of any identifiable existence… which is a very complex way of saying, “Our existence is illusory.”
If you’ve studied Buddhism at all you’d know that Buddhism is essentially the “path to non-attachment to life”. According to Buddhists, the things in life that you think have meaning are actually empty of any identifiable existence. And, spiritual enlightenment is recognizing that that is so.
So, if you see someone who is suffering, you have to recognize for yourself and for that person that their suffering is meaningless. If you recognize that their suffering is meaningless, then you will not suffer by watching them suffer and you recognize that they have to go through the process of realizing that their suffering is empty of any identifiable existence. It’s a very different approach to suffering, but one that is deeply held by millions of people all around the world.
It’s also a common view in India, where Hinduism is the most prominent religion. One very famous poem in India called the Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse story is a subsection of the epic Mahabharata (chapters 23-40 of Bhishma Parva). The Gita is set in a narrative framework of a dialogue between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna. In the story, Arjuna is about to go to war against his own cousins and will be killing his own family members. So, he feels some obvious guilt about this. As he surveys the battlefield with Krishna, the charioteer begins to explain what is really going on. According to Krishna, what they see unfolding on the battlefield is not what is really taking place within the spiritual realm. As he hears Krishna’s explanation, Arjuna realizes that his guide is not merely a charioteer, but a god. As such, Krishna is bringing spiritual revelation from beyond what humans experience into Arjuna’s mind to help him grapple with the fact that he is going to go into battle and kill his cousins.
At one point, Krisha says, “These bodies come to an end; but that vast embodied Self is ageless, fathomless, eternal.” And, eventually, Arjuna realizes that he will go ahead and kill his cousins, and it’s okay because their bodies will come to an end anyway. The only thing that is actually “real” is that which is beyond our ability to understand. That’s the Bhagavad Gita.
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