Is the Universe made solely of matter? Or of matter and spirit (or 'consciousness' as is more popular these days)? Or is consciousness the fundamental substrate upon which the entire Universe stands?
There are three approaches to the question; the way one considers them defines to a great degree one's thinking on matters spiritual. These are (in simplified form) monism, dualism and non-duality; each has different and widely different interpretations. They represent fundamentally different perspectives on how we see the nature of reality – particularly concerning the relationship between mind and matter.
Dualism:
This posits that reality is fundamentally composed of two distinct and irreducible substances: mind (or consciousness) and matter (or the physical world). In the first half of the 17th century, French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes argued for a clear separation between the 'thinking substance' (res cogitans) and the 'extended substance' (physical matter or res extensa). This was a radical idea; the previous consensus was that all was one, the visible and invisible. Descarte opened the door to a worldview that could eventually squeeze out the spiritual, while for Christian theologians it created a way to portray God, Heaven and the Soul as entirely separate to the physical universe around us. Dualism raises the 'mind-body problem': how do these two distinct substances interact?
Monism:
This comes in two diametrically opposing forms. Monism asserts that reality is ultimately composed of only one fundamental substance, thus eliminating the mind-body problem by unifying mind and matter into a single reality. But this prompts the question – which one? Matter or consciousness?
Materialist (or physicalist) monism holds that only matter is real; consciousness merely being a product of material (in this case neuronal) processes.
Idealist monism, on the other hand, holds that only mind or consciousness is real – the physical world is a manifestation of mind (in the same way that what you see on your computer screen is a manifestation of zeros and ones). Consciousness is fundamental; from it arise matter, energy, space and time.
Non-Duality:
Going beyond the simple opposition of dualism and monism, non-duality stresses the fundamental unity and interconnectedness of all things, transcending any separation between subject and object, self and other. Unlike dualism and monism, which emerged from Western thought, non-duality is associated with Eastern philosophies, such as Advaita Vedanta and some Buddhist traditions. It's not that there's 'one' thing, as in monism; rather, non-duality holds that the dualist concept of 'two' things is a false dichotomy.
Non-duality emphasises direct experience, intuition and insight, or 'gnosis', into the nature of reality, rather than through intellectual concepts. It often involves practices such as meditation, aimed at realising the underlying unity of existence by removing the removal of the illusion of separation.
Trinity:
Going beyond that, British scientist and philosopher, Rupert Sheldrake, sees space for a third entity, drawing parallels between the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the Hindu trinity of Sat (the ground of being), Chit (consciousness) and Ananda (bliss).
My personal take on this – I see a trinity of body, mind and spirit, the mind being the Biblical logos, the spirit being consciousness, the body – the physical world. The mind is the bridge that links body and soul. The mind questions, the mind constructs worldviews, the mind is a product of body. To use a simple analogy, I see ourselves as computers; the body is the hardware, the mind is the software, and the spirit is the wifi that connects the computer with the internet. The mind-body problem is solved by separating 'mind' into 'brain' and 'consciousness', the former being neuronal activity, the latter being a universal substrate permeating all, and being picked up by the mind rather as a computer picks up wifi signal. And yet if pressed as to the ultimate nature of the mind, the brain, the intellect – I'd have to lump it in with the body; thought (as opposed to consciousness) being neuronal in origin. Which would boil down my notion of a trinity as essentially being dualist in nature.
In the meanwhile, I asked Google Gemini Imagen 3.0 to chip into the debate. And for all those believing that AI is already sentient, the result is quite interesting:
Still, these philosophical constructs, these differing epistemologies only help push forward our understanding of reality a little bit, acting as an intellectual framework that shapes our ontological viewpoint.
On, then, towards the more practical applications of the spiritual...
More on consciousness tomorrow.
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