Weird Video. I think they should get a different person to speak because he was just creepy. But, basically Cosmic Humanism is pantheistic. Everything is god. This is, of course, going to influence and define their philosophy. Their philosophy is non-naturalism, which Noebel defines as "The belief that everything is a part of God and in essence, spiritual. The things that we can see and feel are only the manifestation of spirit, and all matter will melt away when universal consciousness is achieved" (114). Obviously non-naturalism is the opposite of naturalism and it has swung to the extreme opposite of it. This individual idea makes me question the authority of either philosophy; how can you deny integral parts of the universe. Thus, their explanation of knowledge, truth, and reality are flawed.
For instance, the basic idea of knowledge for Cosmic Humanists is to find it in your feelings. But how can your feelings and emotions be consistently trustworthy? Their theory of epistemology promotes the idea of getting in touch with your higher self. Really? You think you have all the answers? This is not only absurd but completely conceited. Cosmic Humanists state that "when we get in touch with the God-fore within, we can intuitively know truth without limits" (115). They consider themselves already in possession of all the knowledge they need. But, again, non-naturalism denies the existence of knowledge in the physical universe. Knowledge "exists in the God-force within us" but what is the God-force and how does it know anything? (115) To reduce knowledge to the simpleness already existing in our minds is to deny history, science, and even math.
Truth and knowledge are intertwined. The poorly conceived reasoning of knowledge translates into an incorrect view of what truth is. In the New Age movement (Cosmic Humanism) truth is equated with your emotions. "New Age truth is emotive rather than descriptive" (115). A somewhat postmodern idea of truth in that truth is "if it feels like truth to you" (115). Non-naturalism's idea of truth is like a emotion driven post modernism. Cosmic Humanists explain truth as a specific experience or feeling, but how can truth be found in a one time feeling? Truth is created from person to person and thus the idea of truth is destroyed. Anything can be truth, and therefore nothing is.
The Cosmic Humanist's ontology (study of reality) is filled with the fulfillment and truth of self. All reality is spiritual, and the material world is meaningless. The same kind of thinking as Secular Humanists, only switching the importance of material and spiritual. Both beliefs fail to recognize the clarity of a mixture. Non-naturalism believes that humanity comes from God and that He is the "essence of our humanity" (115). They consider everyone a god and strive to treat everyone as such. Reality is therefore skewed and flawed because how can everyone treat everyone like gods? It is impossible. Cosmic Humanists do not see the problem that no one can identify what this god is made of, instead they find comfort in the idea that "since each of us arrives at our own truth and our interpretations will differ" (115). Everyone has a different idea about reality, and their complacency in accepting this reveals their inability to see the physical world as worthy of truth.
The explanations of knowledge, truth, and reality fail to explain the evidence within the universe and especially within the human mind. Their ideas stem from hopefulness and remain trapped in foolishness.
No comments:
Post a Comment