The Mythology of Materialism from Steven Kaufman's blog

The modern day mythology

that is the philosophy of materialism

holds that Life arises

within an otherwise lifeless universe.

 

In our modern world

this mythology

is as pervasive

as the air we breath.

 

And although it is just a mythology,

just a set of experiences,

arranged in a particular way

to form what is only an idea

of the nature of reality

and how the universe is,

it has been mistaken for fact

and so has been mistaken

for how the universe actually is.

 

This is called mistaking the map

for the terrain.

 

And so we see Life

only where we see the ability

to organically reproduce.

 

And we see Consciousness

only where we see organic reproduction

produce humanity.

 

And so Life,

seen through the mythological lens

we call materialism,

becomes a by-product,

an accident,

something that only arises

through the chance interaction

of otherwise lifeless matter.

 

And so it is that Consciousness

seen through that same lens,

also becomes a by-product,

an accident,

something that only arises

through the chance interaction

of otherwise lifeless matter

that by chance happens to be

involved in the process we call life.

 

If materialism were actually true

how pointless our lives would be

and suicide would be

the only reasonable action

one could ever take.

 

If what we are is only an illusion,

then all that we actually live for,

love and joy and happiness,

must itself be only an illusion,

a shadow that appears on a wall

purely by chance.

 

And if that is true

then nothing is gained by living

and so nothing is lost by dying.

 

Why suffer day in and day out

for moments of fleeting happiness?

 

For the sake of the children?

 

But they too,

according to materialism,

don't actually exist either

any more than we do.

 

One shadow living and suffering,

and finding occasional happiness,

by keeping another shadow going,

who then lives and suffers,

and finds some happiness,

by giving birth to another shadow,

who then lives and suffers,

and finds some happiness….

 

And on and on it goes,

without any end,

and without any real point.

 

A completely pointless journey,

because according to materialism

there is really no one on the journey,

just a shadow

we call our Consciousness,

just an accident

we refer to as I.

 

But life is not pointless

because what we call our Consciousness

is not a shadow,

and what we refer to as I

is not an accident.

 

What we are is Life,

what we are is Consciousness,

but what we are

does not arise

at the very peak

of what materialism tells us

is a randomly evolving universe.

 

What we are is the Consciousness

that is Itself evolving

into the ever expanding Tree of Life,

which when viewed looking outward

from where we humans grow,

appears as the material universe,

and when viewed looking inward

from that same position,

appears as the mental universe.

 

But both appearances are deceiving,

the material and the mental,

because all that is really there  

is the Consciousness that creates both,

and apprehends both,

as it Flows in relation to Itself,

and so Grows into Itself.

 

As there is nothing in the apple

that is not first in the tree

from which it grows,

there is nothing in us

that is not first in the Universe

out of which we grow.

 

Life seems to arise

from within the Universe

because the Universe

is already Alive.

 

And Consciousness seems to arise

from within the Universe

because the Universe

is already Conscious.

 

Why would you believe otherwise?

Why would you conceive as yourself

as having attributes

that are separate and apart

from the Universe

out of which you grow,

like a fruit on a tree?

 

Because you were weaned on a mythology

that was created through the dissection

of the indivisible Universe,

the indivisible Life that you Are,

into seemingly separate parts.

 

When you dissect an organism

the Life that was there

animating the organism

seems to vanish,

and when you dissect the Universe

the Life that is there

animating the cosmic organism

we call the Universe

also seems to vanish.

 

But that Life is still there,

you just don't recognize it

because you have been told

it is something else,

something accidental,

something less real

than the objects It perceives.

 

I could say again what It is,

but I won't

because It is not that,

not a word,

not a form,

not a thought,

not an object.

 

But I will point toward It

by saying that

in the absence of It

no word,

no form,

no thought,

no object,

is ever known.

 

Realize what you are

and you will see your Self

in everything

and so everywhere,

or keep listening

to the siren song of materialism,

and continue to see yourself

in nothing

and so nowhere.

 

When the map one is using

accurately reflects the terrain,

then even while mistaking

one for the other,

one may still arrive

where one intended to go

when the journey began.

 

But when the map one is using

bears little relation to the terrain,

then in mistaking one for the other

losing one's way

becomes inevitable.

 

The map of materialism,

which humanity continues to use

in this journey that we are on,

bears very little relation

to the indivisible Universe,

to the intrinsically Alive Universe,

to the intrinsically Conscious Universe,

it pretends to describe.

 

Is it any wonder then

why the particular fruit of the Universe

that we call humanity

seems to have lost its way?