July 12, 2023
This is the second Essay in the series entitled Two Worldviews. It focuses on how I made my choice between the two worldviews, and some of the experiences that have confirmed that choice for me over and over.
Skeptico: As I understand what you are saying, the wisdom traditions of the world share the view that values and meanings have a reality grounded in a dimension beyond the individual, that these exist independent of any one person’s wish or whim.
How this came to be is not agreed upon, but the conviction that there is an underlying Source for values and meanings is universal to all. Further, all agree that each of us has the capacity to harmonize our lives with this Unseen Order. Last, each tradition has its own name for this Source, this deep Order, but I like how Plato described it as the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.
Wisdom Seeker: Well said.
Skeptico: OK. Since you have clearly chosen that worldview for yourself, tell me why.
Focusing On What Is Truly Important
Wisdom Seeker: Gradually I began to realize that the most important things in my life centered around thoughts and feelings that were not material things, and that many of them were hard to understand or explain within the materialistic worldview.
My life was centered around feelings like love, friendship, joy, wonder, freedom, loyalty to something I believed in, care and concern for others, meaningful experiences, a sense of accomplishment, and the creation of something worthwhile. Or in the negative direction, trying to avoid being overwhelmed by feelings such as anger, frustration, hopelessness, loneliness, and despair.
Of course, it is almost impossible to separate thoughts from feelings; they are almost always intertwined either consciously or unconsciously. But they are also somewhat distinct. I use my thinking mind to make plans, anticipate possibilities, savor expectations, evaluate options, focus on one intention versus another, make decisions, change directions, and form opinions about people and events.
Clearly these are not material things either. They exist in a realm that is enmeshed with my feeling world, the two interacting constantly. And both are part of the flow of my conscious experience, which is not a material thing.
A materialist might speculate that my conscious experience is caused by material processes, but I have no direct personal evidence for this. That is not how my experience comes to me. Instead, my feelings and thoughts are just there, arising in a non-material realm of direct experience. Thoughts and feelings about material things arise and exist in the same way, in my heart and mind. I do not know them directly; they are concepts in my mind, like objects in a dream. Material objects in a dream exist in my consciousness. Is it not the same with all material things?
Skeptico: Are you saying that material objects do not exist?
Wisdom Seeker: Not at all. But they are secondary; they are not my primary experience. And because of that, I can never be sure what is out there, for my mind constantly tries to make what I am seeing conform to what I expect to see.
That does not mean that material things have no importance. We spend much of our time interacting with this secondary world of material objects, and in that everyday world, they can often be used to accomplish goals and plans that will affect our experience of life in positive ways.
So the point is not to ignore the material world. Most of us need a minimal number of our physical needs met before we are able to have a good life. (There are exceptions — those who endure great hardship for a noble cause, or choose deprivations and even suffering for a spiritual purpose and emerge with a deep sense of meaning and even contentment.)
I can easily acknowledge that, like most people, I need a certain amount of freedom from hunger, deprivation, discomfort, and pain before I think I will be able to feel good about my life and myself. But after that, material objects are not all that significant for the things that are truly important. Rather, happiness and fulfilment are based on:
Good relationships, deep connections to others
Feeling true love for a few other people in your life
Feeling like your life has meaning
A sense that your time is being spent on something worth doing
Feeling at home in the world, that you belong
Feeing a part of something larger than yourself
Living by values that seem to be shared with others
Feeling you are in a right relationship with the highest reality
The best the materialistic worldview can do with these issues is say that what we all want is more and more material things, along with as many sexual and other pleasurable experiences as possible — that being happy involves getting as many material things, sex, and pleasure as we can before we die. But this means trying to force the world and other people to fulfill our personal desires, to conform to what we want, in the hope that this will bring true fulfillment.
As I realized all this, I knew that the materialist worldview seemed hollow, and that any relevant explanation of the world and my life in it had to start with thoughts and feelings, and finding ways to work with them that might help my life be more content, more fulfilled, more meaningful, more harmonious.
How I Made My Choice
Skeptico: So you think the worldview of the wisdom traditions speaks to the important issues of life much better?
Wisdom Seeker: Absolutely. Saints and sages through history have said that a self-centered life takes one further and further away from what is truly important. They offer explanations for why we are as we are, and then provide specific guidance for how to work with ourselves to find greater love, peace, joy, and fulfillment.
Skeptico: That sounds like something you have thought about and come to believe over many years. When did you first confront this decision between worldviews?
Wisdom Seeker: I remember the day I made my first clear, conscious choice.
First, though, I should emphasize that such a decision is not made just once, at least it wasn’t in my case. I have had periods of doubt, and had to work through many questions that came up through talking to other people, reading, and difficult life experiences. But the first time I made a real decision was during my last year in college. I had been thinking about these questions a lot, and was taking a course on Existentialism, focusing on Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Camus.
I had been reading Jean Paul Sartre’s novel The Age of Reason, and he firmly believed there are no meanings or values outside ourselves, that we are ultimately alone. And Sartre makes a powerful case for the absence of any larger reality within which we exist. He and some materialists have even convinced themselves that they have proof for their views.
But I realized that this is clearly false. The reason they think they have proof is simply because they start with the assumption that the universe is meaningless and empty of values. Anyone is free to choose that worldview, but there are no rational arguments for it. No one has ever provided any objective validation for this belief. Every argument starts with an act of faith that there is no other way to explain the world except through material processes.
There is, however, another time-tested alternative, which the wisdom traditions of every culture have offered for thousands of years. The details of what they offer vary, but every wisdom tradition all over the world says we live within a framework of meaning that ties us all together, and that there are values we all share within that framework.
So, as I read Sartre’s book, I realized that he had offered no proof for his position, just strong opinions, and I understood clearly that I was free to choose for myself the worldview I would follow. And I could make my decision consciously, instead of just accepting what I had been taught to believe, or giving in to what my friends and the opinion-setters in my culture said.
At that moment, I realized that if a Higher Reality did exist, Sartre could never have seen it. He had closed himself off from the possibility of seeing it. He could not experience it because he did not allow for the possibility of its existence. No one was going to hit him over the head and force him to catch a glimpse, so he had willfully blinded himself to the possibility of grasping any deeper truth that might exist.
I also saw clearly that there is no objective proof for the worldview of the wisdom traditions either. Countless saints and sages have said that there is a Source for wisdom and truth, that they have personally experienced it, and that they know the highest goal in life is to come into harmony with the values and meanings that reside in that Higher Reality. But they do not have objective proof.
In fact, they say that the only path to fully know that it exists is to have a direct experience of this Source for yourself. Fortunately, they also say that each of us has the capacity to have such a direct experience, and they provide guidelines for living, values that aid in moving along in the right direction, and practices that facilitate the journey. And they say that when we have our own deep experiences, we will know the truth at the core of our own being.
So, one late afternoon, as I finished the last page of Sartre’s book (I still remember where I was sitting and the light in the room at that time), I knew that I had a free choice about the worldview I would follow. And I chose to be open to the possibility that a Higher Reality did exist and to try to experience it for myself.
Through all the years since, I have never had the totally profound moments of complete awakening the Buddha spoke of, or the complete identification with Abba (Father) about which Jesus spoke, or continuing absorption in bliss that some great saints and sages speak of. (Or at least I haven’t experienced what my mind thinks those experiences should be like.)
Yet through the years I have had many moments that strongly reinforced my original decision all those years ago: to be open to the existence of a Higher Reality. And I have become increasingly convinced that what the saints and sages said is true.
Why I Know
Skeptico: I have tried to find a connection to the Higher Source you speak of, but don’t feel like I am in touch with it right now. Can you help me understand how you know?
Wisdom Seeker: I have been fortunate to have had some successes in life, and I have also had losses and failures. I have been discouraged many times as well. I have at times enjoyed financial luxury and comfort, and I am grateful. But luxury and success did not bring love, peace, or joy. They did not increase my feelings of compassion or connection to others. They did not add to my wisdom and did not bring a sense of meaning.
But when I look back over my life, there have been many moments when I simply knew that this world is permeated by connections, filled with mystery, and alive with meaning. There have been times of knowing I am part of something larger, connected to something immense and grand that materialism will never understand or be able to explain.
And there have been moments when I knew that love was the most important thing in the universe.
It is the moments of awe, beauty, and wonder that make life worth living; then the world is fresh and vibrant and alive — yet materialism doesn’t even recognize them. Or explains them away as nothing but fantasies, illusions, or random noise in the brain.
I am thankful for the successes, comforts, and opportunities my life has given, but the longer I live the more I am certain that the path of the wisdom traditions is the only way to fulfillment, peace, love, meaning, and joy.
For me, during countless moments I have experienced wholeness, felt complete, and have known that I am part of a larger pattern, transcending what Thoreau called our “petty fears and petty pleasures.” Over a long life, there have now been so many of these times that I no longer have any doubt. I know the wisdom traditions are right.
The world is filled with significance and meaning and there is a common Source from which values arise. You and I are part of a greater whole, intersections in the vast web, sparks of light in the twinkling night sky that fill the infinity of existence.
Skeptico: That is very moving. And I have had a few moments myself. But can you be a little more specific?
Wisdom Seeker: Certainly.
Lost in music, and “I” am no longer there —
for there is only the music.
Hearing a symphony, and sensing that all the instruments
and all the players
have blended seamlessly:
have become one.
Singing with a group
and feeling our voices blend into one unified whole.
a harmony beyond anything that could be forced
or intellectually explained.
Felt connection. Experienced communion.
——
Immersed in the beauty of nature
a glorious sunset, the majesty of the ocean on a rugged coast,
the splendor of a mountain range spread out before me,
the delicate beauty of cherry trees in bloom.
Or walking in the woods and feeling myself in communion with the plants and animals around me.
In the natural world, when I can let go of planning and calculating for a while, there comes a deep sense that the world around me is not separate from me, but a part of me, and I of it.
Then, the living universe is in me, as much as I am in it.
We are one living thing.
——
Seeing a painting
and feeling that the truth it conveys
is more vital, alive, and real at that moment
than the gallery around me.
I enter the heart and mind of the artist and know that the feelings and understandings captured on that canvas cannot be explained by logic or understood through reason.
Together the artist and I share in a world of the imagination
and the living reality opens vistas of insight and meaning.
What is more, the conjuring trick that is alive in the painting
is not fixed or given,
but open to anyone who wishes to enter this sacred domain
open to continually new possibilities
to be given fresh insight and new meaning
in a creative dance between the artist and each viewer.
——
Traveling in a foreign land and for a time leaving my small self behind
feeling completely attuned to this new place on the Earth
feeling a communion with the people here for a moment
sensing there are values and meanings we share.
Knowing we are part of a shared world.
——
Upon entering a sacred space
experiencing an energy, a living atmosphere
that is magical, mysterious, holy.
——
Reading a book and something stirs inside
stirs with understanding
and I know a new thing for the first time.
A gift, for the author knew it before me
then reached across time, over a great distance
and touched me, passed the magic of a piece of wisdom on to me.
——
Trying to solve a problem, and suddenly an insight appears.
Something new, a new thought
which that had never been in my mind before.
It was just there
arising for no recognizable reason
(at least none I can fathom).
But the problem is solved
replaced by excitement and the joy of discovery.
——
A memory comes, seemingly out of nowhere
but solving a puzzle in the pattern of my life.
A missing piece needed for greater understanding
appearing out of nowhere, snapping into place
a perfect fit.
——
Playing basketball, and feeling the team become one unified whole,
each of us a cell in one living thing,
each sensing what the other is about to do,
knowing where the other cells will be in the future
and even the ball.
——
Lost in passion, outside of time
beyond selfish desires
a magical moment in which there is no other,
only Us,
an Us that is singular, not plural.
——
When talking with a friend, forgetting myself
feeling with them,
inside their heart and mind.
In that moment another’s life is more important than my own,
sensing how someone could lay down their life for a friend.
——
Sitting with a small group that is exploring life’s deepest questions.
Open, vulnerable, sensing a shared understanding spread through the room.
Thoughts and feelings conveyed through words, and without words,
beyond words.
For a time, outside of time,
we become one living thing,
everyone a part of the magic of the moment
a shared reality, a shared bond.
——
Choosing compassion
even when it is difficult, and
anger or indifference would be much easier.
But choosing compassion,
knowing I have the power to make that choice,
feeling it awaken in me
sometimes even overflowing.
——
Reading stories of unbelievable self-sacrifice
understanding
and feeling the same possibility in me.
——
Feeling a deep, pervading love
and moving beyond concern for myself,
beyond personal needs and fears.
I know the wonder of self-giving love.
——
Concentrated in meditation, or prayer,
the small self goes
and I know I am not this ego self, cut off and alone
know that I am a part of something larger
something vast,
limitless.
——
Looking at the sky on a clear autumn night
feeling everything so close
that it is inside me.
It is out there, but also in here
Separation vanishes —
there is only One.
The Significance of Powerful Moments
During all these moments, the world did not seem flat, empty of significance, devoid of meaning. Instead, it felt alive, filled with wonder, made up of connections and patterns that we all share.
If this were not the deeper reality, how would it be possible for people to connect as they do during special moments when ideas and possibilities flow between them, when each knows what the other is going to do, and during times of shared intimacy when love flows naturally and fully between them?
Why would millions upon millions of people through the ages have sacrificed time and energy to help those in need, or risked their lives for a cause?
Why would some of the wisest human beings who have ever lived — Jesus, the Buddha, Socrates, Confucius — have sacrificed wealth, comfort, family ambitions, and even their lives to share a message about how to live a fulfilling and meaningful life?
If we were not more than material, bio-mechanical machines, how could music touch our hearts and inspire us to profound feelings of joy and sorrow?
How could art stir our feelings and rouse us to awe in the presence of beauty? Feelings are not material things. No one has any idea how complex feelings are created, or where they are located in us.
For that matter, complex thoughts are not material things either and no one has any idea how material substances could create them. Yet thoughts and feelings are the center of our lives — while defying all materialistic explanations. (This is, of course, what is known as the “hard problem” of consciousness.)
And how do our thoughts and feelings sometimes manage to fit perfectly into a complex pattern, a pattern that is shared with others?
And with nature? Many cultures throughout history have found ways to bring the lives of their communities into harmony with the natural world, and countless people in every culture have had personal experiences of being attuned with the natural world.
Since materialism cannot explain any of these fundamental aspects of human life, and the wisdom traditions can, for myself it seems far better to accept their worldview as the starting point for understanding. Their explanation seems much closer to the truth: They tell us there are patterns and connections we all share; that we live in a shared world, shared with other human beings and with all other living things.
Further, they say there is an Order to this shared world — which can be discerned by anyone who puts aside for a moment their personal whims, urges, and desires. No simple task, of course, but they say it is possible.
Until one is able to do so fully, however, and a place of complete freedom from personal self is reached; even still, at any time any one of us can experience the larger reality for an instant — in those special moments when the small self is left behind and we touch the larger world we all share.
Although I am not in touch with this larger reality all the time, a lifetime of experiences tells me it is always there, waiting for us to discover, continually offering us the choice to live by its guidance.
Thought Experiment — The moments you have experienced
Think back over your life and reflect on the moments you have experienced as being especially alive, connected, vibrant, filled with awe, meaning, and wonder.
May you experience many, many moments such moments.