SCIENCE AND SPIRITUALITY. PART 3. MONISTIC IDEALISM

In order to make a smooth transition to monistic idealism, it is important to point out that the principles of material realism are metaphysical postulates. These are assumptions about the nature of being, and not conclusions from experiments.

Monistic idealism is the opposite to material realism. This philosophy, which is fundamentally based on the fact that consciousness, and not matter, occupies the primary place in our being, and at the same time they cannot be separated from each other. Consciousness determines both the world of matter and the world of the phenomena of the mind. Monistic idealism is a unitary philosophy: any divisions or concepts of duality exist in consciousness, only consciousness represents ultimate reality and is like light in the Plato’s cave.

The idea of monistic idealism was born thousands of years ago and goes through its development and transformation almost in all religions and philosophies of our planet. I will provide some facts:

1.The Hindu Vedanta is based on the concept of the light of Brahman - the one universal consciousness, the basis of all being.

2.In Buddhist philosophy, the sphere of matter and the sphere of concepts are separated, but, in fact, there is only Dharmakaya. The dharmakaya of the Buddha is free from any perception or concept of form.

3.Taoist principle: The Yin-Yang symbol is an expression of being, while what makes it possible to manifest the darkness and then - the light is Tao.

4.The Jewish Kabbalah describes 2 orders of reality. According to the Zohar book , if one contemplates things in mystical meditation, everything is presented as one.

5.Christian world: duality and simultaneous unity through Heaven and Earth. Beyond kingdoms, heaven and earth, there is a God. Christian idealist Dionysius explained it this way: “It (the consciousness is the basis of being) is in our minds, souls and bodies, in heaven, on earth and everywhere, remaining the same in ourselves.”

What the monistic idealism affirms is not only that consciousness is primary and the matter is secondary, but also that consciousness is one. According to monistic idealism, the consciousness of an object in subject-objective experience is the same consciousness that is the basis of all being.

The development and transformation of the idea of unity of consciousness has a rich history in the field of worldly religions. But religions are not the only historical manifestation of this idea. This idea also finds its roots in the history of mysticism, as a way of receiving and transmitting information at the levels of consciousness beyond material reality.

An amazing element that accompanies the entire history of the mystical knowledge of truths is the clearly traceable tendency that information about the spiritual non-material principle of the organization of being is brought into the world by people from different parts of the planet, at different times, from different social layers. I am talking about Zen Buddhism, which arose as a result of the insight of an illiterate peasant. I am talking about Kabbalah, the emergence of which, as a mystical offshoot in Judaism, moved in the same direction. We see the same story in Tibet. Dominican monk Meister Eckhart in the VIII century wrote: "In this breakthrough, I realize that God and I are one." The Sufi mystic said: "I am the truth." Jesus of Nazareth declared: "My father and I are one." Drawing an analogy on the basis of studies of the development of the history of religions, we see that the very idea of monistic idealism is confirmed by many experiments, insights and facts.

So, the experience of humanity indicates the non-existence of duality, both in the material world and spiritual worlds. This is where the idea of monistic idealism arises and affirms itself. The idea in which the spirit is primary, and matter is secondary and there is no separation, but only unity.

TO BE CONTINUED...