The philosophical assumptions around which we orientate have profound implications for our perception of self and how we choose to navigate this human experience. I want to make a case for adopting a modern version of idealism as an approach to life - a kind of effective self centeredness.
Conventional thinking is often influenced by materialism (also known as physicalism). Materialism asserts that only matter exists and all phenomena we see is the result of physical interactions. Materialism provides a highly important and tangible lens to understand the physical world. It is persuasive because it confines reality to an objective framework governed by known physical laws. Common sense reasoning makes the perspective a natural choice.
By virtue of choice or assumption, materialism is the widespread philosophical underpinning from which many live their lives. But in my view, materialism has various shortcomings for navigating this human experience, both conceptual and pragmatic.
Materialism tends to underplay the limits of knowledge. It conflates what we perceive about reality, using our senses and instrumentation, with what actually is. You only need to read Ed Yong's 'An Immense World' to realise that what humans consider reality may be wildly different from other species. Furthermore, it lacks robust explanations to fundamental questions about the nature of this human experience. What David Chalmers described as the ‘hard problem’ of consciousness is the question of why subjective experiences arise out of the objective activities of the brain; self awareness cannot satisfactorily be explained as a mere byproduct of neural activity. And if self awareness is not satisfactorily explained, can the placebo effect be understood with a mechanistic notion of the body? Further still, insights from quantum physics do not fit within this materialist lens. Notably, the famous double slit experiment revealed the act of observation affects the behaviour of subatomic particles. The phenomenon known as the observer effect suggests consciousness has a crucial role in shaping the physical world around us.
I want to put forward the case for adopting a version of idealism as an effective self focused credo to live by instead. In contrast to materialism, idealism suggests that the material world cannot be separated from the minds that are experiencing it. In this approach, it is believed that our minds play a fundamental role in, not just interpreting reality, but creating it. It provides a ground for understanding the complex interplay between mind and body evident in the numerous fascinating studies on the power of expectation from Alia Crum. While materialism tends to downplay the wisdom and power of our subjective experience, the kind of idealism of which I refer, encourages us to impact the world from the inside out. To focus less on changing external circumstances with physical action, but instead attend to the state of our internal landscape as a means to influence reality.
We are invited to let go of attempts to hustle our way to success, or to carry the burdens of this world. Instead, we leverage positive thinking, imagination and ideals to influence outcomes. We are motivated by inspired action, rather than forceful effort. We make the world better by looking after our own metaphorical garden. We are freed from limited notions of how we can achieve our own goals, and open ourselves to a world brimming with possibility, less restricted by the perceived limitations or confinements of material circumstances.
This version of idealism is a pragmatic philosophy of effective self centeredness and is evident in many ancient and modern teachings, from the Tao Te Ching to Joe Dispenza. Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy emphasis the power of the mind. CBH helps us to utilise the power of the mind, guiding us to drop ideas that don't serve us, refine choices that uplift us, bring those choices to life in the imagination and facilitate their emergence into material reality.
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