Materialism

Here I want to talk about what the current scientific worldview is, which is known as Scientism or Materialism. When I say “materialism”, I am not talking about taking your husband’s credit card to go buy your Prada bag and Jimmy Choo shoes!

The Latin word materia is where we get such words as “material”, “matter”, and even “mother”. In philosophical terms, materialism is a form of monism. The Greek word monos, means “one”. Therefore, monism is the belief that the world consists of one fundamental or primary thing. By combining these two root words, we get the basis for materialism, that is, one who believes that matter is the fundamental source of all things and all life emerges from it. All phenomena can be explained in terms of the interactions of matter. This also includes consciousness, where the mind is nothing but a by-product of the brain. Materialism provides a “bottom-up” approach in that it tries to explain all of human behavior and human experiences in terms of biology, chemistry and physics.

Under this belief system, only what is physical is considered to be real and we can influence the external world through physical touch or force. Since everything is based on physicality, then it’s impossible to live in a multi-dimensional universe, there is no such thing as a “heaven” or “hell”, there is no such thing as “god” or “spirits”, and humans definitely do not have souls. These things are all non-physical and therefore cannot be accepted by Materialism. Our bodies, and the world we live in, are made up of microcosmic particles that work as building blocks to produce everything we know and can “see”. Everything operates in a machine-like way. Life has no purpose and no meaning. 

This system is widely accepted because of its explanatory framework. It provides us with an explanation to many of life’s “big questions” such as what life is, where we are and how we got here. It is an alternative to different religions because it provides you with facts rather than being solely based on “faith”. Many people therefore hold onto these views because the alternative would be to believe in a world based on faith and superstition, being ignorant of the facts. This leaves them to believe that no rational, intelligent person would believe in the existence of a soul that continues to live after death. 

There are 10 underlying principles that make up Materialism:

1.Life was created by chance. Once created, it slowly evolved into more complex forms through random mutations by means of natural selection.

2. Humans are purely physical entities, made up of physical properties. There is no such thing as a spirit or soul.

3. Living organisms only have one goal in life and that is to replicate itself. To pass on its genetic material through reproduction.

4. Mental phenomena and consciousness can be explained in terms of neurological activity in the brain. Our neuron connections are what produce our feeling of having a sense of “self”.

5. There is no life after death. Since everything is purely physical, once the brain stops functioning so does ones consciousness.

6. Human and animal behavior can be explained in terms of genetics. What we classify as our “traits” and “characteristics” are based on our genetic make-up, which has slowly evolved over millions of years.

7. We are separate, physical human beings, each having our own individual bodies and brains.

8. Since we are separate human beings, the world exists independently from us “out there”.

9. Our normal state of self-awareness and the awareness of our surroundings, that is what we can physically see, is objective and reliable. Any other states of awareness that occur are only hallucinations caused by neurological brain activity.

10. Paranormal phenomena are not real because they defy the laws of nature.

However, to what extent are these ten principles actually based on evidence? To what extent are they merely just assumptions rather than proven facts?

It is a FACT that evolution has taken place. But has it been proven that it can be explained wholly in terms of random mutations and natural selection?

It is a FACT that the laws of physics and chemistry are operative in living organisms. But has it been proven that they fully determine the “patterns” of life?

It is a FACT that consciousness exists. But has it been proven that it stops after death?