Existentialism and New Thought

Existentialism is similar to New Thought in a few ways. Both emphasize individual passion as a path to true existence, or being. Exercising passion by becoming the person you are creates self-realization, or self actualization. Becoming who you are is important to both.

Becoming the person you are refers to the reality that we have a general fate through our character. We are born with a proto-character that is the foundation for the self-realization that has occurred so far. Our basic genetic character along with decisions that have been made from within that perspective during our lives has produced our "fate" so far.

To some degree we cannot completely escape our fate, since, we cannot act radically different from our basic disposition or personality type. But we do have control over the "style" we create within our overall personality context.

Existentialism is a secular expression of this idea. New Thought is a theistic version. New Thought proposes a relative world beyond the physical, absolute world. We can connect with this presence in our consciousness through regular prayer, silence and meditation. Connecting with the Spirit ensures the expression of the Christ/Buddha/Atman/Brahman within depending on your language/conceptual/traditional preference.

Existentialism supports a virtue ethics that is consistent with Aristotle's ethical system. Nietzsche refers to a Master/Slave dichotomy of ethics, where the Master ethics a self-actualizing virtue system and the Slave system is more constricted, reactionary and limiting. New Thought is similar in that it moves away from limiting language and traditional scriptural interpretations toward a more self-realizing, positive and this-worldly responsibility as opposed to some historical theological perspectives.

Potential and Actual

The material world we live in is the world of science, senses, atoms, particles, forces and chemistry that can be measured and controlled to the degree we understand it through science and technology. It is also the world where our emotions are expressed through various relationships. It is a world of causes and effects that can be described and predicted to some degree as well.

The metaphysical world, if you choose to believe it. It is the ultimate cause of everything we see in the physical world. Even though there are billions of causes and effects that occur in the material world every nanosecond, the underlying ultimate cause (or first cause using Aristotle's language), is the metaphysical world. Some world views are completely materialistic and deny the existence of the metaphysical world.

If you are consistently scientific even into the realm of your personal life you might fall into this group. However, if you have any spiritual beliefs beyond that of naturalist or humanist style, you likely believe there is an underlying ground of being for the physical world. Differences of opinion about the nature of the metaphysical and its relationship to the physical occur once a belief in the metaphysical exists.

Maybe a few contrasts will help. In this list the left side represents the physical world and the right side the metaphysical:

• Relative - Absolute
• Actual - Potential
• Effect - Cause
• Sensory - Extra-sensory
• Objective - Subjective
• Changing - Constant
• Logical - Intuitive
• Approximate - Perfect
• Becoming - Ground of Being

In my interpretation, the metaphysical is not in the realm of the supernatural. Everything is One that includes what we'd call the metaphysical and the physical. We have our Source and Ground of Being in the metaphysical. We access the metaphysical through a consciousness that is aware of the Source. This awareness can be developed and increased if we have the will to do it. It is what allows us to truly discover who we are and to embark on a path of self-actualization and true expression and demonstration in the physical, or relative world.

Our consciousness can be raised to the extent that we have the potential to act from a position of a higher consciousness (sometimes called Christ, Buddha, Brahman, etc. depending on which religious tradition is used for language). The typical secular term for this is self-actualization. As we raise our consciousness we are able to respond to stimuli from the relative world in a way that is closer to the absolute. We are able to bring the potential of perfection from the absolute world into a more accurate instantiation in the physical world. This is the ideal, but not typical as most of us move up and down through lower and higher levels of awareness.

The metaphysical world is the place of pure potential. The physical world is the place of actuality. The potential of Energy/Light/Mind/Spirit needs the full experience of the Relative world and participates with all conscious entities in a dynamic co-creation of the material and psychic Universe. The depth of this bi-directional participation can be increased by seeking in order to find and knocking so that the door might be opened to us.