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Background

Our need for a worldview stems from a remarkable and unusual property of humans. Unlike most other systems in the universe, we experience the ability to make conscious choices regarding our actions. While of course we are constrained by the laws of nature, we do not automatically follow whatever order or “plan” is built into nature -- we seem to have our own independent ability, at least in a limited sense, to pick one option among many for how the future will unfold. Because of this fact about our existence, we need a guide to provide us with some kind of instructions for making these choices. This guide or mental map is what I refer to as our “worldview.” To be effective and sustainable, it must include both an overarching, “intellectual” description that embeds our actions within the context of what (we think) the universe as a system is doing (consistent with what science has helped us learn about that context), and it must also provide a more immediate, pragmatic guide to making the countless tiny choices we face every day. It needs to allow us to ask the question, of any decision we face, “How will this action help or hinder the objectives expressed in my worldview?” An effective worldview includes both our immediate individual choices and actions and a description of the broader context, tying these two components together so we can feel directly how our actions push and pull the threads that reach out to impact the broader context, and so we can strive to make choices that are helpful instead of harmful to that overall context (as we presently perceive it ). Since we know we do not have all the answers, an effective worldview must also be adaptable, including within itself a means of making progress in our understanding and modifying the worldview itself as we learn new things (and I think it even should highlight some of the key questions to be pursued as part of the implementation of the worldview).

This document is my attempt to record a sample worldview, the one I see myself using (or would like to be using) right now. This worldview might best be seen as the current experiment my life represents: it is taken seriously; I live as if it is the “true” view of the world, but I am fully aware that this may not be the case, that there may be many experiments and maybe no single right answer.

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“Intellectual” version

I see the universe as a system somehow working within certain constraints to generate structures through which to experience awareness of the deep and powerful presence of the mystery and magic of existence. This state is very difficult to define, but we all know clearly when we experience it, when we tap into a frame of mind that sees the mystery, magic, and enchantment behind existence, and the interconnectedness of things. The power and happiness we feel in those moments of grasping this connectedness indicate something about the value of that state of mind for whatever is going on in the universe. So I think that the processes we see in the universe are in some way explorations of ways to produce these states of awareness, experimenting with different patterns to see what works to produce this awareness. I don’t believe there is a definite “plan” or single end objective -- it seems too clear that everything is an experiment, that the universe itself does not know exactly what it is trying to do or what is the best way to do things. Evolution seems such a clear theme at all levels in the cosmos, and it’s difficult to understand why we would have such a strong evolutionary theme if there were a single, clearly known preset plan. But it does seem to move in the general direction of increasing complexity, and this seems to me a fundamental property of our universe. The ability to have parts of itself experience awareness and wonder also seems a core property, one that I think is somehow fundamental.

The existence of these states of awareness requires some form of what we call “consciousness,” which operates in terms of information. Consciousness and awareness of the meaning behind things depend on the information represented by certain arrangements of the substances we can describe and manipulate. The information has rules about how it can be encoded and represented (in ways we assign meaning to) within the discernible properties of the world. Through science we explore the constraints on the storage and transfer of this information needed to represent the properties that seem necessary for meaning. These constraints include limitations on how information can grow and move from one “self-aware structure” to another; some kind of localization of the information, so that it is available in some places but not in others (this is sort of why we even need science -- we don’t just tap in directly to all available information about the nature of the universe), etc.; a certain predictability about what information will exist at different times and places; (and of course the existence of what we call time and space at all); etc. So if we were to imagine starting with a world free of “substance,” thinking only of the information required to express awareness, choice, feeling, and other properties necessary for meaning and the experience of the deep powerful presence of life, then we would find that as we add in these constraints to our hypothetical world, they start to make the “pure information” world we are building look very much like the world we experience.

What we call the material or substance description of the world is really just our observation of the constraints and limitations we experience in what is necessary to make something happen. These constraints are thus related to the means by which information is encoded or represented. And information is really the ability to specify that one thing is so, rather than another thing. I am here rather than there. The color of my shirt is red rather than blue. An event happened today rather than yesterday. I finished the race in front of him rather than behind him. I am alive rather than dead. And note again that information only matters because the distinct states mean something different, they produce different experiences or states of mind.

So I think that somehow all the patterns and rules and evolution we see in the universe are a way of implementing the kinds of information that are necessary for bringing the awareness of meaning and a sense of a wonder, magic, and mystery behind things, into existence. I emphasize that this does not mean it’s a way of bringing humans into existence in particular, but I think the type of system we represent, a structure that can make the universe aware of itself, is central to what is going on.

The processes that express this have of course been going on for a very long time. What makes us unique is our awareness of the processes, and the feeling of making choices about what to do. It’s as if we are the universe becoming aware of the experiment it is involved in. Our uncertainty is its uncertainty in some way. We are simply a way for it to continue the experiment in a more conscious way -- but what we feel in our own lives is a piece of this same grand experiment.

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Narrative version

So where do I fit in? What do I believe the universe could really be doing, that I could be a part of and contribute to with my choices and actions?

I am a steady-state pattern system which has been in existence for 32 years, made up of other systems whose patterns have been sustained for as long as billions of years: hydrogen atoms formed in the big bang, carbon atoms formed in massive stars, oxygen and magnesium and iron from a star’s violent death, all moving around and changing their collective patterns for billions of years and now finding themselves part of the pattern that is me. I am the sunlight that drives this system and enables it to persist intact as a system for several decades. The state of conscious awareness that I refer to as “me” is just the tip of the iceberg of a vast web of materials and events and processes that can now express themselves and be aware of themselves through me.

I assume that my perception of having choices to make is real. I think the struggles I feel are real, that there are choices to be made and that some choices move things along in a positive direction better than other choices, and that there are real obstacles to struggle against in making good choices and taking beneficial actions. I don’t know how to make a clear model for how these choices within limits actually work, and it certainly is not absolutely necessary to believe that my choices are “real,” but everything about my experience suggests it is the case, and it is not clear what benefit is to be gained by assuming otherwise. If my choices are real, then it will be best if I believe they are real. If they are not real, there is still no harm in believing it since of course I didn’t really have the choice to make anyway. In any event the whole discussion of meaning and a worldview is expressed in terms of figuring out what context to use in guiding the choices we make, so the discussion doesn’t really make sense without this assumption.

So then an outline of a narrative might go something like this: I could start by taking time and its direction as real, so that there is a progression and an evolution to things. It’s as if things have “choices” to make even at the microscopic level, but only within very narrowly confined constraints. The universe could then be thought of as a grand experiment of sorts, with constraints (somehow) imposed upon it for how things must be arranged in order for certain states of awareness to be achieved, and these states of awareness matter somehow. I can’t really articulate what this is about or why or what the core objective could be (if any). But I can point to what some of these states are like -- it’s what you feel out under the stars, or figuring out some little secret of nature, or knowing with certainty you have a direct connection with another human being, or when you hear a perfect haunting melody that strikes to the core of your consciousness, or when you are immersed in the struggle of physical exertion in a sport, and you’re throwing yourself completely and wholeheartedly into giving your best possible effort with no doubts or distractions. We know these feelings, we know they are there, we know they provide a passage into the mystery we long for even though we may find it a nearly impossible struggle to stay focused on them. My idea is that the core of these kinds of feelings is part of what the universe is doing even before consciousness ever emerges.

With the emergence of consciousness as part of this process, choices broaden, we can make a wider variety of things happen...There seem to be constructive and destructive elements working. Why? Where did these two sides of things come from? Why are there events, actions, and thoughts we label as “good” and “evil”&endash; what do they represent? When I make a small choice, how am I helping one influence or element to win out? How do my individual choices matter? Think of building a context within which to see that our choices matter, within which Frankl’s notion of “the last of the human freedoms, the ability to choose one’s attitude in any set of circumstances,” can really matter. Perhaps the way to think of the conflicting forces is through the fact that there must be constraints on how to achieve certain goals, there are various goals that one might pursue, and changing conditions which result in changes to what actions are actually “best” for achieving a particular goal. I believe that our feelings -- good or bad, pleasure or pain -- are generally guides to what actions are beneficial or harmful in guiding us along a path that is in harmony with some kind of overall order of universe. In other words, it seems to me that this overall order, the “direction of the wind” if you like, is what we experience as feelings. However, sometimes these impulses can be out of date, so our conscious awareness can show us that it is better to do something different than what our impulse suggests. But to go against an impulse should require a clear understanding of what has changed so you can see specifically why you should go against the “natural” behavior. The burden of proof should be on justifying why not do something you feel like doing.

In any case I see our role as simply to actively carry on this universal experiment to the best of our ability. When we cut through all the clutter of our experience we encounter a straightforward question, which might be phrased as “What does life ask of us? or What is the challenge life present to us?” I think it asks that we formulate for ourselves a clear worldview that provides a sense of the meaning of our lives, and then strive to live each moment in support of the objectives of that worldview. This does not mean necessarily that we must succeed in achieving a particular end result; only that each immediate decision be made with an honest sense that it moves the state of the universe in the direction we see as valuable from the perspective we hold at that point.

If you make the meaning of your life depend on achieving a particular objective, then you leave yourself at the mercy of forces you can never completely control. But the ability to make the choice to act in ways that move the world in a direction that seems most meaningful at the time is always available to us, in every instant during which we are aware of ourselves making a choice. Living and acting in a way that is consistent with your sense of meaning at the time is still a very real and difficult challenge. But it is a challenge at which it is possible to succeed, and at which it is always possible to succeed, no matter what has happened, no matter what situation you are in. This makes all the difference, because it has the potential to motivate you always to act for the best; you always have hope of “winning,” never feeling that all is lost and you are just going through the motions without the chance of doing anything that really matters to the universe.

In a sense, my idea for a worldview is a coherent point of view allowing it to matter what choices you make (so you are motivated to put your heart into life and make the best decisions you possibly can), but that also holds you responsible only for doing the best you can (so you are not driven to despair by the realization that no end result is ever totally within your control.)

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Guiding principle

Will this action better connect me to the meaning and magic behind things (the place where what seems like the real struggle, real life, occurs) than any alternative action I might take right now?

More generally, I think that if there is any sense in which our choices matter at all, it is to try and experience the magical, connected states as much as possible. Guide everything by that belief - trying to figure things out, trying to be more aware of the big picture of which I am a part, of the meaning behind things. See myself guided by the effort to construct better and better webs of meaning for myself, through which I see distant times and distant places as real. Picture myself at a vertex of a vast, interconnected web of meaning. See myself working with the small choices that are right in front of me, over which I have control: thoughts I can think, words I can say or write, motions I can make with my arms, legs, fingers.... But see these choices as moving the universe in a direction that is more meaningful, based on whatever my current perception of that meaning is. Believe my choices are real, that it makes a difference what I choose to do at each moment, that the impulse I label as the desire to act meaningfully reflects something real about what is going on in the universe. Making good choices is analogous to perceiving the direction in which the wind is blowing, and orienting your sails so that you help move the ship in that direction. In the case of my worldview, my guiding principle is like my assessment of the direction the wind is blowing. So if my guiding principle is to develop the connection to and appreciation of the deep meaning behind things, then everything I do should be seen as working toward that, given the obvious constraints and limitations on how consciousness can form and persist, etc. Ask of everything, “How will this action help me or other people feel connected to the deep meaning and mystery behind things. Evaluate everything in those terms, assuming it’s what matters most. Be sure to take my worldview and guiding principle seriously, as long as I continue to believe in it -- only then am I living in contact with real life as I see it. Ask if I am living and acting in the real world as well as I can perceive it.

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