Materialism 1:1 - “Matter is the fundamental substance of reality”
What It Is
The belief that matter is the fundamental substance of reality is a central tenet of materialism, which posits that everything that exists, including mental states and consciousness, can be fully explained by material processes. This view asserts that the physical world is the only reality, and any event or phenomenon, whether physical or mental, is the result of interactions and arrangements of matter.
Matter as the Basis of Reality
- Materialism holds that the physical, tangible world is the fundamental substance of existence. Matter is understood as anything that has mass and occupies space, the components that make up the physical universe, including atoms, molecules, and particles.
- According to materialists, there is no realm beyond the material. All objects, organisms, and processes are ultimately material in nature. Even abstract concepts, like thoughts or emotions, are considered to be the result of physical activities in the brain and nervous system.
Emergence of Consciousness from Matter
- A key idea within materialism is that mental phenomena, such as consciousness, perception, thought, and emotions, do not exist independently of physical matter. Rather, these are the result of complex material interactions, primarily within the brain and nervous system.
- In this view, consciousness is seen as an emergent property—it arises from the organization and functioning of physical systems, especially biological systems like the brain. For example, the firing of neurons, the release of chemicals (neurotransmitters), and electrical impulses are material processes that give rise to the subjective experience of consciousness.
- This view contrasts with dualism, which posits a separation between the physical body and non-material mind, or idealism, which asserts that consciousness is primary and matter is secondary.
Reductionism
- Materialism often adopts a reductionist approach, which means it seeks to explain complex phenomena in terms of their simplest material components. For instance, the human mind and behavior are explained by breaking them down into the chemical and physical processes that occur in the brain.
- For a materialist, all mental experiences—thoughts, emotions, and perceptions—are the result of neurochemical reactions and electrical activity. There is no need to invoke a non-material "soul" or "spirit" to explain these phenomena.
Scientific Perspective
- Materialism is closely tied to scientific inquiry and methodology, especially fields such as physics, chemistry, biology, and neuroscience. Materialists argue that science provides the best tools to investigate and explain reality, as it focuses on empirical evidence, observation, and experimentation related to the physical world.
- The success of science in explaining and manipulating the material world—from discovering subatomic particles to understanding brain functions—has reinforced the materialist view that matter is the basis of all reality.
Rejection of Non-Material Explanations
- Materialism rejects non-material explanations for the origin of mental states, consciousness, or other phenomena. This means that spiritual, religious, or supernatural explanations—such as the idea of an immortal soul, divine beings, or life after death—are not considered valid or necessary to explain the nature of reality.
- For instance, materialists would argue that what some people interpret as spiritual experiences or religious visions are the result of neurological processes, chemical imbalances, or psychological states rather than contact with a non-material realm.
Philosophical Implications
- This belief has important implications for how materialists understand the self, personal identity, morality, and life’s purpose. Since consciousness is viewed as a product of physical processes, the self is not seen as something eternal or separate from the body.
- From a materialist viewpoint, once the body (and especially the brain) ceases to function, consciousness ends. This leads to the conclusion that there is no life after death, and that our identity and experiences are bound to our physical existence.
In summary, materialism asserts that matter is the fundamental substance of reality and that all phenomena, including consciousness and mental states, arise from material processes. This belief is grounded in the scientific understanding of the world, rejects supernatural or non-material explanations, and has wide-ranging implications for how we understand reality and existence.
When It Started
The belief in materialism has ancient roots but gained significant development and articulation throughout history, especially during the Enlightenment and the rise of modern science. The idea that matter is the fundamental substance of reality can be traced to early naturalistic philosophies, but it evolved and found new expression through various philosophical traditions over time.
Ancient Philosophical Roots
- Pre-Socratic Philosophers: The earliest materialist ideas can be found in ancient Greece, particularly with the Milesian school of philosophers such as Thales (c. 624–546 BCE), Anaximander (c. 610–546 BCE), and Anaximenes (c. 585–528 BCE), who sought to explain the natural world in terms of fundamental material substances (like water, air, etc.) rather than relying on myths or supernatural explanations.
- Democritus (c. 460–370 BCE) and Leucippus: These Greek philosophers developed the theory of atomism, which proposed that the universe is composed of small, indivisible particles (atoms) moving in a void. Democritus believed that everything, including the mind, could be explained in terms of these material particles. He is famously quoted as saying, "Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion."
Epicureanism
- Epicurus (341–270 BCE): Building on atomist theories, Epicurus argued that all sensations and phenomena are the result of material interactions. He maintained that even the soul is composed of fine particles, and that death is merely the dissolution of this material structure. His materialism had a profound influence on later thinkers, particularly during the Renaissance.
- Lucretius (c. 99–55 BCE), a Roman poet and philosopher, in his poem "De Rerum Natura" (On the Nature of Things), presents a detailed exposition of materialism and atomism, arguing against the fear of gods and death by promoting a material understanding of the universe.
Medieval and Renaissance Development
- During the Middle Ages, materialist thought was overshadowed by the dominance of religious and spiritual views of the world, particularly in Europe. However, with the Renaissance, a revival of classical texts (including those of Epicurus and Lucretius) reintroduced materialist ideas.
- Francis Bacon (1561–1626) emphasized the importance of empirical investigation and the study of the material world, laying the groundwork for modern science and a materialist understanding of nature. He famously stated, “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed,” suggesting that by understanding the material laws of nature, humanity could exercise control over it.
17th Century – The Birth of Modern Materialism
- Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) was one of the first major English philosophers to articulate a thoroughgoing materialist philosophy. In his famous work "Leviathan" (1651), Hobbes argued that all aspects of human nature, including thought, sensation, and emotion, could be explained in terms of material processes.
- Hobbes stated: “The universe, that is the whole mass of all things that are, is corporeal, that is to say, body; and hath the dimensions of magnitude, namely length, breadth, and depth: also every part of body is likewise body, and hath the like dimensions; and consequently every part of the universe is body, and that which is not body is no part of the universe.” (Leviathan, Part 1, Chapter 46).
- Hobbes’ materialism extended to his understanding of human nature and society, claiming that even moral judgments were expressions of material desires and aversions.
Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution
- During the Enlightenment, materialism became increasingly tied to the scientific revolution, as the mechanistic worldview advanced by figures like Isaac Newton and René Descartes encouraged a view of the universe as governed by physical laws. While Descartes was a dualist, seeing mind and matter as distinct, many Enlightenment thinkers took a more materialist view.
- John Locke (1632–1704), though not a strict materialist, laid important groundwork by arguing that knowledge comes entirely from sensory experience, thus emphasizing the material conditions of understanding. He famously said: “All ideas come from sensation or reflection” (An Essay Concerning Human Understanding).
- Denis Diderot (1713–1784) and Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751) were notable proponents of materialism in the Enlightenment. La Mettrie’s work "Man a Machine" (1748) argued that humans are complex machines whose thoughts and emotions arise from purely physical processes. He stated, “The human body is a machine which winds its own springs.”
19th Century – Scientific Materialism and Marxism
- The 19th century saw the rise of scientific materialism, which was bolstered by advances in biology, physics, and chemistry. The publication of Charles Darwin’s "On the Origin of Species" (1859) gave materialists a powerful tool to explain the development of life in purely material terms, without the need for divine intervention.
- Karl Marx (1818–1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820–1895) developed historical materialism, a theory that explains societal development through material conditions, particularly economic factors. Marx famously stated in his "Theses on Feuerbach": “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.”
- Engels wrote in "Anti-Dühring" (1878): “The real unity of the world consists in its materiality, and this is proved, not by a few juggled phrases, but by a long and wearisome development of philosophy and natural science.”
20th Century and Beyond
- In the 20th century, materialism continued to be the dominant worldview in many scientific disciplines, particularly with the rise of neuroscience and quantum physics. Figures such as Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) further developed materialist ideas, asserting that reality consists of physical matter and nothing more.
- Russell stated in "The Analysis of Matter" (1927): “All that we know of the external world we know through the physical processes in our own brain.”
Where We Relate
As revealed through Undefinable and Expansive, all materialism represents an honest and articulate grasp of the analysis of perception. One thing we can say about adherents of any philosophy is that they extrapolate from their current experiences. Unlike the dishonest approach of "blind faith," materialists insist on natural developments based on what they have personally experienced and refrain from assuming the influence of extravagant external beings. We, too, emphasize the importance of applying the scientific method, especially in understanding spiritual experiences. We stress that no fantastic experience or religion should be assumed true without personal experience confirming its plausibility.
We agree that we must accept what we experience firsthand, understanding that experiences "beyond death" could merely be psychological distortions of incomprehensible chemical imbalances. We acknowledge that such experiences may not be understood and that it is natural to fabricate familiar associations from what is undefinable. We concur that all perception is accompanied by mental processing, which applies previous knowledge to new experiences.
We agree that there is no physical realm beyond physical properties and that everything experienced in it can be explained with what is already defined as part of it, including its own developed synapses, chemicals, and perceptual receptors. Therefore, it has its own internal governance, ensuring the rejection of external revelations if they fall outside what it has already defined as its paradigm of reality.
We agree that all psychological and emotional phenomena can be explained by the presence of fundamental aspects now scientifically measurable, and therefore classified as material. Additionally, we hope that scientific study will one day find evidence that all physical creation has manifested solely through natural material properties, "proving" it was not supernaturally created. Only then will the tangible have achieved its entire purpose.
We are in agreement that all that constructs atoms and molecules constitutes all material and tangible things, and that materialism has more recently embraced this view due to scientific discovery. We also insist that material devices cannot perceive beyond physical realities, including those identified by sensory perceptions. Affirming that what makes up atoms is all that exists in every density of reality, we understand that the application of all evidence discovered must have always been "material," regardless of whether it was previously defined as "spiritual" by other sources. Materialism simply adapts its definitions to include new discoveries, regardless of whether they have been long-held religious beliefs. We understand why, as a community, it is agreed to wait for scientific evidence to prove the existence of these phenomena, despite all theories or religious propaganda. We merely suggest the scrupulous examination of experiences, even if they occur spontaneously, and to not quickly dismiss them.
We agree that there should be material evidence of the presence of consciousness, including all of its thoughts and choices appearing physically, including chemical and molecular movements within its individual physical embodiment. While, as Undefinable and Expansive, we emphasize the presence of a superconsciousness that includes all individuated consciousnesses, we agree that their seemingly isolated consciousness should reveal itself through its particular physical formation, including the possibility of distorting an individual’s perceptions by physically altering their chemical or material structure.
We concur that the body is a neutral device that operates much like a physical machine, including possessing advanced artificial intelligence, and naturally undergoes a series of events applying stresses to program it with a unique perspective and intellectual interpretation. We agree that each one would be developed with an elaborate combination of molecular variations to portray individuality with its own will. However, much like any machine, we affirm that such a mechanism is for the use of its designer and is not animate strictly on its own.
Why It Seems
Much like near-death experiences are assumed to be mental projections of physical properties onto actual chemical and energetic encounters, we suggest that this entire world is also a mental projection of physical properties, derived from the same tendency to distort the reality of the incomprehensible energy actually perceived. This implies that all perceptual reality is this energetic substance which has gravitated to develop atomic structure based on the reference of perception. While suggesting this energy has perception without sensory formations, it determined the need for the ability to see after it decided to experience physical properties.
This might be better understood in the same way dreams work. The mental projection of physical properties occurring in a dream is essentially a habit of the mind to translate the movement of energetic and chemical charges of synapses in the brain into what appears as a random assortment of images and sensations, which hold a plot as long as the perceiver’s attention span. The assumed people and activities participated in a dream are not people at all. They are energetic movements within what perceives them, in the same way, it does not use a body and does not even have eyes. The brain believes it needs eyes to perceive and therefore it translates the synapses charging, into the devices assumed necessary to do so.
In this same way, we suggest that the entire universe is similar to "synapses charging" within a dreamer. While not a flawless metaphor, it does support the comprehension of our interpretation of the "energy" which we call the Wholly Spiritual Universe. What we are is a perceiver, which is an aspect of consciousness with the ability to decide what it responds to as real, or more as what it finds desirable and undesirable. Because of their reciprocal relationship, its energy is naturally conformed into what the perceiver has continuously chosen as its reality, therefore becoming a seeming outward picturing of what it now believes, in this case, "physical properties."
This "spiritual" energy is a combination of movement, illumination, and a gravitational inclination, which is the substance that first manifests, in more scientific terms, as neutrons, protons, and electrons, as well as their currents and molecular motion. While their sources are theorized in the scientific community as quarks and strings, they currently remain immeasurable. Essentially, this energetic essence is what we perceive, and it is completely without structure or form in itself. Through the currents and movement of this energy, it instantaneously forms into what the perceiver expects, believes, and desires. This is because it exists to be perceived and cannot become something unless it is.
There was a time when the concept of germs was a religious belief and rejected by materialistic philosophy, in the same way, radio frequencies, electricity, and atoms were.
Of course, this is abstract and beyond relying on the tangible. However, only by understanding where the physical comes from can we actually grasp why it is here and consistent. As the definition of idealism, it obviously exceeds the materialists' interests. However, if they carry on, they may be intrigued enough to consider it. I am often asked how I can believe what I saw in my "near-death experience," which is usually followed up with such a projection argument, to which I respond with the same regarding reality. How do you know your entire sensory perceptions are not distorting what is actually here now? You cannot see without them, you cannot feel past them, yet you trust them entirely.
On one hand, we are able to believe in "God," and miraculous “creation,” while on the other, we confirm the reality of atheism and evolution. We are not here to deny the very real experience of the universe; however, we are here to confirm all philosophies of existence are united. Where we relate is obvious when we see past the literal essence in which we think we see. Consistency is not something possessed by the world; it is possessed by the perceiver of it. Regardless of attempting to comprehend where decisions are maintained, it is through there that the integrity of the energetic universe remains consistently interpreted physically.
The sensory perceptions were some of the original decisions for physicality, not because they are literal perceivers, but because they are individual approaches to distorting those frequencies of energy. You think you see not because you have eyes, but because you have a decision for seeing. Even a blind man sees the world. All sensory perceptions work in this way; what you know of as your mind is this decision to interpret the same energetic frequencies into the specific arrangement of physical images. And the same way it would feel and smell what it believes it sees. Literally, because of the arrangement of its interpretation of the same frequencies in their different ways. The mind has made up sensory perceptions in order for it to define what it perceives. It has many so that it can confirm with its own self what it has recognized and continue to define as physicality.
Much like that dream, we are suggesting that there is no world out here, and what we all are is a collaboration of frequencies interpreted to be a world. Isolated in the perceiver, projected by its own desires for physical bodies and separation. It is through this that the very real experience of being separate from "God" and everyone else is made possible.
With An Open-mind
You are not in a world, and you are not in a body. It is a flawless representation of a concept which you perceive as real. You have followed it with desires and aversions, believing in its histories and developments only to support the same idea constituting its own self. You have desired a experience of being alone, of being separate from everything so that you could deny your own reality. relinquishing your own power so that your people can live. We are all completely justified in believing there is no “God”, believing there is no other than the material. We have made this world so we can believe just that, and we can prove it as facts.
This is not to say that there is a world and a spiritual reality, nor is consciousness apart from what is here. This is to say that everything exist within this thoughts that perceive it, even the concepts of its own perception. You cannot bring up any evidence that we can perceive without using sensory perceptions and mental distortions. No matter what you bring up to debate the evidence of physicality, our sensory perceptions and mental distortions will make it seem valid. They are made to affirm physical reality and to deny any type of spirituality. Therefore only confirming the magnificent of a perfect creation. You can only show me what my eyes can see, you can only speak to what my ears can hear. You can not offer me sensations, which I do not require a body to feel, smell, or taste.
This does not mean that there is some sort of agenda to our creating, while we test our own selves, this does not mean that we are by "God". "God" is not a physical body just like you are not, nor is it in the physical world, just like you are not in a physical world. Sure any religion can project ideas onto physical embodiments which it can insist as godly, but the "God" we speak of is not something far off, or someone making decisions against ourselves. It often appears as a lost child engulfed in its own desires to be forgotten. With its power to develop universes to prove that it’s desire is fact. To go out of its way to study every last detail so that it has evidence that its own self does not exist. It insists on philosophies that distract itself from what it always has been, so it can experience something different than it has for eternity.
As I speak to you, I do not speak to you as a human, but that of that lost child. To me, you are my "God" and I am a representation of your insistence to be lost. Of your insistence to be what you’ve made to yourself to be and not what you always have been.
How We Unite
You have made perfection in so many different ways, and this physical world is no different. As you made its purpose to prove your own existence is no more, you will find such evidence. However, no matter the extent you go everything you find symbolizes your journey, represents your reality merely in a physical form. You see physicality is the only constant and the only place in which we can all unite, because you see only one mind. You call it one existence adhering to all the same laws, but it has always been your laws you see.
No, you are not a small deity, you made those concepts to hide behind, as they are always someone else “outside yourself”. You are not a superhero, nor are you a saint, for all of these things you have defined so that you could be established as something else. Everything you see is something you have said you are not. Every personality you have claimed is not your own. Yet you know you are special, at least unique. Capable of different things the world seems to be missing. And this is where we come together.
You and I have made a world where we could know not ourselves so that we may learn of ourselves and what we’ve made as if by another. We are experiencing it firsthand, and we have found that the shroud over our truth is as thick as our convictions to prove that we are capable of creating the separation of our own selves. Something impossible in reality can be possible in our illusions. We have made it possible, at least made it seem possible.
How Its True
As there can be no evidence beyond our sensory perceptions, there can be no proof that it is not there. The only thing you can have is your insistence on this denial, choosing to live with what you got is as noble as you can be. Even if we were to convince you, you would find it evidence of our insanity and not your own. You would insist that I am seeing something that is not here and now, tangible and in front of me. Even while that is exactly what I am saying to you. At least I admit my insanity. Your perception show you avail over our truth. You cannot see what is here and now, for you insist on the world of separation and littleness instead.
If we open your eyes without your own decision to do so, you would insist they were broken, and you would gouge them out of your head. If we brought your ears to the ability to hear, you would shave them off and dig them out for you would insist that they deceive you. All of this is because you have defined reality as physicality, and therefore, when you see and hear beyond it, you have also insisted that it is faults, that it is fake, that it is some sort of deception. However, the correction on what is deceiving is needed, for the world you insist as reality has been your deception. It has been the lie in which you have lived as your own.
Of course, this is perfectly acceptable, you are free to live anyway you wish. You have eternity to do so and therefore nothing is lost, though you are afraid that this world would be if you left it. Do not be afraid for the world is within you, and the journey to your release involves everything that is within. It will only represent what is happening inside. As you come together recognize this is so,You will see what is happening to the world is what been happening to you. And if that means greater confirmation on physicalities existence, then the proof will continue to be given to you as if from outside.
There is no requirement of remembering who you are, nor will waking up be enforced upon you. You continue reading this text with the same conviction to fulfill your desire to know yourself. How much do you want to know? How committed are you to remembering? If you are ready then it is time.
“Why They Are Right” (book series)
By Rev. Devan Jesse Byrne
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The author of The Statutes Of The Divinely Realized the essence of Undefinable and Expansive, here to coach spiritual people to discover their multidimensional reality beyond the veil.
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