MODELS OF REALITY
Comparing Various Religious, Metaphysical and Cosmological Worldviews
By Richard C. Lang
ZOROASTRIAN DUALISM
The Story of the Eternal Dualistic Struggle between Two Equal and Opposite Divine Powers
| Good God Light Love Life | Evil God Darkness Evil Death |
BIBLICAL THEISM
The Story of the Infinite Personal God who freely acts in divine sovereign self-emptying love to create finite worlds and living beings that are capable of realizing many positive values and of ultimately becoming spiritually united to the divine life
| Creator God is the Infinite Personal Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Reconciler, Indweller and Transformer. |
| Creation The creation of the cosmos out of nothing is a free and sovereign act of divine self-emptying love. Humans are created in the divine image but fallen into alienation from God, nature, neighbor and self. Through acts of saving grace God provides the means of redemption, reconciliation, sanctification and transfiguration so that spiritually regenerated human beings are able to participate in the divine life of eternal self-emptying love. |
Historical Prophetic Ethical and Eschatological Movement from Creation to Consummation
| Creation> | Fall> | Redemption> | Consummation |
HINDU VEDANTA (PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY)
The Story of the Integral (Non-Dual) Hierarchical (Holistic) Relation between Divine Transcendence and Immanence
Bi-Modal Aspects of the Same Reality: Transcendence and Immanence
| Transcendence: Invisible Reality, The Absolute, Essence, Consciousness |
| Immanence: Visible Reality, The Relative, Existence, Illusion, Energy |
Four Levels of Integral Reality: Body, Soul, Mind, Spirit
| Spirit: The Trans-personal Absolute |
| Mind: The Personal Creator |
| Soul: The Archetypal World |
| Body: The Natural World |
Four Quadrants of Integral Yoga (Psychological Types)
| Raja Yoga NF Intuitive Feeling Oceanic Idealist The Way of Relational Harmony | Jnana Yoga NT Intuitive Thinking Ethereal Rational The Way of Intellective Unity |
| Bhakti Yoga SFp Sensing Feeling Perceiving Volcanic Artisan The Way of Expressive Devotion | Karma Yoga STj Sensing Thinking Judging Territorial Guardian The Way of Good Works |
Four Quadrants of Integral Reality (Ken Wilber)
| Intention: Individual Interior | Behavior: Individual Exterior |
| Culture: Collective Exterior | Society: Collective Exterior |
ESOTERIC ANIMISM
The story of the Infinite Plurality of Gods and Goddesses, of Esoteric Energies that influence the world and our lives through their hidden magical or occult powers at work within the astrological signs, synchronistic serendipities, multiple realities, and universal archetypes that constitute the individual and collective unconscious. What we call ‘reality’ is actually constituted by an infinite variety of irreducible pluralities, whether conceived as the ‘gods and goddesses’, the ‘primordial archetypes’, the ‘principalities and powers’, ‘the implicit order’ or the ‘morphic resonance fields’. The ‘spirit world’ contains an infinite number of separate or overlapping realities. (Think ‘Star-gates’ and ‘worm-holes)
| Feminine Archetypes (Deities or Energies?) | Masculine Archetypes (Deities or Energies?) |
| The Innocent | The Orphan |
| The Warrior | The Caregiver |
| The Seeker | The Destroyer |
| The Creator | The Lover |
| The Ruler | The Shaman |
| The Sage | The Fool |
Signs of the Zodiac:
Aries The Ram &aries; Mar. 21–Apr. 19
Taurus The Bull &taur; Apr. 20–May 20
Gemini The Twins &gemin; May 21–June 21
Cancer The Crab &canc; June 22–July 22
Leo The Lion &leo; July 23–Aug. 22
Virgo The Virgin &virgo; Aug. 23–Sept. 22
Libra The Balance &libra; Sept. 23–Oct. 23
Scorpio The Scorpion &scorp; Oct. 24–Nov. 21
Sagittarius The Archer &sagit; Nov. 22–Dec. 21
Capricorn The Goat &capri; Dec. 22–Jan. 19
Aquarius The Water Bearer &aquar; Jan. 20–Feb. 18
Pisces The Fishes &pisc; Feb. 19–Mar. 20
REDUCTIVE NATURALISM
The Story of Everything 'Reduced' to Positivistic Science and Naturalistic Materialism
| Religion, Humanities, and Arts All Reduce to ‘Positivistic Science’ and ‘Naturalistic Materialism’ |
| The Social Sciences reduced to Cognitive Sciences |
| The Cognitive Sciences reduced to Natural Sciences |
| The Natural Sciences reduced to Physical Sciences |
EMERGENT NATURALISM
The Story of the Evolving, Self-Organizing Emergent Universe Giving Spontaneous Rise to Complex Forms of Creative Intelligence and Global Consciousness
| 1. Cosmic ‘Big Bang’ | 2. Nebulas | 3. Galaxies | 4. Stars |
| 5. Super Novas | 6. New Stars | 7. Our Sun | 8. Our Earth |
| 9. Minerals | 10. Vegetation | 11. Insects, Animals | 12. Homo Sapiens |
| 13. Ancient Era | 14. Medieval Era | 15. Modern Era | 16. Emergent Era |
INTEGRAL EVOLUTION
The Story of the Evolution of the Cosmos and Consciousness through the Immanent Guidance of Transpersonal Spirit
| 1. Undifferentiated | 2. Animistic | 3. Totalitarian | 4. Theistic |
| 5. Enterprising | 6. Ecological | 7. Organic | 8. Integral |
PROCESS THEOLOGY
The story of ‘the process God’, who is neither ‘absolutely sovereign’ nor ‘all-knowing’ (as in classical theism), and who possesses both a 'primordial' (axiological) ethical nature and a 'consequential' (metaphysical) creative nature, exercising non-coercive influence over 'chaos' to create an open, novel and emergent cosmos in which many finite goods (along with suffering and pain) and ultimately good and worthwhile divine purposes are realized in progressive durations of time through the divine 'lure' of primarily immanent creative processes
| 1. God Shaping Primal Chaos | 2. God Luring the Cosmos | 3. Life in Creative Process | 4. God Realizing New Values |
