Photo: A Lecturer Speaks to Theology & Philosophy Students

Forerunners to Our Path & Practice  

(Essay #18, at 2-11-26)

Introduction

This Essay is about the Western Forerunners to our book, Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation: Finding Purpose & Meaning in Nature, Science, & History. (“Western” meaning “originating in Europe, the Middle East, and /or America.”) 

(Note: We cover Asian Forerunners to our Path & Practice in three separate Essays: Evaluating Taoism & Zen, Evaluating Hinduism, and Evaluating Buddhism.)

In this Essay, we discuss 24 Western Forerunners.  It is impossible to present the Western Forerunners in their approximate order of importance because they are all interrelated and many of them overlap. Readers will differ as to which Forerunners are “key” and which are not. Some of the oldest Forerunners have the most significant and most lasting effects!

Instead, we will list the Forerunners by the approximate dates of their “heyday periods.” This method is workable and fairly objective.

We will start with the Oldest Forerunner at the top of our list, and proceed down to the Most Recent Forerunner at the bottom of the list.

(However, For Reference, Here Are The 24 Western Forerunners in Alphabetical Order:)

Aristotle’s “Evidence, Logic, & Reason,” “Being-and-Becoming,” Darwinism, Deism, Engineering,  Existentialism,  Freemasonry,  Free-thinking, Ground-of-All-Being,  Humanism, Modern Empiricism,  Naturalism,  Pantheism,  Pragmatism,  Positivism,  Pragmatism,  Process-Philosophy,  Process-Theology, Secular-Spirituality, Skepticism,  Spinozism,  Stoicism,  Transcendentalism, and Unitarian-Universalism. 

“The Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation,” and “Transcending through Creating” are not Forerunners, they are principal topics in this Book of Essays.” – JXM

As we discuss these philosophies, theologies, and spiritual paths, keep in mind the classic attributes of the traditional Abrahamic God (i.e., Jewish, Christian, Muslim). The anthropomorphic Father-God of these faiths is conventionally thought to possess the “Four Omni’s,” i.e., “He” fully possesses all four of the following traits all of the time:

• Omnipotent (all-powerful),
• Omniscient (all-knowing),
• Omnipresent (always present), and
• Omnibenevolent (always good)

Alas, these four “Omnis” are NOT all simultaneously present in the real world!  In fact, Nature’s Continuing Creation holds that none of them are present in the real world!

In addition to theology’s “Four Omnis” describing the properties of the traditional Abrahamic God, we will be talking about the following age-old theological debates:

• Is there an objective reality outside the mind? Or, since we can only know things through our senses and minds, is all reality subjective for us?
• Does God exist outside of and/or before the universe, or is God only within and part of the universe?
• Is there a trend happening in the universe? Is it going from material to informational?  From imperfect toward perfect?  From bad to good, or from good to bad?  Maybe the universe cycles round and around forever, from creation to destruction, to creation again and again.
• Does God have personal interactions with individual humans? Or does he only shape main events and trends? Or did God only create the pre-living universe, and then step away?
  

As we look at each religion, spiritual path, or philosophy, we should ask these 7 questions:

1. What does it say is the “Source” and “Sustenance” of the universe? (Various appellations for “Source” include Ultimate Cause, Fundamental Force, Primal Power, God, Great Spirit, Higher Power, Ultimate Consciousness, and the Whole of All Wholes.  See Appendix B for many more “names of God.”)
   
   
2. Where is this Source/Sustenance? (Outside the universe, e.g., on a throne in heaven? From the death or outgrowth of a prior Universe? From Inside (part of) the universe?  From an Eternal Ultimate Consciousness?
   
   
3. How Does the Source/Sustenance Work?  By miracles performed by a superbeing?  By the attraction of Humans toward God?  By natural processes following the laws of physics? Does it change over time?  Does it evolve?  Does it progress?  Does it cycle or repeat?  Does it die when suns die, explode, or get sucked into black holes?
   
   
4. What is the Role and Purpose of Humans? (To “glorify God?” To obey God?  To be moral and honorable? To discover, create, and build?  To love and care for one another?  To love and care for the Earth?  To travel to other planets?  To merge with “Ultimate Consciousness,” e.g., Brahman or Nirvana?)
   
   
5. Does the Source/Sustenance communicate with humans? By personal conversation? By inspiration only? By revelation? Through the words and actions of other people? Through our observations and our logic, including the scientific method?  Through one or more of the above? Through none of the above?
   
   
6. What is the Eventual Outcome for the Universe?  Is there a Heaven and a Hell?  Continual elaboration of creation, with increasing organization?  With increasing meaning as well? Eventual heat death or gravity death?  Compression into a black hole or into a point of singularity?  Eventual cold death?  Attenuation within ever-expanding space?
   
   
7. What is the Eventual Outcome for Humans (and other Earthlings)? (Some people in Heaven, some in hell?  Some endlessly reincarnated, and some whose minds are merged with Ultimate Consciousness?  Continued battle between good and evil wherever humans live? Conquest of all disease, or the continual rise of new diseases?  Human Progress toward one or more of these goals: peace, freedom, goodness, love?  Human extinction on Earth due to ecological, medical, military, or astronomic events?

Note:  Many of these seven questions are classified into traditional theological categories. Ontology, for example, is the study of “what is.” Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Other categories are phenomenology and teleology. However, a discussion of these categories would be too time-consuming and confusing for our purposes in this Essay.

Important Topics We Will Not Cover in This Essay

• • We will not cover the three Eastern philosophical forerunners to this book about Nature’s Continuing Creation – Taoism, Buddhism, and Zen.  But they are just as important as the Western forerunners. We devote two separate Essays to them: Evaluating Taoism and Zen and Evaluating Buddhism.
    
    
  • This Essay does not address the many advances in science that are even more essential forerunners to Nature’s Continuing Creation than the philosophies and theologies mentioned above. The forerunners from science include paleontology, evolution, genetics, sociobiology, ecology, anthropology, microbiology, modern physics, cybernetics, and others. Essays on a number of these subjects have already been written and posted on our website. See the list of published Essays in the right-hand column of this webpage. Readers can also consult our Table of Contents.
    
    
  • This Essay will also mention significant contributions of Nature-based spiritual traditions to Nature’s Way of Continuing Creation. These paths, including ancient Druidism, Native-American traditions, Gaia, and Wicca, are discussed in other Essays of our book.

Note: Appendix B to this Essay lists over 30 different names or appellations for “God” or “Higher Power,” not including the 92 Traditional Names for Allah in Islam (such as The Beneficent, Absolute Master, The Exalted, and The Designer), many of which are said to be particularly beautiful in spoken and written Arabic.

We place the Oldest Forerunner at the top of our list, and Proceed down to the Most Recent Forerunner at the bottom.

1. Engineering: From Pyramids to Artificial Intelligence!

Engineering is our Oldest Forerunner:  From 3000 BCE to 2025 CE

Science can create new knowledge, but Applied Science & Engineering are required to convert new knowledge into new pharmaceuticals, new rockets, new bridges, ships, solar panels, fabrics, websites like the one you are now reading, and everything else we humans use whenever we act as Agents of Nature’s Continuing Creation. Engineering is a major forerunner and a critically important force behind Nature’s Continuing Creation.  

Engineering began when the first human figured out how to tear a limb from a tree and use it as a club, and how to sharpen the edge of a rock and use it as a knife. The first Egyptian pyramid was constructed by King Zoser (or Djoser) around 2700 BCE, and it was primitive compared to the smooth-sided Egyptian pyramids built centuries later, utilizing increased engineering expertise. 

An Ancient Greek, Archimedes (187-212 BCE), also made major contributions to science and engineering. He described the physics of buoyancy,  proved the law of the lever, and invented the screw pump and compound pulley.

Yet, even today, while Engineering uses science and mathematics, there is still a major role for creative vision, common sense, rules of thumb, and trial and error.  Thomas Edison tried scores of filaments in his light bulb until he finally found one (carbonized bamboo fiber) that worked. (See our Essay, The Processes of Evolution – in Biology, Culture, & Technology 

  The King Zosar (Djoser) Pyramid — 2700 BCE   

One of the most important references that J.X. Mason used in writing this book on Nature’s Continuing Creation is Professor Adrian Bejan‘s book, Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organizations. (Written with J. Peder Zane, Anchor Books, 2011.)  Dr. Bejan is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University.)  Dr. Bejan tells us that when a moderate, continual flow of energy meets a receptive collection of varied elements and minerals, then patterned structures of increasing complexity will emerge over time. Each new iteration will enable a more efficient flow of energy.

2. Evidence, Logic, & Reason:
       Ancient Greek Philosophers:  Socrates 470-399 BC;   Plato 425-348 BC;  and especially Aristotle 384-322 BC.

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle did not believe in the Gods or Goddesses of the Ancient Greek pantheon.  On occasion, they acknowledged the reality of the Gods and goddesses just to avoid persecution.  Socrates was tried for impiety and corruption of the young.  He died by poison in prison, after denying a chance to escape with his allies.)

When These Three Greeks Did Acknowledge a Divinity, it was Abstract

Plato treated the divine as perfectly good, rational, and unchanging. He rejected the mythical Olympian stories in which gods lie, cheat, or behave immorally.  Plato’s Gods are closely tied to his metaphysics of “Forms.” 

Aristotle posited a single “unmoved mover,” an eternal, immaterial intellect that is the final cause of all motion in the cosmos.​ This quasi-God is perfect, unchanging, and engaged in pure self-contemplation; it does not intervene in human affairs as the Greek gods and goddesses do.​ These abstract divinities are forerunners to our own Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation: finding Life’s Purpose & Meaning in Nature, Science & History.     

What Did the Ancient Greeks Think About the “Soul?”

For Plato, the human soul lives on forever after death, in the “realm of pure Forms,” (similar to Buddhism’s ‘Nirvana’). For Plato, the human soul can also be reincarnated in a new body.  

For Aristotle, the “soul” is the organizing principle and life-capacity in each living thing (including all plants and animals), not a ghost-like substance separable from human bodies in the Platonic or Christian sense. “Soul” is what makes each living thing alive and capable of its characteristic activities. Aristotle also held that the soul of a plant, animal, or human cannot exist apart from the body.​  (For most Participants in Nature’s Continuing Creation today, “soul” is no longer a  meaningful concept. — JXM)   

Socrates

Socrates left nothing in writing.  He taught his students through dialogue.  The existing  “Socratic Dialogues” were really written by Plato. Therefore, we will leave Socrates aside and turn to Plato and Aristotle.

Plato

Plato sought the inner and eternal reality of things, ranging from commonplace kitchen tables, to geometric circles and cubes, to abstract concepts like justice and beauty.

Plato’s inner reality (his “Metaphysics”) centered on his “Theory of Forms.”  Plato argued that the visible world of particular things is only a shifting exhibition, like shadows cast on a wall by the activities of corresponding universal Ideas or “Forms” existing behind the scenes

For Plato, particular things are unreal; only “Forms” occupy the unobservable yet true reality.  Forms encompass a thing’s structure, design, and pattern.  Forms are the timeless, absolute, non-physical, and unchangeable essences of all things.  Particular objects in the physical world merely participate in, or imitate their Form.  Plato thought that Forms exist even outside the human mind.  For example, there are many different household and workplace tables: end tables, breakfast tables, writing tables, etc.  Plato taught that each of them is only an example, a “particular,” of a single Form that modern people might call “table-ness.” Table-ness encompasses the structure, form, function, and purpose of all household and workplace tables.  True knowledge is the knowledge of forms, according to Plato.

JXM:  But, wouldn’t the table-ness Form be composed of two more basic “Forms,” i.e., the horizontal “Flat Surface Form,” and three or more supporting, “Columnar Forms,” (i.e., the table legs), existing on a lower surface (a floor or the ground) and, on or near Earth, subject to the force of gravity?

JXM:  Going further, today we know that the Forms are composed of Forms called “molecules,” And those are, in turn, composed of Forms called atoms. — JXM

JXM: The only true Forms might be the mathematical definitions of forms like the circle, square, and triangle.  (Around 200 BCE, a Greek named Euclid would develop the entire content of high school geometry we call Euclidean Geometry).  

A Form would be uncovered by Plato and his students through dialogue and debate, in search of a succinct definition. In these dialogues, they applied reason and logic to examples and counterexamples that we today would call “evidence.”  This process is likely the earliest Forerunner of the modern “Scientific Method,” and a Forerunner of “Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation: Finding Life’s Purpose & Meaning in Nature, Science, & History.) 

However, while finding “the Form” was usually easy for solid items like furniture tables, it was often very difficult for abstract concepts like Justice, Beauty, Valor, Moderation, Knowledge, Wisdom, and Love. 

Words themselves are often imprecise! One can use many words to describe “Justice,” but these words can still be incorrect or insufficient. “Justice” is so complicated that even a shelf of lawbooks cannot fully describe it.  On the other hand, the Forms of circles, cubes, and triangles, and many other geometric figures, seem to be instantly recognized by young children, so Plato said they come automatically from the “world” of forms.  And they can be formally defined by mathematics! (World Book Encyclopedia.)

Aristotle and Birth of the Scientific Method

  A marble bust of Aristotle, by Lysippos, 330 BCE

Unlike Plato, Aristotle denied the existence of a separate world of Forms. Aristotle thought that Forms exist in particular things and in the mind, not in a transcendent realm apart from individual particulars.  Aristotle locates Form in every concrete, “particular” thing.  For Aristotle, even perfect geometric figures do not exist in a separate world. They exist in human thought.

Aristotelian Logic

Aristotle is credited with the earliest systematic study of logic, and his conception of it was the dominant form of Western logic until 19th-century advances in mathematical logic. Aristotle insisted that theories, scientific or otherwise, are to be trusted only if their results conform to accurately observed phenomena.

Aristotle’s Biology

The scope of Aristotle’s scientific research is astonishing. Much of it is concerned with the classification of animals (plus some plants) into genus and species; more than 500 species are cataloged in his treatises, many of them described in detail.  This effort was a breakthrough in science, and a clear Forerunner to our own Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation.

Aristotle on “Change and Process”

Unlike Plato, Aristotle Recognized the Importance of Change. In Aristotle’s Metaphysics, he argued that Plato’s ideas on form and structure neglected change and transformation.  In contrast, Aristotle did recognize Forms of change, including flows, births, progressions, spins, rotations, and transformations. 

Aristotle argued that Real (“particular”) living entities, and/or systems of living entities, inherently try to improve their lot. Design and Purpose do not come from a God or an external intelligence; they come from the inner urge to improve.  (Today, we would say that living things naturally strive to survive, consume, grow, change, improve, reproduce, and evolve. Followed by death.)

However, Aristotle did not recognize the process of evolution! He was too early to perceive the biological processes of survival of the fittest, or cooperation and competition, genetic inheritance, or evolution.  It would take another 2,150 years for Darwin to describe Evolution in his 1859 book, On the Origin of Species.

For Aristotle, Change Requires a “Prime Mover Unmoved.”

To avoid an infinite regress of movements and changes, Aristotle argued that there must be an original backstop, touchstone, or solid foundation for change to “push against.” He called this abstract God “The Prime Mover Unmoved.”  (In modern times, we might see it as the dense Singularity of all matter existing just before the “Big Bang.”)

(Note: Sources for the above Entry #2: The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant; Wikipedia; Encyclopedia Britannica; World Book Encyclopedia; Perplexity.ai.)

3. Skepticism, ~240 BCE to Today

Skeptic Magazine Cover

Skepticism (from the Greek word for “inquiry”) is a philosophical school of thought that questions the possibility of certainty in knowledge. Skeptic philosophers either (a) deny the possibility of any and all objective knowledge or (b) suspend judgment about some areas of “knowledge” due to an inadequacy of evidence.

The Path of Continuing Creation holds that ideas, facts, and theories should always be initially questioned. Only after exhaustive and verified research and/or experimentation can asserted explanations be declared to be provisionally true. Even then, all explanations must always remain open to further inquiry. Further inquiry can result in one or more new explanations.  A new explanation can replace the old one because it is more true (e.g., more accurate, more specific, or more encompassing) than the old one, or it can be true in different circumstances than the old explanation. 

For example, Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was said to “replace” Newton’s earlier Laws of Motion and Gravity. However, Newton’s laws remain accurate and useful for most things here on Earth. Einstein showed that Newton’s laws are actually a subset of the more comprehensive Theory of Relativity.  Relativity also explains what happens elsewhere in the universe when gravity and speed become extremely significant.          

Both Newton’s and Einstein’s Laws (or models) of Physics are “true” under different conditions. That is, both work in different arenas (and/or on different scales) of the real universe. If both sets of laws work usefully, even if they do so only in certain circumstances, then they are “real and true knowledge” for Participants in Nature’s Continuing Creation.

4. Stoicism, ~171 CE to Today

In March 2024, The Washington Post reported that Stoicism had become one of the most popular, if not the most popular, non-religious, secular-spiritual, and ethical paths in the United States. (The Washington Post, Book Reviews, “Stoicism is More Popular than Ever,” March 29, 2024.)

The philosophy of Stoicism dates back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who lived in the 700 years between the 3rd century BCE and the 4th century CE. Famous Stoics include Zeno of Citium, Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, who was the 17th Emperor of Rome, ruling from 161 to 180 C.E. Stoicism became the most popular philosophy among the educated elite in the Hellenistic world and the Roman Empire. ¹  Marcus Aurelius’ book of Stoic Meditations is profound, and it remains widely read even today, including by your author, J.X. Mason.

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Stoic Emperor of Rome

Stoics taught that virtue is sufficient for happiness; riches, power, and victories are not required. Stoics should develop self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. These virtues are supported by clear and unbiased thinking, enabling Stoics to understand Universal Reason (“Logos”) and align their minds with Nature. (Nature was held to be, at least on balance, good.) Personal relationships should be free from anger, envy, and jealousy. ² Stoics should even accept slaves as “equals of other men because all men alike are products of nature.”³ Of course, scholars of the Classics do not entirely agree on all the aspects of Stoicism.

Stoic theology is a fatalistic and naturalistic form of pantheism: God is never fully transcendent (i.e., not outside the universe) but is always immanent. Stoicism equates God with the totality of the universe.

According to the Stoics, the Universe consists of passive matter and an “intelligent ether or primordial fire,” which can be called Fate or Universal Reason (Logos), which acts on the passive matter. Logos is the active reason or anima mundi that pervades and animates the entire Universe.

Humans, too, each possess a portion of the divine Logos, which is the primordial fire and reason that controls and sustains the Universe. ⁴

The Gospel of John, the last written and most theologically sophisticated of all the New Testament gospels, equates Jesus Christ with the Greek Logos, which was translated from ancient Greek into our English as “The Word.” This is an early instance of trying to bolster Christian doctrine with Greek philosophy.  (See our Essay, Evaluating Jesus’ Teaching.)

For a Stoic, philosophy is not just a set of beliefs or ethical claims; it is a way of life that involves training and practice. Stoic philosophical and spiritual practices included (and still include) logic, Socratic dialogue, self-dialogue, contemplation of death, mortality salience, training attention to remain in the present moment (similar to some forms of Buddhist meditation), journaling, and daily reflection on everyday problems and possible solutions. For a Stoic, philosophy is an active process of constant practice and self-remembrance.

Stoicism can be likened to a military philosophy of duty, honor, and loyalty. A Stoic keeps on fighting even in the face of great hardship and great odds. Why? Because virtue (honor) is its own reward.

The Practice of Nature’s continuing creation aligns with much of Stoicism. However, we find it too fatalistic, probably because it was written and taught before there was limited understanding of progress in science, technology, and (maybe) government.

5. Freemasonry (‘Masonry’), 1100s to Today

Freemasonry consists of fraternal organizations that trace their origins to the local medieval guilds of stonemasons. Members of those guilds were responsible for designing and building the magnificent Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals of Europe. Their skills at gauging the stresses of weight within arched patterns were highly sophisticated… and kept secret. Masonic building skills were employed to construct fortresses as well as cathedrals, thus providing protection to farmers and townspeople during centuries of threatened attack by enemy armies. Freemasonry has a long history, dating back to the 1100s and continuing to the present day. Recall that “Engineering” was the first Forerunner on our list!

Because the Masonic brotherhoods were based on secular science and math-based skills, their lodges had great appeal to men of the Enlightenment who favored reason and natural law over Biblical dogma. The existing Masonic lodges already opposed ignorance, fanaticism, and tyranny with tolerance, brotherhood, and egalitarianism.  And so, in the 1700s, educated men of science and letters joined the Masonic organizations because they were ready-made bastions of “freethinking.” As a result, during the 1700s, the old craft guilds evolved into social and charitable fraternities open to men from all walks of life.

The Symbol of Freemasonry:  Compass, Square, & the Capital “G”

Today, modern Freemasons only require members to believe in some personal conception of God, some Higher Power of one’s own individual understanding. Freemasonry invites people of all faiths, even if they use different names for the “Nameless One of a hundred names.”  Freemasonry teaches that its “Great Architect of the Universe” represents the supreme deity in all religions.

Masons believe they can improve their character and behavior through acts of charity, moral living, and voluntary performance of civic duty. They hold that humanity possesses the ability to move from imperfection toward total perfection.

Modern Masonic meetings feature a long series of rituals whereby men advance over the years through as many as 33 “degrees” of Masonic knowledge. The degrees of Freemasonry retain the original three grades of medieval craft guilds — Apprentice, Journeyman or Fellow, and Master Mason. The degree rituals are part allegorical morality play and part lecture. Candidates for the degrees are progressively taught the symbols, hand grips, signs, and recitations of each Masonic Degree.

Freemasonry is a clear and important forerunner to the Path of Continuing Creation because it promotes constructive building as a fundamental characteristic of a good and honorable life.  Both Freemasons and Builders in the Continuing Natural Creation devote themselves to the positive and active construction of their family lives, professions, trades, and communities. 

Also, Practitioners of Continuing Creation usually have an “engineering attitude” toward science and mathematics: knowledge that works to solve the world’s problems.  Engineering attitude and knowledge are precious, even when fundamental issues in physics (waves versus particles, dark matter, parallel universes, etc.) remain undefined and questionable.  In other words, both Freemasonry and Our Way of Life are pragmatic.

Three Shortcomings of Freemasonry:  Although women now routinely become Masons in Europe, this trend is unfortunately only just beginning in the United States. Secondly, Freemasonry’s emphasis on elaborate rituals is often overdone, and it is rooted in mythical characters associated with the construction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Thirdly, Practitioners of Continuing Creation doubt that humans can “reason away” all their unpleasant instincts, at least not without genetic therapy.

Note: While your author, J.X. Mason, took his pen name from the construction craft of “masonry,” he does not speak for and has never been affiliated with any organized part of Freemasonry.  (For further reading, we recommend Freemasonry: An Introduction, by Mark E. Kolta-Rivera, Ph.D., 2007, Penguin Books. We also recommend “Mysteries of the Freemasons,” a balanced and scholarly one-hour documentary appearing on The History Channel in December 2017.)

6. Modern Rationalism & Empiricism, 1561~1776, (and even to 1882)

Empiricism holds that true knowledge comes primarily from sensory experience, including observation and experimentation. Its champions were thinkers such as Francis Bacon (1561-1626), John Locke (1632-1704), David Hume (1711-1776), and George Berkeley (1685-1753). Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a later, major contributor. Historically, Modern Empiricism was associated with the “blank slate“ concept (tabula rasa), which posits that the human mind is “blank” at birth and develops its thoughts only through subsequent experience.  

Opposing this view, Rationalism holds that knowledge is primarily inborn and that the intellect (the inner faculty of the human mind) can directly grasp or derive logical truths. For example, given a few fundamental assumptions, all of Euclidean geometry may be deduced by the human brain’s logical reasoning. Rationalism’s champions were René Descartes (1596- 1659), Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). ⁵

Continuing Creation recognizes that knowledge originates from both logical deduction and the observation of Nature, making both Rationalism and Empiricism forerunners of Nature’s Continuing Creation.

7. Freethinking or Freethought, ~1650 

Starting in the 1600s, people who formed their own ideas and opinions rather than accepting those of political authorities or religious teaching began to be called “Free Thinkers.” The Oxford English Dictionary defines Freethinking as, “The free exercise of reason in matters of religious belief, unrestrained by deference to authority; the adoption of the principles of a freethinker.” Freethinkers hold that knowledge should be grounded in facts, scientific inquiry, and logic.

The skeptical application of science implies freedom from the intellectually limiting effects of confirmation bias, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, urban myth, prejudice, and sectarianism. Early Freethought groups arose in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United States. In the U.S., freethinking was strong in communities of German immigrants and among early Unitarian Universalists. ⁶

8. Spinozism (The Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza) ~1655

Spinozism, the philosophy written in the 17^th century by Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), was a forerunner of Process Theology, Process Philosophy, the concept of pantheism (We will discuss each of these in the next few pages of this Essay), and the book of Essays about Nature’s Continuing Creation that you are now reading. 

Spinoza was of Portuguese-Jewish descent. He was born in Amsterdam and lived in the Dutch Republic, where he worked as a lens grinder. In 1655-56, He was expelled from the Jewish religious community, but his love of philosophy brought him a small but dedicated circle of supporters.

In his book Ethics (1665), Spinoza was one of the first thinkers to argue that the Universe comes not from an anthropomorphic super-person nor from a supremely intelligent “Mind,” but from something that is abstract and impersonal. ⁷

  Baruch Spinoza (Baruch Espinosa) 1632-1677

Spinoza redefined “God” as a “singular self-subsistent Natura” (Nature) or “Substantia” (Substance). Spinoza wrote that Natura is absolutely infinite, self-caused, and eternal; and it causes the infinite number of forms and attributes that we see around us. He regarded both physical matter and thought as derivative forms of “Natura (Nature).”

Spinoza wrote that “God is the sum of the natural and physical laws of the universe and certainly not an individual entity or creator. ⁸ This quotation is an excellent description of our own “Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation.”

• The Path of Nature’s Continuing Creation agrees with Spinoza that “Nature (Natura)” in its broadest and most active sense can be another name for “Nature’s Continuing Creation: The Growing, Organizing, Direction of the Cosmos.”
  
  
• We also agree with Spinoza’s argument that Nature is not a super-person and does not have intent or feelings.
  
  
• But rather than describing God or Nature as a basic “substance,” we say it is the set of Interrelated Creative Processes that work on and with substances by channeling energy into and through creative steps. These Processes include Emergence, Evolution, Innovation, Complexity, and many more. (See our Essay, Nature Creates Increasingly Complex Systems.)
  
  
• Since today’s Judeo-Christian and Muslim Creationists have laid claim to their own traditional description of God as a personal, redeeming, conversational Super-being, we are comfortable only with our term, Nature’s Continuing Creation, and not the Biblical-Muslim word, “God.”
  
  
• Of course, the Cosmos will not always grow and self-organize at all its locations. Earth could be destroyed by any one of multiple disasters. (For example, see our Essay, Overpopulation Threatens Nature’s Creation.) But even then, Earthlings and/or their intelligent robots may have successfully decamped to one or more of the six million Earth-like planets and/or moons estimated to exist in our Milky Way Galaxy. ⁹ And if we properly care for our planet, Humans could continue to live on Earth for hundreds of thousands of years.
  

9. Naturalism, ~1700 to Today  

In philosophy, Naturalism is the idea that only natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe. “Ontological Naturalism” connects to Ontology, the philosophical study of what exists. Philosophers often equate naturalism with materialism. 

Naturalism is not so much a coherent philosophical system as a point of view shared by several philosophical and religious systems. This perspective regards Nature as the original and fundamental source of all that exists, and it attempts to explain everything in terms of Nature. Theists challenge the idea that Nature contains all of reality; however, some theists hold that natural laws may be viewed as secondary causes employed by God or by Gods. Pantheists believe that Nature is at one with divinity (but they usually do not recognize a personal, personified, anthropomorphic God). In the Far East, Naturalism was the foundation of two out of six orthodox schools and one heterodox school of Hinduism. ¹⁰ 

Western metaphysical naturalism originated in ancient Greek philosophy. The early pre-Socratic philosophers, because they investigated natural causes, often excluded any role for gods in the creation or operation of the world. This eventually led to fully developed systems such as Epicureanism, which sought to explain everything that exists as the result of atoms falling and swerving in a void.

With the rise and dominance of Christianity in the West and the later spread of Islam in the Middle East, Naturalism was generally abandoned by intellectuals. There is little evidence for it in medieval philosophy.

Thomas Hobbes was a proponent of naturalism in ethics.  He acknowledged normative truths and properties in his 1651 book, Leviathan.  During the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, naturalist (non-religious) writers like Baruch Spinoza, David Hume, Denis Diderot, and Julien La Mettrie wrote their treatises.  Around 1800, a form of “natural philosophy” was developed and structured by Friedrich von Schelling and Georg Hegel. The philosopher Immanuel Kant wrote his renowned Critique of Pure Reason (1781 & 87), which argues that all our experiences and the objects of experience are mere “appearances” of our minds… but still not manifestations of, or from, a Christian “God.”  

In the 20th century, George Santayana (1863-1952), and other philosophers argued that science and philosophy are not always distinct from one another, but instead form a continuum. Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation agrees.

A politicized version of naturalism that has arisen in contemporary philosophy is writer Ayn Rand‘s “Objectivism.”  Rand’s Objectivism is an expression of capitalist ethical idealism within a naturalistic framework.  An example of a more progressive naturalistic philosophy is “Secular Humanism.”

10. Humanism, ~1700 to today

Humanism (principally from the Renaissance until today) is a philosophy and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively. Like Positivism, Humanism champions critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over religious dogma and superstition. Humanism generally affirms the notions of human freedom and progress. It views humans as capable of and responsible for developing their own individual lives. ¹¹

During the Renaissance, Leonardo Da Vinci drew “Man at the center of all things.”

Humanism has a rich history, dating back to the earliest world religions and the philosophies of Ancient Greece. After the Medieval Age, the Western Renaissance (1300-1600) reinvigorated the admiration of Greek philosophy and the promotion of human values and ideals.

Humanism received a further boost from Europe’s “Age of Enlightenment“ (1700s). The Enlightenment centered on the sovereignty of reason and the evidence of the senses as the primary sources of knowledge and advanced ideals such as liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state. ¹² The Enlightenment was marked by an emphasis on the scientific method.

It is commonly said that for Humanists, “Man [not a mythical God] is the Measure of All Things.” ¹³

Today, Humanism usually refers to nontheistic living that understands the world through science rather than through revelations from a supernatural source.  In most people’s minds, Humanism is also linked to Secularism; in fact, the combination is known as Secular Humanism.  In 2004, the American Humanist Association, along with other groups representing agnostics, atheists, and other freethinkers, joined to create the Secular Coalition for America. This organization advocates in Washington, DC, and nationally for the separation of church and state and for the greater acceptance of nontheistic Americans.

Most modern Atheists and Agnostics would say that Humanism, not religion, provides the foundation of their morality and ethics. Almost all Humanists advocate the strict separation of Church and State, as is written in the Constitution of the United States.

In 1948, the United Nations published its Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which demarcates individual rights from the powers of government.  Here is a summary of its thirty articles:

• Articles 1–2 established the basic concepts of dignity, liberty, and equality.
• Articles 3–5 established other individual rights, such as the right to life and the prohibition of slavery and torture.
• Articles 6–11 addressed the fundamental legality of human rights, providing specific remedies for violations thereof.
• Articles 12–17 established the rights of the individual towards the community (including such things as freedom of movement).
• Articles 18–21 sanctioned the so-called “constitutional liberties, with spiritual, public, and political freedoms, such as freedom of thought, opinion, religion, and conscience, word, and peaceful association of the individual.
• Articles 22–27 guaranteed an individual’s economic, social, and cultural rights, including access to healthcare and other essential services. Article 25 states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing, and medical care and necessary social services.” It also makes additional accommodations for security in case of physical debilitation or disability, and specifically mentions care provided to those in motherhood or childhood.
• Articles 28–30 established the general principles of using Human Rights, the areas in which these rights of the individual cannot be applied, and those in which they cannot be overridden by governmental actions against the individual.

Humanists argue that decisions about right and wrong must be based on the individual and common good, with no consideration given to metaphysical or supernatural beings. The ultimate goal is human flourishing, which involves making life better for all humans.

It is important to note that Nature is held to be the source of all the good qualities and methods within Humanism. In other words, since Nature is fundamentally good at its core, Humankind is also fundamentally good at its core, and the evils that humans both commit and endure result from humans not acting naturally and thus distorting Nature. And so, Humanism is optimistic about humankind and our future.

Practitioners in Nature’s Continuing Creation hold that human beings are not good at the root. Our genetic makeup encompasses both cooperation and competition, as well as both peace and warfare. 

Travelers on Our Path argue that Humanism is too focused on humans. Today, we view constant (and often maudlin) advertisements on cable television to give money in support of disadvantaged humans, and to rescue abused dogs and cats, while appeals to rescue endangered species from extinction are few and far between. Even rarer are the more critical appeals to save the ecosystems that support all life on our Earth.  (For more discussion of these issues, see our Essays, “Overpopulation Threatens Continuing Creation” and “Radical Sharing & Universal Love Don’t Work.”) 

While modern environmentalism continues to persuade more Humanists to promote the welfare of the planet as a whole, the Humanist focus so far has remained on doing good for humans in the present.  So far, Humanism does not appear to have made a concerted effort to incorporate the well-being of the Earth and its ecosphere into its core concerns. The Weave of Nature’s Continuing Creation sees this as a clear Shortcoming in Humanist Doctrine.

Weavers in Nature’s Continuing Creation say that the well-being of the environment is just as important as the well-being of humans. Our stance leads to choices that differ significantly from those of Humanists. For example, if we were faced with a stark choice between saving the lives of 20,000 children somewhere on Earth, or saving the last 20,000 honeybees anywhere on Earth, we hold that the only moral and practical choice would be to save the honeybees. We doubt that Humanists would agree. Instead, they would strive to do both… and likely end up doing neither.

11. Deism, ~1750 CE

Deism arose in the 1700s, in Europe and North America. Deism rejects revelation (divine word or knowledge given directly by God) as a source of religious knowledge and asserts that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to establish the non-existence of a Supreme Being or Creator of the universe. ¹⁴

From the time of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), Christian thought had recognized two sources for the knowledge of God: Revelation (i.e., biblical scripture) and natural Reason.

But during the Age of Enlightenment (circa 1700-1800), especially in Britain and France, “Deist” philosophers began to reject revelation as a source of knowledge. The following positions are common expressions of Deism, but not all Deists held every one of these positions.

• Having absorbed Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Classical Physics (the law of gravity, laws of motion, etc.), most Deists regarded God as a “watchmaker;” a distant Creator and “First Mover” who constructed and wound up the universe, set it in motion, and then “stepped away.”
• Having established Nature’s fundamental natural laws, God didn’t need to keep tinkering with his creation.  He could let it grow and watch it evolve.
  
  

  The God of Deism Is like a Great Watchmaker who steps back when the watch is finished and running.

• Deists rejected the possibility of miracles. (Although some Deists continued to accept the possibility of miracles, because the Deist God was still all-powerful and could do anything at all, including temporarily bypassing his own natural laws!)
• It seemed clear to many Deists that God did not “reach down” to intervene in the lives of individual humans. Consequently, they concluded it was pointless to pray to a God who wouldn’t grant miracles. In other words, they rejected the idea of a personal God.
• However, many Deists tried to live as though God exists, and kept trying to believe in Him, as insurance against going to hell if God really does (as advised by “Pascal’s Wager.”)
• With the denial of revelation as a source of truth, Deists progressed to rejecting all “sacred” books, including the Bible, which claimed to contain divine revelation.
• The Deists rejected the mystical notion of the Trinity being “God in Three Persons.” God could not logically be One Person and Three Persons at the same time.
• And Deists rejected other religious “mysteries” – such as Yahweh speaking from a burning bush, Jesus’ walking on water and rising from the dead, and the transubstantiation of properly blessed wine and bread into the blood and flesh of Christ during Catholic mass.

Although most Christian Deists rejected the divinity of Jesus, they generally accepted Jesus as a historical figure and held him in high regard as a moral teacher.  One of them, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), produced a Bible in which all the miracles were edited out, known today as The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth Extracted Textually from the Gospels in Greek, Latin, French & English.  Several other American revolutionary leaders, including Thomas Paine and Benjamin Franklin, were also Deists.

Many Deists considered themselves to be “True Christians” because they understood that the real truth of Jesus was his great moral teaching. Deists thought these moral truths were the essence of Christianity.  Moreover, since these truths are timeless, Deists often held that they predated Jesus’ teachings. This was the thrust of Matthew Tindal’s (1657-1733) Christianity as Old as the Creation, published in 1730, which came to be called “The Bible of Deism.”

Another premise of Deism was that the religions of the day were corruptions of an original, pure, natural, simple, and rational religion. Humanity lost this original religion when it was subsequently corrupted by “priests” who manipulated it for personal gain and for the class interests of the priesthood. They believed it was this self-serving that encrusted the Bible and the Catholic Church with superstitions and “mysteries” – irrational theological doctrines. They referred to this manipulation of religious doctrine as “priestcraft,” an intensely derogatory term. ¹⁵ Deists declared that laymen were thus kept dependent on the priesthood for information about the requirements for salvation and baffled by these “mysteries,” giving the priesthood a position of great power, which they worked to maintain and increase. Deists saw it as their mission to strip away “priestcraft” and “mysteries.” Tindal wrote that this was the proper original role of the true Christian Church.

Deism as a distinct intellectual movement declined toward the end of the 18th century and eventually disappeared. However, many of its tenets continue to live on as part of other intellectual movements – including Unitarianism (now Unitarian Universalism) and our own Path of Nature’s Continuing Creation.

The following quote from Albert Einstein (1879-1955) offers a good Deistic description of God:

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds. That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”
               — Albert Einstein

Participants in Nature’s Continuing Creation agree that the laws of physics are fundamental and most likely appeared (or “separated out” or “froze out”) at the Big Bang or Original Singularity. ¹⁶ However, we cannot say if there was a God e.g., a “Prime Mover,” a “Watchmaker,” who existed prior to, outside of, and/or created the Big Bang/Original Singularity. Therefore, we cannot say if The Watchmaker “stepped away” after “making the Watch.”

We likely can never say with certainty that there is no “God,” no all-knowing intelligence that created the laws of physics and the Big Bang. To say that, we would have to be able to see back before the beginning of time and before the universe existed. But since we humans are part of the universe, we cannot “stand outside” the universe to see if God is located there.

It’s just simpler to start with what we perceive and know. We are familiar with the concept of the “Big Bang.” We perceive the Processes of Continuing Creation happening all around us in chemistry, biology, technology, and culture.  In this book, we have described many examples of complexity emerging from simplicity.  Why not let the very evident Processes of Continuing Creation themselves be the source of our spirituality?   

Followers of Continuing Creation reject Deism’s “watchmaker” analogy.  While a pocket watch is indeed designed and hand-made by a creator (a human creator), living things are not.  Instead, modern science informs us that bacteria, plants, and animals have evolved on Earth over millions of years.  (See our Essays on Evolution, including “Answering Evolution’s Critics.”) 

We agree with Deism that there is no personal God who responds to prayerful requests or to animal sacrifices.  We also agree that the Bible, the Koran, and other “sacred” books do not contain wisdom that is fundamentally more significant than, say, the wisdom found in Plato’s Dialogues or Aesop’s Fables.  While most Practitioners of Continuing Creation hold that Jesus was a real person, none of us would say that Jesus was God or the biological Son of God. During his mortal life, Jesus was, in many respects, a wise teacher, although he overemphasized equal sharing and underemphasized cultural and technological creativity and progress.  (See our Essays, Evaluating Jesus’ Teaching; and Radical Sharing and Universal Love Don’t Work.) 

Note:  For a more detailed explication of the Path of Continuing Creation’s position on the beginning of the Universe, see Appendix A to this Essay. 

Above: The “Drake Equation:” a probabilistic argument used to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in our Milky Way Galaxy.^“

In Deism, God has all four of His “Omni Powers,” but he elects not to use them on day-to-day things here on Earth. After starting the world, He has “stepped back.”  Why would He do that?  The traditional Abrahamic explanation is that God stepped back and allowed evil because Humans disappointed him by committing “Original Sin” in the Garden of Eden. Deists rejected that idea because (a) it would mean that God is vindictive and not omnibenevolent, and (b) the Garden of Eden story is simply too far-fetched (and the traditional ideas of Heaven and Hell are even more far-fetched).

Given today’s knowledge about the vastness of the universe, we hold that Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation have likely started the evolution of millions of life forms in other solar systems, thousands of which may well be intelligent. (For support, see this link: “The Drake Equation”). If this is true, there’s no reason why the Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation would “favor” the life on Earth over the life on any other suitable planet.

12. Unitarianism & Universalism ~1774

Unitarianism began in the mid-1600s in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and in Transylvania as a Christian theological movement named for its belief that the God in Christianity is one person not a Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Most Unitarian Christians also believe that Jesus was inspired by God in his moral teachings, but that Jesus is not a biological Son of God, nor is Jesus “God incarnate.”

• In England, the first Unitarian Church was established in 1774 in London. From colonial times through the 1850s, Unitarianism gained widespread popularity in the American Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
• In 1961, the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America, to form the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), whose members are called Unitarian-Universalists (“UU’s”). Approximately 800,000 people identify themselves as Unitarian Universalists today, with 200,000 residing in the United States. “UU-ism” is very much an active spiritual (and/or secular-spiritual) movement in North America today.

In addition to their objection to the Trinity, Unitarian Universalists are known for rejecting the doctrines of original sin, predestination, and the infallibility of the Bible. Also, most UU’s do not believe in the existence of punishment in an eternal hell.

The Lighted Chalice —
Symbol of Unitarian Universalism

Today, many Unitarian Universalists are not Christians or even theists. A large number of them draw morality and inspiration from several (or even all) world religions and from secular philosophy. Many UUs would consider themselves to be followers of Process Theology or Process Philosophy. Others describe themselves as UU-Buddhists, UU-Agnostics, or UU-Christians.

Unitarians place emphasis on the ultimate role of reason in interpreting everything they read. Freedom of conscience and freedom of the pulpit are core values. Study and new experiences can lead to new teachings and community practice. Unitarians affirm each individual’s freedom of conscience.

Unitarian Universalism has no set creed or statement of faith. Instead, it promulgates the following…

The Seven Principles of Unitarian Universalism:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
2. Justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.
3. Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations.
4. A free and responsible search for truth and meaning.
5. The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large.
6. The goal of a world community, with peace, liberty, and justice for all.
7. Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

Under discussion is an “Eighth Principle” which in part calls for: “…Creating Beloved Community… by dismantling racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.”

As a Unitarian Universalist Minister, The Reverend Barbara Wells ten Hove explains, “The Principles are not dogma or doctrine, but rather a guide for those of us who choose to join and participate in Unitarian Universalist religious communities.” (See https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe/principles.)   

The Six Sources of the Unitarian Universalist Living Tradition:

“UUs” draw their beliefs and spirituality mainly from the following “Six Sources”…

1. “Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces which create and uphold life;
2. “Words and deeds of prophetic people which challenge us to confront powers and structures of evil with justice, compassion, and the transforming power of love.
3. “Wisdom from the world’s religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.
4. “Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God’s love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
5. “Humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science, and warn us against idolatries of the mind and spirit.
6. “Spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which celebrate the sacred circle of life and instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.”

The Seven Principles and the Six Sources of the Unitarian Universalist Association grew out of grassroots UU communities, were affirmed democratically, and “are part of who we [Unitarian Universalists] are.”

UU’s Unity Temple, a UU church designed by
Frank Lloyd Wright, Oak Park, IL

Most Travelers on the Path of Continuing Creation would be able to fit into a Unitarian Universalist Congregation. However, many Travelers on Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation would argue that the UU Principles overlook the critical roles of creativity, science, and technology in addressing the problems of healthcare, ecology, and social injustice. 

Many Co-Creators on Our Path would also say that equal love for all human beings fails to recognize our naturally stronger bonds with family, friends, and shared cultures over our concerns for human beings in general.   

Many People following the Way of Continuing Creation would also find that UU-ism overemphasizes political demands for world resource sharing and underemphasizes “world creating,” i.e., the creative power of concentrated capital, including financial, human, and informational capital — to solve world problems through science, technology, peace, and innovation.

Note: Your author, who writes under the pen name J.X. Mason, has been an active Unitarian-Universalist for over twenty-five years. This book is partly a result of his own “free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” He has “sought wisdom from the world’s religions,” and from the “spiritual teachings of Earth-centered traditions which… instruct us to live in harmony with the rhythms of nature.”  Mason fully supports UU’s Principles, listed above, none of which are in conflict with the tenets of Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation.  

13. Pantheism & Panentheism, ~1828

Pantheism and the lesser-known Panentheism can be thought of as theologies (just as Deism is). However, they are usually treated as important characteristics of various theologies and belief systems.

Pantheism is a significant aspect of Nature’s Ongoing Creation. Pantheism says that God (or Nature’s Continuing Creation, “NCC”) and the Universe are one and the same thing. God (~our NCC) did not create a universe that stands outside of Himself (itself), or which is smaller or lesser than Himself. Pantheism is the belief that the “divine” pervades and interpenetrates every part of the universe, but it does not extend to some “Source-of-the-Divine” that is beyond space and time.

 
For more about Nature’s repeating spiral pattern, see our Essay, “Mathematics Evolves in Nature’s Continuing Creation.”

While Pantheistic concepts date back thousands of years, Pantheism was popularized in Western culture as a theology and philosophy based on the work of philosopher Baruch Spinoza, particularly his book, Ethics (1655). ¹⁷

In contrast to Pantheism, Panentheism says that God is in everything in the universe, but that some portion (likely a huge portion) of God also exists outside (or beyond, or before) the universe. Therefore, God “as a whole” is greater than the universe as a whole. ¹⁸

However, the Path of Nature’s Continuing Creation also differs from pantheism. Pantheism says “The Ultimate” is everything, while Nature’s Continuing Creation is about the creative systems of the Universe. Those are the systems that have a flow-through of energy that creates something. Such systems include evolution, natural selection, steam engines, radio communications, and poets writing poems.  (Note: A rock sitting somewhere in outer space is usually not part of a creative system, although over eons or time, that rock might run into a moon and create a crater. Destruction and erosion can be creative, but usually only over the long, long term.)

14. Transcendentalism, ~1830 

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s, primarily among American Unitarians (a dominant religion of that time in Boston) who felt that their traditional church doctrine was overly intellectual. However, Transcendentalism did affirm the Unitarian Principle that every individual has the right to freely pursue their own spiritual path, provided their search is earnest and the path is moral.

Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating original insights with little attention and deference to past masters. Transcendentalists saw divine experience inherent in the everyday, rather than believing in a distant heaven. Transcendentalists saw physical and spiritual phenomena as part of dynamic processes rather than discrete entities.

As in Humanism, a core belief of Transcendentalism is in the inherent goodness of people and Nature. ¹⁹ Transcendentalists believe (as do Romantics, discussed elsewhere in the Essay) that society and its institutions have corrupted the natural goodness and purity of the individual, and they have faith that people are at their best when they are “self-reliant” and independent.

Thoreau’s Walden Pond
Near Concord, MA

However, Transcendentalists go beyond the Humanist stance to emphasize the powerful spiritual uplift that individuals can experience through direct personal encounters with interpersonal love and with direct experiences of the great outdoors. The noted Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson (who served as a Unitarian minister for a number of years) wrote this famous passage in his classic essay, Nature, published in 1836:

“Standing on the bare ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball — I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me — I am part or particle of God. The name of the nearest friend sounds then foreign and accidental: to be brothers, to be acquaintances, master or servant, is then a trifle, and a disturbance. I am a lover of uncontained and immortal beauty.”            
                  — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Spiritual Unity through appreciation of Nature is also a central theme of Henry David Thoreau’s transcendentalist memoir, “Walden; or Life in the Woods. Thoreau built a tiny cabin at Walden Pond, near Concord, MA, and lived there from 1845-47.  In Walden, Thoreau extolled the beauty of leading a simple life of “being in the now,” as we would say today.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”
            — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Thoreau was more than a profound philosopher and writer. In the second half of his life, he efficiently ran his family’s pencil factory. He invented a method to produce wooden pencils using machines, rather than by hand, a technique that is still used today.  He also began adding clay to the pencils’ graphite, resulting in non-smearing handwriting. This (and other) successful works of practical engineering make Thoreau doubly admired in the eyes of Nature’s Continuing Creationists.  ²⁰ Thoreau opposed the United States’ War with Mexico (1846-1848) and went to jail for refusing to pay his taxes because the money would support that war.

Transcendentalism emerged from English and German Romanticism, the skepticism of David Hume, the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, and German Idealism in general. ²¹ Transcendentalism was also influenced by Hindu texts on the philosophy of the mind and spirituality. (See our Essay, Evaluating Hinduism.)

Romanticism — An antecedent of Transcendentalism, Romanticism (peaking between 1800 and 1850) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism, as well as the glorification of the past and the natural world. It preferred medieval art and architecture to classical styles.  Romanticism was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the seemingly “cold” scientific analysis of nature. Romanticism wanted to return to a more natural, heroic, “romantic” age. ²²

German Idealism — An antecedent of both Romanticism and Transcendentalism, German Idealism (1780s – 1830s) held that the human self (or “transcendental ego”) constructs understanding out of sense impressions by classifying them under universal “categories” that Idealist philosophers considered to be innate in the human mind. The categories included Unity, sexuality, plurality, totality, reality, negation, limitation, substance, property, cause and effect, community, possibility and impossibility, existence and non-existence, and necessary and contingent. German Idealist philosophers included Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854), and Georg Hegel (1770-1831).

Several Essays in Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation recognize Transcendental experience as an important part of our secular-spiritual lives. It is wonderful to feel “aglow” in the presence of a loved child or partner, in contemplation of a sunset at sea, in the sight of light filtered through green leaves, in beautiful music, in the symmetry of pattern, poetry, and mathematics, and in a million other wonderful things of our world. Each such experience prompts a transcendental feeling of awe and personal wholeness with all of Nature. However, Continuing Creation holds that transcendental experiences are not “better” or “higher” than practical experiences in the real world, nor must they rely on reason, analytic thinking, and active building – they are simply different.

15. Positivism ~1856

Today, when we say a person is “positive,” we mean that they have an optimistic, confident, and forward-thinking attitude. While such an attitude is certainly an enabling virtue among Weavers of Continuing Creation, the Philosophy of Positivism (circa 1750-1880) means something different – it has to do with how “positive” we can be about the accuracy of our facts and knowledge.

The philosophy of Positivism states that in order for knowledge to be valid and certain, it must be based on natural phenomena. Thus, information derived from sensory experience, interpreted through reason and logic, is the source of all certainty. ²³ Positivism holds that “positive” knowledge, i.e., valid knowledge or objective truth, is found only in this experience-derived (a posteriori) knowledge.

Verified data (positive facts) received from the senses, including data from observation and experimentation, are known as empirical evidence; thus, positivism is based on Empiricism.

Positivism also holds that society, like the physical world, operates according to general laws. Introspective and intuitive knowledge is rejected, as are metaphysics and theology, because metaphysical and theological claims cannot be verified by sense experience coupled with reason. Since we cannot demonstrate that people rise from the dead, Participants in Nature’s Continuing Creation do not believe that Jesus did so.

Today, the positivist toolbox for research and experimentation includes validity, reliability, replicability, and peer review of published studies.

In books written between 1830 and 1848, the philosopher Auguste Comte extended Positivism to cover the newly developing social sciences. He believed that the certainty of science decreases as we move from physics to chemistry, decreases again as we move to biology, and again as we come to the new science of sociology. However, Comte argued that sociology could be empirically studied quite effectively through the use of statistical methods.

Comte went on to develop Positivism into a “Religion of Humanity.” His view was that society had evolved from a theocracy to an aristocracy to a democracy. Comte’s democracy is a liberal democracy, meaning that individual rights and freedoms are protected against tyranny through the rule of law and the separation of powers.

Diagram of the Scientific Method

More recently, anti-positivists and even some modern skeptics would argue that humans are too dominated by innate core instincts (for survival, sex, domination, sexism, racism, confirmation bias, etc.) and cognitive biases (confirmation bias, ambiguity effect, anthropomorphizing, the clustering illusion, the “Ben Franklin effect,” etc.) to permit us to ever declare that any knowledge is in fact objective. Since all human knowledge lies in the human mind, it is all subjective and uncertain. Today, many modern physicists believe that the best truth we can hope for in particle physics is “model-dependent truth,” also called “model-dependent realism.” (We discuss this more thoroughly in our various Essays on science.)

Nature’s Continuing Creation acknowledges that a significant number of modern physicists are skeptical about ever achieving certainty in the science of physics.  Many of them argue that the best we can achieve is “model-dependent” truths or model-dependent realism. (We discuss these topics further in other Essays.) Weavers in Continuing Creation make every effort to apply Positivism everywhere we can so that we can get close to finding the objective truth.  When we examine natural history and human history, we perceive a clear progression of complexity – from atoms to molecules, to organisms, and to cultures. Even if the fundamental structure of subatomic physics is unclear, as it is today, model-dependent truths are objective enough to have given us lasers, CAT scans, cellphones, solar power, gene editing, and other advances in science.  For Travelers in Continuing Creation, this is the ultimate measure of real-world progress.

16. Darwinism (Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution), 1859

Darwinism is the term used to describe the theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the Process of Natural Selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. The Process of Natural Selection has since been widely used to accurately explain Cultural Evolution and Technological Evolution.

17. Process Theology, 1885 to Today

Process Theology emphasizes events instead of substances. It is about dynamic change rather than static existence.  (Wikipedia also has related articles on Process Philosophy and Process Theory.)

Process Theology looks at the suffering of the world and concludes that God (we say “Nature’s Continuing Creation, NCC”) does not have a full complement of “Omni Powers.” Since there is suffering and evil, God must not be simultaneously omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnibenevolent.

If God is short on any one of the categories… let’s say, omnibenevolence… and we know that misfortune and evil do exist, then: 

• If God/NCC lacks power, he may not be able to correct evil or ensure good outcomes.
• If God/NCC lacks knowledge of the misfortune, then He [Her, It] won’t know how to correct it.
• If God/NCC lacks perfect goodness, then He, [Her, or It] won’t care about eliminating all evil.

Process Theology is more realistic.  It says, “Yes, God’s (NCC’s) powers and processes are working, and working in a positive direction, but they are not yet working perfectly.” The Processes have not yet achieved their ultimate goal, the “Omega Point” of final perfection.

Catholic priest and Process Theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) coined the term “Omega Point” to refer to the maximum level of complexity, consciousness, and justice towards which he believed the universe was evolving. Process Theology asserts that it is the responsibility of God’s (Continuing Creation’s) human agents on Earth to assist God in achieving an Omega Point of universal health, peace, prosperity, and justice.

In doing so, Humans will not only help the universe improve, but we will also help God (for us, Nature’s Continuing Creation) become more complete and perfect.  In other words, God (Nature’s Continuing Creation) is Himself (itself) an improving, growing process.  (Of course, people on our own Secular-Spiritual Path already know that.)

Note: Many Christians would argue that the judgmental and vengeful God of the Old Testament has already been replaced by the forgiving and loving God of the New Testament. Or that a vengeful God transformed into a loving God through the life and death of Jesus. In any case, the New Testament still includes the bizarre Book of Revelation, which describes the Apocalypse, featuring the Seven-headed Dragon, the Beast, the Serpent, war, famine, and plague — so much for a “loving” God. 

Process Theology says that the Perfection of God is not at the start of human history (i.e., with Adam and Eve), but at its end.

What will that Omega Point look like? Well, for traditional Christians, it will be a wonderful family life, including human-like bodies, here on Earth or in Heaven (depending on your denomination). Hindus and Zen practitioners, who traditionally believe that the real world of hunger, disease, and war will never be improved, hold that the Omega Point is a mystical union of human consciousness with Godly consciousness,called Brahman or Nirvana, respectively.

Weavers in Nature’s Continuing Creation are not sure we will reach an Omega Point, although we certainly work toward achieving it.  If we do attain it, it will be here on Earth, and/or on other planets and moons we may occupy, not in some imaginary Heaven.  It will feature less suffering, justice within and between all races and all species, environmental sustainability, challenge, learning, discovery, rewarding relationships, and a good deal of health and happiness.

Alfred North Whitehead

Process Theology was principally originated by the English mathematician and philosopher, Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947).  With his student Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), Dr. Whitehead wrote Principia Mathematica, (~1925), a landmark attempt to derive all of mathematics from a single set of logical axioms. His equally famous philosophical works were written later in his life, including The Concept of Nature (1920) and Process and Reality (1929).

Process Theology’s emphasis on dynamic change over static substance partly evolved from German Idealism, including the philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804).

        Seven of the Tenets of Process Theology:

• God is not omnipotent in the sense of being powerfully commanding and coercive. The Divine is powerfully persuasive, rather than coercive.  He attracts rather than compels.
• God (we say Nature’s Continuing Creation or “NCC”) affects and is also affected by the world (including human actions). Thus, humans play a crucial role in shaping the Evolution of the Future.
• Reality is not made up of material substances that endure through time, but of serially ordered events, which are experiential in nature.
• The universe is characterized by process and change. Self-determination characterizes everything in the universe (e.g., through emergence and evolution), not just human beings. God/NCC does not force anything to happen but rather gives Earth’s living creatures choices between different paths. (For non-conscious entities, like the pinecone on a tree, the “choice” is simply a range of probabilities about where its seed might fall.)
• Some versions of Process Theology embrace Pantheism (see above). Because God/NCC and the changing universe are one, and whenever the universe changes, so does God/NCC. In other words, God/NCC is affected by the actions that take place in the universe over the course of time. Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation agrees with this interpretation.  

The “Noosphere” of communicated knowledge

• People do not experience personal immortality, but they may have a kind of immortality in that their experiences live on forever “in God,” who contains all that ever lived within His Consciousness (or the Brahman). Continuing Natural Creation’s Followers would say, “probably not in “God’s Consciousness,” but surely in the very real accumulation of history, digital information, technology, and culture, which Teilhard de Chardin calls the “noosphere.”
  
  
• Process theology affirms that God is at work in all persons to actualize their potential. Each world religion is a manifestation of the Divine working in a unique cultural way to bring out the beautiful and the good. Practitioners of Nature’s Continuing Creation (NCC) emphasize that not all people will attain actualization due to their own faults, chance, or the imperfection of the Processes of the NCC itself.

Note: The above list of tenets is from “Philosophy of Religion,” (Chapter 6), a course offered at CUNY.  (Go to:
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/phil_of_religion_text/CHAPTER_6_PROBLEM_of_EVIL/Process_Theology.htm.)

Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation is pantheistic rather than panentheistic.  We hold that the Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation are “in and of” everything. Those processes (systems, patterns, and information) organize the emergence of every event and every single material thing that is more elaborate than a quark or an electron.  Many of the things created (e.g., volcanoes, leaves, humans, computers) themselves carry out other Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation (NCC). 

Weavers in NCC see a Directional arrow — in both natural history and recorded history.  For us, it is an arrow of increasing organized complexity.  However, we are less confident that human goodness will ultimately prevail.  Distant increased complexity may involve computers and robots more than it does human beings.  Followers of Nature’s Continuing Creation generally hold that the physical and social worlds are being improved. Therefore, we can direct the workaday world toward an “Omega Point” that is a land of freedom, justice, and physical prosperity here on Earth – for humans, other living things, and ecosystems. 

Harvard Professor Steven Pinker is more optimistic. His 2011 book, The Better Angels of Our Nature; Why Violence Has Declined, makes a persuasive case that, over the long run, violence is being replaced with peace.  Other scholars, including R. Brian Ferguson, Robert Epstein, John N. Gray, Craig S. Lerner, and Edwin S. Herman disagree with Dr. Pinker.  For a synopsis of Dr. Pinker’s book, see: Peter Singer, “Is Violence History? A review of The Better Angels of Our Nature,” New York Times, October 11, 2011. For more on the views of Dr. Pinker’s opponents, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Better_Angels_of_Our_Nature. 

Today, many conventionally religious people have adopted a form of Process Theology. They would say that God is “incarnate” in the lives of all people when they act according to a “call” from God. Some Christians would say Jesus was not God, but rather a human who was “perfectly synchronized with God at all moments of life.” Muslims would say the same thing about Muhammad, and certain Tibetan Buddhists would make the same claim for the Dalai Lama. 

18. Process Philosophy, 1914 to Today

Although Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) labored to keep a place for God in their writings on Process Theology, before too long, other thinkers were applying and extending their ideas without mention of God, and this effort is now known as Process Philosophy. (Clearly, Process Philosophy harks back to Baruch Spinoza.)  Wikipedia defines Process Philosophy as an approach in philosophy that identifies processes, changes, or shifting relationships as the only real experience of everyday living. In opposition to the classical view of change as illusory (as argued by Parmenides) or accidental (as argued by Aristotle), process philosophy posits transient occasions of change or becoming as the only fundamental things of the ordinary, everyday real world.

        The Book of Continuing Creation is more in tune with Process Philosophy than it is with Process Theology, although the latter has a more developed literature. We also agree that change (impermanence) is fundamental in life. But so are other things, including air, water, and the laws of physics. 

Wikipedia says that the following thinkers “appeal to process rather than substance:” the Buddha, Heraclitus, Friedrich Nietzsche, Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Alfred North Whitehead, Alan Watts, Robert M. Pirsig, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and others. In physics, Ilya Prigogine distinguishes between the “physics of being” and the “physics of becoming.”  All of these philosophers can be called “Forefathers” of our book about Nature’s Continuing Creation. 

Today, we see that the explanatory power of the science of process has outstripped both the older Process Theology and Process Philosophy. Processes are now widely studied in many fields of engineering and science, including chemistry, biology, political science, education, sociology, and complexity theory. (See our Essay, Complexity and Continuing Creation.)

The book you are now reading, Nature’s Path of Continuing Creation, is a direct descendant of Process Theology & Process Philosophy. Our book shows how Purpose, Meaning, and transcendence (e.g.  “Spirituality”) can be achieved in our human lives by following not a supernatural God but by participating in the Natural Processes of Continued Creating. Ours is a “Secular-Spiritual“ Path that is true to Nature, Reason, Science, and factual History, without any myths or miracle stories.

19. Being & Becoming, ~1914

Being and Becoming (or Being versus Becoming) are important topics within Process Theology and Process Philosophy. “Being and Becoming” is also important in the philosophies of Existentialism and Pragmatism, which we will take up shortly.

Process theologians and philosophers share the guiding idea that natural existence consists of modes of becoming and types of occurrences. They hold that the world is an assembly of physical, organic, social, and cognitive systems that interact at and across levels of dynamic organization. Since change never stops (and, in fact, seems to be accelerating), natural existence is more about Becoming than Being; the dynamic is more prevalent and more important than the static.

As a result, Process Philosophy casts a wider net than materialism, because it addresses not just material things – such as rocks and molecules – but also non-material, relational things like games, strategies, developments, laws, transformations, and consciousness, all of which are worthy of study and explanation. A traffic jam is not really a “thing.” It is an event, a system, and a process. Like all events, systems, and processes, traffic jams have typical causes, sequences, and resolutions that take place over time.

If we say that processes, and not things in our world, are basic entities, we can reason about phenomena like quantum entanglement, computation, government, metabolism, climate change, spacetime, mind, morality, war, health, and beauty.

Process philosophy also allows us to connect science to the rich tradition of reflection in the great schools of Eastern thought. Thus, the famous physicist Fritjof Capra (1939- ) published a best-seller called The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism in 1975.  Science writer Gary Zukav would also write a best-seller, The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics, in 1979.

20. Pragmatism, ~1930

Both Newton’s and Einstein’s laws of physics usefully work, even if they do so in different circumstances. Therefore, they are “real and true knowledge” for Followers of Nature’s Continuing Creation. The Practice of Nature’s Continuing Creation is pragmatic: Our mission in life is to grow, design, and build what works — providing we take side effects into account.

Pragmatists contend that most philosophical topics—such as the nature of knowledge, language, concepts, meaning, belief, and science—are all best viewed in terms of their practical uses and successes. Words and thoughts are not just descriptive, they are also tools for prediction, problem solving, and taking action.

John Dewey,
American Educator
“Learn By Doing”

Pragmatism holds that the most important aspect of any one thing (or event) is what that thing/event is doing to all the other things and events around it and coming after it.

Pragmatism as a philosophical movement began in the United States in the 1870s. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is given credit for its development, along with later twentieth-century contributors, including the two Americans William James (1841-1910), author of The Varieties of Religious Experience, and the famed educator John Dewey. (1859-1952), who championed “Learning By Doing.” ²⁴

Co-Creators in Natural Continuing Creation agree with Pragmatism that any scientific concept or theory should be evaluated by how effectively it explains and predicts phenomena, as opposed to how accurately it describes “ultimate reality” (if “ultimate reality” can ever be described).  

Pragmatism also takes a pluralist view that there is more than one sound way to conceptualize the world and its content.  It is okay if a doctrine or science “works” in some areas, but not in others.  

However, the search for fundamental truths, for “ultimate reality” in science, should continue because, historically, this search has often succeeded in explaining more and more about the universe, and has often led to revolutionary new technologies and medical advances.

21. Existentialism, ~1950

The philosophy of Existentialism arose after the Enlightenment and after the scientific and industrial revolutions. Although it peaked around 1960, it is still very much with us today.  Existentialist thinkers were clearly aware of the human progress produced by those two revolutions, they nevertheless remained very pessimistic about the human condition. They would argue, “Yes, we have conquered one disease after another, but new ones always spring up. We have invented fantastic technologies, but we are destroying our environment with many of them.”

The phrase most quoted as an explanation of existentialism is, “Existence before Essence,” which means that Life will be lived before it is understood…  even if Life is never understood. 

What Existentialists find particularly flawed and unjust are the human systems – corrupt governments, rigged markets, bogus charities — which are supposed to deliver the benefits of science and engineering to all people, but don’t.  As Existentialists see it, one religion after another, one government after another, proves disappointing.  Moreover, human nature has not changed: we still have wars, and people are still victimized by crime and cruelty.

Many existentialists regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience. ²⁵ In the view of Existentialists, the individual’s starting point is characterized by what has been called “the existential attitude,” i.e., a sense of disorientation, confusion, or dread in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. ²⁶ Existentialists deeply fear that the meaning of life will never be found; that life will never really improve. This attitude is called “existential despair.” Our Practice of Nature’s Continuing Creation is the antidote to “existential despair.”

Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) laid the philosophical groundwork for Existentialism. They looked away from science and focused on subjective human experience, discussing dark human traits like “the will to power” and “Nihilism,” a bitter philosophy that says life fundamentally lacks knowledge, morality, and meaning.

They were followed by giant literary figures, including Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), and Albert Camus (1913-1960).  All three men wrote novels where people soldier on through life in spite of tragic human faults (Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment) and in spite of terrible medical disasters (Camus’ The Plague).

Jean-Paul Sartre

The key idea of Existentialism is this: despite the meaninglessness of existence, we must each make what we think are the correct moral choices, and act on those choices. Thus, we have the famous Existentialist saying: “Existence Before Essence,” which means we must each live, make choices, and take action even though we fail to find a religion or philosophy that tells us what the right thing to do is.

As Sartre said in his lecture, Existentialism is a Humanism: “…man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world—and defines himself afterward.” He or she can choose to be a conventionally cruel person or a conventionally good person.  ²⁷

Existentialists say that the world and human life have no meaning unless people, almost arbitrarily, give them meaning: We find ourselves existing in the world, and then we give ourselves meaning, or ‘essence’. As Sartre said, “We are condemned to be free.” This means that we have no choice but to choose, and yet we have full responsibility for our choices.

The primary virtue of Existentialism is said to be “Authenticity.” This word means that the correct choice of action for any individual is the action that is authentic to that one person; it is the action that truly reflects that person’s true inner being. Clearly, this choice is subjective and is as much an emotional as it is an intellectual choice.

Throughout this book on Nature’s Continuing Creation, we work to explain that humans have evolved to be both cooperative and competitive, and that these conflicting tendencies push and pull at our every decision. In addition, there are “good and evil” extremes in both cooperation and competition. Senseless wars that achieve nothing are extreme evils of competition.  An evil extreme of cooperation would be for humans to live in blind, thoughtless lockstep like ants do, as the North Koreans currently do, or as the fictional “Borg” do in the television series, “Star Trek.” 

Despite the presence of suffering and evil in our human condition, Followers of our Growing, Organizing, Direction agree with Existentialists that we must carry on, we must keep trying and working to make things grow and to make things better. That must be the “existential choice” for all of us Inventors, Cultivators, and Constructors in Nature’s Continuing Creation. 

However, we Co-Creators hold that Existentialists are wrong to say we can freely choose good over bad, or cooperative over competitive, because both good and bad exist within our biological makeup.  However, we can and must try to make the right choices in our behavior. 

Our Practice holds that the information in the universe is increasing (getting more complex) all the time (at least so far here on Earth, powered by the Sun’s energy flow). But human-type goodness will not necessarily increase as complexity (interconnected and organized knowledge) increases. Human values may be lost in a world that is far more complex, and yet run by and for computerized machines. Human values are not always the same as ecological values, nor are they the same as Earth’s values. The creative trend of the universe may well continue even without humans altogether. After all, we humans evolved long after the crashing meteor drove the dinosaurs to extinction; perhaps a new reign of insects or machines will rise up after our own human species is extinguished. 

22. “Ground-of-All-Being” Theology (author Paul Tillich), ~1951

  “Your ‘God’ is whatever you put your faith or trust in – i.e., Your Ultimate Concern.”                       
            — Paul Tillich, Christian Existentialist Theologian. (1886-1965)

The Christian theologian Paul Tillich (1886-1965), envisioned the “Ground of Being” theology as a profound concept that transcends traditional Abrahamic views of God. 

John Gandee, a mathematician and engineer, has written the following summary of Paul Tillich’s philosophy, focusing on how it relates to and supports the idea of “interconnection,” dated March 25, 2024. He writes:

Note: Nature’s Practice of Continuing Creation comments that the phrase “Ground of All Being” is clumsy and undefined.  Instead, we hold that our own phrase, “The Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation,” is a more defined and better name.  Also, we would not use the word “God.”  We are also uncomfortable with Tillich’s emphasis on “friendship.’  However, we very much agree with Mr. Gandee’s #4 above, “Existential Implications.” 

23. The Processes of Nature’s Continuing Creation, (the book you are now reading), 2004 to Today

Books about Process Philosophy often fail to clearly define what the “Process” is. But we define it in this book of Essays. The Process of Continuing Natural Creation: The Growing, Organizing, Direction of the Cosmos, whereby an energy flow such as we have here on Earth from our sun, combines simple components (atoms) into ever more differentiated and complex structures – molecules, simple one-celled organisms, millions of diverse complex organisms, consciousness, tools and tool use, culture, art, science, and engineering.

The Process of Photosynthesis

We can be more specific by listing out many of the sub-processes that make up the Process of Continuing Creation.  Almost anyone can easily write down such a list.  Some of the sub-processes are words that end in “-sis,” like synthesis, photosynthesis, catalysis, electrolysis, and analysis.  Others are words that end in “-ence,” like transference, transcendence, and emergence.  And there are “process words” that appear to be fairly unique, like birth, life, growth, and death.

However, the largest group of Continuing Creation sub-processes appears to be words that end in “-ion.” In no particular order, these include:

Creation,  differentiation,  combination,  organization,  elaboration,  extension,  competition,  cooperation,  fusion,  evaporation,  crystallization,  eruption,  formation,  reproduction,  invention,  fission,  radiation,  escalation,  evolution,  reaction,  ionization,  accretion,  socialization,  education,  fertilization,  dissolution,  dispersion,  creative-destruction,  democratization,  demarcation,  taxation,  representation,  delineation,  gentrification,  predation,  attraction,  group-selection,  perforation,  transformation,  erosion,  hydration,  reduction,  polymerization,  condensation,  visualization,  symbolization,  expression,  enumeration,  codification,  comprehension,  sterilization, vaccination,  mobilization,  transportation,  navigation,  decoration,  randomization,  replication,  migration, and construction. 

Of course, the list is hardly complete.  The words originate from various fields, including physics, geology, chemistry, biology, psychology, sociobiology, and political science. Some processes are “natural” (pre-human), while others are human-made. We include the human-made processes because the actions we human beings take can be important contributions to Continuing Creation.  (The current Geological Epoch, the Anthropocene, is named after us because the human effect on our planet has been so dominant.)

Many of these processes fall under the heading of Complexity Science (see our three Essays, in PART Two: Patterns and Complexity and Continuing Creation.  All of them (and many more) were included in a partial list we posted in J.X. Mason’s 2019 Journal Entry titled, What Are the Processes of Creating? 

Note that none of these processes are Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, or Omnibenevolent. Therefore, the summation of them all is not a mythical “Omni-God;” rather, their summation is the very real and imperfect “Processes of Earth & Cosmos,” as we know them and learn more about them.  

In describing how Continuing Creation works, the two most extensive processes are probably Emergence and Evolution.  We devote complete Essays to each of them:  Emergence is explained in two Essays: Nature Creates Patterns of Information & Beauty and Nature Creates Increasingly Complex Systems.  Evolution is explained in our Essay, The Processes of Evolution – In Biology, Culture, & Technology. Many traditional conservative theologians in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam reject the Science of Evolution.  We refute their arguments in our Essay, Answering Evolution’s Critics.

24. Secular-Spirituality (~1980 to Now). 

Secular-Spirituality is part of our Path in Nature’s Continuing Creation.

Wikipedia has an excellent article on Secular spirituality, (we call it Secular-Spirituality). Here is Wiki’s lead sentence:

“Secular spirituality is the adherence to a spiritual philosophy without adherence to a religion. Secular spirituality emphasizes the inner peace of the individual, rather than a relationship with the divine. Secular spirituality is characterized by the search for meaning outside of a religious institution; it encompasses one’s relationship with oneself, others, nature, and whatever else one considers to be the ultimate. Often, the goal of secular spirituality is living happily and/or helping others.” 

Wiki’s article goes on to discuss contributions from philosophers and writers, including Robert C. Solomon, Cornel W. Du Toit, Peter Van der Veer, and Kim Knott. 
Subsections of the article include “Techno-spirituality,” Yoga, Meditation, Education, Spirituality & Nature, and Education.

25. Transcendence by Creating (ancient times to Now)

Transcendence by Creating s part of our Path in Nature’s Continuing Creation

Many Participants in Nature’s Continuing Creation would say that our strongest experience of transcendence comes when we do something creative. While transcendence through appreciation of Nature is essentially passive, transcendence through creating is active.  Many famous artists – including Vincent van Gogh, Walt Whitman, and Ludwig van Beethoven – found creating so fulfilling that they would endure poverty, physical disability, and family tragedy in order to continue practicing their art.  Even the multi-billionaire Bill Gates would have said, in his early days, that he wrote software for personal computers because he enjoyed that challenge, not because he foresaw it would lead to a personal fortune. 

Life is difficult, and if Taoism or Zen or any other “Forerunners” work for you, we have no desire to turn you away from them.  But you may find that our Practice of Nature’s Continuing Creation combines the best features from many of them. 

_________________________________
   — J.X. Mason   ContinuingCreation.org

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APPENDIX A

Nature’s Continuing Creation: On the Origin of the Universe and The Operation of Its Processes 

This book about Nature’s Continuing Creation maintains that we do not and cannot know if God/Substance/Nature created the universe because we ourselves cannot stand “outside,” or see “before,” the universe. It is possible that our universe was “born” out of the collapse of another universe.

The earliest things we have scientific evidence of, which “Froze out” of the Initial Singularity very, very shortly after the Big Bang, are:

• Space-Time (Space and Time)
• Fundamental particles of matter (such as quarks and electrons) as described by the Standard Model of physics. However, many physicists think that all the particles in the Standard Model may be made up of vibrations of minute one-dimensional “strings.”
• Dark Matter. Inferred but not yet detected.
• A unified force shortly “separated out” into The Four Fundamental Forces — the Strong Nuclear Force, the Weak Nuclear Force, Electromagnetism, and the Force of Gravity. (At the time of this writing, we’re still not sure Gravity “froze out” in the same way as the three.)
• Dark Energy. Inferred but not yet detected.
• The Laws of Physics (and therefore of chemistry), which humans sufficiently understand to put them to use in technology, but which still hold considerable mystery.

The Book of continuing Creation provisionally holds that those six things have interacted to create all the objects and events we perceive in the universe.

We also hold that if there is some guiding force, pattern, or Consciousness that created the universe (or all universes), there is no evidence that it consciously controls specific events, or that it intervenes in human lives, or provides counsel to individual human beings.

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APPENDIX B

Theological Names (or Conceptual Terms) for “God.”

If we look back in this Essay at the “-isms” that are forerunners of The Book of Continuing Creation, we’ll see some of the many different names that theologians and philosophers have used for “The Deity,” i.e., for God or Higher Power.  For reference, below is a list of those “deity names,” along with some others. We set out these names in five categories:

1. God as a human-like Super-Person (Usually a man and usually a Creator God)

• The Great Spirit
• Zeus, Odin, etc.
• Jehovah, Yahweh (YHWH in written Hebrew, so could be Yahweh), Elohim
• The Holy Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
• Allah
• Great Architect of the Universe
• The Divine

2. The Sum of All Energy

• The One
• The Light
• The Way
• Ultimate Cause
• Ultimate Source
• Primal Power
• Prime Mover Unmoved
• Higher Power

3. The Summation of all “Being,” (usually, but not always, intended to include all living beings)

• The Universal Being (used by the transcendentalist writer, Ralph Wald Emerson)
• The Absolute — In the German idealist philosophy of Schelling and Hegel, The Absolute is “the sum of all being, actual and potential”. In monistic idealism, it serves as a concept for the “unconditioned reality which is either the spiritual ground (i.e., foundation) of all being or the whole of things considered as a spiritual unity. In other words, das Absolute is the all-inclusive Whole of everything.
• The Omega Point (Teilhard de Chardin) — In idealist philosophy, the Absolute is “the sum of all being, actual and potential.” In monistic idealism, it serves as a concept for the “unconditioned reality which is either the spiritual ground of all being or the whole of things considered as a spiritual unity.
• The Ground of All Being (Paul Tillich) — If God is ‘being,’ then God is a creature, even if the highest one, and thus cannot be the Creator. Rather, God must be understood as the “Ground-of-Being Itself. This unique phrase means that God is the ground – the soil –from which everything sprouts and grows; and it means that God is the background against which all things must be defined (in the way that light has no meaning, no existence, except against a background of dark).
• Nature’s Continuing Creation.

4. The Summation of all Consciousness, including these Elements and Summations:

• Logos – Universal Reason or The Generative Reasoning or Discourse of the Universe (clumsily translated as “The Word”).
• Logos endiathetos – “The Word remaining within.”
• The Sum of all Information
• The Sum of all Pattern
• The Sum of all Wisdom
• Love; Pure Love; The Summation of All Love
• The Holy; the Holy of Holies
• The Transcendent
• The Numinous – This is not really a name for God, but for a person’s experience of God. Rudolf Otto, in his book The Idea of the Holy, writes that the numinous is a “non-rational, non-sensory experience or feeling whose primary and immediate object is outside the self.” This feeling is similar in meaning to the English word “awe,” as in feeling awe in the presence of the “Holy,” or in the presence of Nature.
• Brahman – from Hinduism, meaning the Ultimate Reality or Universal Principle. All Hindu Gods and Goddesses are aspects or facets of the Brahman. Also translated as “the creative principle which lies realized in the whole world.” ²⁹ (See our Essay, Evaluating Hinduism.)
• The Godhead – Divine nature; Divine essence. The unknowable aspect of God, which lies beyond its actions or emanations. Often used as the English translation for Brahman.
• The Mind of God.

5. The Summation of all Systems, including all their Interactions and Interrelations

•  Nature’s Continuing Creation: The Growing, Organizing, Direction, of the Cosmos
• The Interconnecting Sum of all Creative Processes
• The Connection of All Connections
• The Whole of All Wholes
• The System of all Systems
• The Sum of All Sums
• The Totality of All Creative Systems Moving Through Time
• The Flow, The Way, The Path
• The Tao – as perfectly described in the world’s shortest “sacred” book, The Tao Te Ching, written, according to legends, by the sage Lao Tsu:

“The Tao is like a well:
  Used but never used up.
  It is like the eternal void:
  Filled with infinite possibilities.
  It is hidden but always present.
  I don’t know who gave birth to it. It is older than God”
             — Lao Tso, The Tao Te Ching, Chapter 4. (Stephen Mitchell, translator, 1988, Harper Perennial)

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        —  J.X. Mason   ContinuingCreation.org

1. Amos, H. (1982). These Were the Greeks. Chester Springs:
2. Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, 1945, Simon & Schuster, p. 264.
3. Bertrand Russell, Ibid., p. 253.
4. A. Tripolitis, Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 37–38.
5. Erhard Scheibe, Between rationalism and empiricism: selected papers in the philosophy of physics, 2001, Springer. ISBN 0-387-98520-4. OCLC 45888831,
6. “Who Are the Freethinkers,” Freethinkers.com, 2018-02-13, Retrieved 2-14-2018. See also, “What Is Freethought? Daylight Atheism, 2-26-2010, Retrieved 12 June 2015.
7. Michael Della Rocca (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Spinoza, Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 288.
8. J.A. Cannon, World in Time of Upheaval: Sources of Enlightenment, May 17, 2009.
9. Kendra Stacy, “6 Billion Earth-like Planets Could Be Filling the Milky Way Galaxy, Astronomers Say,” The Science Times, 1-29-23.
10. A. Chatterjee, “Naturalism in Classical Indian Philosophy,” 2012, in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2014 Edition). See also, Dale Riepe, Naturalistic Tradition in Indian Thought, 1996, Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 227–246. ISBN 978-8120812932.
11. Domenic Marbaniang, “Developing the Spirit of Patriotism and Humanism in Children for Peace and Harmony,” Children At Risk: Issues and Challenges, Jesudason Jeyaraj (Ed.), Bangalore: CFCD/ISPCK, 2009, p.474.
12. Dorinda Outram, Panorama of the Enlightenment, 2006, Getty Publications, p. 29, ISBN 9780892368617. See also Milan Zafirovski, The Enlightenment and Its Effects on Modern Society, 2010, p. 144.
13. Believed to have been first said by the pre-Socratic Sophist philosopher Protagoras (490-420) BCE.
14. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2012. See also Jewish Encyclopedia, 2010. Also, see The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, 4 Volume Set, 2011, and The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization. doi:10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0408. ISBN 9781405157629.
15. Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason, Part 2, 1795, p. 129.
16. See our Essay on the Big Bang and Evolution of the Early Universe. See also https://web.njit.edu/~gary/202/Lecture26.html.
17. Michael Della Rocca (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Spinoza, Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 288.
18.  The term Panentheism was coined by the philosopher Karl Krause in 1828 to distinguish the “German Idealist” philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling (1775–1854) from the term “Pantheism” used to describe the thought of Baruch Spinoza.
19. Russell Goodman, Russel, “Transcendentalism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2015.
20. John Lienhard, “Thoreau’s Pencils,” Engines of Our Ingenuity No. 339, https://uh.edu/engines/epi339.htm.
21. Philip F. Gura, Philip F (2007), American Transcendentalism: A History, 2007, Hill and Wang, p. 8, ISBN 0-8090-3477-8.
22. “Romanticism.” Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 30 January 2018, from Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Britannica.com.
23. John J. Macionis and Linda M. Gerber, Sociology, Seventh Canadian Edition, Pearson Canada.
24. G.J.J. Biesta, & N. Burbules, 2003. See also, Pragmatism and Educational Research, 2003, Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
25. Ernst Breisach, Introduction to Modern Existentialism, 1962, p. 5. See also, Walter Kaufmann, Existentialism: From Dostoyevsky to Sartre, 1956, p. 12.
26. Robert C. Solomon, Existentialism, 1974, McGraw-Hill, pp. 1–2.
27. Wilfred Desan, The Tragic Finale: An Essay on the Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre,1960, Harper Torch Books, p. xiv.
28. Mr. Gandee’s Sources:  Paul Tillich – Religious Naturalism. https://religiousnaturalism.org/god-as-ground-of-being-paul-tillich/. Also, Ground of Being: The Panentheism of Paul Tillich, Earth Care, and …. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-40040-7_14. See also, The Ground of Being – Center for Action and Contemplation. https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-ground-of-being-2018-11-11/. See also, The Event of Grace and Paul Tillich’s “You Are Accepted” – https://www.realisticliving.org/koob/GreatParagraphs/GP2-3TillichGrace306.pdf.