Roman is a songwriter based out of Los Angeles with credits for K-Pop band BTS and legacy artists like Elton John and Stevie Wonder. The first 15 minutes of this didn’t record because of a technical glitch, but we felt the rest was worth sharing. We explore questions like: Where does spirituality fit into (post)modern life? What draws so many people to determinism. What kind of freedom might still be possible? Is suffering avoidable?
We discuss the complex interplay between oneness and human agency in the context of contemporary Western society. Roman asked me to reflect on the idea of perennialism and the potential dangers for contemporary individuals of dissolving into Oneness. In the past, people could renounce society to achieve spiritual release, but today’s world calls for more involvement.
The concept of a Cosmic will is explored, suggesting that true freedom comes from identifying oneself with this Cosmic will. This doesn’t negate individual free will; rather, it’s about understanding our interconnectedness and how we all contribute uniquely to the expression of this Cosmic will.
We address the dangers of deterministic narratives and the equally damaging impact of pushing for extreme control over life. We can take a balanced approach, recognizing our role as co-creators in the world while being aware of the larger forces at play.
I suggest taking a process-relational view, where the history of the universe is seen as an expression of creativity, with decisions made by atoms, stars, galaxies, and other entities. This view posits that every decision actualizes one possibility while leaving infinite others unactualized, highlighting the contingency and unpredictability in both cosmological and biological evolution. This implies that the future is open-ended.
I suggest that our human interior experiences of thinking, feeling, and willing amplify something latent throughout the cosmos. This implies that what we cultivate within ourselves is not unique to us but is a broader cosmic process.
I introduce some key themes from Rudolf Steiner’s work, particularly from his book Philosophy of Freedom. Steiner distinguishes between sense-perception of the external world, self-perception of our bodily feelings and emotional responses, and conceptual activity or thinking. The latter is where human freedom manifests.
According to Steiner, becoming conscious of our thinking activity is a crucial step towards freedom. This process involves recognizing and strengthening our capacity for moral imagination, which entails creating and translating ideals into actions. This is not about creating our own reality at will but about enhancing our ability to translate moral ideals into concrete actions.