Objective Existence of Supersensible Realities
The characteristic of the physical world is that we can perceive it
through our physical senses and with the help of instruments, which can be
seen as extensions of our sense organs. Consequently there is no serious
objection to the existence of the physical world. The most extreme form of
denial is the standpoint of some people that all that we perceive is only an
illusion – that the real existence is hidden behind sense perceptions.
However, the undisputable fact is that we all perceive the existence of the
physical world, regardless if we agree about the true nature of what we
perceive.
In comparison to this there exists many people who nowadays deny the
existence of the spiritual world on the grounds of the argument that we
cannot perceive it. Is this actually the case or is the problem really
in the manner of how we understand all this?
Nobody can deny the existence of thoughts, but they are only
perceptible to us inwardly when we think. It is evident that questions
about the meaning of life, memories, world outlooks, and moral values
are not physical entities, but their impact on the physical world is
evident because people are guided by them into numerous actions.
Therefore ideas and ideals belong to the world
of spirit.
We also perceive our feelings of joy and sadness, sympathies and
antipathies; we can be driven by instincts into activities which we
later regret, or we can feel compassion for the suffering of other
people. All these are manifestations of the
soul realm of supersensible existence.
We also perceive if we feel healthy or sick, well or unwell, full of
vigour or exhausted, tired after a whole day of work and refreshed after
good sleep. These are perceptions of the state of our inner
life forces that also belong to the realm
of supersensible world.
Therefore, the right conclusion is: These are all manifestations of
the spiritual pole of existence in contrast to the manifestations of the
physical pole of existence which we can perceive with our physical
senses. We all perceive the phenomena of the supersensible world, but
not all people are aware of this fact. This means that we must have also
sense organs that can perceive some manifestations of the spiritual
world. [1]
Although science doesn't go to the extreme of denying existence of
these non-physical realities, they are
usually looked upon as manifestation of the physical processes. For example, "the materialist tries to understand the thoughts by
regarding them as purely material processes. He believes that thinking
takes place in the brain in much the same way as digestion takes place
in the animal organism. Just as he attributes mechanical and organic
function to matter, so he credits it in certain circumstances with the
ability to think. He overlooks that he merely shifts the problem to
another place. Instead of ascribing the ability to
think to himself, he ascribes it to matter." [2]
In the same manner materialists ascribe to matter the abilities to
perceive, remember, feel, and to create and maintain life.
Materialists who promote such explanations of the origins of living,
of psychological and spiritual activities in the human being, never
bring their explanations to the above logical conclusion. Therefore they
are not forced to admit that minerals in nature don't exhibit such
attributes. If they did so then they would be more willing to accept the
explanations of spiritual science that say:
- In plants there exists beside the physical body (in the form of mineral
substances) also something else which enables them to grow and multiply.
This is the life body.
- In animals there exists beside the physical and life bodies also something else
which enables them to sense pain or joy and is the source of their instincts
that guides all aspects of their behaviour. This is the
soul body.
- In human beings there exists beside these three bodies also something
else which enables them to think and investigate their own being and the
world that surrounds them. This is the spiritual body.
We can approach the question of the existence of spiritual realities
from another direction. The attribute of physical objects is that they
can be perceived, measured and quantified. Because of this we recognise
them as objective realities of the world existence. Now, in recent
decades, science has discovered that the vast majority of the universe
consists of so-called dark matter and
dark energy.
[3] They are called 'dark', because they cannot be detected by
physical instruments. Their existence has been figured out on the basis
of their effects on what can be perceived. Here we have scientific
evidence of the existence of the supersensible world! For what science
'see' as dark, spiritual science see as
supersensible.
And while scientists openly admit that they do not know what is
there in the darkness, spiritual science is capable of explaining what
is the true nature of the invisible matter and energy: "When people look out into the universe they think that space is
empty and that the stars are in this empty space. In times gone by,
peasants believed that there was emptiness all around them as they moved
about. Today everyone knows that there is air around us, not emptiness.
So, too, we can know that in the universe there is no emptiness
anywhere; either matter is there or spirit is there." [4]
Polarity of the Physical and the Spiritual Worldviews
In the world there exists more than one single explanation of the
origins of the universe and living beings and in them we can find many
differences or even contradictions. This is an obvious hurdle for
anybody who would like to arrive at one, all-encompassing worldview. How
can this seemingly insurmountable hurdle be overcome?
The first precondition for this is that we recognize the existence of
both worlds – the physical and the spiritual one – and consequently the
existence of two groups of worldviews:
- in one group are those worldviews which offer suitable
explanations of various domains of the physical world;
- in another group are those worldviews which offer suitable explanations
of various domains of the spiritual world.
If we take the ultimate representatives of these two groups – the
materialistic worldview and the spiritual worldview – we can arrive at
the key reason for the lack of understanding between these two views of
the world by the help of the following explanation.
When we investigate the nature of people we can recognise the
existence of many polarities. For example, on one side "are people so
constituted that it is not possible for them to find the way to the
spirit, and to give them any proof of the spirit will always be hard.
They stick to something they know about, in accordance with their
nature. Let us say they stick at something that makes the crudest kind
of impression on them – materialism. We need not regard as foolish the
arguments they advance as a defence or proof of materialism, for an
immense amount of ingenious writing has been devoted to the subject, and
it holds good in the first place for material life, for the material
world and its laws.
On the other side are people who, owing to a certain inwardness, are
naturally predisposed to see in all that is material only the revelation
of the spiritual. Naturally, they know as well as the materialists do
that, externally, the material world exists; but matter, they say, is
only the revelation, the manifestation, of the underlying spiritual.
Such persons may take no particular interest in the material world and
its laws. As all their ideas of the spiritual come to them through their
own inner activity, they may go through the world with the consciousness
that the true, the lofty, in which one ought to interest oneself – all
genuine reality – is found only in the spirit; that matter is only
illusion, only external phantasmagoria. This would be an extreme
standpoint, but it can occur, and can lead to a complete denial of
material life. We should have to say of such persons that they certainly
do recognize what is most real, the spirit, but they are one-sided; they
deny the significance of the material world and its laws."
[5]
Can we say that the representatives of the spiritual worldview are right?
"As regards the spirit, their assertions could bring to light some
exceptionally correct ideas, but concerning matter and its laws they
might reveal very little of any significance. Can one say the
materialists are correct in what they maintain? Yes, concerning matter
and its laws they may be able to discover some exceptionally useful and
valuable facts; but in speaking of the spirit they may utter nothing but
foolishness. Hence we must say that both parties
are correct in their respective spheres." [6]
Therefore it is of crucial importance that we are aware that
explanations of materialistic and spiritual worldview are contradictory
because they are describing two different worlds where there are active
different laws of existence. Consequently both of them are valid inside
their own domain. "It is only the universalising of them that is wrong. Thus it is
essential, if one wants to form a correct idea of what thinking is, to
understand clearly that the truth of a thought in the realm to which it
belongs is no evidence for its general validity. Someone can offer me a
perfectly correct proof of this or that and yet it will not hold good in
a sphere to which it does not belong. Anyone, therefore, who intends to
occupy himself seriously with the paths that lead to a conception of the
world must recognise that the first essential is to avoid
one-sidedness." [7]
Although we cannot go now into the complexity of all "those
world-outlooks which are possible for man – so possible that certain
valid proofs can be produced for the correctness of each of them in a
certain realm" [8] – we can "begin to understand
why there are so many disputes about conceptions of the world. People
generally are not inclined, when they have grasped one standpoint, to
grasp another as well," [9] and yet another, and so
on. Such people are not able to see that "the world is boundless, both
qualitatively and quantitatively. The worst enemies
of truth are cosmic conceptions that are exclusive and strive after
finality; the conceptions of those who want to frame a couple of
thoughts and suppose that with them they can dare to build up a
worldview" [10] that can explain everything that
exists.
The only way to achieve this is to become familiar with all
worldviews which offer suitable explanations for various domains of the
world existence. Only with such a holistic approach can we investigate
the relationship between the sensible and supersensible world in such a
manner that we do not come to false conclusions or grope in the dark.
Then we can have a true all-embracing science which is capable of
building bridges between the spiritual and the physical worlds in both
directions. And this is what anthroposophical spiritual science strives
for.
Anthroposophical Spiritual Science as an All-Encompassing Worldview
By Brane Žilavec
