Personal Cosmology
A cosmology is a story about the nature of existence - how the universe began, how it is structured, how its various parts interrelate, and so on. There are many different cosmologies that have been described over the course of human history, including those of various religions and science. Often, these different cosmologies are incompatible with all others - each proposes that theirs is the one true cosmology and all others are false. However, if we really live in an infinite cosmos - as it seems we do - then no single story can come close to explaining it all.
A personal cosmology is a story about the nature of existence that makes sense to you. It helps you to navigate life and to feel a sense of meaning within it. A personal cosmology can be inherited from a pre-existing tradition, it can be an entirely novel invention, or it can be a syncretic amalgamation of different cosmologies from different traditions. It can be a story that belongs to many people, as is the case within communities that share a religious tradition. However, this does not need to be the case. A personal cosmology can also be a story that belongs to no one else - it is yours and yours alone. What matters most - whether it belongs to many people or to you alone - is that it makes sense to you.
It is my observation that most people do not deeply consider their personal cosmology, and many people do not consider cosmology at all. Those who inherit cosmologies from religion or science tend to accept those stories as dogma, without considering if those stories truly make sense to them according to their own lived experience. Alternatively, many of those who do not inherit cosmologies do not bother to think deeply about existential questions and simply live without a cosmology. Modern life, it seems, has directed our attention away from the heavens and toward the daily grind.
I believe there is a relationship between a lack of personal cosmology and a lack of care and concern for the world at large. This includes the non-human world of land, plants and animals, and the human world of people from other cultures and territories. A personal cosmology acts as a framework that helps us understand how we are connected to the world that surrounds us. Without this sense of connection, we feel isolated, confused, threatened and in conflict with the world. From this place of perceived disconnection we pillage and pollute our natural environment and we wage wars against other people without a deep concern for the consequences.
However, it is not only a lack of personal cosmology that causes perceived disconnection, but also the type of personal cosmology in which a person believes. For instance, it is quite common for certain religions to hold cosmological worldviews that explicitly position humans as separate from both Divinity and the rest of the natural world. In relation to Divinity, humans are positioned as inferior and subservient. In relation to the rest of the natural world, humans are positioned as superior and domineering. As another example, adherents of dogmatic scientism (aka materialist fundamentalism) generally hold cosmological worldviews that deny the existence of Divinity altogether and regard the natural world as a collection of purely physical and separate elements that relate to each other in mechanistic terms.
I believe that such dogmatic, conceptual disconnection contributes to both the spiritual decay of humanity and the ecological degradation of the natural world around us. It is my contention that in order for the deepest and most profound power of myth to be available, it must be unfettered from all dogma – religious, scientific and otherwise.
As such, I regard it as important for everyone to deeply consider the cosmology they have inherited, or to carefully develop a cosmology if they do not yet have one. I also believe there is great value in sharing our personal cosmologies with one another - not in a domineering effort to convert others to our own beliefs, but rather in a generous spirit of opening each other to new perspectives and further possibilities. We all share this cosmos, so it only makes sense that our personal cosmologies should co-exist as well.
