Acosmism, in contrast to pantheism, denies
the reality of the universe, seeing it as
ultimately illusory, (the prefix "a-" in Greek
meaning negation; like "un-" in English),
and only the infinite unmanifest Absolute
as real.
Conceptual versions of Acosmism are found
in eastern and western philosophies.
== In Eastern philosophy ==
The concept of Maya in the non-dual Advaita
Vedanta school of Hinduism is a form of acosmism.
Maya means "illusion, appearances".
The universe is considered to be Māyā, however
this does not mean universe is considered
as unreal.
Wendy Doniger explains, "to say that the universe
is an illusion (māyā) is not to say that
it is unreal; it is to say, instead, that
it is not what it seems to be, that it is
something constantly being made.
Māyā not only deceives people about the
things they think they know; more basically,
it limits their knowledge to things that are
epistemologically and ontologically second-rate."In
the Vedanta school of Hinduism, the perceived
world is Maya that hides the Absolute and
Ultimate Reality (Brahman).
The human mind constructs a subjective experience,
states Vedanta, which leads to the peril of
misunderstanding Maya as well as interpreting
Maya as the only and final reality.
Vedantins assert the "perceived world including
people are not what they appear to be, there
is more to them than their perceived physical
forms".
Māyā is that which manifests, perpetuates
a sense of false duality (or divisional plurality).
This manifestation is real, but it obfuscates
and eludes the hidden principles and true
nature of reality.
Vedanta holds that liberation is the unfettered
realization and understanding of these invisible
principles, primarily that the individual
Self (Soul) is the same as the Self in others
and the Self in everything (Brahman).Advaita
Vedanta school is best described as monistic,
absolute idealism, while Dvaita Vedanta school
as pluralistic idealism.
Both have elements of ontological acosmism,
where the material aspect of cosmos is considered
an "illusion, appearance, incomplete reality"
compared to that "which is spiritual, eternal,
unchanging".
In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, there are two
realities: Vyavaharika (empirical reality)
and Paramarthika (absolute, spiritual reality).
Māyā is a fact in that it is the appearance
of phenomena.
Brahman (Ultimate Reality, Absolute, Cosmic
Soul) is held by Advaitins as the metaphysical
truth.
The perceived world, Māyā is true in epistemological
and empirical sense; however, Māyā is not
considered by Vedantins as the metaphysical
and spiritual truth.
The spiritual truth is the truth forever,
while what is empirical truth is only true
for now.
Since Māyā is the perceived material world,
it is true in perception context, but is "untrue"
in spiritual context of Brahman.
True Reality, to Advaita scholars, includes
both Vyavaharika (empirical) and Paramarthika
(spiritual), the Māyā and the Brahman.
The goal of spiritual enlightenment, state
Advaitins, is to realize one's soul as same
as Cosmic Soul (Brahman), realize the eternal,
fearless, resplendent Oneness.Advaita Hinduism
and Buddhism have both been called as examples
of acosmism.
Other scholars state Buddhism cannot be accurately
classified as a philosophy based on acosmism,
and that Advaita Vedanta is not acosmism either.
== In Western philosophy ==
Acosmism has been seen in the work of a number
of Western philosophers, including Parmenides,
Plato, Spinoza, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer,
and British and American idealists, such as
F.H. Bradley.
The word acosmism is often traced to Hegel
who used it in his discussion of the philosophy
of religion, in particular his understanding
of pantheism and refutation of the charge
that Spinoza was an atheist.
Hegel explains that for Spinoza it is the
infinite 'substance' which is real, while
the finite world doesn't exist.
"But the accusers of Spinozism are unable
to liberate themselves from the finite; hence
they declare for Spinozism everything is God,
because it is precisely the aggregate of finitudes
(the world) that has there disappeared.
If one employs the expression "All is One"
and [claims] therefore that unity is the truth
of multiplicity, then the "all" simply is
no longer.
The multiplicity vanishes, for it has its
truth in the unity."
W.T. Stace sees all philosophical acosmism
as rooted in the mystical experience, whether
or not the authors are aware of this.
Stace points out that most Western philosophers
tend to a form of qualified acosmism, where
the world is less real rather than utterly
illusory.
He sees two mystical sources of acosmism from
within the eternal moment, firstly the mystical
moment contains all eternity and infinity
and thus there is nothing outside it, and
secondly because the eternal moment is experienced
as the supreme value.
== See also ==
Anatta (Belief that there is no self)
Buddhist atomism
Christian Science
Gnosticism
Immaterialism
Kabbalah
Maya (Cosmic illusion)
Mereological nihilism
New thought
Nihilism
Simulated reality
Solipsism
Sunyata
Zero-energy universe
