Emergentism

* Book: Emergentism: A Religion of Complexity for the Metamodern World. By Brendan Graham Dempsey.

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Contents

" While “emergentism” (small e) has been the conceptual paradigm at the heart of the new science, opening a window on a neo-holistic perspective across academia, Emergentism (capital E) is offered as a specific religious framework based on this paradigm shift, which seeks to open that same window for the spiritual and existential commitments of the human soul.

The rest of this book will attempt to suggest just what this could look like. It is divided into three major parts: Logos, Mythos, and Religio. Logos, meaning “rational study” and the root of words like “logic,” considers the intellectual history and scientific evidence behind Emergentism. Mythos, the root of “myth” and “mythology,” considers the theological, symbolic, and scriptural adaptation of such ideas into the religious register. Finally, Religio, the root of our word “religion,” which means both “tying back” to inherited traditions as well as “observance” of particular rituals and practices, considers the communal and enacted side of Emergentism.

As for the history and evidence, Chapter 1 begins by tracing the roots of our contemporary meaning crisis back to the transition from the traditional religious worldview to the early modern reductionist one. Chapter 2 completes this history, taking us through the paradigm shift that has since replaced reductionism with a neo-holistic approach referred to as complexity science. Chapter 3 looks at some unifying theories that have synthesized the insights of this new paradigm, leading us to a new understanding of the complexifying cosmos as a continually learning entity waking to deeper consciousness through sentient beings.

With the logos side of things established, we then explore the transposition of these ideas into the mythological register. Chapter 4 offers a hermeneutics (or interpretation) of the complexification story through a spiritual/theological lens. Chapter 5 attempts to render some of these ideas symbolically, with maps and icons of the Emergentist cosmos. Chapter 6 offers a “scriptural” rendition through sincerely ironic mythopoeia, supplemented with AI visuals.

Finally, the religious elements of tradition and practice are considered. Chapter 7 surveys some of the lineages, ancient and modern, in which Emergentism stands, while Chapter 8 outlines some of the ethical orientations and specific practices that characterize Emergentist living."

(https://brendangrahamdempsey.substack.com/p/emergentism-introduction)