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Astronic cosmology
Astronist conception of the universe
Written by Astronist Institution
Edited by the Journal of Astronist Philosophy
Last updated: JAN. 4, 2020
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The Astronic cosmology, or the cosmology of Astronism, formerly known as the Millettic cosmology, is the system of beliefs concerned with the creation, development, and structure of the universe from the Astronist perspective. The Astronic cosmology was first outlined by Cometan in the founding text of the religion, known as the Omnidoxy.
The cosmology is fundamentally associated with present scientific discoveries combined with notions of logic. As such, it is believed in Astronism that The Big Bang did indeed occur almost 14 billion years ago which formed that which is termed as The Cosmos which has been expanding and has been accelerating in its expansion ever since.
However, the cosmology also states that The Cosmos in which we reside, itself resides within that which is termed as The Universe. It is The Universe that exists beyond that which is known as the cosmic periphery, which is known outside of Astronism as the cosmological horizon. The Cosmos is considered a fundamentally limited entity, or realm due to The Cosmic Limitation Principle. Oppositely, The Universe is an infinite expanse that consists of an infinite amount of cosmoses, hence Astronism affirms belief in the multiverse.
It is beyond The Universe that that which is termed as The Divine is believed to interpenetratively reside. The Divine refers to the Astronist understanding of God and how God created and continues to interpenetrate The Universe and the infinite amount of space and cosmoses that all reside within it. However, no further identification is ascribed to The Divine beyond this name and its all-creativity. Therefore, the nature of The Cosmos is limited, the nature of The Universe is infinite, and the nature of The Divine is existential independence, or divinity.
The Universe is considered to have always existed due to its infiniteness although its nature is not divine like The Divine itself. The createdness of The Universe, relating to whether The Universe was created by The Divine and has always existed, remains a hotly debated topic within Astronist circles.
Furthermore, one of the primary contributors to the development of the wider Millettarian philosophical tradition is cosmological categorisation which results in the postulation that there exists three essential existences and three lesser existences.
The three essential existences are The Cosmos, The Universe, and The Divine while the three lesser existences are The Chaos, The Mytra and The Betwixity.
Distinctions in terminology
The Astronic cosmology is unique from other cosmologies in that it uses widely spoken terms differently from their traditional usages. The most prominent example of this are the terms, Cosmos and Universe. In the Astronic cosmology and lexicon, The Cosmos pertains to what is widely referred to as the universe in common dialogue; this is the realm in which we and all outer space reside. The Cosmos ends at the cosmic periphery, beyond which that which is known as The Universe is believed to reside.
The Universe, unlike The Cosmos, is an infinite expanse that encompasses an infinite amount of different cosmoses, each of which is believed to hold dramatically different physical structures to one another due to their isolated evolutions. Essentially, in Astronic cosmology, the word used for the mainstream term of the universe is The Cosmos while the word used for what resides beyond the cosmic periphery is The Universe.
Three essential existences
As part of cosmological categorisation in the Astronic cosmology, the three essential existences are the three existences, or realms of being that structure the cosmology, namely these include The Divine, The Universe, and The Cosmos. These three essential existences stand in contrast to the three lesser existences.
The Divine
The Divine is the Astronist conception of God as the all-creator of all the cosmoses residing within The Universe. The Divine is the only entity considered to hold a divine nature meaning that it is independent of every other entity or realm in existence. Unlike the conception of God in other religions, there is no further identification ascribed to The Divine in Astronism beyond The Divine's all-creativity and its role in the sustainment of The Universe.
The Astronist argument for the concept of God is steeped in the notion of logic holding that for something to be created or to exist it must have a creator. It is important to note that the Astronist conception of God varies greatly from the conception of God in other religions.
The Universe
The Universe is the unreachable infinite expanse encompassing an infinite amount of cosmoses to form The Omniverse that is sustained by The Divine. The Universe remains unreachable for all that exists cosmically, meaning for that which holds its inception within a cosmos; this is due to the principle of Cosmic Limitation to which all that is cosmic is bound to.
Createdness
The createdness of The Universe refers to the debate in Astronic cosmology regarding whether The Universe was created by The Divine or not. There is a considerable debate regarding this topic due to the ambiguity of Astronist traditions and beliefs regarding true createdness of The Universe. It is stated in the Astronic cosmology that The Divine is all-creating and that this is the fundamental role of The Divine in existence, however, the issue of Universal createdness arises in the notion that The Universe is infinite; if something is infinite then this contradicts notions stating that it holds a point of creation.
Uncreatedness
Sustainment
Despite widespread debate about its createdness, The Universe, according to the Millettarian Tradition, is not considered to hold a beginning or an end due to its infinite nature, although it is considered to be sustained by The Divine. The Universe's sustainment pertains to the belief that without The Divine's powers of sustainment, it would not be able to exist infinitely, nor would it be able to function as the encompasser of The Multiverse of cosmoses.
The Cosmos
The Cosmos refers to the particular realm or cosmos in which we as humans reside out of the infinite number of cosmoses forming The Omniverse within the infinite expanse of The Universe. The nature of The Cosmos and all that resides within it is limited, meaning that both The Cosmos and all its progeny and phenomena and their subsequent products are subject to transience which, for humans, comes in the form of our corporeal passing.
Three lesser existences
The three lesser existences form the secondary collection of realms and existences as part of the structure of the Astronic cosmology which namely include The Chaos, The Mytra and The Betwixity.
The Chaos
The Chaos is a dichotomic
The Mytra
The Betwixity
Three tertiary existences
The three tertiary existences refers to the third collection of realms and existences forming the basic structure of the Astronic understanding of the cosmological and Universal structure. This collection namely includes The Omniverse, The Metagalaxy, and The Metakosmia.
The Omniverse
The Metagalaxy
The Metakosmia
Visual conceptions of the Astronic cosmology
Cometanic conception
The Cometanic conception is a visualisation of the Astronic cosmology created by the founder of the cosmological theory, Cometan.
The Cometanic conceptions consists of a fully blackened background featuring a multitude of white spots. Each of the white spots is considered to represent a cosmos while the background is considered to represent The Universe within an infinite amount of cosmoses reside. Some of the white spots are cut-off by the edge of the page to signify their infinite abundance.
Also featured as part of the visual conception are four infinity symbols angled across the page which represent the infiniteness as well as the interpenetrative nature of The Divine.
Cosmongony
The Big Bang
Comparisons with other cosmologies
Comparison of the Astronic cosmology with other cosmologies originating from different philosophical and religious traditions has occurred since the inception of Astronism itself. Although the Astronic cosmology shares some beliefs with pre-existing cosmologies, it remains largely unique in its structure, remains aligned to the principles and discoveries of science, and is purportedly based upon notions of logic rather than a series of mythological stories.
As a result of this long-running debate of cosmological comparison, a post-omnidoxical tradition has emerged known as admirationism. Admirationism refers to the approach taken by Astronism with regards to other cosmologies, particularly those with which it disagrees or outrightly rejects. It states that the way of the Philosophical Spirit is to justifiably reject other cosmologies, but also to acknowledge admiration for the contributions to thought made by such cosmologies.
Biblical cosmology (Christian and Judaic cosmologies)
The Astronic cosmology fundamentally rejects the notions of cosmogony expounded in The Bible story of Genesis, although admiration is afforded to the Christian and Jewish understandings of how The Cosmos and The Universe came into being as part of its accordance to the principles of the Philosophical Spirit.
Creationist cosmology
The Astronic cosmology rejects all forms of creationism due to creationism's adherence to beliefs and mythologies that are contrary to the findings of science. Astronism has a particularly negative view of creationism as an extension or branch of religious belief about cosmology and cosmogony; this is due to the notion that creationist belief is considered to be regressive and counterproductive to the efforts and progressions made by science. The literalism that exists within creationist cosmologies is considered to be both ignorant and arrogant from the Astronist perspective which pertains to a wider disparity between the approach to cosmology of Astronism and other religions.
Buddhist cosmology
Astronism concurs with the Buddhist cosmology on the notion of the infiniteness of what Astronism calls The Universe as defined from The Cosmos (it is important to note that the distinction between The Cosmos and The Universe is not held by Buddhism as this is an Astronist belief). Astronism diverges from Buddhist thought on the Buddhist notion that there is no creator god for in Astronism, The Divine is assigned as the creator of all things. Although The Divine is not provided with any other particular identity, its primary purpose is the creation of all existence.
Like Buddhism, Astronism views The Cosmos as impermanent and always in flux, however, Astronism crucially considers The Cosmos to be fundamentally limited due to The Cosmic Limitation Principle. Astronism rejects the Samsara theory that formulates the foundations of the Buddhist philosophy and Astronism largely diverges from Buddhist cosmological beliefs.
Chinese cosmology
Although Astronism applied the admirationist principle to the cosmology of Chinese traditional/folk religion, it rejects the cosmology as purely formed by a mythological story. Therefore, the Astronic cosmology and the Chinese cosmology share little in common and hold limited resonation with one another.
Islamic cosmology
Islamic cosmology is largely dualistic in its understanding with it prescribing the existence of an Unseen Universe and an Observable Universe. The former of these pertains to the residence of Allah metaphorically, angels, paradise, hell, seven heavens, and the divine throne while the latter is existence perceptible through the five senses. The Astronic cosmology admires although fundamentally rejects the Islamic approach to cosmology and it is neither predicated upon notions of logic, nor is it aligned with the discoveries of science.
Hindu cosmology
The Hindu cosmology affirms the cyclicality and the infiniteness of space and time meanwhile the Astronic cosmology affirms the linearity and limitedness of The Cosmos, both in terms of space and time. Therefore, the Astronic and the Hindu cosmologies can be considered fundamentally divergent from one another. Although the Hindu cosmology affirms there to existence an infinite number of universes, or cosmoses, these are considered to exist prior to and a subsequence of the present cosmos/universe rather than existing in isolation from one another in an multiverse as is believed in Astronism.
Jain cosmology
The Astronist understanding of what it terms as The Cosmos is not in alignment with the Jain understanding for The Cosmos is considered existentially finite and residing with The Universe alongside an infinite amount of other cosmoses. However, Astronism considers The Universe to be sustained by The Divine and therefore not entirely independent.
The Astronic cosmology does consider The Cosmos to hold a comprehensible shape of concentricity due to the prevalence of concentric shapes and patterns found throughout The Cosmos. Therefore, Astronism fundamentally rejects the Jain belief that The Cosmos is narrow at the top, broad at the middle and again becomes broad at the bottom.
Taoist cosmology
Astronism rejects the notion of the concept of the Tao although it does admire the contributions that Taoism has made to cosmology theories and beliefs.
Zoroastrian cosmology
The Astronist approach to understanding cosmogony rejects the Zoroastrian cosmology on the grounds that Astronism aligns itself with a combination of scientific discovery and notions of logic rather than traditions and mythologies.
Related topics
Mains concepts, debates and beliefs
Part of a series on the
Realms and existences
Heterodox beliefs
Orthodox beliefs
Admirationism · Universal createdness · Divine sustainment · Divine interpenetration ·
Cosmic periphery · Limitationism ·
Uncreatedness · Triadism · Omnicreativity · Isolated evolution · Cosmological categorisation
The Vendox is the most well known symbol of Astronism.
Astronism and creationism · Astronic cosmological comparisons · Cosmology ·
Keywords and linked resources
See also
- Astronist philosophy
- Eschatology of Astronism
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Additional information
This article was written by a working staff member with editorial powers within the Astronist Institution. The accuracy, validity and integrity of the contents of this article is supervised by working members of the Journal of Astronist Philosophy which is the academic journal appointed responsibilities of scholarship for the discipline of study to which the subject of this article is associated.
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