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The Western Creed - a short exercise in spiritual gymnastics

Chuck Collins is a 14 year parishioner, a lawyer who has worked with organized labor for 28 years. Chuck claims he is not violent about anything except when he can't find even one pair of matching socks in the morning.

The Western Creed is the chilling effort of psychologist Charles Tart to wake us up to the actual beliefs which have informed and continue to inform much of the "progress", the philosophy and daily life of the economically advanced West (Europe and N. America).

We are all familiar with the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, and many others. We are aware generally of the materialistic, rationalistic, scientific notions which lay under nearly all of what is done in advanced nations, but we have never seen it articulated in the form of an actual set of beliefs - a creed.

It is not a pleasant experience, nor is this exercise designed for the faint of heart. If it does not make you grateful for faith (faith in any form or degree) then you had better check your pulse. Tart suggests you stand up, even in a group (such as an SCC) and report it out loud, pretending you are declaring serious fealty to this creed, to get the full effect. Well, here goes:

The Western Creed I BELIEVE in the material universe as the only and ultimate reality, a universe controlled by fixed physical laws and blind chance, I BELIEVE that the universe has no creator, no objective purpose, and no objective meaning or destiny, I MAINTAIN that all ideas about God or gods, enlightened beings, prophets and saviors, or nonphysical beings or forces are superstitions and illusions. Life and consciousness are totally identical to physical processes and arose from chance interactions of blind physical forces Like the rest of life, MY life and MY consciousness have no objective purpose, meaning or destiny. I BELIEVE that all judgments, values, and moralities, whether my own or others' are subjective, arising solely from biological determinants, personal history, and chance. Free will is an illusion. Therefore, the most rational values I can personally live by must be based on the knowledge that for me what pleases me is good, what pains me is bad. Those who please or help me avoid pain are my friends, those who pain me or keep me from my pleasure are my enemies. Rationality requires that friends and enemies be used in ways that maximize my pleasure and minimize my pain. I AFFIRM that churches have no real use other than social support, that there are no objective sins to commit or be forgiven for, that there is no retribution for sin or reward for virtue other than that which I can arrange, directly or indirectly through others. Virtue for me is getting what I want, without being caught and being punished by others. I MAINTAIN that the death of the body is the death of the mind. There is no afterlife and all hope of such is nonsense.

Charles Tart

Tart advises that you sit down immediately, close your eyes and observe your state of body and feeling. Don't be concerned about argument with this creed; simply watch your physical and emotional state. This will take a few minutes. People report feeling dizzy, claustrophobic, they experience physical pain, usually in the neck, rapid or variable heart rate and other surprising effects. Of course, emotionally, there my be sadness, anger, bewilderment, and other reactions.

This is the subliminal message that Western culture is feeding us a good deal of the time, but it is never put this baldly, and can be quite a shock to us in this form. This is what passes for "rationality" all over the place. People often report, says Tart, that they discover a part of them that half-believes some of this Western Creed, even though consciously they may think of themselves as spiritual people, who wouldn't at all agree with statements of this kind.

I find it can be instructive, when in a discussion with a sarcastic skeptic, to issue the challenge - ok, we all have a creed - here's yours, does it fit? Again, even those who scoff at religion find the Western Creed uncomfortable. But that is why Tart wrote it - to make us uncomfortable, uncomfortable with our assumptions, uncomfortable enough to think about what is around us, under us, in this culture. His presentation, by the way was entitled "Mindless Robots Who Can Change", and he is the author of numerous books, including "Waking Up", "States of Consciousness" and studies in near death experiences.