Naturalism

Recent years have seen a surging online movement hard at work creating new ways of understanding and expressing reality, largely in reaction to the death spiral of degeneracy championed by the radical left and consuming much of mainstream society. This movement can be understood as an effort to return to more traditional and natural ideals that are lindy and have worked for milenia. However, these ideas are often rejected out of hand by liberals and even moderates because they identify them as right wing, and have internalized the frame that any ideas that come from the realm of the traditional conservative right are born of hate or ignorance and are not worthy of consideration. Put simply, the broad acceptance of these ideas hinges not on the ideas themselves, but with the branding.

The solution is a new ideology, free from preexisting connotation, that brings together all of the best ideas in an elegant, practical, and broadly palatable philosophy. It is necessary that this ideology make room not just for those who wish to bring back traditional values and ideals, but also the innovators who are necessary for the successful adaptation and application of those ideals. The Ideology of Naturalism was my creation in an effort to fill that need.

Naturalism is based on three assertions: that the universe is founded on immutable rules, the goal of life is to flourish, and that based on these rules and goal, there are clear and decenable best strategies for life. I have broken this article down into three sections. First, I will cover The Value of New Terminology and why it is necessary to find a new brand for these ideas and why naturalism is the ideal term. Next I will cover The Philosophy of Naturalism in greater detail; that we live in a structured universe with inherent laws, goals, and strategies that must be observed for the individual and society to flourish. Finally, I will talk about The Application of Naturalism as a way to illustrate how to apply the fruits of the Naturalist ideology. 

VALUE OF NEW TERMINOLOGY

Before we dive into defining naturalism, it is important to lay out why we would even find value in creating a new term in the first place. First, I would point out that the comprehensive ideology of Naturalism is not already defined by any existing philosophy that I am aware of and if we wish to establish a clear understanding of this ideology, we must create an effective language with which to speak about it. Second, branding is important to the successful dissemination of ideas, and the ability to break many of these ideas free of the modern conservative brand is necessary for them to be widely considered. Finally, Naturalism is an ideology that is grounded in the objective natural truth and therefore defining the philosophy as natural is fitting.

ESTABLISHING CLEAR LANGUAGE

Whenever we are seeking to create clear understandings of ideas, it is necessary to think critically about the language we use and the jargon we create. Not only will people have to use that language to speak of these ideas, but for the philosophy to even gain a foothold in the zeitgeist, the language must resonate and elicit the right conceptualization. What we then want is to create terminology that captures the ideology accurately while also conveying it effectively.

As we will see, the ideology of naturalism is not necessarily built with “new” ideas, but brands and structures these ideas around the foundation that runs through them all: nature. By choosing a terminology that highlights this key dimension of the idea and grounds it in something as powerful as the objective truth of nature, we create an understanding that is clear and powerful.

BRANDING MATTERS

One of the core issues that the right and conservatives have in spreading their ideas is not the ideas themselves, but the branding of the ideology they are a part of. Most mainstream liberals or moderates have come to associate conservatives with outdated, ignorant, and unintellectual thought at best and racist, hateful, and arrogant thought at worst. These groups no longer care to hear the ideas from the right for no other reason than they come from a space they have been taught to disregard. If the effort to conserve traditional ideals is to be heard, it is necessary to express that effort and its ideas inside a new brand that is more broadly palatable to the wide audience it needs to reach.

The connotation of nature is extremely positive with people across all ideologies. Those on the left especially have been inundated with the message that nature must be conserved, even to the extent they will put nature above human success. They are happy to accept spiritual frameworks that are built upon natural understandings and language. Additionally, the right is increasingly interested in natural ways of life such as eating food made with regenerative farming methods, using more responsibly created products, and cutting out harmful chemicals. Both groups still recognize the value of a grounding in nature, making the term Naturalism one that could bridge the divide between these competing mindsets.

NATURALISM IS AN AUTHENTIC REPRESENTATION

A common criticism leveled at the use of communication strategies, like branding, to more effectively incept ideas is that this practice is inherently manipulative. While I agree that broadly speaking, communication strategies can be used to maliciously manipulate the way people think, if we are using these strategies to better communicate ideas we authentically believe with the goal of informing and empowering, there is no reason to shy from using these methods.

The beautiful thing about naturalism is that we are not trying to squeeze these ideas into a brand that is palatable, but falsely represents the ideas it purports to espouse. Quite the opposite, the ideas we need to return to are grounded in natural truth and thus, Naturalism is an authentic term to capture these ideas.

Naturalism also opens the door for greater inclusion of different ideological preferences. We often see the left and the right, the innovators and the conservators, at odds with one another and thus, the ideological grouping tends to polarize towards one approach. However, in nature, we require balance. We need to both conserve the natural ideals of the past and also adapt them to be best applied in the modern environment. Naturalism asserts that there is value to be had in the harmony of these two forces.

PHILOSOPHY OF NATURALISM

Now that we have established the value of creating a new structure and brand, let’s discuss the philosophy of naturalism in greater detail. Naturalism consists of three core tenets:

1. The world we inhabit is grounded in immutable truth, which we can think of like the rules of the game, that must be observed when we decide how best to act.

2. The goal of life is to flourish, not just on an individual level through personal success, but also as a system that will carry humanity and life forward.

3. We can thus conclude that with set rules and an established goal, there are optimal strategies, natural patterns, that will manifest in the playing of this game and that can be learned and adapted for future situations. In this way Naturalism stands in stark opposition to the idea that truth, goals, or strategies can be subjective, while also giving guidance on how to find and pursue a life in harmony with these natural truths.

GROUNDED IN TRUTH

While it might seem obvious to some, it is necessary to state that we live in a universe with immutable, fundamental laws. This idea is so deeply ingrained in many aspects of society that it is often taken for granted, even to the point that some have forgotten it entirely. Science, the pursuit of material knowledge, is founded in this assertion that we can discover the Truth through experimentation and replication. While the Truth is something that can never be fully captured or expressed, the closer to the Truth an idea is, the stronger and more value it has.

We cannot deny Truth no more than we can deny gravity. No matter how much someone believes they can fly, the moment they leap, the natural laws of reality will assert themselves. This applies to all aspects of life. If you do not live in observance with the natural laws, you might for a short time be able to get away with it, much like the moment one hangs in the air after the leap, but you are headed for an inevitable crash.

This is critical as it lays the foundation for objective Truth. Something is either aligned with the Truth or it isn’t. There is no subjective Truth. We can certainly say that people have different perspectives of the Truth, much like you can take pictures of an apple from many different angles and say that all of these pictures are of an apple, but simply believing our interpretations does not make them true, just as believing pictures of apples are actually oranges does not make them pictures of oranges.

ORIENTED TOWARDS FLOURISHING

While a game can be played many ways inside the same rule set depending on the goals of the players, Naturalism asserts that the goal of life can be clearly defined and thus we can objectively judge actions better or worse in relation to obtaining that goal.

We define life by that which continues on and perpetuates itself and death by an inability to do so. It follows that the purpose of life is to flourish, to maximize the ability to continue on and perpetuate. There are many ways this can be achieved. While we might certainly wish to flourish on an individual level, if society falls apart, that will certainly affect us. So while we should optimize our own flourishing, it stands there is value in ensuring the flourishing of others. We can also continue on through our children and raise them to embody the values that served us well in our own flourishing.

So while there are many ways to think of the ultimate goal of flourishing, what is important is that we have established a clear goal that is easy to consider when making decisions. Whether we are deciding what to do on a personal level or a societal level, the question should be the same: does this help life flourish?

HARNESSING NATURAL PATTERNS

In any game, once we have established rules and a goal, there will arise optimal strategies for achieving that goal. Such it is with the game of life. We see many of the same patterns manifest across many different areas of the natural world and this is because these patterns and strategies are objectively better than their alternatives in winning the game of life.

In this way, we can assert that there are objectively better ways to live your life than others, an important fact to establish in a world that is so warped in its acceptance of subjective reality as truth. This is not to say that everyone should live the same exact life, or that through time the same strategies will work. Just like an organism will evolve to better fit their environment over a long period, or simply change their behavior over a short period like seasons, these patterns must be adapted to fit the environment.

It is key to understand that nature not only conserves internal truths, but encourages innovation and evolution over time as the environment shifts. Similar to playing a game using well established strategies, but also adapting to the moves of your opponent. In this way, we see that our ideal state is in balance between left and right, innovation and conservation.

Conclusion

If our ideas are to be successful in reaching and converting a broad audience, we need to find new ways of capturing those ideas in engaging and compelling terminology. Naturalism is an authentic branding of the ideal ideology that can be adopted by Player Characters and NPCs alike which will both make these ideas more palatable to new comers while also clearly defining an ethos that is powerful and effective on how to think about and approach living a good life. I hope that you adopt Naturalism, at the very least as a tool to explain your philosophy to others, and help align more people towards this healthy ideology.

Game On 👾

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