Psycho-Materialism / Eidomancy
This topic is also dubious, and quite a hot topic among scholars even in this day and age. It's moniker comes from a fusion of the field of psychology with the practice of materialistic thought. Should be noted however, that the materialism part of the name does not entail the idea of material possession taking precedences over life, but in the philosophical sense of dealing with the omniscient presence of matter (in the case of this particular idea, it also includes the "abstract" kind) and how it moves. Another point to be made is the colloquial moniker made by the masses to make it more digestible. Those who are aware of the system simply refer to it as "Eidomancy". Although i am prone to use this version myself in normal day-to-day conversation, i'm going to refer to eidomancy by it's scholarly name to maintain my integrity as a student of the academy.
In short, Psycho-materialism can be summarized in the following way:
"the interplay of reality and the collective thought processes of peoples" - my 3rd semester Professor
Put another way, how thought alters reality (Both percieved and not percieved). Psycho-Materialism has essentially been broken down into two distinct "levels", a micro and a macro level. I will make the distinction between these two types later on, for now i want to tell you how it works.
Emergence of Psycho-Materialism
We cannot place the date exactly on when Psycho-Materialism was first coined since the original transcript seems lost, in no small part thanks to the book burnings carried out by the early republic, but we have managed to gather some various contemporary sources that speak of it as having been coined by a scholar sometime close to the saffron proclamation, some contemporaries claim that the theory surrounding Psycho-Materialism might have played a role in sparking the birth of the republic. This led to some scholars in the later republic claiming that the disappearance of the scholar and texts was carried out by the local king who wanted to squash the ideas presented, as they could prove rebellious with certain interpretations. Though he was censored, the words of the writer survived and was expanded upon and interpreted by future scholars looking deeper into how thought and belief impact the world we inhabit. Now as to how the law itself emerged in reality, we do not know. It's commonly believed that psycho-materialism has been around since the beginning of the development of thought, particularly when advanced organic creatures began walking about. The instance civilisation and the people in it began to think beyond a 1:1 relation towards things (like animals do), it began to warp reality in responds to the achievement of higher thought. This distinction is perpetrated mostly to prevent an unfortunate question of "a chain", if reality emerged alongside thought, who got the first thought? Theologicians and Agnostics argue for a potential deity figure, but the majority atheistic scholars reject this explanation as it rubs us of our supposed "unique qualities". Some responded by saying that reality has always existed, but stuff like The Aetherium / Outerworld and Pneumena came about because thought advanced to such a level that the collective "psychic whiplash" brought them forward into existence. The counter of course, being if reality has always existed, is not safe to say that these supposed Phenomena created by thought, are actually pre-exsisting ones that we only just now got around to observing? Another question that arises from this discourse, is the notion of a "higher conschious". This question usually pops up when the discussion takes a religious turn since those scholars are quite keen on proving the existence of a higher deity. Some suggest that the idea of a hierachy of conchiousness creates a "power game" between different wills on making your own will a reality. This suggestion is quite popular among existential philosophers, as many are quite keen on providing their vision and version of achieving a higher conschiousness. I do realize that writing this might spark a question of how it can be labeled as a natural law if there so many questions to what it supposedly constitutes, but thankfully we have observed it in some capacity:Micro and Macro level
On the micro level of Psycho-materialism, you would find usage by individuals, which takes many forms. The most basic form of individual psyco-materialism comes forward in quite marginal ways, like the user performing better in a certain if they are motivated by an idea. Historically, during times of crisis, rulers would rally people in a particular way to utilize Psycho-materialism. Labourers would lift heavier things and move quicker, soldiers would fight harder and craftsmen (like blacksmiths) would create higher quality items (usually utilizing the same material, but the quality of the weapon seemingly improved well beyond what it should for even journeymen blacksmiths) One anecdote, saw a kingdoms farmers go wild in the fields, crops seemingly growing quicker and more bountiful seemingly by the farmers demanding more of the earth and the earth providing in turn. It should be noted that such a level of productivity usually happened in times of war, were great zealotry was invoked in the population to service their God-kings and earn their favour. These God-kings have also utilized this in ways other than boosting productivity. Another story details an old king, desperate for immortality, succesfully convincing his people that he was an "eternal ruler", subsequently he lived well-beyond his years and other rulers followed suit. They also utilized Psycho-materialism in times of peace, usually making people practice parochialism when it came to engaging with other people. This usually took the form of dividing them based on arbitrary elements like race, cultural and religious reasons, keeping their eyes away from the real problems inhibiting their freedoms. This kind of enforcement lead to people internalizing these dividing elements, which in turn would influence their capacity of Micro level Psycho-materialism, but this has spawned another element to it: macro level"Macro level"
This is where Psycho-materialism once more becomes a bit of a dubious concept, as it takes on a far more abstract form(yes, more than people enacting seemingly magical feats). The Macro-level is prescribed to other elements of society, particularly all of it's social constructs. The general idea is that all of these structures that make-up the fragments of society, only exist because of a wide-spread usage of Psycho-materialism. Essentially, Psycho-materialism manifests a "psychic field" where are automatically alloted certain attributes based around values distinct in a given group. Put another way, the allotment is simply societal expectations, and a person drafts certain traits and attitudes (towards other people) based solely by the zeitgeist surrounding them. A child may learn these by other "victims" of the Macro level, who reward the child with positive reinforcement while cracking down on supposed "bad behaviours". As a result, ones own INITIAL thoughts and beliefs are not created by ones own inquiry, but simply get adorned a mask by the people surrounding them. Another element to this stems from the notion of "internal drives" that lie within people,which drives them to succeed and accumulate more power over themselves and other. Some scholars argue that these constructs initially emerged, because higher conschiousness enfored their will and power over others, whom subsequently became subservient to Macro level Psycho-Materialism. Other protest the notion of "internal drives" being the leading course behind societies faults, as they believe it's far too reductionist, perpetuated further by many people who believe that the default is being good, and evil only emerges with outside influence. There are also a couple other problems associated with being a "victim" of Macro-level Psycho-materialism, many attributed to the concept of the inner world, i.e this heavy handed enforcement leads to some destruction of the self as their "true selves" become put under lid, while some who do want to become more, are afraid to do so. They cannot see a future where they are not what society currently wants them to be, and thus never attempt to break free. Although some scholars believe the macro-level is far too abstract. Other scholars take a far more pessimistic approach to it, claiming that what is percieved to be a system, is in reality various isolated phenomenon that just happen to overlap. To such people, psycho-materialism is but another product of a longer tradition, the tendency to overcomplicate reality. However in spite of what I would call naysayers, the majority of scholars still maintain that psycho-materialism is a worthwhile idea to keep around. Mostly to encourage people to "fight back" against Social constructs they deem unjust or exploitative. For in the troubling times of the late republic, the idea that conviction and steadfastness in ones own beliefs might be enough to shape the world, is quite a comforting one in a world that seemingly grows darker. (OOC comment: gonna rewrite this in the near future, for now i hope it's clear)
Type
Metaphysical, Psychic
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