Metaphysical Oneness vs. The Multiple Egos Hypothesis

What I am about to describe is a rift between two metaphysical outlooks, both of which have enthralled me, and one of which I lean toward.

Metaphysical Oneness is the belief that all things are one - that any being is a slice of a whole cherry pie, which is the universe.

The Multiple Egos Hypothesis, as I will call it, is the belief that individual "egos" are totally distinct from one another. An ego, in this context, means a perceiver-actor-thinker - it is you at your most fundamental level, and I at mine - we are each separate egos.

I happen to believe the second of these, though I feel that I am outnumbered in this respect (among metaphysicians).

The key separating factor in this dispute is whether all things can be reduced to a similar substance. Christopher Langan, the world's smartest man, has posited, for example, that all is reducible to "infocognition," which has the dual aspect of perceiving and being perceived, thinking and being thought, acting and being acted upon, but which is a single substance. Underlying all universes, he claims, is an infinite expanse of cognitive potential, which manifests every universe in a way that maximizes the utility function of the infocognition. There is no fundamental difference between you and a toaster.

Many religious metaphysicians believe something similar. The universe, they say, is God, and God extends through creative thinking power. He/She/It produces beings and things, which follow the trademark of Godhood. Nothing is outside God, nothing is without God, All is God - manifested in many forms.

My problem with these is simple: I do not believe that I am an idea. I believe in ideas and idea-creators, thoughts and thinkers, perceptions and perceivers, visualized and visualizers, acted upon and actors - I believe in a fundamental dualism in the universe. I believe that I am an ego, that you are an ego, that there are billions and billions of other egos - each with its own volition - and that together we co-create the visible universe. An ego is not perceivable, thinkable, visualizable, coercible. It creates ideas ex nihilo at the cost of some labor, has existed always and forever will exist.

I think it's an interesting dispute.