The Overmind + The Imaginal + Metaphyiscs
So depending on the type of game you want to run, you're going to likely treat psionics in different ways. If you want a more "hard science" feel you'll probably ditch psionics all together or maybe go into some quantum biology explanation. It also depends on how you think it affect tone - for example psionics is something I'd lean against in an Eclipse Phase game. It just doesn't seem to fit there for me, while for others it enhances the setting.
For a Space Occult game, or at least this particular iteration of such a setting, I think it makes sense to have psionics remain mysterious not only in a scientific sense but also a mystical one. Scientific study of the physics-described Void may not yield definitive answers about Psi or The Way, but it's possible that supposed gods, spirits, and souls that are rarely encountered by most are also just manifestations of Psi. (See the Living-Agent Psi hypothesis.)
Psycho-physics
The Overmind Hypothesis refers to whether there's an underlying psychic connection between some/all biological entities, and the Imaginal refers to a place between the mental and physical suggested by Henry Corbin's study of Islamic mysticism. One can look at this in different metaphysical terms, with the following being some popular hypotheses:
Dualistic in terms of Two Space/Time Realities - There's a physical world and a mental world. These are distinct places, though perhaps consisting of the same underlying type of stuff. Journeys through the Imaginal are journeys to another dimension or set of dimensions. This suggests there might be gods/God existing in the afterlife. Mental powers are the result of the psion or Star/Void Knight utilizing a subtle body to reach into the physical world from the Imaginal space. Extradimensional entities may also utilize such abilities to masquerade as gods, or maybe this is just the scientific explanation for how gods do what they do. Differences vary as the attitude of science toward theism/souls/magick/etc varies from world to world. In some worlds the general populace is less religiously inclined than scientific academia though this is admittedly a rarity.
Dualistic in terms of a Physical Space and Non-Spatial, Possibly A Temporal Overmind - There's a physical world and an Overmind. The Overmind, however, is not another realm but rather the mental connection between at least some living things. This allows for a Collective Unconsciousness, but travel through the Imaginal is like being together in an online game - there's no actual physical space being traversed. This doesn't preclude ultra-terrestrial spaces, just that the mental is not some other dimension but also not just of the physical.
One-becomes-Many Idealistic in terms of an Overmind dreaming up Physical Reality - This is one of the more theistic hypotheses, in that it explicitly gives credence to a metaphysical foundation/linchpin that is also inherently mental. This might require a shift in how one thinks of the terms "mental" and "physical" The more religious might try to make One-to-Many Idealism fit a particular narrative but sum total of parapsychology data from different worlds makes things more muddled.
Many-to-Many Idealistic in terms of Multiple Minds engaged in a Collective Dream - Instead of trying to explain how one gets from One Mind to Many, this paradigm suggests we have multiple mental entities that make the world and "play" in it. So the Imaginal and Physical are two spaces both conjured up by us dreamers-and-the-dream but with different rules. In this paradigms the Imaginal would be the more "real" reality.
The Simulation Hypothesis - Similar to the last one but denying that there's a Collective Dream - instead there is an inaccessible physical substrate running a simulation. People in this camp think it makes more sense to assume occult stuff is just "cheat mode" stuff in the operating system that is our universe. As previously noted in a prior post AIs often cling to this explanation.
Panpsychic & Neutral Monist variations of the above - Panpsychism/Panexperientialism puts mental characteristics into matter while Neutral Monism suggests the mental & physical come out of one kind of transcendent "stuff". Functionally however explanations end up sounding a lot of like the above hypotheses/paradigms.
There are variations and combinations one can have of the above. For example many Star Knights think of the other psychic reality as a kind of Heaven made of Light and this world a kind of Panpsychic reality where the Void is either a creature that has dominion or has negative psychic energy in addition to the virtual particles that arise from "nothing" to make the physical world. Void Knights think the idea of an afterlife to be nonsense.
For a Space Occult game, or at least this particular iteration of such a setting, I think it makes sense to have psionics remain mysterious not only in a scientific sense but also a mystical one. Scientific study of the physics-described Void may not yield definitive answers about Psi or The Way, but it's possible that supposed gods, spirits, and souls that are rarely encountered by most are also just manifestations of Psi. (See the Living-Agent Psi hypothesis.)
Psycho-physics
It is my personal opinion that in the science of the future reality will neither be “psychic” nor “physical” but somehow both and somehow neither.
Wolfgang Pauli letter to Abraham Pais
One scientific discipline that may arise on some worlds due to the mystery of psychic powers is the fusion of physics and psychology/parapsychology, might be called "psycho-physics". This area of study would focus on examining one the mysterious consciousness and its relationship to the material world with a special applied interest in mind-over-matter interactions and anomalous information transfer. Two hypotheses of interest would be the Overmind and the Imaginal.The Overmind Hypothesis refers to whether there's an underlying psychic connection between some/all biological entities, and the Imaginal refers to a place between the mental and physical suggested by Henry Corbin's study of Islamic mysticism. One can look at this in different metaphysical terms, with the following being some popular hypotheses:
Dualistic in terms of Two Space/Time Realities - There's a physical world and a mental world. These are distinct places, though perhaps consisting of the same underlying type of stuff. Journeys through the Imaginal are journeys to another dimension or set of dimensions. This suggests there might be gods/God existing in the afterlife. Mental powers are the result of the psion or Star/Void Knight utilizing a subtle body to reach into the physical world from the Imaginal space. Extradimensional entities may also utilize such abilities to masquerade as gods, or maybe this is just the scientific explanation for how gods do what they do. Differences vary as the attitude of science toward theism/souls/magick/etc varies from world to world. In some worlds the general populace is less religiously inclined than scientific academia though this is admittedly a rarity.
Dualistic in terms of a Physical Space and Non-Spatial, Possibly A Temporal Overmind - There's a physical world and an Overmind. The Overmind, however, is not another realm but rather the mental connection between at least some living things. This allows for a Collective Unconsciousness, but travel through the Imaginal is like being together in an online game - there's no actual physical space being traversed. This doesn't preclude ultra-terrestrial spaces, just that the mental is not some other dimension but also not just of the physical.
One-becomes-Many Idealistic in terms of an Overmind dreaming up Physical Reality - This is one of the more theistic hypotheses, in that it explicitly gives credence to a metaphysical foundation/linchpin that is also inherently mental. This might require a shift in how one thinks of the terms "mental" and "physical" The more religious might try to make One-to-Many Idealism fit a particular narrative but sum total of parapsychology data from different worlds makes things more muddled.
Many-to-Many Idealistic in terms of Multiple Minds engaged in a Collective Dream - Instead of trying to explain how one gets from One Mind to Many, this paradigm suggests we have multiple mental entities that make the world and "play" in it. So the Imaginal and Physical are two spaces both conjured up by us dreamers-and-the-dream but with different rules. In this paradigms the Imaginal would be the more "real" reality.
The Simulation Hypothesis - Similar to the last one but denying that there's a Collective Dream - instead there is an inaccessible physical substrate running a simulation. People in this camp think it makes more sense to assume occult stuff is just "cheat mode" stuff in the operating system that is our universe. As previously noted in a prior post AIs often cling to this explanation.
Panpsychic & Neutral Monist variations of the above - Panpsychism/Panexperientialism puts mental characteristics into matter while Neutral Monism suggests the mental & physical come out of one kind of transcendent "stuff". Functionally however explanations end up sounding a lot of like the above hypotheses/paradigms.
There are variations and combinations one can have of the above. For example many Star Knights think of the other psychic reality as a kind of Heaven made of Light and this world a kind of Panpsychic reality where the Void is either a creature that has dominion or has negative psychic energy in addition to the virtual particles that arise from "nothing" to make the physical world. Void Knights think the idea of an afterlife to be nonsense.
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