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This is a work-in-progress. Feel free to leave comments on this document to ask questions, suggest improvements, etc.

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This interview is designed to be a fun way to help you identify your fundamental beliefs about the nature of reality (aka your cosmology), and attempts to get kind of specific about it. It's not meant to be a comprehensive survey of all possible cosmologies, but rather a tool to help you identify your own cosmology and perhaps to spark a fun conversation with others.

STEP 1

Identify your beliefs about the nature of reality at a high level

Start at Question 1. Follow the instructions after each answer until you reach your initial cosmology. Then proceed to Step 2 to refine your result.

1. WHAT IS REALITY? At the most fundamental level, which of these best describes your view?

• Reality is primarily ruled by spiritual or divine powers → go to Question 2
• Reality is primarily ruled by physical or material laws → go to Question 5
• Reality is primarily emergent from consciousness or mind → go to Question 4
• Reality is fundamentally composed of information rather than matter, energy, or consciousness → Continue to Information-Theoretic Cosmology in Step 2
• Reality is either fundamentally unknowable, best understood through multiple perspectives, or requires suspending judgment on ultimate questions → go to Question 3

2. WHO CREATED IT? Which best describes your understanding of the divine or spiritual nature of reality?

• Reality is the creation of one supreme being → go to Question 6
• Reality involves the interaction of multiple gods or spirits → go to Question 7
• The universe itself is divine (God and the universe are synonymous) → Continue to Pantheism in Step 2
• The divine permeates and transcends the universe → Continue to Panentheism in Step 2
• Reality emerged from primordial emptiness through natural principles rather than divine creation → Continue to Traditional Daoist Cosmology in Step 2
• The universe is continuously renewed at every moment by divine will → Continue to Islamic Philosophical Cosmology in Step 2