MODERN AND ANCIENT PARADIGMS
For example, it can be argued that all forms of modern scientific thought are rooted in a general objective paradigm, which holds that all things in the universe, including all forms of consciousness, are rooted in insentient fields of force and matter operating mechanically.
In modern science, the unity of these fields is called the unified field. This general paradigm is accepted as a simple truth by most scientists today. Any theory that falls outside this norm is thus viewed as a form of pseudoscience.Yet the objective paradigm is a relatively recent development in human thought. For thousands of years prior to the advent of modern science, human thought was dominated by another general paradigm, which may be called the ancient subjective paradigm. This held that all things in the universe, including all forms of force and matter, are rooted in sentient fields of consciousness. In some traditions, these sentient fields were called the gods, and the unity of these fields was called God—but whatever they were called, the ancients invariably agreed that the universe has a sentient or conscious origin characterized by self-conception and free will, rather than mere mechanical action.
In the same way that the objective paradigm provides the basis for modern scientific theories, the subjective paradigm provided the basis for ancient religious theories. The difference between scientific and religious thought therefore boils down to a difference in opinion regarding the ultimate basis of creation. Modern theorists tend to presume that the universe has an insentient origin, called the unified field, while ancient theorists tended to presume that it has a sentient origin, called God.