Cosmoid: A Definition

Cosmoid: The sum total of a person’s perceptions and subconscious beliefs of reality; the whole of what a person sees and thinks reality to be.

For the past several years, I have been intrigued by how people see the world. From the radical zealot to the enlightenment thinker to the toddler whose mind cannot comprehend basic mechanical motions, the world of the mind fascinates me. But wanting to talk about this subject I ran into a barrier, one common to so many people when philosophizing: the English language is missing a word.

There are a few words that come close to what I mean. Worldview, for instance. But “worldview” implies that you know you are looking at the world from a certain perspective. You can easily flit in and out of worldviews, never changing anything you actually believe about reality. The concept I want to describe is more rigid and encompassing than this.

Some people use the terms “subjective reality” or “subjective truth” (or to be even more confusing, drop the modifier, “subjective”!), but this seems sloppy to me, as “reality” and “truth” are objective by definition. Rather, what I want to talk about is the world as it appears to be real and true to people, a subjectivity that appears to the person experiencing it to be indistinguishable from objectivity, and I want the word for it to not be easily confused with something else.

Cosmology is another word that comes close to what I want, but does not quite make it. A cosmology is a set of beliefs about the nature of the world, but it tends to mean the big things, like the size and shape of the universe. Cosmology is also the name of the field of science that studies the size, age, structure, origin, and fate of the universe, so it can also be confusing if used when speaking of someone’s understanding of reality.

The cosmos is defined as the objective sum total of reality. This is the kind of thing I mean. But rather than actual reality, I want to speak of the structure of it that people build up in their minds. A small, personal mimicry of the cosmos; a cosmoid.

Everyone has their own cosmoid, and every cosmoid is a little different. For example, over Christmas break I was shocked to find that no one in my family knew what antimatter was. What was perfectly mundane and ordinary for me, having lived and breathed physics for the last six or seven years, was completely alien to them. It was not part of their cosmoids.

Understanding cosmoids can help tremendously with writing characters. A cast of characters who each have different beliefs and different understanding of the world opens up the doors to all kinds of themes and intrigue to explore. It can also help you relate to other people with views different from your own. I think “cosmoid” will be a very useful word, and it will open the door to many discussions that I have wanted to write for some time.