Cosmicism is a philosophy and literary movement developed by H.P. Lovecraft and his followers through their stories.
Lovecraft was a writer of philosophical horror that included phenomena related to the occult on earth and the secrets of the universe. The themes of their stories contributed to the development of this philosophy. Lovecraft's cosmos does not revolve around the human being; All of Lovecraft's work is sustained under the watchful eye of alien entities from beyond reality that, when they awaken in our world, corrupt and destroy everything that exists that is real to human beings: human beings are a very insignificant presence in the world. general scheme of the universe, a small species but whose arrogance makes us believe that they have a significant or total power as a source of existence in the universe, but nevertheless they can be eliminated at any moment by forces of which they even ignore their existence.
Bases of cosmicism[]
Lovecraft argues that there is no perceptible divine presence, like a god in the universe, and that humans are particularly insignificant on the great map of intergalactic existence: just a small species projecting its own mental idolatries into the vast cosmos, always susceptible to be removed from existence at any time.
Cosmicism shares many characteristics with nihilism, although one important difference is that cosmicism tends to make clear the inconsistency of humanity and its actions rather than summarily rejecting the possible existence of a higher purpose (or purposes). In Lovecraft's stories it is not the absence of the meaning of things that causes horror to its protagonists, it is their discovery that makes them realize their human inability to change the indifferent and incomprehensible universe that surrounds them.
Lovecraft's cosmicism was the result of his dislike for all religious concepts and his feeling of the existential impotence of humanity in the face of what he called "infinite spaces" opened by scientific ideas, a terror towards the finiteness of being in the infinity of space and our ignorance. In his works of fiction, these ideas are expressed in different ways (Herbert West--Reanimator, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Call of Cthulhu, among others). Recurring elements related to Lovecraft's cosmicism in fiction are humanity's insignificance in the universe and the search for wisdom ending in disaster.
Lovecraft once observed that the supreme being in the universe has no likelihood of being the human being, and could more likely to be imagined to be a glowing gas floating around a distant star.
Despite the frequent use of expletives and imprecations invoking the Christian God in the Mythos stories, at least in the case of Lovecraft it is clear that his atheism and nihilism meant that he did not in any way think that the God so called upon would ever or could ever intervene. And in terms of "power levels" as some would think of it, Azathoth occupies the position of God in the Mythos. It should be noted that Azathoth is not described as omniscient, but rather as a blind idiot.