NARRATIVE OF EXPERIENCE AND REFLECTIONS
ANIL MITRA PHD, COPYRIGHT © 1999, EDITED AND REFORMATTED 1999 - June 2003
Document status: June 10, 2003
Maintain as record and resource
Inspiration: here, I felt intuitively what I now know by logic alone; there were two kinds of inspiration: [1] the emotion of that warm fall afternoon with a hawk flitting among trees, the brown earth and its scent, the coming into my body as physical prowess returned so that I climbed without perspiration at all in the warmth and, above all, the feeling of oneness with the infinite and, [2] the idea itself that
Everything = Nothing
It is true that some parts of what I received in intuition was unnecessarily complex and some parts in error; and so the value of intuition in interaction with reason
The inspiration of the owl and of nature
The being-in aspect that has no theory
No action needed for Journey in Being
OUTLINE
On Being and the Elements of Being | On the Whole – the Noumenon, the One | Philosophy | My Concept of Philosophy | The Value of Contemplating Metaphysical Ultimates | Noumena, Phenomena and Forms of Experience | On the Relationship Between the Absolute and our World | Being and the Elements of Being: a Personal and Universal Account | Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – I. the Philosophers | Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – II. 20th Century Philosophers | Sources For Being And The Elements Of Being – III. Movers And Actors | Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – IV. 20th Century Schools of Philosophy | The Fundamental Choice | Heidegger on the Question of Being | Confusion Between the Finite and the Infinite | On Tools for my Presence | Philosophy of Science – “What is Science?” | Social Revival and Revolution | In the Heart of the Forest – I | Dreams | In the Heart of the Forest I – continued | The Form of Dreams | Additional Notes | In the Heart of the Forest – II | The Philosophical Problem of Consciousness | On the Mind Body Problem and its Solution | Needs for a Year in Nature | Gear
On Being and the Elements of Being
On the Whole – the Noumenon, the One
What does it mean to say, “I know the world?”
Ideas, knowledge: especially from the modern world culture
A broader concept of philosophy
Regarding subsequent discussion of philosophy
Whitehead’s idea that “Language is the instrument of philosophy”
The Value of Contemplating Metaphysical Ultimates
The Objections...and Responses
Noumena, Phenomena and Forms of Experience
Experience as the forms of mental experience.
The noumenon itself comes in grades.
We are now in a position to appreciate Hume’s problem
In what sense does phenomenon = noumenon
What do the forms of experience imply for metaphysics
Forms of experience as brought by mind to world...to mind
On the Relationship Between the Absolute and our World
On the origin of our world from the absolute
Accident or magnificent, regardless, you are real
What is the relationship of absolute and world?
Being and the Elements of Being: a Personal and Universal Account
What level of detail for the title?
Combine planning and document in MS Word / HTML format?
Begin with Being and the Elements of Being
Windows folder system, multiple hierarchic organizations and re-entrance
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – I. the Philosophers
Periods and Trends in Western Philosophy
To cover all knowledge and experience in principle, expand to:
Primitive and experiential mythology
An [existential] approach from being-in-the-world
A number of schools of Western Philosophy
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – II. 20th Century Philosophers
Non-Indians practicing modes of Indian Philosophy:
Twentieth Century Western Philosophers
Sources For Being And The Elements Of Being – III. Movers And Actors
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – IV. 20th Century Schools of Philosophy
Heidegger on the Question of Being
Confusion Between the Finite and the Infinite
Philosophy of Science – “What is Science?”
In the Heart of the Forest – I
Imagination in the waking phase between dreams
The “underground” labyrinth-like connection among all dreams
In the Heart of the Forest I – continued
Some additional notes I have made before
Another view on the “ism”-ism:
In the Heart of the Forest – II
The Philosophical Problem of Consciousness
With Idea suitably interpreted and generalized, everything is Idea
The elementary so called material elements have an ideal property
On the Mind Body Problem and its Solution
On solutions to the Mind-Body Problem
What Does This Imply for the World of Physics and Biology?
The concept is for an extended period of time as needed and not for a year as such
Legend
B – M – A = Being – Meaning – Action
f = 0
B = Being in a sense of integral... e.g. over time
A = Absolute
N = Noumenon, Noumena... also, with suitable interpretation, the ding-an-sich
P = Phenomenon, Phenomena
f = Nothing, no-thing
1 = The one [behind the many]
THE NARRATIVE
On Being and the Elements of Being
[10.9.99]
Whole and Elements – Nature, relations
Special focus on myself, environment includes: [N, S] [U], purpose & goals & meaning
The work is a presentational form [a la Langer] but is written, of course, in discursive form as a mode of construction
Questions:
What can I know
What can I become
What is the nature of my presence [includes meaning]
Although talk [writing] is reflective, narrative... [etc. ], the actual working out of the whole, elements, nature, relations
...Includes the following non-separate items
Experience
Learning
Ambition, goals
Being, meaning, action
Reflection
Planning
The environment comes in
As the place of my [being?] [and of my experience, learning, ambition, goals ...] and provides models for the journey which may use, learn, modify,
...and as the immediate place of my meaning
Therefore, within my relation to the whole is an especial relation to the environment as part of the whole
...and relative to this environment: I learn, “contribute” [affect], become, “outgrow” i.e. . d – the infinitesimal approaches ¥ – the infinite
What are the elements of the environment
N – the universe without man’s products – a limited concept
S – and culture an integrated dynamic entity; sum total of knowledge and being and not mere claims to knowledge
M, P
U
[&] The whole as it is... the “noumenon”
On the Whole – the Noumenon, the One
...the undifferentiated, the thing-in-itself, behind the world, behind the BMA [the B behind the BMA] it is the
N, B
timeless, it contains the seeds of real time [process], spaceless, it contains the seeds of real space [position-relation,...] ...which includes human time, space [ + U]
Does it cause the “U” or is the “U” its expression... it does not matter what word we use but we must distinguish Cause from cause, Expression from expression
E. g., although cause may be a totally phenomenal thing, that does not mean then that the Noumenon [in itself] knows no Cause or Causation
What does it mean to say, “I know the world?”
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What is the world [minus “I”, minus “knowledge”], e. g., nature, culture? [Usually I prefer to think of World = “ but here there is a reason for the restriction] What is “I”, “know” and the nature, origin of “I” “world” split? Is “know” “knowledge” proper? Can [1] include all? |
Sources
N & f : my essays, especially ... “three circles”, especially B&A
N & B: Heidegger, Aristotle
N & the split: inner [“private”] and outer [“public”]:
Plato
Kant, Schopenhauer
My essays
Indian philosophy
Hegel
... and the possibility of the unity of inner/outer in reinterpreted idealism [Being], ® N
Culture: map
– a special case of environment as the place of my being
· dynamic and integrated
· do not forget N, S, P, U [BMA]
How does culture/ society/ civilization provide a map? The following are not independent
· ideas, institutions, knowledge
· ways, models of action and being includes history, institutions, e. g. religion]
Remember
All cultures
Culture/map ® individual
Culture ¬ individual
Ideas, knowledge
A map is EB. [Initial]
I have other
Map ® learn, experience ® remap
Ideas, knowledge: especially from the modern world culture
Philosophy – and humanities, ethics, history…
Art, music, religion…
Science and technology
Philosophy
I would –might– like to say that the reflective part my work is philosophical, but that would be misleading in the world of 2000 A. D., partly because of the recent history of the academic discipline called philosophy... Therefore I would say: “I use my ideas from the history/tradition...” But what would be my concept of philosophy?
A broader concept of philosophy
Includes Action: it is not that there are consequences for or relationships with action but, at least, that action is necessary for philosophy and, in the expansion, action is a phase of philosophy. We are accustomed to thinking of knowledge as something that stands independently but that is a specialized idea of knowledge; more generally, knowledge exists only in relation to action, to the connection between the knower and the world
Includes Being-in-the-World
Regarding subsequent discussion of philosophy
It then becomes the task of philosophy to also interpret the “disciplines” [above] and modes of being/action [culture &+] in terms of the whole [ + being] and to further show to what extent the disciplines etc. + modes of action are the whole [or reflect the whole] and what are the requirements to “close the gaps”. [Traditionally there is pressure to say there are no gaps]
Whitehead’s idea that “Language is the instrument of philosophy”
Go beyond
¯
Metaphor [is language], poetry, literature
Art, music
¯
Body action
¯
Being is the level at which instrument,
object and discipline coincide
¯
Is what comes “before”
My Concept of Philosophy
[10. 9. 1999]
Using “philosophy” is loaded. Avoid? Need traditional words vs. alternates vs. coinage
... in line with comments above, consider an expansion of the idea of philosophy in which it includes action. This is not the idea that philosophy has implications for or is interactive with action... but that there is a pre-philosophy which includes action-in-flow-with-thought
Note the approximate idea that analytic philosophy is concerned with method and continental philosophy with content
Scope
Whole, especially as whole. Ultimate ... the Noumenon
The whole implies / includes the parts but, I state this explicitly because philosophy is at the place of the relationship
Note that this implies rigor for the following reasons:
Each part is part of the whole. E.g. knowledge, logic, philosophy itself are part of the whole. Therefore these items, as such, come under study when studying the whole
It is of specific interest to an adapted species to know that its knowledge has some anchor in the world... be that anchor natural knowledge, epistemology..
Once rigor, rationality... are introduced these, too, become part of the study – of what is studied
Context[s]
Re: context: this is “material”; at same time philosophy = framework for interpretation and ideals
Civilization, society and its culture, environment,
This universe, these beings...this individual
The contexts are worked out in terms of and inform the whole
Criticism
Of any theory, system, philosophy, institution, opinion... we can ask not just “is it valid”... but, also, is it an impediment, an evil by dissipation and pollution
E.g. scientism, fundamentalism, tenure and the modern university system, the academic system of publication
Tools
Language, metaphor includes mythic form – not merely referring to traditional mythology, imagination, creative thought, science... criticism [this is a reason for the importance of history]
Secondary tools. Analysis
Action, eperience, life of the individual – and of groups of individuals
No formal recognition of this phenomenon, but it is important even in formal and metaphorical forms but especially for philosophy or/and human meaning [existential]
Action lives [many more details in Sources for Being and The Elements of Being]:
Buddha, etc
Socrates, Sartre, etc
Genghis Khan, etc
Method
Some implied by above
Since philosophy is about whole, and includes the unknown, methods cannot be specified “in advance” nor can any [set of] method [s] be final
...they arise as temporary structures as for a nomadic tribe
But can mention some:
Questioning – Socratic, dialog and dramatic, speculative-critical, analytic, dialectic and study of history [including history of philosophy]
The Value of Contemplating Metaphysical Ultimates
[10. 11. 1999]
This may be criticized from many points of view but first I want to state something positive about it
Humankind has the ability to design and play, and this informs our actions directly and “quality of life” indirectly every day. Since the origin of design, the question has not been one of maintaining the status quo [blind evolution] but of possibility and construction [conscious evolution]
The best design is one that occurs in the context of hierarchical knowledge of the world apexed at the ultimate. This, rather than fear, is the positive source of ultimates in ideas
The Objections...and Responses
#1 There is suffering
This complaint is made by all kinds of persons, but the people who do something about suffering are those with inspiration from the ultimate
#2 Science is enough
When the domain of scientific validity catches up with the domain of ideas, it will find that the human spirit is not yet dead
Noumena, Phenomena and Forms of Experience
[10. 11. 1999]
Use “form” and “category” correctly and make sure my intended meanings are properly in place!!
Kantian perspective
Experience as the forms of mental experience
The idea that the world as experienced [the phenomena] is due to the forms [of experience] that the mind brings to the world [of experience] is key
The world informs mind in evolution and [as “recapitulated”] in development and learning
The forms of experience
Space-time
Causality [e.g., force]
Object and object constancy
Categories
[Certainty as a category/form = relative of object]
Regardless of the actual posited forms which are experimental... e. g., the following modifications
Space-time ® object being-process
Modified, fluid categories
Cause® emergence includes a-causal emergence + cause
Certainty ® in-process, experience[s] [forms?] in co-evolution
The Transcendental Method
The Kantian inversion or transcendental method is sometimes called the first truly philosophical method
The transcendental method is more common than may be supposed. The general idea is argument from effects to causes or, perhaps more generally, various kinds of non-causal explanation. There are debates regarding what constitutes a transcendental argument but it is not clear how fruitful this debate is
“The world [including the noumenal] must be such that experience and its forms are possible”
Post-Kantian reflections
The following are post-Kantian in the sense that they build on the Kantian inspiration but go beyond the original implementation. They are some reflections on the Kantian approach and include considerations on bringing understanding of the nature of experience and knowledge [back] to a [more] direct mode
The noumenon itself comes in grades
The absolute undifferentiated noumenon, the one, the womb, the silent heart of all being, nature’s deepest recess... before all actuality, relation and before all experience [as knower-known] . [Metaphor]
The immediate. E. g., a tree. My immediate perception of the tree is not and cannot be the tree-in-itself, to begin with tree-as-object is a form of experience and creates boundaries of which noumenon knows nothing.
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A Tree |
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Its parts |
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Environment |
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Its Elements |
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... |
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Earth |
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Origins |
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Other Universes |
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Nothingness |
I think I can overcome that – indicated by the first boundary... but the second boundary, too, is phenomenal
[Not merely a boundary in space-time. ]
Beyond this I can seek: conceptual relations
Tree as part of natural evolution
As part of physical evolution
Origin in the original one
Which includes in its womb all the above and the sum of all objects, all perceptions, all conceptions and thoughts
What is left over when all modes of apprehension and all apprehension is exhausted?
...Yes, concepts are not absolutely distinct from perception and sensation [think of the evolution: relation, representation, sensation, integration, perception, delay, processing – thinking and conception] and these include
Concept of nature, man, world
Concept of experience, forms, noumenon
Percept = concept
[Previous point]
Emergence
The Kantian imperative found motivation in Hume’s problem which is based in the first place in a search for certainty which is in contrast itself to the nature of the world as a phase of the original one... an attempt itself to project a phase of experience ® B, N ...”All Being” “Noumenon”
The concept of certainty [in life, knowledge is founded in determinism which allows no knowledge at all and is thus implicitly self-contradictory
In the second place, Hume’s problem concerns induction and causation [generalization from a finite number of observations]
Pass over the issue of observation as discrete and the issue of enumeration as given
But causation is not at all a universal form of relation. [Pass over causation in quantum physics which requires a reinterpretation of the classical concept before the term “causality” can be properly applied. ]
The absolute undifferentiated one, which º no-thing in which the precursors [before co-ordination] to space-time are only potential [as are being, object, relation, cause...] can yield the world only by creation; that is, by emergence of the new, of what is not contained in [what came before] – the source
On the “dynamics” of emergence, see other writing
The world is in no sense caused by the “N”... and cannot be
The world is in no sense necessary from “N” but merely potential [one of many = “¥ “] in the original “N”
[Thus anti-progressive]
Causality as such is not a universal “mechanism” and therefore needs no universal justification
Insofar as causation as a phase of the world is subject to Hume’s critique... this ignores
The issue of discrete observation and enumeration includes the applicability of the concept of ¥ ] discussed above
The problem of the status of certainty [in knowledge], also discussed above
The co-origin and deep binding of “subject-object”
More on certainty
One of the ideas, or complex of ideas, being critiqued: search for absolute justification leads skepticism re: our very foundation, via an extremely sterile concept of world and knowledge and justification via intrinsic forms of perception and so to the noumenon, the thing-in-itself-beyond-all-apprehension
My counterpoint. 1. Of course we are and are in a local phase of being of the universe and therefore the succession of degrees of understanding and knowledge are degrees of approximation. But nonetheless these are not watery, ethereal, skeletal – they are signs of the absolute. 2. A real value to the critical program: Plato-Locke-Hume-Berkeley-Kant-Schopenhauer-Carnap-Popper is not the foundation but the contextualizing of knowledge [in the absolute]
Problems should be appreciated before accepted or solved
We are now in a position to appreciate Hume’s problem
Hume’s problem has significance in its cultural setting
The following should be understood about emergence of the new
Relative to N: emergence is new
Relative to the first emergence, “physical” say, the organization of chemistry, at one level stars and galaxies at another. These involve no [to “minimal”] newness in the physical way
[This is just one story]
Life involves a new form of [genetic] organization... and species are new instances
The genetic co-evolves with the form of life... and forms of matter-matter relation ® S-R
Sensation, perception, concepts, thinking are new forms of S-R and creativity in art, science, philosophy, daily life, the technology are instances
And values and ethics...art and music
In what sense does phenomenon = noumenon
<phenomenon> = [noumenon].<?>
<?> [=?] emergence..
What do the forms of experience imply for metaphysics
What do the existence of experience and forms imply for fundamental levels?
E. G. [just one example] matter / materialism
Forms of experience as brought by mind to world...to mind
...or co-evolution of world, sentience, experience and its forms
On the Relationship Between the Absolute and our World
[10.11.1999]
The absolute: the one, “behind” the world, the N [noumenon, the universal]
The world: given, many, in space-time, with objects, cause, emergence [?] and particulars: earth, natural world, society, artifact..
On the origin of our world from the absolute
...contingent or necessary?
We have seen that cause is a phase of our world [this universe] but in no way [even in this universe] a universal generator of all effects, all givens, all elements and that emergence, of which cause is a phase, is required to complete the “generation”
The original A, B, N start with emergence
But emergence is not determinate, yields no one – one progression, certainly no necessary progression, implies at each level creation at that level of something from nothing at that level
Emergence is non-deterministic [yet harbors phases of determinism and structure] and a-progress
This is not only “the best we can hope for” [said pessimistically], it is the best we can want [optimistic]: for it ... and this implies creativity, newness, ultimate
Significance
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Do you feel insignificant, did you feel you are a lonely accident? That is an idea... but in the same sense the natural universe [including mind] is also equally, a speck, lonely, accidental... Did you wonder with awe at the beauty and magnitude of the natural universe... what was that ability to experience that awe that in various conceptions the great universe itself as one does not feel but must rely on you, a cosmic speck, to feel? In any case are not all these evaluations as to what is significant and what is a speck idiosyncratic, fleeting and subjective? One day you feel potent, another day you feel insignificant in the face of infinity and later that evening you feel as though infinity is your long lost friend. This is not to say that there are no significances – especially within valuational contexts such as when considering the contributions of individuals to society. Even here while the contribution and the individuals may be significant in this sense, the reason for the significance is due to the prior valuational system of the society which is the place, reason for and significator of the significance. Very often those who contribute the most feel futile. Powerful men are often lonely and depressed. The attachment of these feelings to status is largely psychodynamic rather than real |
Accident or magnificent, regardless, you are real
...and always potential in the womb of B = being, absolute... N, Brahman]
Proof
This is perhaps one of the few things I prove or want to prove... because once proven, it is so obvious
You are real
You are a product/content of B
You are eternally potential within B [which as f is unchanging]
Corollaries... All kinds of interesting corollaries follow relating to potentials, atoms [individuals], their relations. These, for now, I omit... I have speculative constructions elsewhere but I want to see what I can do in the way of definiteness
What is the relationship of absolute and world?
What, then, is the relationship between the absolute and our world?
The structure of our world [including culture, human nature, values, art – but also the natural universe...] is not necessary
But from the general character of the absolute [f, determinism, indeterminism, structure-variation... emergence], we can understand general features [the principles apply at multi-levels] and conceive change/or accept change based in absolute principles
Being and the Elements of Being: a Personal and Universal Account
[9.30.99]
What level of detail for the title?
[My] Presence/ [in the] Universe – Nature [s] Relationships, Understanding, Development
Are “universe”, “relationship”... “account”, “elements”... necessary? Are they not contained in “presence” [and time in development in process] ... and though difference and variety equals richness, do they not imply a slant that I do not want at the beginning? So could I not say:
Being: Presence?
Or
Presence?
Or
f?
Combine planning and document in MS Word / HTML format?
Begin with Being and the Elements of Being
Avoid tendency to color this too much with my development... get on with the work!
Sources
Link to my sources and incorporate essence rather than rewrite
Philosophers, etc... details follow
Windows folder system, multiple hierarchic organizations and re-entrance
Two key ideas and approaches
Split Being/world... [relationship to materialism]
One source of problems [current]
Absolute
Sustain “unsustainable problems”
[eternal/great problems and the history of ideas]
Evolution
...and what evolution implies for and learns from these relationships...and this includes science
Absolute [& f]
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – I. the Philosophers
[9.30.99]
Periods and Trends in Western Philosophy
Western Philosophy: Periods, Main Threads, Schools, Individuals, and Lines of Influence
The table “Periods and Trends in Western Philosophy” has been incorporated in History of Western Philosophy
Philosophy and Action
The following is a development of a system of sources for the phases of experience and study for Being and The Elements of Being. A key point is to not completely separate intellectual history from other phases of history; indeed, though the focus is history, I would also anchor history in the larger process of cultural, social, biological and physical evolution. I might call the development the history of influence
To cover all knowledge and experience in principle, expand to:
Knowledge
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Philosophy |
I have covered much ground but there is more to cover and to be made systematic relative to the present objectives |
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Art / religion |
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Science |
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Culture [EB Tylor’s definition] |
Experience
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Nature |
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Society |
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Mind, spirit |
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The universal, absolute, noumenon... the unknown |
Example:
Einstein’s theory of gravitation
Space-time-matter
Origins
Quantum mechanics
Creation and conservation laws
Structure
Complexity...e.g., the brain
Realism: EPR, Bell, Aspect
Synthesis: General theory of relativity and quantum mechanics
Some source documents
This information has been sent to other locations
Primitive and experiential mythology
An [existential] approach from being-in-the-world
Indian Philosophy
These three sections have been absorbed to central design and planning | ms word version and Thinkers and Actors
A number of schools of Western Philosophy
These have been absorbed into later sections and subsequently into History of Western Philosophy
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – II. 20th Century Philosophers
[9.30.99]
Asian Philosophers
Modern Indian Philosophers
Non-Indians practicing modes of Indian Philosophy:
The above three sections have been absorbed to Thinkers and Actors
Twentieth Century Western Philosophers
These have been absorbed into a later section and subsequently into History of Western Philosophy
Sources For Being And The Elements Of Being – III. Movers And Actors
[9.30.99]
These have been absorbed into Thinkers and Actors
Sources for Being and the Elements of Being – IV. 20th Century Schools of Philosophy
[9.30.99]
These have been absorbed into History of Western Philosophy
The Fundamental Choice
[9.30.99]
The most fundamental choice facing an individual, a society – any entity that is a part of the whole universe [of Being], that partakes in or has realized [ultimate] being only partially – is:
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Whether to attempt [engagement, realization, transformation to, becoming] whole being |
The choice is not between the fundamental choice or some other alternative, but between the fundamental option and its neglect
There is a [conceptual] difference between “whole universe” [quantity] and “whole being” [quality] . Is this distinction valid? If so, what is the prime objective – whole being or whole universe? Does one necessitate the other?
Existence of the question, motive is on some [mouse-like] accounts [analytic philosophy] “muddled”, but on my account [Heidegger’s?] recognition of placement in the field of being and of incompleteness in [.........]?
Questions
Is not the secular process: an individual in his daily activities and life goals, a society and its institutions – politics, planning, the arts, music, literature, drama, the humanities the sciences and philosophy with new vistas of ideas and universes, technology and creation of new futures...the essence of the process
And religion [the institutions and practices]
What of the issue of caution, care, incremental learning [like incremental evolution] and planning, of rigor?
A Scenario
[How to formulate this?]
The parable of a god telling us of the imperative to the fundamental choice: Unlike the parable in “Metaphysics and Mind”, The Problems of Mind and Consciousness; a Catalog of Problems [1999], this is only an imperative; but we are not told that to not face our being here and now is to forsake our being. Either path is a risk: to accept and take the path of being or to continue on?
Given the essential secular position – that of ignorance relative to ultimates – this is eminently reasonable. The position would be [1] there may be a risk, [2] the risk would be as stated above
I can think of numerous counter and counter-counter arguments
And of course, even the choice of being requires various balances: one has to eat, live; society will function. But there are ranges of behavior compatible with balance
Should I hedge like this? or scream? or what?
The Imperative
I want to develop the scenario into an imperative. I know that not all will bite. Some will go with [or acquiesce in] incremental [sometimes decremental] secularity and others with formal religions with codified, static, bereft institutionalized beliefs
Not all religious occasions are static
® Once you know the existence of the fundamental choice, the imperative exists
® As human being, the capacity in nature to realize one actual from numerous potential futures is combined with reflexive [self] awareness to make for the capacity for choice
The path of actual futures is of necessity self-sustaining for more than the instant of bifurcation
® The fundamental choice is a commitment to fullness of being [the risk is security]
® The default is to relinquish one’s capacities and flow to flow with mechanism. The gain is [probably illusory security] and the risk is loss of being
And the comfort of the [illusion]
Answers
The answers to the foregoing questions are, based on what I have just said, no organisms in pure flow [a joyous thing at times], in incremental evolution [which is given, anyway] are not making the fundamental choice [in general] ; and if they are making the choice, they are avoiding being for the default. This is especially the case given that the choice for being is a shifting of focus and intensity and not a neglect of necessity... but may involve risk relative to commonly perceived necessity
On Rigor
The question of rigor was not addressed, however
A common understanding of rigor has two components. The first is the idea of rigor as the reflective process of coming to correct conclusions. This [as a whole idea] is already somewhat flawed, for conclusions follow only from premises. Well, there are a number of places, but these are not generally acknowledged. In the first instance there are some who are so preoccupied with rigor that the conclusions and premises are not important. In this case, there are no premises [or conclusions]
Where premises come from:
Premise[s] ® deduction ® analysis and comparison ® New premise
In the second instance, rigor is applied to topics and institutions that are current
In the third instance, not fully distinct from the second, the premises are what are regarded as clearly obvious by everyone. [Nothing is obvious to everyone, so that is a point of contention, but in the interest of commonsense and brevity I will pass over the contention] . A more important point is that the contents of currency [science, institutions, what is regarded as obviously true] are subject to a number of shaping forces that include functional selection, fashion, the vagaries of institutional function. Perhaps that is the best to hope for, but it is a case against the idea of rigor as absolute. At most we have “better” rigor
In the fourth instance the premises are hypothetical: premises ® conclusions ® analyze, test ® modified premises
The second component to rigor is the process – logic, analysis, and so on. At any one time these may be standardized. The logic of Aristotle reigned for about 2000 years, until the advent of alternative mathematical formulations, the founding of large tracts of mathematics, and subsequently the founding and generalization of logic itself [predicate calculi, modal logic, many-valued logic, perhaps fuzzy/logic – linguistic analysis] . The point is that even the modern forms are not standardized [despite degrees of consensus] and are demonstrably non-absolute. Mathematicians have come to accept the possibility of paradox and contradiction [while trusting intuition and error correction to deal with contingencies] as the price to pay for richness. Again, there is no absolutization of the process or canon of logic and rigor
Thus one can rigorously use all modes of search: rigor [criticism], imagination, empathy-identity, being
Another problem with a conventional conception of rigor pertains to its embodiment. It may be recorded on a paper, but must be carried out by persons [and their surrogates – pencils, calculators, computers, analogs and prototypes... ] and so, by, what instruments or person?
Mind, thought are the common instruments that – as the embodied realization of mechanism and evolution – permit process and choice. But, these, as we have just seen as partial in their ability to encompass “reality”. . . to allow ideas to die rather than emotions, persons, the human spirit, institutions. . . There is a level [a wider scape] at which persons and institutions will die for their choices and so, while caution may suggest avoidance, there is still a role to make choices with lives and institutions. That is, there is a role for commitment
Another question regarding rigor has to do with its application or content. I noted earlier that content must enter through premises and that negates any absolute idea of rigor. But I now confront the question of balance between content and rigor. What is the scape to which rigor will be applied. And given the sterility of rigor as regards content, what is the role of imagination. Rigor may be used here, too
Thus one can rigorously search for maximal potential, content, being
However, just as I expanded rigor, the instruments to the whole person, institution, the context can also be expanded from ideas about the world, to ideas about being, to being
Ultimately, at the level of being, we find that the process has become identical to content and the distinctions [thought, action] are instruments but not ends
Being is motive without external foundation
The Problem of the Whole
Does the elimination of foundation have an answer other than to face Being with acceptance of existential insecurity?
Yes!
In the first place, the understanding of an absence of absolute foundation is accepted as the order of things and so reminds us of our absolute connection to and placement in the whole universe of Being... it gives us fullness in our being, our humanity, makes us alive!
Probably every sentient being faces rear and repose. But the modern cult of security is [materially, psychologically, existentially] at the root of the cult of angst
And finally, although [knowledge of] the whole [universe of Being] has no anchor outside itself, it has foundation within nothingness that it contains within itself
That foundation through balance between absolute indeterminism [variation] and situational determinism [existing structure, selection] is detailed in other writing
Heidegger on the Question of Being
[9.27.99]
Sent to Heidegger on Being
Confusion Between the Finite and the Infinite
[10.10.99]
Various confusions result from projecting the local [finite] scene [naively] to the ultimate [universe, infinite
Emotion, caring, bonding within community [Family,... village...] projected to the world
The infinite timescapes of euphoria and youth [the infinitesimal scapes of depression]
Flat Earth [This is an exception. All other examples through the next involve time explicitly]
Flat time [includes the first two examples above] . But here focus on
Institutions
Science
Incremental Rationality
This process which may be regarded as an approximation projects leisurely seminars to the universe
Counterpoint: Places human / modern civilization in the stream of infinity
This is the key example [here]
On Tools for my Presence
[10.10.99]
[In the universe] [Understanding, nature, knowing... experiencing, developing]
Tools
Sentience
Awareness
Consciousness
Knowledge
Western civilization
20th/21st centuries
Academic
Philosophy
Science
Literature
Art
Design
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But the following is essential complement..
Action [body]
Experience
Engagement [/ detachment]
[My] life [program] as balance includes Work, nature
Knowing
Acting
Philosophy of Science – “What is Science?”
[10.2.99]
Plain definitions are given. “Science is: 1. Hypothesis, 2. Test, 3. Modify hypothesis...”
The problem is the confusion between institutional and ideal [and other] science
Social Revival and Revolution
[10.11.99]
This is more practical than theoretical
Revolution is not always political [limited meaning] or violent [limited meaning]
Politics
Law
Education
When function is specialized but the institutions have corrupted [distinct from reinvested... ] function?
A solution: function ® population. [Revolution usually occurs when conditions have been intolerable but are getting better... according to Magee]
Criticism: that produces nothing, it degrades values, functions and is chaos
Response
#1. Early America
#2. The institutions have already quite successfully produced degradation..
#3. Even if the population produces nothing, the “shaking of the foundations” is revitalizing, refounding – including new-founding...not mere reformulation
In the Heart of the Forest – I
[10.12.99]
Last Thursday: Left home, visited friends in Burnt Ranch – a clear day. Weaverville by 7 – dinner, wine, then beer at the Saw Mill Saloon [a number of locals present] till 1 AM and on to the trail head, slept, up at 9, Weaverville again, Friday, breakfast, coffee and “confessions of a philosopher”, Bryan Magee – the ideas of Karl Popper, but mainly Kant, Schopenhauer, the job of philosophy... Kant’s transcendental method, the noumenon, how [synthetic a priori] knowledge is possible, Schopenhauer’s philosophy including the working of Kant’s program in one direction, and Schopenhauer’s theory of art, music, psychology and the noumenon as the one behind the many. Back to the trail head... slogging up the trail, sweating like a horse, camp
Saturday. Short hike then back to the trail head with a day pack – for more maps and an extra pair of socks. Back to camp and sleep
Sunday. Slog up to new camp on a flat by a creek
Monday. Rest and write. Have had some excellent ideas. Am out of shape from an exhausting year working on projects
The Ideas So Far
Being and its elements – its nature and plans. On Being, noumenon, nothingness, the absolute
My concept of the nature and tasks of philosophy. Philosophy/ universal/contextual, environment and culture
Kantian development and counterpoint
The absolute and the world
The value of contemplating metaphysical ultimates
The fundamental choice facing individuals and societies
Confusion between infinite and finite
On the forms: emergence, separation – union
Mother [my] and mountains: a message
Dreams
[10.11.99]
First two nights
“10-15” dreams, consecutively of constructing a WebSite, page after page, link after link, incredibly detailed, knowing that the dream construction is not an actual or possible site, remembering all dreams
Imagination in the waking phase between dreams
In the house of room
The House of Rooms
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a = from other dreams
b = to other dreams
A cinema in a dream
An action adventure with my father as a Custom’s Officer and I pass through the office. A car drives through the parking area and leaves – scouting. Next a black sports car “screams” in, rams against the building and the action ensues... most entertaining
When the action is over, I say to my father, “The action was rather slow but the character development was good.”
The “underground” labyrinth-like connection among all dreams
In the Heart of the Forest I – continued
[OCTOBER 12, 1999... WRITTEN NEXT DAY]
The Day
Today, climbing the trail, in the heart of the great forest, I feel my strength returning. The climbing is not difficult. It is afternoon, the day is warm, but I am not sweating excessively. I stop at creeks and enjoy the cool of deep creek beds, and waterfalls, and green, clear pools. Walking on red and brown earth, amid the pines, breeze now warm now cool. Occasional bird and small ground animal. I am reminded that it is that wonderful time in autumn after the searing heat of summer and before the rain, wind, storm, snow of winter when the forest is most lovely. This is the time of day and the season that, in other years, I have seen deer, bear, rattlesnake seemingly at ease, about without caution. Small insects hover in front of me as I hike but I do not mind them. At one point from the side I see a hawk amid the trees – it is there, it stays, and is gone
[N = noumenon, the ultimate real
Object, space-time, cause – the forms and emergence, separation-union, dream]
Experience is [a form of] transformation
Reflection on the Real
[Much more complete and founded version in notes 2001 and secondary links.]
I am reflecting on the real, what is behind the perceiver-and-perceived, the forms of our knowledge that make knowledge possible. And everything I have been reflecting on these past days when, at once, I know the answer to my quest [ion] . It is two-fold question of [1] the nature of the world and the absolute known by experience and conception and [2] the source for a nature of the same as known through inner reflection, the “heart-of-the-mind”
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N = 1 = f [here, now] = blank, empty mind = creation |
N = 1 = f, not only because [of the idea that] the world was created from f = 1 at “t = 0”, but, because, regardless of the question of an actual t = 0: N = f, it [N] could always have been created from 1 = f
Or W = world
Now this seems like >f [something] from f [nothing], but this is not the practical case. What obtains is [>f ]level N from f level N-1 ... and this lies outside practical experience [including common philosophy, common morals, economics, commonsense, and science] ... and is a different story and cannot be ruled out
That is, looks like violation of conservation rules and ideas:
Energy
Gradual evolution
Creativity [Think about this case
Level N – ideas, observations and synthesis and whether level N-R enters in “sparks”]
Think about this / rule out / issue
This is all the practical case but are “sparks”, animal breeding, cyclotrons [etc. ] [and the related S-R QM concepts], practical exceptions [that we become used to]
Sparks? I have been using this term for the essentially new in ideas, thought, imagination. How do new ideas come about? A new compound idea may be a recombination of older simpler ideas and/or a reorganization of older compound ideas. But there is the question of how the recombinations and reorganizations occur – most of them are meaningless... how do the meaningful ones occur? Their formation is guided by the matrix of thought, yes, but there is also a creative element that is necessary due to the large number of possible combinations. Additionally, there has to be a mechanism for the entirely new. Since there was no life on earth five billion years ago all ideas are new relative to that origin. There has to be a mechanism for the totally new in ideas. It may be a random neural element – a spark or burst of neural activity, or use by neural circuits of random processes at some internal or external level. The “paradox” of structure from randomness is something I have written on elsewhere and do not need to elaborate now... It is these new elements that barely constitute ideas but that form the raw material from which the new in ideation is built up that I call sparks.
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Therefore, there is no thing to rule out N incarnate |
Ruling out and inverse logic [Wilkinson]. Relation to transcendental argument
Does this touch a nerve in men and women?
Does this explain the appeal of prima facie [upon the practical norms of the day], absurd myths? On an evolutionary account the “absurd” myths of religion have several knowledge functions over and above the functions of absurdity and related group dynamics including affirmatory and exploitative ones
These functions may be pre– / borderline rational. Note that the reference to “absurd” myths does not reflect my judgement; my judgement would enter regarding some claims for such myths to some kinds of knowledge. Further, the claim that myths have a knowledge function is not claim regarding the quality or value of that knowledge function. Finally, note that a function in the sense used here is not an assigned function as in the function of a hammer being that of a tool; rather function refers to mechanics; remember also that this distinction is not absolute; and finally remember that a mechanism offered as explanation is not intended as final or as a whole explanation even from one explanatory perspective and certainly not intended as a valuation or justification of any kind
The practical norms are like the air that we breathe – required, used, practical, needed, agreed upon, not requiring demonstration
Work out “heart...” with the forms of emergence and creation [creativity is emergence + “will”? with level of thinking] . Separation-union, dream [?]... Will from no-will
¨
Work out the following
Origin of skepticism: Plato, Kant... political-economics
The nature of natural knowledge
The mathematics of generation – a from no-thing subject to conservation principles
…this is important
The mathematics of regular behavior
¨
Noumenon
N
Considering a tree whose story I pick up at this point of germination [even though the story goes back to a remote past] ; it grows, always absorbing, giving back, to/from earth, air, light, stars [sunlight, origins] ... It dies, decays, goes back to the soil... Even in the present there is continual, dynamic interchange... so that the putative boundaries of the object are approximate / just that
That I go back to trees is interesting, even given their beauty, their being the other life form, their population of the natural world, their fundamental role in ecology. Trees live just long enough to be perceived as permanent [at times] and, in their nature, impermanent
It is not that there is nothing there or that perception is illusion, but it is perception that holds change constant and defines a surface across which interchange occurs and makes a tree – i.e. tree-as-tree over and above ‘tree’-as-noumenon
This is “the” dualistic aspect of the phenomenal that is at the same time real and ideal – based in the realistic and idealistic meanings of phenomenality. The phenomenal is where the real and ideal converge and are identical – in a sense... in what sense?
Conceptual knowledge takes the situation the step back
Percept/ concept being – an actual and convenient boundary but ultimately an unreal boundary
...So there are trees... but there is no tree-in-itself... likewise all things, and so there is only one x-in-itself: the one N “that is the one behind the ‘many’“
Also out of time, a succession of instants
Every particle of the whole forms and decays and therefore there is no thing-in-itself but [the] one [N]
Many – the plurals: things, knower-known, perceiver-perceived, forms, ideas, matter, levels/chain of being, self and world
¨
These considerations go beyond any substance ontology, categorialism vs. non-categorialism and make – except to provide context – those issues, at that level, moot. This point, the related issues from this set of notes, including the concept of a philosophical program, and the whole of Being and The Elements of Being [my program and its elements] constitute the journey. What I scribbled on a scrap of paper: “Screw all ‘isms’ I may have held. “
The practical problem of an individual life... as long as N is not realized [death is like having another spin, suicide line taking another spin...] is to balance the needs of maintaining a separate [d], specific and particular [and particulate] existence, with a [the] vision [implies a trail] of N
Such vision includes logic and beauty
B [& N] contain you and this is your most trivial and uninteresting key to “immortality” – one which is more a condemnation [in a sense] than a liberation. There is no choice, no creation, no freshness to this immortality. It is not even one you [this you] can experience
Eternal return
The same is true for you Û I, and all couples
Not tragic, even if seemingly so
¨
Other immortalities, the highest of which is identity with N, become evident
Hypercycle
Identity with N is not = N
Some additional notes I have made before
All the fundamental truths have been written
There is just “one” P = N
P = phenomenal world
Task of each individual
...[society, human...] is to work out the balance [... just think about whether each individual does in some measure assume this task]
The Form of Dreams
[10.13.99]
Vivid
More real than real
Detail, intricate
Creativity in
After effect and real implication for wake
Suppressed in some societies
The “underground” connectivity of all dreams and the dream world [dream-space... and the implications... to what does [it] connect
Additional Notes
[10.14.99]
“Isms”
Idealism
Materialism
World as will
World as “God”
..
..
Epistemologism
..
None of these makes any sense unless the root is suitably interpreted and generalized. Draw back “psychological vestiges”. Advantages “psychological vestiges”: the faces of N
Therefore, abstract. Noumenon. Absolute..
[Absolute idealism is in-between.]
Schopenhauer’s use of Platonic ideas as an in between P & N
Another view on the “ism”-ism:
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In the Heart of the Forest – II
[OCTOBER 14, 1999]
Encounter With The Owl
I am walking up the trail, only a day pack, no cares at the instant, sunlight filtering through trees, falling from behind me
Quite suddenly I sense a presence – the shadow of a large bird on the ground in front [a hawk, I think] but unusually close, I feel presence, turn around – it is an owl that had approached me and is now turning away, climbs, perches on the branch of a tree – 15’-20’ above the ground
I am not a bird expert, but, thinking later, I doubted it was an attack and thought it was likely a territorial affair. It also entered my thoughts that the owl may have been tame
I walked a few feet ahead and turned around to look at the bird still perched. It was looking at me. Through binoculars I noted the round dish-like face, the markings, the significant though not large beak, muscular legs and definite talons. I felt some apprehension. We continued to star at each other... and then owl went into its “nonchalant” act, looking here, there a little preen, closing its eyes, looking positively disinterested
This was a part of the forest with tall trees, sparse undergrowth [comparatively, so the read-brown of the earth was quite present. It was quite comfortable to stay and observe, but I decided to continue my hike
...looking back over my shoulder every few feet. At about 50 feet from the tree with the perch, I had decided that owl was going to stay put and I looked back one more time: the owl was flying straight toward me, maybe 15 feet away, 5 or so feet off the ground [about at my chest] in level flight, and... closing the gap between us. As owl approached to within a few feet, I had, without thinking, swung my day pack at it – and just missed connecting... the bird veered and perched again on a newer, closer, higher branch
The owl must have approached within six feet. On the first approach I do not have a direct visual estimate; but I sensed the owl as being very close based on the shadow, the sound of the wings in flight and veer and, possibly, the motion of the air generated by flight.
Alarmed, I picked a rock the size of my hand and chucked it at the bird. The rock hit the branch the bird was perched on [luck more than aim] and it flew away
I did not see that owl again... but felt its presence the rest of that day
The Snake
Next day: warm fall afternoon, sloping side of canyon wall, red-brown earth, I am walking on the trail. Suddenly, a movement. An alarmed rattlesnake, on alert. I wait; the rattlesnake waits a minute and then slides, glides to the side. I move on
The tiles: brown, dull yellow, black, circular, tiled markings, 5 feet or so, 1/2 “ diameter [a little more?], like pine bark..
The Philosophical Problem of Consciousness
[10.18.99]
To approach this issue, it may be good to find and list alternate ways of describing it, i. e., of describing the gap between body and mind, molecules and consciousness..
Subjectivity, qualia
Interior / exterior or inside / outside [metaphorically]
Private
Approaches
Homunculus in a box
Can we learn anything about interior/exterior or private space by considering the following: A scene with a number of boxes; each box has its own inner environment with a person – the observer, with objects such as chairs... and a window. The boxes are in an environment with various objects. Each observer can see everything in his own box, everything in the environment, and all other boxes, but cannot see into the other boxes
Particle interactions
Consider not just two particle interactions fij, but also three particle interactions fi,jk and more
Are the fi,jk posited or due to internal factors
What bearing might this have on inner / outer?
The phenomenal world
In the phenomenal world, every object exists by virtue of its being experienced. This is true in the world of appearances P1. In P2 = the world of things or phenomena known to perceivers, every object exists qua object by virtue of its being perceived. This is not the condition of existence but is only the condition of its existence as object
How does this relate to –or what does it imply for– the world of N and vice versa
Some Kinds of Idealism
...Related to Resolution of the Philosophical Problem of Consciousness
Everything is Idea
With Idea suitably interpreted and generalized, everything is Idea
The elementary so called material elements have an ideal property
...associated with them, which may turn out be a property already known, that corresponds to, correlates with, or is the cause, basis or micro-expression of phenomenality
What does all this imply for the relation between phenomena and appearances – i. e. the two meanings of phenomena: P = A or P Ì A [proper sub-class.]
On the Mind Body Problem and its Solution
[OCTOBER 24, 1999]
Preliminary: on Phenomena
The phenomena or phenomenal world has two meanings
The world of appearances, and
The world of things-as-known-to-perceivers. The first meaning is the one used
The Problem
One of the problems or tasks of Philosophy is to bring together within a coherent framework the various ways of experiencing and being in the world
One way, perhaps the first in the development of the individual, is the direct way of experience of the world in its phenomenal [meaning 1, above] or apparent aspect
To say that the world presents or is found as appearance is not to say that it is [or presents as] mere appearance. External realism gives an especial status to those phenomena that are external –in the sense that although they are among the mental contents of the perceiver they correspond to something that also has independent existence-to the individual perceiver and that they are commonly available to the perception of all capable perceivers: these phenomena [meaning 2, above] are held to exist independently of perception. That this is –or has the character of– a conceptual step does not invalidate external realism but indicates that its establishment is not as a mere given
In the modern world [and despite post-modern criticism] the external world is significantly identified with physical and biological description [other minds, third person] and secondarily with minds-as-objects and society and its artifacts. Due, perhaps, in part, to the power of the scientific world view the external, objective real is identified with the real and then a problem that arises is to explain phenomenality or to find its causes from science, i. e., from physics and biology. This is one way of describing the mind-body gap or problem which may be thus seen, at least in part, as due to the praxis of modern society
In other words, Cartesianism is due not only to the intellectual and philosophical influence of Descartes [understood in the actual and symbolic sense] but also, though not necessarily distinctly, due to the praxis of the modern world. The phrase “not distinctly” has the sense of dual or partial dual aspect
On solutions to the Mind-Body Problem
One way of looking at the problem is in terms of the divide between internal and external perception – i. e., between apperception and perception
[Recall that the inner / outer distinction partakes in the character of metaphor. Schopenhaur pointed to the importance and richness of the apperceptive world...as did the vedic seers.]
However, regarding my phenomenal world [meaning 1, above] there is no phenomenal distinction between the so-called inner and external worlds. I make that distinction through accumulated experience, comparison with the perceptions of others and, also, by conceptualizing the “external world. “
Further, I have no problem with the existence of others whose experience is more and less similar to mine. The sum of phenomenal experience then constitutes the world as a phenomenal world P
What does this imply for the Noumenon N
¨
This does not mean that there exists or is no external and real world, no world of physics and biology, no world according to the world view of science
However, though we may believe in external reality, that belief must remain partially conceptual or hypothetical. At the same time, P is perceptual – with concepts entering as an organizing tool but not as necessary existential factors
What Does This Imply for the World of Physics and Biology?
...Further, since there exists no [possibility of] explanation from physics and biology to P – as we know these items, future physics an d biology must incorporate a factor that results in complete explanation of P physics and biology. This factor may be something that is contained in current physics and biology [but the factor not identified as the explanatory factor or the demonstration from physics and biology to P as yet undiscovered] or awaiting discovery
Further, this factor must include the root of phenomenality if not phenomenality in its full blown form – some examples of root form are considered in my rough notes. Thus, in the case that the factor is among the known factors of p . b, the final explanation or connection with human and animal phenomenality will require, in addition to demonstration and possibly interpretation, at least a change in the language or semantics of physics and biology to the point where the bounds of the descriptor “material” would be violated
¨
Thus, in order to achieve a full science of the world, we will have to go back to rather that further away from the anthropic, animal or sentient mode of being
Needs for a Year in Nature
The concept is for an extended period of time as needed and not for a year as such
Finances – for the year / return
Truck
Contact – here... there
Store
Medications / insurance
Dad
Home base
Keep house for a month or so as I improve in physical health
Acclimatize
Pare, etc
Share? Part?
Gear
Tent: add loops for stays... stakes
Duffels
Sandals
Patch to blue wind pants
ANIL MITRA
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