JOURNEY IN BEING
DISCOVERY, REVELATION, AND REALIZATION OF THE UNIVERSE

AXIOMATIC EDITION: DEFINITIONS AND ASSERTIONS

ANIL MITRA

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THIS EDITION
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The Axiomatic Edition writes the development as a system of givens, definitions, assertions, and demonstrations and provides a commentary. This version omits demonstrations and commentary.

Link to the full axiomatic version

Contents

Conventions

Foundation

Realization as a Journey

Mechanics

JOURNEY IN BEING

Conventions

Some terms in this text are common but used with an uncommon variation upon the common meaning or meanings. To distinguish the present use I have capitalized a number of such terms. Since sentences in written English begin with a capital a device is needed to distinguish the present from the common use. When (C) appears after a term at the beginning of a sentence it signifies that the meaning is the meaning as used in this text. Similarly (LC) after a term at the beginning of a sentence indicates the common meaning.

Small capitals indicate that a term is being defined.

Foundation

The complete axiomatic version has a section on categories that is omitted from this document.

Being (C)

Experience

Definition. Experience is subjective awareness.

Assertion. There is experience.

Assertion. Experience is the place of encounter and therefore of whatever world there may be and of our relations to it.

Existence

Definition. Existence is that which is.

Assertion. There is existence.

Real world

Definition. The real world is what exists independently of being experienced.

Assertion. There is a real world.

Assertion. There is experience of experience.

Assertion. There is existence of more than experience.

Assertion. Experience and its complement constitute the real world.

Meaning

Definition. An object is what is experienced. The concept is the experience.

Definition. The object is the realization of the concept.

Definition. A concept-object pair constitutes meaning.

Assertion. Experience is an object. Concepts are objects.

Robustness and Discrimination

Definition. An object is robust when its existence is more than that of being experienced and more than that of accident.

Definition. A concept is discriminating when it refers to what is real and only what is real. A concept is informally said to be robust when it refers to and only to a robust object.

Robustness and Discrimination of Experience

Definition. When (and if) in coherent experience it is found that the real world is greater than the content of the coherent system, that system constitutes individual experience.

Assertion. The real world is far more than (individual) experience. (Remark. This is true even though or if there is significant illusion.)

Assertion. Experience and its range contradict the solipsism that asserts that the world is nothing but experience.

The Individual

Definition. A limited form is one that is not the world and that does not have the entire world as its experience.

Assertion. Individual experience is the experience of a limited form.

Definition. An individual is a limited form with individual experience.

Assertion. There is an individual.

Assertion. The world is populated by many individuals.

Being

Definition. Being (C) is that which exists.

Assertion. There is Being. The concept of Being is robust and discriminating.

Assertion. The power of the concept of Being is its neutrality to kinds or categories.

Logic and Science

Logic

Definition. Logic (C) is constraint on freedom of concepts that is necessary for possibility of reference.

Assertion. The hypothetical concept that does not satisfy Logic has no object.

Limit

Definition. A limit on Being is a concept that satisfies Logic but has no object.

Assertion. Logic (C) is a constraint on concepts but not a limit on Being (when Universe is introduced ‘Universe’ may be substituted for ‘Being’ in this assertion).

Fact

Definition. A fact (LC) is a non-compound concept or percept.

Definition. A Fact (C) is the immanent fact (LC)

Definition. A compound Fact is one that has an equivalent description as a collection of Facts.

Law

Definition. A law (LC) is a concept (a reading) of a pattern. The Law (C) is the pattern or object—i.e. the immanent Law.

Fact and Law

Assertion. Facts and Laws are not distinct. A Fact subsumes a pattern; a Law (in any of its known or unknown domains of validity) is a Fact. Laws as Facts are given as are Facts as Facts.

Assertion. Facts (C) and Laws have Being.

Science

Definition. Science (LC) is conceptual projection on data points and concepts.

Assertion. This definition of science—conceptual projection on data and concepts—is sufficiently broad to permit interpretations of scientific theories as (a) facts on domains of validity and (b) as hypotheses with a valid domain of application that is a candidate for extension.

Assertion. Elevation of a scientific theory to fact is valid only on either (a) factual interpretation or (b) demonstration that universalization is possible.

Assertion. Science may be regarded as universal hypothesis or (valid) fact over a limited domain. An intermediate case is that of fact that is valid over a limited domain with prospect for extension via extension of the domain andor revision of hypothesis (theory). The factual interpretation is true; the intermediate case is reasonable; the case of universal hypothesis cannot be evaluated without knowledge of the extent and variety of the Universe.

Science and Logic

Assertion. Science and logic thus understood have dual and common origin. In both, discovery is experimental.

The Extent of the World According to Science

Definition. Logos (C) is the maximal or greatest world allowed by Logic.

Assertion. Science and critical common experience are consistent with world as Logos.

Assertion. World as Logos is so interesting that it is worth investigating.

On Foundations

Assertion. From the definition of Logic it subsumes scientific theory and the logics. This does not require essential revision of received notions of scientific theory and the logics.

Metaphysics

Universe

Definition. The Universe is all Being.

Assertion. (1) There is one and only one Universe. (2) There is nothing outside the Universe—i.e., the Universe has no ‘outside’. (3) Laws (C) and Facts are in the Universe. (4) The hypothetical Being that violates Logic does not exist and is not in the Universe. (5) All Laws and Facts are in the Universe. (6) All Objects are in the Universe. (7) All concepts are in the Universe. Even Illogical concepts exist / are objects (but do not have existing objects). (8) The Universe has and can have no (external) creator.

The Void

Definition. The Void is the absence of Being.

Assertion. There is a Void.

Assertion. The Void contains no Being (and therefore no experience, concept, object, or Law).

Fundamental Principle of Metaphysics

Definition. The fundamental principle of metaphysics (FP) is the assertion that ‘The Universe has no limits’.

Assertion. The Universe has no limits.

Assertion. From the limitlessness of the Void follows not only limitlessness of the Universe but also of every object or element of Being.

Assertion. The Universe has no universal Laws.

Assertion. There are no substances as original, constant, and exclusive sources of All Being. At the deepest and most general level the question of foundation is forever closed (by the fundamental principle of metaphysics).

Instrumental form of the Fundamental Principle

Assertion. The Universe is the object of Logic.

Assertion. If there is a system of concepts that constitute Logic, its object is the Universe.

Assertion. The impossible objects are not realized. They may, however, be said to be realized in the Void without entailing violation of Logic (or Realism—see below).

Realism and Logic

Definition. Realism (C) is (negatively) the constraint that concepts satisfy Logic to have objects. Positively, it is the assertion that all Logical concepts have objects.

Assertion. Realism (C) is Logic. Therefore, as for Logic, Realism is not a limit on the Universe but a constraint on concepts.

Metaphysics

Definition. Metaphysics is the study of Being as it is.

Assertion. There is metaphysics.

Assertion. Metaphysics may be restituted to an original meaning as study of Being as it is.

A Unique, Perfect, and Ultimate Universal Metaphysics

Definition. The Universal Metaphysics is the metaphysics of the fundamental principle.

Assertion. The metaphysics is unique, perfect, ultimate, and universal.

Consistency and Power of the Metaphysics

Definition. A consistent system of thought is one that has no explicit or implied contradictions.

Assertion. The universal metaphysics is consistent.

Definition. The power of a system of thought is defined by the range and significance of its objects.

Definition. A system of thought is complete if every assertion expressible in its terms is either true or false within the system.

Assertion. The universal metaphysics is implicitly complete as found above. The universal metaphysics is ultimately powerful in capturing the entire Universe in its range.

Meaning of the Metaphysics

Definition. The explicit meaning of the metaphysics is given by its concept—i.e. by Realism. The implicit meaning is in its objects—i.e. its implications.

Assertion. The above intuitive meaning can be proved formally in terms of the earlier definition of meaning.

Implications—Levels of Difficulty of Proof

Assertion. Many momentous implications of the metaphysics (FP) have trivial proof. Other implications, especially any concerning the realm of possibility—the extreme pole from the trivial may be difficult or impossible for human being (FP implies that there will be some limitless implications of this kind). An intermediate range of difficulty concerns implications at the intersection of the metaphysics and ‘local’ knowledge, e.g. of our cosmos.

Unification of Abstract and Concrete Objects

Assertion. The distinction between abstract and concrete objects is not fundamental. All objects are in the one Universe.

Vastness of Logic

Assertion. The object of Logic is limitless.

Cosmology

The Concept of Cosmology

Definition. Cosmology is (study of) varieties and forms of Being.

Assertion. Natural science has domains of validity but the Universe—the object of the metaphysics—is greater without limit than those domains. The Universe is limitlessly greater than our cosmos.

Identity

Definition. Identity is (sense of) sameness.

Assertion. The Universe has Identity and manifestation in acute, diffuse and absent (non-manifest) phases. This phasing is without limit.

Duration and Extension (Time and Space)

Definition. Duration marks difference associated change of same identity; extension marks different identities.

Assertion. In general, extension and duration will be interwoven; there are however cases in which they are distinct.

Definition. Time and space are coordinate measures of duration-extension (‘when’ and ‘where’ such measures exist).

Assertion. Duration-extension, where it exists, is immanent in Being.

Assertion. Duration-extension is relative (from Universe º All Being, i.e. from the fact that the Universe has no outside). There are phases of as-if absolute duration and extension.

Assertion. The Universe has no beginning or end or limit in extension. The Universe is.

Possibility

Definition. Something—e.g., a state or process—is possible relative to a context if it may obtain without changing the constitution or definition of the context.

Assertion. If something is possible relative to a context it obtains in an actual or conceived variant of the context (without change in constitution or definition of the context).

Assertion. For the Universe, possibility and actuality are the same.

Definition. Logical (C) possibility is whatever obtains under Logic.

Assertion. It is a consequence of FP that context free possibility and Logical possibility are identical.

Some Cosmological Implications of the Metaphysics

Assertion. The variety of systems of physical type laws is without limit. Corresponding to each system of laws there is an unlimited number of cosmological systems. Every cosmological system is repeated without limit. Cosmological systems may and do emerge spontaneously and spontaneously ‘self-annihilate’. There are ghost cosmological systems passing through ours right now (their presence is barely a whisper andor already integrated into ours); we are ghost to other systems. There is no system with interaction with others that is permanently barred except on the constitution (definition) of the systems. Every fiction is realized (this may be expressed ‘the only fictions are Logical fictions).

Determinism

Definition. Temporal determinism obtains when the state of a system at one particular time determines the system’s state at all times. A system that is not temporally deterministic will be called temporally indeterministic.

Assertion. In as much as the entire Universe is temporal it is not deterministic in the temporal sense.

Definition. Determinism obtains when a part of the system determines the whole. A system that is not deterministic will be called indeterministic.

Assertion. Temporal determinism is a case of determinism.

Assertion. The Universe is indeterministic.

Assertion. From any state, any other state may emerge. Given a part of the Universe, the remainder of the Universe is not determined.

Definition. Absolute temporal indeterminism obtains when, given one state in time for a temporal system, there is no state that it necessarily occupies at any other time. Absolute indeterminism obtains when, given a part of the Universe there is no necessity to the state of the remainder.

Assertion. The Universe is absolutely indeterministic in the general sense and, in so far as it is temporal, the temporal sense.

Analogy with Quantum Theory

Assertion. The universal metaphysics is broader than and may therefore be part of a foundation for quantum theory. Quantum theory is insufficiently broad to found the universal metaphysics.

Matter

Definition. First order being is Being as Being.

Definition. Matter (C) is first order Being.

Power

Assertion. The variety, extension, duration, and summits of Being in the Universe are without limit.

Assertion. All beings—especially individuals—inherit these powers of the Universe.

Definition. Power is degree of limitlessness.

Assertion. The Universe is ultimate power.

Assertion. The individual inherits the power of the Universe.

Doubt

Assertion. The metaphysics poses existential challenge even if perfectly founded. Doubt removes absolute guarantee but sharpens our existential status in relation to realization.

Foundation

Assertion. Except doubts of the previous section the metaphysics (with method) is founded.

Mind and Matter

Assertion. Experience is relation between elements of Being.

Definition. Mind (C) is second order Being—i.e. the experiential relation between elements of Being.

Assertion. Every atom is a cosmos, every cosmos an atom.

Assertion. The distinction between Mind and Matter is empty.

Assertion. The definitions of Mind and Matter are rational and justified.

Consciousness

Definition. Consciousness may be used as equivalent to experience but more commonly, consciousness is reserved for higher animal and human experience (‘higher’ has two pertinent senses—i.e., of adaptive consciousness and of consciousness of which the organism is or may be aware). Awareness suggests but does not connote consciousness or experience. Awareness is identical to perception or conception of something with or without experience.

Assertion. All consciousness and awareness are experience. All awareness has some degree of consciousness (for awareness is relation). Awareness of awareness is on-off but awareness is not. Thus while experience and consciousness may have different connotations (experience pertains to all relations, consciousness is the form of experience for ‘advanced’ organisms) they are, at root, the same kind of ‘thing’. There is no mode of Being with being ‘higher than consciousness’ but there is being with higher consciousness. It is not consciousness in its most general sense but its forms and degrees that are adaptive. Grounded and autonomous consciousness must be self-aware in measure sufficient to its autonomy (a proviso is that the being under consideration is not the result, extremely unlikely, of spontaneous origin).

Remark. (Introduction.)

Unlimited Form

Definition. An unlimited form is one that realizes All Identity as a state of being.

Assertion. There is unlimited form.

Definition. Aeternitas is realization of acute and peak universal Identity in or as-if in a point-instant.

Assertion. There is Aeternitas.

Limited Form

Assertion. A limited form does not realize or experience Aeternitas (as long as the form is sustained—i.e. as long as it does not transition to unlimited form).

Assertion. A limited form has transitions to and from limitlessness.

Realization as a Journey

Realization

Definition. Ultimate realization is realization of the ultimate revealed in the metaphysics. Ultimate realization will also be used to describe the situation when the individual becomes the object of the metaphysics (for in this form continuity with individual identity is given).

Assertion. From the metaphysics continuity of ultimate Identity with individual identity is given.

Assertion. While in limited form realization (of the ultimate), though given, is endless process.

Assertion. This endless process is limitless in extension, duration, variety, summit and dissolution of Being.

Journey in Being

Assertion. While in limited form realization is endless process or Journey in Being.

Ideas and Action are the Modes of Realization

Assertion. Ideas and action are the modes of realization.

Future of Science and Logic

Assertion. For limited form science and logic are ever experimental and empirical endeavors.

Individual and Group

Assertion. The transience of individuals marks and is a place of their relation to the Universe. Without transience there is no realization. Transience is the ground on which to build realization.

Nature

Definition. Nature is the ground or source of individual and group.

Assertion. There is no absolute or final ground.

Development

Definition. Significant phases on the way from primitive form to ultimate realization are called ‘Stages of development’.

Assertion. The normal stages of development are natural, social, psychic, and universal.

Civilization

Human Civilization

Definition. Human civilization is the web of human cultures across time and continents.

Individuals and Civilization are the Vehicles of Realization

Assertion. Vehicles of realization are individual and civilization and the places of realization are nature and civilization.

Universal Civilization

Definition. Civilization (C) is the matrix of civilizations across the Universe.

Assertion. Individual and civilization are vehicles of realization.

The Disciplines

Definition. A discipline is an established way of performing an activity that is an end in itself andor is instrumental on the way to ends.

Definition. A way or method is a way of performing an activity.

Incompleteness of the Disciplines

Assertion. Civilization provides disciplines that are marked by incompleteness and error.

Assertion. Civilization (LC) with standard disciplines—secular and trans-secular—marked by incompleteness and error provides a core on which to build toward realization.

Transience and Realization

Assertion. The transient disciplines are a ground on which to build toward realization.

Journey

‘Method’

Assertion. Analysis and synthesis of Being encompass the ways—particularly ways of realization.

Assertion. Action and thought on a path of realization are either discrete or continuous. The discrete are finite ‘jumps’ that have no inherent permanence. The continuous provide permanence of form and recognition.

Sharing a journey of realization—the idea of the Teacher

Assertion. At the front there is individual trial and sharing. There may be teachers but there are no ultimate masters.

Life, Death, Pain, Joy, and Challenge

Assertion. Life, death, pain, and joy are given; they are not absolute; they are gates and motive to ultimate.

Mechanics

Assertion. The essentials of realization are the analysis and synthesis—experiment, splitting, and rebuilding—of Being which include the received disciplines and ways of Civilization.