|
The ‘journey’ is of discovery and realization of the
Universe
And the places of sentient—especially human—being in it.
A narrative aim is to show its essentials simply
But not to suppress essential challenge.
…
The idea of a journey has individual and human
significance.
The text proves a view of individual and universal process
As limitless in variety, extension (‘space’), and duration.
Preset commitment and substance block universality.
Here,
Being is used neutrally to allow but not force commitment.
…
The ideas narrated often came as if received outside
volition—as
If entering an alien world of stark beauty.
…
Meaning is sometimes seen as fixed—but has no final
Determination outside process. New experience and established
Use balance fluidity and fixity in setting meaning.
Many new ideas of the text have familiar names and
origins.
However, new meanings often deviate significantly from the
Old; this awareness will help appreciate new meanings.
Understanding will be further enhanced when it is
appreciated
That the ideas form a connected system with new net meaning
That is greater than the collection of individual meanings.
Seeing meaning as concept and object enables
demonstration,
Below, of a system that envelopes all knowing and Being.
I have been careful to specify meanings employed.
Capitalization—as in Logic and Being—will mark new or
Special meanings used in the narrative.
To know the utmost reach of being requires faithful
depiction of
The Universe and our relations to it. Metaphysics, cosmology,
And worldview are terms for such depiction.
The common ‘standard’ cosmologies are secular and
trans-
Secular. Secular cosmologies appeal to experience—especially
Science. The trans-secular posit worlds ‘beyond’;
The mythic and religious are among its standard kinds.
David Hume pointed out the absence of necessity to
theories
Of science as fits to the entire Universe: agreement on a limited
Region does not of necessity extend to the whole.
Secularism sees science reach far into all known
niches and
Typically concludes: probably, science nearly captures the
Universe. This does not allow for undiscovered niches.
Universal fit of science is neither necessary nor probable.
This is well illustrated by a history of scientific
revolution: since
Newton's synthesis science uncovered many unforeseen Niches—
Especially the quantum, space-time-gravity, and evolutionary.
History also reveals that we soon forget this lesson of history.
Therefore science allows wide open
metaphysics beyond its valid
Domain. What is the most liberal yet realistic metaphysics? An
Answer lies in ‘logic’ which is most abundant in what it allows
Even though—because—it is most sterile in what it requires.
In a sense to emerge the ‘beyond’ is
found—proved—limitless.
Mythic cosmologies so conflict realism as to have
but one
Purchase on metaphysics—to insist on openness where thought
Has been shut down by positivist secular dogma.
Any metaphysics that agrees with standard
cosmologies—
And their principles of reasoning—in their domains of
Validity is allowed by those cosmologies and principles.
One aspect of secular thought is significant—all
valid
Metaphysics must be founded in Experience.
A ‘universe’ of narrative would have no definite
beginning
Or end. A discrete text, however, has a nominal beginning.
It is effective to begin the core of this text with Experience
Which is the place of our relation to the Universe.
Experience—awareness—is the place of knowledge of
things:
The core and theater of our being. Its forms are pure, of the
World, and of action; which combine as ideas and action.
Experience is the rock of knowledge of things—
Knowledge that something ‘is there’, for even if all is
Illusion, there is illusion—which is Experience.
Is there more than Experience? We might respond ‘the
issue has
No pragmatic interest’. However demonstration that there is
More will yield significant advantage as explained next.
It will displace excess doubt and confidence
in knowledge and
Reliability of the world. Confidence in experience will go beyond
Its current borders with what certainty may emerge. Analytic
Skill in foundation of the world in the given will be sharpened.
Demonstration—if there is only Experience then it
either does
Not or does range over its idea of the world. The former entails
Contradiction; the latter is an alternate labeling of the world.
Therefore, there is Experience which is part of the real world.
This is no guarantee that the world is as we expect.
It may be
Far greater—or less. In either case we will have found truth.
Preliminary care in foundation will yield immense return.
This shows a general value to care in foundation.
Another value:
Recognizing Experience as object for other Experience grounds
A powerful concept-object interpretation of concept meaning
Drawn out in essays named on the title page.
Foundation does not emerge in a single step. Here,
as is
Typical, repeated small increments interact with application.
There are also major increments such as, here,
insights into the
Significance and conception of the central ideas, especially
Experience, Being, Universe, Law, Void, Realism, and Identity.
To ‘exist’ is to be. From reflections above,
existence is not an empty
Concept—its foundation in Experience is robust and discriminating.
In what follows ‘exists’ may denote any mix or
neutrality of verb
Form according as duration or time has or lacks local significance.
Being is that which exists. A power of the idea of Being
is
Neutrality to ‘kinds’ often thought real. Common kinds are
Space, time, process, matter, force, mind, spirit, soul, and word.
Mention of the kinds is inessential to the core
development.
Whatever is real—named and unnamed—is already in Being.
From the reflections on Experience, the core of
metaphysics that
Follows may be seen to stand above questions of knowledge as
Representation, versus pragmatic, versus ‘being-in-the-world’.
The Universe is All Being. There is one and only one
Universe.
Whatever has Being is in the Universe. A hypothetical being
That is not in the Universe does not exist.
‘Being’ discriminates only existence from
non-existence.
It does not distinguish kinds. Whatever is real is in Universe.
There is no other universe of fact or kind or idea or form.
The Universe contains all creation but is not
created.
Any creator is part of the Universe—
The Universe can have no external creator.
Knowledge of the natural world is coded in laws and
natural
Histories. Natural history may be written as law, legend,
Myth, or ancient cosmology.
The laws of natural science are familiar
Modern examples of natural law.
A law is a reading of a pattern; the pattern itself
Is the immanent Law. All Laws have
Being. The Universe contains all Laws.
This ‘realism’ may be extended. Morality, civil law,
and value
Judgment have immanent local forms we may name Ethics,
Justice, and Value. All such form lies in the Universe.
The Void is the absence of Being. Therefore the Void
contains
No Law. As complement to the Universe—or any element of
Being relative to itself—the Void exists.
The Void which is the absence of Being exists and
Contains no Law. The Void may be regarded to be
Part of every element of Being.
The contrary would be a Law, so the Void (and Being
and Universe)
Assume all possible states—where possibility is most liberal (‘logical’
As roughly seen earlier) but whose precise meaning shall emerge with
Experience and analysis. In this sense, the Universe has no limits.
If power is degree of limitlessness, the Universe is
ultimate
Power. Every state of being, including the Void has this power.
Ultimate power is implicit in the present. Those forms are
Limited for which ultimate realization is only in endless process.
The Universe has no limits.
This demonstrated assertion is named the
‘Fundamental principle of metaphysics’.
The worldview that results is called
The universal metaphysics
Or, simply, the metaphysics.
The essentials of development of the metaphysics have
been:
The Void which contains no Law exists; the Void, and so the
Universe which contains the Void, have no limits because a
Limit would constitute a Law of the Void.
It is crucial to use of the metaphysics that its
meaning shall
Be understood. Let us now further develop requisite
Understanding, first taking up explicit meaning.
In this section ‘concept’ will refer to referential
concepts—
Concepts that purport to have objects. Free concept
Formation is immensely useful in the progress of knowledge.
This useful freedom allows formation of concepts
inconsistent
With fact (‘science’) or one with another (‘logic’)—that is, it
Allows concepts for which it is impossible to have objects.
From limitlessness of the Universe the only concepts
without
Objects are the impossible concepts. ‘Realism’, the constraint
For concepts to have objects, is not a limit on the Universe.
This minimal Realism constitutes an explicit meaning
of
The metaphysics: given Realism, concepts have objects.
For the Universe, the possible and the Real are identical.
Another term for Realism is Logic: the Universe is the object
Of Logic—the Logos. In this form, which trivially includes
Agreement with fact (science), Logic is not a limit on the real—
It is the constraint of realism on the freedom of concept formation.
The object of Realism (Logic) is the Universe. All
valid science and
Systems of logic lie within Logic. Universal metaphysics and science
Have no conflict. Just as the Universe is all Being, so the metaphysics
Is an envelope for all knowledge including science.
Agreement with fact includes agreement with the
knowledge
Claims of human culture, for example science, religion, and lore
In their valid domains. Consistency among concepts includes
Agreement with systems of logic where they are valid.
The vastness and Forms of Realism (Logic) await
discovery—
The theories of science and known logics are but forms of and
Within Logic. And while the forms may be seen as rough and
Constraining this Logic is the true and most liberal realism.
This account of explicit meaning should be
complemented
By discussion of implicit meaning which lies in implications,
Which are the focus of sections beginning with Cosmology.
The universal metaphysics implies what follows.
It is especially the implications
That bring out its implicit meaning.
Natural science and experience have 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.
The Universe has neither beginning nor end. In a
sense
Of ‘is’ that accords with earlier remarks on ‘exists’—
The Universe is.
The Universe has arrays of cosmoses without limit
against a back-
Ground where extension and duration do not measure all Being.
For every cosmos to be finite—or every cosmos infinite—would
Be a constraint over and above Logic and therefore a limit.
Every state or element of Being is equivalent to
every other.
That something must come from nothing is a trivial corollary.
At the deepest and most general level the question of
Foundation of Being is forever resolved and closed.
Relative to the Void (or any state), all Laws and
manifest
States are emergent—as is extension-duration (space-time).
However breadth is ever open—the extension, duration,
variety,
Summit, and dissolution of manifest Being have no limit.
Subject to Realism, systems of physical law are without limit.
Every Law, every cosmos is repeated without limit.
‘Ghost’ systems are ever passing through our cosmos.
In comparison to the limitlessness, our cosmos is a
Speck—infinitesimal in quantity and variety.
Every atom is a cosmos, every cosmos an atom.
There are no indivisible particles.
The Universe has and must have manifestation and
Identity
In acute, diffuse and absent phases.
These powers of the Universe are conferred on
individuals
For the contrary would entail a limit on the Universe.
Individuals realize the Universe—All Being: its Identity,
Extension, duration, variety, summits, and dissolutions.
Though individual identity may seem a concrete unity
‘Individual’ and ‘group’ are relative terms, for
Every atom is a cosmos, every cosmos an atom.
However, the individual-group distinction is not relative.
Apparent limits are part of the constitution
Of the forms of Being—
Though temporary, limits are of the form of beings,
Normally a result of origin and adaptation.
This, too, is the nature of human limits
And experience of limits.
The givenness of realization does not negate
The value and challenge of endeavor
Or the facts of pain and death
But allows meaning to pain, death, and challenge.
While in limited form realization is endless
process—
And ever freshness in variety—A Journey in Being.
For limited Being the forms of knowledge and Being
Are ever open—an eternal challenge.
The oneness, connection, and continuity
Of these forms lie in Identity—
In experience, idea and action.
In unlimited form realization is Aeternitas—
Eternity in a moment—to and from which
Life and death and pain and joy are gateways.
That realization for limited form is endless
Requires that the empirical and symbolic sciences
For such forms remain ever in process and
Be complemented by immersion for their full expression.
The meaning of the metaphysics has been given
clarity;
Its power has received illustration. An effective summation
And characterization of the metaphysics may now be given.
In foundation in Experience and Being the
metaphysics is
Perfect. From expression as Logic it is unique—as container of
All special metaphysics; and ultimate—in complete but partially
Implicit capture of the variety, extent, and duration of Being.
The universal metaphysics resolves foundation of
Being but
Shows the variety of experience and Being to be ever open:
While in limited form the variety of realization is
Unbounded, experience is limitless and eternal.
Though Logic is ultimate, its forms continue to
emerge. Except
In dreams of certainty, security, and control, there can be no
Final foundation of Logic, Ethics or Value outside context. For
Limited form logic, ethics, and value remain in process.
Being and Experience—world and knowledge—are known
in
Experience. Variety of Being and fields of knowledge—unities
And distinctions—merge in experience. The metaphysics is a
Metaphysics of Experience—a proto-episteme.
Our civilization is the web of human culture over
time and
Continents. Greater Civilization is the matrix of civilizations
Across the Universe.
The metaphysics reveals a limitless Universe open to
Individual and Civilization. It is appropriate and now possible
To address negotiation of the normal limits of our world.
The practical address of this concern is now taken up.
Individuals foster Civilization;
Civilization nurtures the individual.
Civilization is the hearth of realization;
Individuals manifest realization.
Civilization provides ways, rough methods, of
ideation and
Action—disciplines of thought, discovery, and transformation.
In culture, emergence of disciplines, too, has rough discipline.
The standard forms of the disciplines—
Secular and trans-secular—
Are marked by incompleteness and error
But their core constitutes ground on which to build.
Our apparent limits are Laws or
Expressions of Law
Which also constitute initial ground on which to
Transcend limits on the way to universal realization.
The apparently stable initial ground
Is transient and incomplete,
But knowing and living its transient incompleteness
Is on the way to the ultimate.
Ultimate realization for all beings is given
By the metaphysics. However, efficiency and enjoyment
Are immensely enhanced in occurrence and quality
By commitment and engagement.
Sacred scriptures talk of divine magnificence. An
example:
The Bhagavad-Gita compares the splendor of Being
To the radiance of a thousand suns. Yet the means of
Realization of the Gita are squarely in the present.
The Universe and the place of individuals in it are
limitlessly
Greater than in common secular and trans-secular cosmologies.
Especially on this knowledge, realization for limited forms
Begins in the present, touched and illuminated by the ultimate.
Action is not ‘mere’ process—ideas are a partial
guide: Ideas
And action are the means of realization. Realization begins
With ideas; transformation requires action.
The ultimate is not immanent in limited form:
realization must
Be indeterministic. The way of engaged realization must lie in
Risk—in small and large steps—and in selective consolidation.
This is the core of a mechanics of realization.
Change may begin
With reason but the final source of change is risk—take the next
Step. Outcome, where adapted, is captured in Being or artifact.
Development of ideas above is in breakdown,
creation, and
And rebuilding. The way of realization lies in break down,
Imagination and experiential rebuilding of ideas and Being.
This is appropriately named Analysis and Synthesis
of Being
Which includes thought, risk, change, and correction. The ‘way’
Is not essentially prescriptive: prescription emerges on the
Way and is ever subject to revision and enhancement.
One risk is to endure doubt. Doubt from possible
conflict with
Experience and reason—science and Logic—was addressed in
Discussing metaphysics. Essential residual doubt is of proof but
Not consistency—internal or external—of the metaphysics.
Therefore from the significance of what it reveals
there is
Immense value to the metaphysics as a principle of action.
This situation is as for the doubt and value that attend
Essentially all significant endeavor.
At the front of realization the final resource is to
take the next
Step of thought or action—thus there can be no perfect masters
Of realization. However, to share learning is effective—there may
Be teachers and ways but no Perfect Master or Final Discipline.
The vehicles of realization are individual and
group—
Being and Civilization and their transformations are
Among the dimensions of realization.
The places of realization are the Ground—nature—and
Fabric—individual, society and culture—of Being and
Civilization which link the immediate to the ultimate.
Modes of transformation are intrinsic and extensive.
Yoga,
As approach to the Universal, appropriately names the intrinsic.
The extensive or instrumental emphasizes science and technology.
The distinction between the intrinsic and extensive is not sharp.
Transformation of Being was seen to be via ideas and
action.
Transformation of Civilization is intrinsic—via transformation of
Being; and extensive—inhabitation and population of the
Universe via exploration and instrument or technology.
Experience suggests restraint in thought of such
population.
The metaphysics however shows its inevitability. ‘Now’
Is a good time for insight and developing mechanics
Of inner and instrumental transformation.
Realization is inspired by powers of Being and
thought
Revealed above… and by the disciplines. It derives
Effectuality from the interaction.
The disciplines offer catalysts of mind-body change—such
as
Yogas, meditation, shamanic way, and hypnosis. Transient
Change in being, disciplines, and ways is stabilized by reason
In experience and recollection—in memory, culture, and artifact.
Disciplines, East to West, may all have use in
transformation.
However, even eclectic commitment would be premature.
Understanding of human being—organism and psyche—
Should continue to emerge in interaction with experience.
These reflections suggest ways that cycle
through Being
(Sustaining) and Transformation (of Ideas-Individual-Civilization-
Artifact-technology). Elements include means-vehicles-places-
modes-disciplines. The core mechanics is risk and consolidation.
Realization begins in the present,
perhaps with the disciplines,
But requires risk—experiment, splitting, and rebuilding—and
Increment is secured in reason, recollection, and artifact.
Living in transience, its joy and anxiety, is on the
way—is
Essential to realization, ever a flux of transience and arrival.
While in limited form realization is endless process
And ever freshness in variety—A Journey in Being.
|