The way of being—database
Anil Mitra, Copyright © November 5, 2021 – August 6, 2022

Home

This document is a crude database for published versions of the way. Also see concepts.

Contents and outline for planning

about this document and its functions

function and notation

elements of the database

notation

content planning

arrangement

word choice

source documents of the way

essential

main

secondary

lesser

topics arranged by source document

general topics and sources

journey in being—link: ../resources/journey in being.docm (html) jib and related material

the essential way of being, older—link: ../old/the essential way of being.docm (html) ewbo (old version)

the current essential way of being—link: ../../2020/narratives/the essential way of being.docm (html)

topics and concepts for the way—link: ../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm (html) tac

bare content—link: ../narratives/bare content.docm (html) > bc

source documents to include as part of the narrative

web sources

Detailed contents for the way of being

about this document and its functions

function and notation

content planning

source documents of the way

topics arranged by source document

source documents to include as part of the narrative

web sources

notepad for new content

possible preliminaries

front or dust cover

front pages

foreword

preface

metanarrative

the audiences

metatext*

acknowledgments

notation for the narrative

permanent

temporary

prologue*

essence

the world

my experience and search

the narrative

introduction*

about the way

reading the way

overview

illustrations and art

themes

method and content

the universe

the beginning of metaphysics (twbw)

foundation (twbf)

being*

metaphysics*

experience*

cosmology

realization

aim of being*

pathways

significance*

principles of development

overview of planning

everyday program*

universal program*

about religion

resources*

the system of the way, themes, and topics

about themes and topics

special styles

into the way

the way

experience

metaphysics

realization

into the world

appendix

epilogue

epilogue*

resources

resources for the way

topics for study, reflection, and research

glossary (lexicon)

bibliography, sources, readings

resources*

index*

the author

brief biography*

where I am now

relevant experience and qualifications

photograph*

possible final material

postscript to the narrative

afterword

back or dust cover

about this document and its functions

function and notation

primitive database for the way and its versions—the essential way of being.html and the way of being.html

source for writing, development and recording of ideas

may be converted to relational database

elements of the database

outline and details

kinds of content, e.g., (i) the main elements of the way (ii) elaborations such as alternative demonstrations and heuristics, explanations, sources in history of ideas, applications such as special topics and the academic disciplines

kinds meta-content, e.g., themes of arrangement (i) for emergence of the essence (ii) for topics

sources

notation

this document

implemented items

items that are part implemented, part yet to be implemented

(PM)—place marker

daggers† mark meta, para, and to do content

single stars* mark essential content—for the brief edition, double and triple stars mark secondary and tertiary content; where noted, exceptions applied to some sections

comments (note alt titles in comments)

study topic

sources

other documents

(F) in a source marks final titles and content

(A) in a source marks absorbed titles and content (in this document, note the source using codes above—for further, later absorption)

(TA)—to absorb

(P) in a source marks material that has been considered, has not been absorbed, but is possible for later absorption

(N) marks material that has been considered, and need not be absorbed

content planning

arrangement

see the system of the way, themes, and topics > arrangement of the narrative

word choice

being

existence

knowable, that which affects experience

seat of power

verb to be

experience

consciousness—conscious awareness in all its forms

experience – ‘experience of’ related to ‘the experienced’

interaction

tradition

yoga

mind-body engagement

reason

reason

yoga—there seems to be no word for the cross-cultural and maximal sense in intend by ‘yoga’, ‘reason’ and so on

understanding and inference

‘I’

we, it

“It is well known that” vs “We know that”

“I have shown” v “We have shown” v “It has been shown”

infinite

absolute infinite, limitless

source documents of the way

essential

this document… and for development, ../resources/the way of being.mdb

the essential way of being.docm (html)

the way of being.docm (html)

the main site pages—home, development, reading

main

../narratives/bare content.docm (html) bc a general source

../resources/main influences for the way.docm (html) mitw

../resources/journey in being.docm (html) jib

../old/the essential way of being.docm (html) ewbo (old version)

../../2020/narratives/the essential way of being.docm (html)

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm (html) tac

secondary

themes and topics.docm (html) tat > may be useful even though the content is in the present document

../narratives/templates and dedication.pdf

meditation and yoga (../topic essays/traditional and modern approaches to living in the world.html)

toward a database for philosophy.docm (html)

what is philosophy.docm (html)

../resources/system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action.html (supplement)

../../1. World and Being/realization/being-elements/2010/Archive of old versions/History of western philosophy.docm (html)

lesser

../resources/doubt and reason.docm (html)—source

../topic essays/reason and the way of being.docm (html)—source

../topic essays/lessons for the way of being.docm (html)

../old/Journey in Being-axiomatic.docm (html)

topics arranged by source document

when crossed out, either (i) the pertinent material from the source is entered later in this document (or the long version or its temporary source) or (ii) the document has been eliminated or superseded

the links are maintained as a source for further information

where indicated, links are placed at the appropriate places in the document

general topics and sources

../narratives/templates and dedication.pdf tad > attitude, affirmation, dedication

../narratives/bare content.docm (html)—source > about religion

themes and topics.docm (html) tat > the system of the way, themes, and topics

../resources/main influences for the way.docm (html) mitw > resources > bibliography, sources, readings

what is philosophy.docm (html) wip > topic—philosophy and its problems

toward a database for philosophy.docm (html) tadp > topic—philosophy and its problems—this document has many hyperlinks to sources for philosophy

../old/a journey in being-outline.docm (html)—this document and some of its linked documents have many hyperlinks to useful sources for the way

journey in being—link: ../resources/journey in being.docm (html) jib and related material

../resources/journey in being.docm – challenges and opportunities (html) jibc > world challenges and opportunities

../resources/journey in being.docm – history of the metaphysics (html) jibh > history of the metaphysics

../resources/journey in being.docm – lexicon (html) jibl > resources > glossary (lexicon)

../resources/journey in being.docm – sources (html) jibs > resources > bibliography, sources, readings

../resources/journey in being.docm – author (html) jiba > brief biography*

../resources/world problems and opportunities.docm (html) wpo > world challenges and opportunities

../personal/global security.docm (html) gsec > world challenges and opportunities

the essential way of being, older—link: ../old/the essential way of being.docm (html) ewbo (old version)

../old/the essential way of being.docm – Beyul (html) ewbb > realization

../old/the essential way of being.docm – resources (html) ewbr > resources

../old/the essential way of being.docm – resource dev (html) ewbrd resources

../old/the essential way of being.docm – metaphysics (html) ewbm > epistemology and metaphysics

../old/the essential way of being.docm – criticism (html) ewbc > the possibility and necessity of metaphysics absorbed

../old/the essential way of being.docm – cosmology (html) ewbco > cosmology—an older treatment

../old/the essential way of being.docm – topics and themes (html) ewbtt > themes > topic—an older system of themes and topics

../old/the essential way of being.docm – topics for study (html) ewbts > resources > topics for study, reflection, and research

the current essential way of being—link: ../../2020/narratives/the essential way of being.docm (html)

../../2020/narratives/the essential way of being.docm #epilogue (html) > epilogue

topics and concepts for the way—link: ../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm (html) tac

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – dictionary (html) tacd > resources > glossary (lexicon)

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – epilogue (html) tacp > epilogue

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – topics in metaphysics (html) tacm > metaphysics and its problems

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of eastern metaphysics (html) tace > the problems of metaphysics

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of western metaphysics (html) tacw > the problems of metaphysics

bare content—link: ../narratives/bare content.docm (html) > bc

../narratives/bare content.docm – return to the world (html) bc > epilogue

../narratives/bare content.docm – the concepts (html) bc > glossary (lexicon) >concepts

source documents to include as part of the narrative

definite inclusion (edit)—everyday template, universal template, dedication-affirmation (discontinued), pathways and dedication, meditation and yoga—sources

possible inclusion (must edit)—main priorities, daily routine, financial plan.xlsm, hiking list, hiking list-long, trip preparation.xlsm—sources

web sources

rationalism and empiricism and pragmatism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Mereology - Wikipedia, e. j. lowe, Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), possibility theory, recursion, Universe, uniformity, galaxies, clusters, superclusters, filaments, voids, World - Wikipedia, Geography, Ocean, Continent, Natural resource - Wikipedia, Administrative division, Country, Nation, Political divisions of the United States, Political history of the world, List of sovereign states - Wikipedia, The World Factbook (cia.gov), Political philosophy, Political science - Wikipedia, World economy, Economy - Wikipedia, Economics - Wikipedia—sources

notepad for new content

this is the place to add content waiting to be integrated

possible preliminaries

front or dust cover

the spine

title, edition, author

art

front pages

title

“The way of being”?

title, author, publisher

title

“Anil Mitra”?

publisher?

copyright and publishing history

see standard publications; refer to publishers standards

source—document for print (directory)

foreword

or ‘forward’

if simulated, write it—and perhaps the entire work—as a piece of fiction

real or simulated

simulated forward

reflect on how to do this and write a brief piece

preface

source—ewb

metanarrative

minimize duplication with the essence

about the way

though there is more on the way in the introduction, a brief orientation is useful here

the aim of the way is shared discovery and realization of the ultimate in and from the immediate; a motive lies in the overlap of the aim and human nature and can be read in history and individual lives

its roots are in my explorations and reflections in ideas and the world, and in the history of thought and exploration

grounded in history, the work is offered as a contribution in synthesis and in going beyond received history, i.e., particularly in going beyond what is valid and useful in two kinds of standard paradigm—the secular, based in consensus experience of the world, and the transsecular, which posits or argues that the real transcends the secular

the nature of the work

ultimate metaphysics, reason, and universe

recognizes that knowledge is essential to but not full realization—knowledge is completed in action (of which experiment is a particular case)

derives from history of thought, personal study, reflection, and exploration

main consequence—being-in-the-world, ultimate realization

academic consequences—philosophy, metaphysics, other disciplines

offered as an original contribution, not a text or compilation, but weaves in received thought and practice

claims of originality, sources, dependence and inspiration

brief history of the work

I see my thought and life as having independence from received ideas as authority in both content and reason; of course, my work and inspiration has cultural sources—to go beyond, one must generally first absorb what is true in the received

in aiming beyond received paradigm, I began with explorations within it; whatever transcendence has been achieved, it has been an incremental process—a journey through a range of paradigms, with experiments in their limits; in 2002, I conceived a proof of the fundamental principle of metaphysics—i.e., that the universe is the realization of the greatest possibility; that was a new starting point; some questions that arose are—is the principle new (it is related to the what has been called the principle of plenitude)? what are the essential concepts in the proof? is the proof, which appears certain, definitely certain? what shall I do about doubt? is the fundamental principle consistent with experience, science, and reason? what is the meaning of the principle—i.e., in what instrumental terms may it be expressed (the intrinsic meaning), and what are its consequences or applications (the extrinsic meaning)? and what are the areas do the consequences fall under—e.g., science and the sciences, philosophy, metaphysics, cosmology (the nature, extent, and duration of the universe), and our relation to and destiny in the universe?

writing on and working out these issues has been an incremental endeavor of increasing breadth, depth, insight, and action; in consequence there is a trail of written work whose encapsulation I find intimidating

this work is an attempt at encapsulating the essence of my cumulative thought

the audiences

combine the versions; make changes in ‘the way of being - in process’—cross out the details their and mark absorbed

characteristics

kinds

information seeking, general, academic, and committed readers

attitude

openness

negotiating and sharing, not just following

background

primary material may be followed by all readers; but ‘unprepared’ readers should expect only broad understanding

full understanding will be enhanced by some acquaintance with metaphysics, science, and reason and their methodologies, but this understanding may be acquired in parallel with reading

who

secular

those who accept secular limits—everyday – scientific – philosophical – and more, but think there may be a beyond with regard to (i) what is there in the universe (ii) received standards and paradigms of understanding, reason, criticism, and hypothetical imagination

transsecular

those who accept religious and metaphysical transcendence of the secular, but wish to avoid dogma, and limits of received general and special metaphysics and cosmology (especially with respect to the previous point)

universal

those who have moved beyond the limits in the two previous items, and wish to share

metatext*

general

edition, history of editions—print, internet

reuse of material

this version (in process edition)

this version is permanently in process and is the source for

the brief edition

a brief edition—with main headings and main statements

the detailed edition

a detailed edition—

acknowledgments

could be part of the preface

those who helped and encouraged

that which gave me life and made this possible

sources of ideas and inspiration

notation for the narrative

if part of a heading is crossed out, the heading and section has reviewed at least once for content

if an entire heading is crossed out, what is essential in the section has been absorbed (absorbed content should also be crossed out)

permanent

* single stars mark material to be in the brief edition; the stars will be eliminated from the brief edition, but retained for the detailed edition; unless marked otherwise, subordinate heads and content inherit starring

internal vs external links

concepts are in small capitals for visibility and collection—most use of small concepts is for definitions; however, importance of terms may also be indicated by italicization

temporary

comments (note alt titles in comments)

sources

prologue*

in a novel, a prologue might be a point of entry from the perspective of one of the characters—“setting the scene”

the prologue will be about origins and purposes, which provide a point of entry

since I am an essential character implicit to the narrative, the prologue could be a personal point of entry to the narrative

I could write briefly about my journey

essence

may capture the following essence and a prologue in one piece

the universe

that the universe is the realization of the greatest possibility is demonstrated in the narrative

it follows that the universe has identity and that the universe and its identity are limitless in all possible ways, particularly variety, extension, and duration; that there are limitlessly many cosmoses—worlds—and systems of physical law; that the universe has phases of peak being and dissolution into the void; that all beings merge in realization of peak being

birth is individuation; death is return; they are real but not absolute

individual identity is eternal; as eternal it is universal identity

the essence

propositional vs embodied knowledge; if humanity’s body is finite, imperfection must be accepted in knowledge—the ideal is then a range from decent to ‘very good’

the essence of being in and over time is in experiential being—eternal and universal, not in symbol, artifact, or culture

symbolic-cultural representation and artifactual enhancement are useful (i) in realizing the essence and (ii) as integral with being

perhaps society is on the way to becoming a sentient-sapient organism in itself, but—

the pursuit

the instruments of realization include

the ideal or perfect metaphysics of #1 is complemented by our evolving pragmatic knowledge in this cosmos and beyond, which shows an effective way of realization

intelligent discovery and sharing of pathways to the ultimate from and in the immediate

intelligent enjoyment of pleasure, pain, reason, and action constitute a temporal but ultimate value, which guide the process

search in the dimensions of the individual, nature, society, and the universal

the search may begin with consensus secular and transsecular paradigms and seeing and overcoming their limits

the world

we humans negotiate the world and the future; it balances stasis and motion; the way, with sources in tradition, seeks the ultimate in this world and beyond

this finds expression in tools, technology, and intelligence; in geographical movement; in art and religion; in philosophy, the sciences, medicine, and engineering

my experience and search

nature is an inspiration, in itself, in poetry and art, and in pointing, via beauty, beyond

then, cumulatively, in sequence, came science, philosophy, and reason—in study, reflection, and writing

I have preferred to look beyond in balance with received tradition; therefore, I proceeded as if there is no a priori, not just to experience of world and self, but to the experiential totality that is everything

I conceived the idea of the ultimate in the world and beyond; sought it in science, in philosophical paradigms (materialism, idealism, process, and being; in empiricism, idealism, pragmatism, their limits, joins, and beyond; in the rationalism and existentialism of the west, and in the monist Advaita Vedanta of the east—that view in which individual identity is universal identity, which is limitless)

I sought verification in science and reason, in the universe, but the Vedanta remained a vision till I intuited that I should turn my search to the void and its intuited equivalence to the universe—

then in the fall of 2002, I saw that I should look at the properties of the void, which led rationally to the conclusions (i) the void—and therefore any being—and the universe are equivalent (ii) the universe is ultimate in the sense that all possibilities are realized in it, where (iii) the sense of ‘possibility’ must be the most permissive, i.e., logical possibility

since that point I have used imaginative reflection, study in western and eastern traditions, and criticism, to build up the ‘real metaphysics’, developed in the narrative, which embodies the conclusions above, and enhances them to show how the ultimate should be realized

the narrative

the narrative is thus not intended as a compendium or text, but as a contribution to thought and destiny, and a synthesis that goes beyond its received sources

introduction*

../topic essays/lessons for the way of being.docm (html)—source

the introduction paves the way in—it is part of the narrative but separate as it is not part of the main formal development

about the way

the immediate and the ultimate

motive

the necessary connection

the range of individual interest

elaboration

the world

the world—all that there is, emphasizing what is significant (to humans)

the idea of the world

in its most inclusive sense ‘the world’ is everything that is (in, over, or beyond time); and ‘our world’ is the experienced world—which may depend on the individual and the culture; the idea of many worlds refers to other worlds, like ours in being a totality, which are actual or possible but not interactive with ours

our world

‘our world’ is the experienced world and the world of empirical science; it is the place of secular affairs; it is the world of common experience and so, when we project science beyond the empirical, it may seem to be the universe; however, the projection is not valid, and it is consistent experience and science for there to be limitlessly many worlds and beings, both beyond and within

worldviews

common transsecular alternatives to the secular view are the religions and hypothetical metaphysics; which have no firm basis as established perfect capture of the real; on the other hand, when secular persons and thinkers consider enhancements of the secular view, the limited alternatives tend to shut down thought

given the consistency with experience and science of a limitlessness beyond and within our world, we ask what is ultimate and whether and how we can know it

we will find that the universe—the real—extends limitlessly beyond the consensus secular and transsecular views and paradigms

we will find an emergent synthesis beyond the posited syntheses of common secular and transsecular views, which shall be complete with regard to foundation, but ever open with regard to its revealed limitless variety of extension, duration, variety, and peak of being

worlds

it will be shown that our world is one of limitlessly many—and the same is true of our cosmos

common transsecular alternatives to the secular view are the religions and hypothetical metaphysics; which have no valid basis as established perfect capture of the real; on the other hand, when secular persons and thinkers consider enhancements of the secular view, the limited alternatives tend to shut down thought

the ultimate

views may be ultimate in two distinct senses—(i) the world is revealed as it is, which entails that the revelation is valid, and from which flow, with necessarily with validity, the morals and spirituality of the view, and any continuity of our world and lives with the ultimate (ii) the world-as-it-is is ultimate

it is unfortunate that secular reduction (the world is just what we know) and religious dogma tend to shut down true investigation and insight into the world-as-it-is

we will find an emergent synthesis beyond common secular and transsecular views of the world as ultimate, which is validly developed, and which, therefore, entails that the synthesized view is consistent with experience and reason; the synthesis will be named the real metaphysics

what constitute ultimacy in the second sense and validity are considered and developed later

the world—and universe—are ultimate if ultimate in both senses

about the ultimate

what is the magnitude of the ultimate and can we know it? how? should we?

we will develop a system of the ultimate; the means are (i) reason, conceived as the join of direct knowledge and inference from direct knowledge, conditioned by emotion and discovered value, and worked out in action—synthesized with (ii) what is valid in received culture and tradition to the present time

the ultimate is unavoidable

should we attempt to know the ultimate? if it is truly ultimate it would have immanence in our world—it would affect our lives and world; therefore, not only ought we to seek it, but knowledge and realization of it are (likely) unavoidable when we see and think clearly

we will find that we are connected to—we are ultimately—the ultimate and that there is a way to the ultimate

received paradigms or worldviews, secular and transsecular

the paradigms

the secular view or paradigm is of world as and limited to common consensus experience, posits no super worldly being, which emphasizes science for what is real, human rather than religious values for ethics, and non-religious activities such as philosophy and art (including literature and music) for higher (‘spiritual’) experience and endeavor

the transsecular paradigm emphasizes a realm beyond the secular for what is real, moral, and spiritual and that that realm has continuity with the secular; its sources may be religious dogma or metaphysical but not irrational hypotheses

neutral and strict versions of the paradigms

that the neutral secular affirms what is in reasonable consensus experience but does not disaffirm what is not in it; that there is a ‘strict’ secularism that does, tacitly or even explicitly, disaffirm what is not; and that the neutral secular allows what might be reasonable in the strict, especially doubt and criticism, and what might be reasonable in the transsecular, especially what is (i) consistent with (ii) required by the neutral

similarly the transsecular can be neutral (i) when religion is symbolic or exploratory (ii) transsecular metaphysics is hypothetical in attitude

their individual and dual limits

the secular tend to conflate the real with what they know, which discourages looking beyond

religious dogma discourages criticism and looking beyond; metaphysical hypothesis has little basis for seeing beyond

the secular tend to conflate the real with what they know, which results in a false sense of self-satisfaction; they do in principle look beyond, but the transsecular alternatives tend to shut down thought

critiquing received rationality

going beyond—the possible

is the possible real?

the paradigm of the way

the vision

the demonstration

doubt and attitude

the cosmology

philosophy and the way

a database of encyclopedia articles on philosophy; what is philosophy?—source

the development of the way has ground in western and eastern philosophy

to appreciate philosophy its nature, a dual approach is best (i) study of the ideas and their history (ii) to engage in developing ideas—in reworking the received and in critical formation of new ideas and concepts; close acquaintance with the great philosophers and main schools is also important

though the present narrative is not intended as a historical account, it presents one foundational system for metaphysics—where metaphysics is understood as knowledge of the entire real (at high rather than microscopic level); this entails simultaneous consideration of foundations of epistemology, logic, and value (for the objects of these disciplines are also metaphysical objects); thus, the ideas of the narrative may constitute a framework for philosophical ideas and their history

parts of the metaphysics of the narrative are anticipated in the history of ideas; however, there is newness (relative to what I have read)—there are new ideas, new renderings of received ideas; synthesis, emergent rather than posited or imposed system, demonstration of the system, interpretation (‘meaning’); and consequences for human meaning and ‘destiny’, classical through recent understanding of metaphysics and their problems; and consequences for the system of human knowledge and artifact, generally

history of the way and the narrative

the history reveals motives

the way

in the history of ideas and action

individual search—what is the best I can do? what is the destiny of the individual and other beings

the narrative

the story of the ideas and editions

reading the way

i.e., reading and understanding

a significant pragmatic aspect of the way is supra-intellectual—but not contra-intellectual—in that it holds that ideas alone do not constitute realization; rather, while ideas are essential, realization also requires agency; on the other hand, the way does not promote an ethos of practicality alone—agency and ideas are each incomplete without the other (if, indeed, they are separable or fully distinct from one another)

that is, knowledge alone is incomplete but requires action for its completion; this goes against the ethos of appreciation alone as a way of meaning

consequently, the way as a system of ideas is incomplete as understanding or realization; it must also be absorbed into the lives of individuals and cultures

further, since paradigms of ‘how the world is’ have formal and intuitive sides, to understand the work, readers—academic and others, alike—should not expect confirmation of their common and received paradigms; they should expect to reform their formal and intuitive views

two essentials to understanding and absorbing the way are (i) suspension of one’s standard paradigms and criticism on a first reading while absorbing the new; this will require adherence to meanings specified in the work rather than to received meaning—for in going beyond received paradigms, it is essential that the system of meaning shall broaden and deepen (criticism should be resumed on a second reading) (ii) incorporating and acting upon the new paradigms in one’s life trajectory—for which, the work presents principles and templates

overview

essence

bring the earlier section here or refer to it

logic of the narrative

choice of concepts

narrative development and flow

emergence of system

outline based on the concepts

subject to revision

will modify per sources and other concepts

the terms

concepts are designated by terms

list alternates

illustrations and art

integration of art and narration—the theme of immersion in the world, i.e., nature, culture, the universal

themes

about themes and their function

the themes and an overview

the starred themes* are the ones that weave together the way; the unstarred themes are woven by the way

following is a brief description of the themes, they are implicitly interwoven with the narrative, explicit description of the themes and their function is after the main narrative, in a division on themes

the disciplines

the real metaphysics has essential implications for the structure of the disciplines and their relations

the modern academic disciplines are the result of both positive and negative forces (the establishment and need for special methods, academic and general politics), with positive and negative outcome (utility, narrowness and limitation of vision)

received vs emergent culture, ideas, and reason

the secular and transsecular have standard and mutually interacting limits, which are ‘overcome’ in the way

they are essential to the way

meaning (semantic)*

semantic meaning is critical to the way (i) a proper conception of meaning is essential to understanding and to eliminating many confusions that limit human ideas; further, such a conception shows the extent to which there is semantic holism (ii) in going beyond received paradigm, meanings change in essential ways (iii) the conception of meaning developed derives from understanding the relation between ‘experience of’ and ‘the experienced’ and shows that mere signs cannot have meaning—the ‘unit’ of meaning is sign – concept - referent

being, experience, and interpretation*

the concepts of being and experience in received thought are limited, which, in turn, limits thought; this is overcome

pictures of the world are at least tinged by interpretation; some interpretations are shown impossible; others are limited pictures; what remains are full and equivalent interpretations, of which two are significant—world as selves in an environment and world as field of being, of which neither is ‘more’ correct but their relative effectiveness depends on context—local vs universal

the abstract and the concrete

the recognition of abstract objects is relatively modern (but has precursors in, e.g., ‘universals’)

in near consensus modern thought there are categorial differences between concrete and abstract objects; in a standard metaphysics (world as known empirically, concepts are integrated sensa, science delimited), there are two views of the abstract (i) defined symbolically (ii) abstracted from the concrete; both are questionable, they are not equivalent

on the real metaphysics all objects have some degree of abstraction, the concrete and abstract lie on a continuum, their distinction is real but not categorial, and all objects are in the universe, e.g., in space and time but have degrees of space, time, and cause abstracted out

reason and method*

reason and content are one because knowledge is in the world

they arise together

there is no absolute a priori (only seeming a priori)

they do not arise at the beginning of, coeval to, or at the end of analysis and synthesis

they remain in process

in process, they inform each other

no a priori, e.g., logic is empirical

philosophy

elucidating philosophy is a task with a number of possible approaches—historical, immersion, reflective (the nature of philosophy is a philosophical issue), study by discipline, school, and philosophers

there is epistemic holism with regard to philosophy, the main philosophical disciplines, and the essential academic disciplines (e.g., abstract and concrete sciences and art)

method and content

this was ‘method and consequences’ but the change is for the better

the purposes of this section are (i) to introduce the ideas of method and content (ii) introduce ‘pre-narrative’—i.e., received conceptions regarding method and content, particularly in philosophy and its main divisions, the concrete and abstract sciences; it especially concerns received consensus metaphysics and cosmology

content refers to knowledge of the world; method refers to how the knowledge is obtained—e.g., imagination, comparison with the world, improvement; and since we want the knowledge to be reliable, we would like justification to be part of method (the beginning of which, at least, is already in comparison improvement imagination…)

knowledge is further discussed in knowledge as well as epistemology; the sense in which knowledge is relevant here is knowledge of fact, i.e., propositional knowledge which includes simple fact as well as (established) theory; therefore the notions of method, use or application, truth, justification and belief are important; in epistemology, we consider more than one approach to justification, but here we consider only foundation or foundationalism

introduction to method and content

one view of method and foundation is that they should come in the beginning; however, with minimal reflection, it is clear that they arise in interaction and that this should be the case; for to come in the beginning, method would arise before method (a contradiction) and to arise after all content, would be without worth; further, in practice they are found to arise together—and since knowledge is part of content, it could not be otherwise; or, at least seemingly so—for what we will find is that there is an ideal framework that has full justification which is a framework for pragmatic knowledge, which arises together with its method

but there are questions to ask before asking where and how method, foundation and content arise; it is about the nature and need for content and method—indeed of content at all, for why should content be—as it may seem—be separate or separated from being and becoming, and why foundation from content and what and whether foundation should ‘be’, for there are alternatives to foundation; and the part answer is that there are indeed contexts where just being is good and others where content and method are relevant

but then, is method and foundation truly what it is thought to be? (i) perhaps not but even as arising in interaction with content, it is still useful for what we find is something like content method content … or perhaps content method content method … (ii) method is content for knowledge is in the world (iii) what we will find is that for a significant perfect framework, method and content arise as one and this frames pragmatic method and content which remain in process

further discussion for review—

in its beginning, any understanding of the world on the way to becoming mature, involves piece meal and iterative analysis and synthesis and is thus metaphysical; however, even if the metaphysical character is recognized, it is pre-metaphysical not mature in the beginning, which is necessary until a coherent picture of the world and method have been built up; but, especially with the emphasis on specialization and publication, much modern philosophy remains pre-metaphysical, even if not so by intent

pre-metaphysical argument, while it is often rigorous in its examination and use of a subset of contents and methods, is non-rigorous in referring to rather than critiquing what is outside the subset; and, therefore, inherits what may be incomplete (i) in the outside (ii) as a result of not analyzing system of concepts that is incomplete with respect to world and knowledge

method and content I pre-metaphysics

‘method and content’ numbering is temporary—it helps with bookkeeping

method I—pre-metaphysical (twbf)

pre-metaphysical method in this account is to import ideas from the history of thought and agency to today, preliminary to their analysis at a range of levels—(i) individually (ii) in relation to one another and (iii) iteratively and jointly, along with innovative ideas, for meaning and use as they enter into the present metaphysical scheme, not just of content but also of method—i.e., the process is inter- and self-referential or reflexive

consequences I—pre-metaphysical (twbf)

introduced for consistency in numbering

the consequences are those of method I and the ideas that we begin where we are and work up (consequences) and down (foundation), which remain in process

there are four levels of consequences

first, just pre-metaphysical ‘methods’ of proof were identified above, so there is a level that presumes no explicit metaphysics or an ad hoc or consensus metaphysics—explicit or by practice, which is common in much philosophy today, e.g. typical articles of Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy—it is not my intent to treat this level with any degree of completeness for I have neither time nor knowledge and in any case, there are such treatments in the literature (note that the aim here is not to minimize pre-metaphysical content, but to point it out as useful and as preliminary to the metaphysical development to follow)

summary of para and post-metaphysical consequences

then there are three levels in increasing degree of presumption of the real metaphysics—not all will be appropriate for all problems

after the introduction of being but before the fundamental principle—the content of this section; then for later sections on consequences—

after the fundamental principle but before the real metaphysics—the content of consequences of the fundamental principle (link to consequences)

after the real metaphysics—the content of consequences of the real metaphysics (link to consequences)

the universe

I had thought to name this division ‘metaphysics’, for metaphysics will be conceived of as knowledge and study of the real and the metaphysics developed and its associated cosmology go far beyond the seeming conservative consensus that modern physical cosmology defines the universe; however, the term ‘metaphysics’ has other meanings that would make it misleading

the beginning of metaphysics (twbw)

though metaphysics is treated explicitly later, implicit but formal discussion begins with experience, knowledge, existence and being

foundation (twbf)

general comment

an original plan was to found the way axiomatically; however, for realism, an axiomatic foundation is not foundation at all and is unnecessary, for—

the way already has foundation in direct acquaintance with the real, which will here be developed explicitly and with care

on axiomatic metaphysics

for the metaphysics of the way, an axiomatic system could begin with the following functions in elementary form—

observation (with sufficient understanding to integrate sensa into percepts)

agency

language

inference

value

but in their elementary form these are givens and so an axiomatic system for them is not necessary (but may be interesting and helpful)

regarding the pragmatic side of the metaphysics, it is brought into the fold via value

about experience and being

foundation in substance is problematic because (i) substance is hypothetical (ii) even if of the world, it is not the world—therefore, though it seems trivial, we prefer to begin with the world as is—i.e., with being, which as ‘what is there’ cannot be in error even though it might be incomplete and unhelpful

but we will find it to be powerful and as capable of being completed as possible

effectively, definite, non-hypothetical knowledge of being, cannot exceed experience (even if experience cannot guarantee such knowledge); therefore (i) being and experience are inextricably interwoven and (ii) despite absence of a priori guarantee, we will find the approach from experience to (to repeat the earlier assertion) to be powerful and as capable of being as possible

however, to attempt early analysis of experience would be inefficient and lack a framework for analysis

a resolution to these problems is (i) to introduce experience at the beginning in tacit terms (concepts, referents, meaning, and knowledge) (ii) develop a knowledge framework (metaphysics) (iii) then introduce experience in explicit terms and use it in elaborating the framework and interpreting the world as seen in experience

extensive because new

reality

alt titles, ‘reality and the world’, ‘the world’, ‘the real world’

there is experience

i.e., experience is real

from a Cartesian style argument—

whereas Descartes’ cogito argument does not itself imply the reality of the ‘I’, the experiencer, (and certainly not the ‘real world’, i.e., ‘the world as if objectively experienced’…

it does imply that, experience and experienced experience are real

real world

which already says there is a real world, even if it is just reflexive experience

however the cogito argument does not imply the reality of the ‘standard consensus world’—the world that consists in selves, the I’s, others, an environment, which is base, and is sometimes seen as including processes, relationships, ideas, and various elements of nature, society, culture, technology, and civilization… and, for transsecular thinkers, a world or worlds beyond

is this world real? what is the nature of such reality? and if it is real, what are its contents?

the idea of the world

‘experience of’ – concepts

‘the experienced’ – referents (‘objects’)

the world is (experienced as) relational

meaning

knowledge

being

interpretation(s)

standard interpretation

the apparent objects in experience (experience itself, self, others, environment) are real

question—are the apparent objects in experience (experience itself, self, others, environment) real?

yes—external world

but since experience is itself an apparent object, ‘real world’ is a better descriptor

no—alternatives:

world as experience of an individual such that it does not set limits—world as field of being, non-standard solipsism (has equivalence to real world interpretation above: individuals as bright and focal centers of experience)

world as experience of what is experienced as a limited individual—standard solipsism (but logically indistinguishable from limitless case); requires acceptance of some feature(s) of the standard interpretation

significance of the logical indistinguishability

little ‘practical’ significance

significant ultimate significance (on standard solipsism, interpreted strictly (explain this), the individual and their world are limited, not just physically or real-ly but logically)

the real

the questions

the questions of the real concern (i) which interpretation is true (or which equivalent interpretations are true) (ii) to elaborate the interpretation(s) as a description that is true and efficient (iii) to elucidate and characterize truth (iv) to integrate elements i, ii, and iii

approach to answers

in terms of the itemization, i – iv, above

one of the following—(a) some element(s) of the apparent world, e.g. per common sense or the standard or field interpretations, would be taken as real (it would at least be arguable that the chosen elements would be fundamental) (b) reason… note that (a) and (b) is just (a)

we can begin with received paradigms of the world and reason, then attempt to improve upon those paradigms from experience, action (and experiment), and reflection (imaginative and critical)

to elucidate and characterize truth is already an aspect of item ii, but it is worth pointing out that (a) we ought to be critical and imaginative regarding our critical and imaginative paradigms (b) it is widespread, if not universal, to seek monist characterizations of the world and truth, but we ought not to insist on purism (e.g., monism regarding the world, a single characterization of truth—whether it be correspondence, coherence, or pragmatism)—that is, we ought to be open to entertaining dualisms, fragmented or integrated as well as hyper-purisms such as no-substance-at-all regarding world and no-apriorism-at-all regarding truth and its nature

note that in an efficient answering, the above elements may (seem likely to) be best answered simultaneously, which, in practice, may mean iterative sequence through the elements until some satisfaction is obtained—which may be just satisfactory, decent satisfaction, in process satisfaction, or, perhaps, perfection

this obviously presents difficulties

plan

what has been accomplished

to avoid confusion with the itemization above, this section uses numerals

I do not judge for the community of thinkers and actors and am of course stating my judgment—

the approach has been gone through incrementally and an ‘answer’ arrived at that, in framework, is a best possible answer for limited beings, which has three aspects (1) an abstract framework that is perfect and final on account of its abstraction—and which shows the universe and individuals to be the realization of all and ultimate possibility (but does not minimize our world), and further shows this realization to be an ultimate value (2) a pragmatic side, framed by the abstract, which is instrumental in the way, and though it is not perfect in, say, a correspondence sense, is what we have (3) the join of the previous two elements (named the ‘real metaphysics’), which is perfect—best—in terms of the ultimate value

two further aspects of the development are (4) elaboration of the framework to development of a new paradigm and application to development of received paradigms (5) application to realization of the ultimate

how to present the material

this is a critical difficulty (a) as the development concerns foundation but appears to also demand foundation at the beginning (b) the same issue arises regarding how to best write a development for reader understanding (c) selection of material

the plan is—

begin with the standard interpretation as it is the most commonly accepted and seemingly understood; carefully select its elements and perhaps not consistency with the field interpretation; develop the real metaphysics; resolve the question of interpretation; have topics developed at two levels—pre and post metaphysics but do so selectively (for illumination, to avoid con-fusion, to avoid unnecessary repetition)

in a preliminary, explain the aim; make the reader aware of the issues of development; explain the order of development; explain the reasoning in advance; explain what is new and will require diligence and at least temporary suspension of standard received paradigms; show that what is valid in the received is incorporated to the new paradigm; show the simultaneous emergence of content, system, and method (emphasize no apriorism); emphasize continuity of knowledge and action and thus integral character of divisions concerning the real and realization

distinguish material about the real that is directly used in realization and that is development of new and enhancement of old paradigms or both; avoid repetition but where there is occasion for repetition, use cross-reference and links; have a brief and a full version, with the brief interweaving the full

being*

being could be a division—e.g., ‘ground’; meaning and knowledge could a joint section

because we will be developing concepts, it will be effective to discuss meaning and knowledge before existence and being

experience*

being and experience are essentially and inextricably interwoven; the being that never affects experience is effectively non-existent; since we are familiar with ‘experience’, we would like to conceive being in terms of experience

however, a proper conception of experience has not yet been developed here—and it is effective to defer the development till we have a framework understanding of being

still, experience is essential to conceiving being; this is not problematic, for experience is tacit in the discussion of meaning and knowledge

meaning (twbf)

meaning—study topic

we will use ‘meaning’ to refer to semantic meaning’ for the ‘meaning of life’, the term ‘significance’ will be used, even though their connotations are not identical (‘significance’ may be used with other connotations)

problems of meaning

the nature of meaning is elusive—just what is meaning? how is it that a linguistic form, e.g., a word or sentence, can refer to an object? what is the object of a piece of fiction? and how do words come to have their ‘meanings’? there are problems with the idea of word-object association, e.g., what is a nonexistent object and what is a possible object? and, finally, when these questions have been asked, what is the answer to the original question, what is meaning? the plan in the section, below, explains the strategy of the treatment of meaning, which is justified in the development

another problem of meaning is how words come to have and keep their meaning; we focus only briefly on this question

strategy for the concepts of meaning and knowledge

in the later section on non-existent objects, it will be found is effective (i) to discuss meaning in terms of the concepts of ‘concept’ and ‘referent’ or ‘object’ and (ii) to tie together the concepts of meaning and knowledge; therefore we will introduce the concept of meaning after preliminaries and (ii) discuss knowledge after meaning

the concept of a concept

a referential concept is a system of signs, icons, percepts, and sub-concepts, arranged and intended to designate objects; the percepts are the parts ‘bound’ to objects

since the referential concept is our interest, unless otherwise said, ‘concept’ stand for ‘referential concept’

referents and objects

an referent is that to which a concept refers

‘referent’ is preferred to ‘object’ because the latter suggests ‘thing’ which has the connotation of ‘entity’ rather than other kinds of referent

the term ‘object’ will be reserved (below) for a use that is similar to but distinct from that of ‘referent’ (later, ‘a being’ will be seen to be ‘a referent’)

the concept of meaning

a semantic meaning, i.e., a meaning, is a concept and its possible referents (‘the meaning of the word or concept’); via signs, semantics, and grammar; semantic meaning includes linguistic meaning; there is also concept meaning without language

the terms ‘meaning’, ‘concept meaning’, and ‘semantic meaning’, will be used interchangeably

significance of this conception

to see meaning as a relation among signs, icons, and possible objects is (i) essential in that the icon is necessary to recognition (the sign in a language means nothing to a non-speaker) (ii) clarification of meaning and meanings where there would otherwise be vagueness (iii) complementary to meaning as use and as determined in social give and take (iv) potent in a simple resolution of the problem of non-existent objects

problems of non-existent objects

perhaps also comment on possible and necessary objects

the first problem is that to talk of a non-existent object assumes—or seems to assume—that the object exists; for example, in a commonly used example, if we talk of the fictional character ‘Sherlock Holmes’, i.e., one who (that) does not exist, to whom (what) are we referring? the present conception of meaning resolves this—it denies that we are referring, even potentially, to anything but says that the concept of Sherlock Holmes does not or is not intended to refer to anyone (thing); this, by the way, is an example of resolution of issues of vagueness by use of the present conception of meaning

a second problem arises if we posit that there are non-existent objects? what are they? if we regard an object not as a ‘thing’ but as a concept-object complex, then a non-existent object (not an abstract object) is a concept-object for which the object is null; what is the justification of regarding a thing as a concept-object complex? pragmatically, it would be that we never encounter the object side and, so, never need entertain a thing-in-itself; conceptually, such general questions cannot be resolved without some metaphysics; our common pragmatic secular-materialist metaphysics is inadequate to resolution (and the source of much vague thought on this and many other issues); but if reality is relational, especially if the medium of relation is experience, then there is justification in seen things, not in themselves, but as a complex the experience of – and the experienced—which is justified in the later discussions of metaphysics and experience; this is an instance of the necessity of a metaphysics when attempting to resolve issues beyond the ordinary

meanings for the way

we are discovering, and it will be confirmed that, it is critical to introduce a coherent system of meaning that captures the real and which is related but not identical to received meaning

the system of terms includes those introduced so far, e.g., concept and meaning, and those to be introduced, especially, being, universe, laws, the void, pattern, possibility, and logic

suggestions for readers

if not done earlier

therefore, readers should pay attention to meanings as introduced and to the structure of the system as it emerges

knowledge (twbf)

the concept of knowledge is derivative of meaning; however, in order to highlight its importance, it is assigned a separate section

uses of the term ‘knowledge’

one can have knowledge of how to do something, e.g., how to ride a bicycle—this is ‘know how’; one can know something in the sense of being familiar with it, e.g., as one knows ones acquaintances; and one can know that something is true, e.g., that the sun is ninety three million miles away—this is ‘knowledge that’ something is true

the interest in epistemology, the study of knowledge, is of the latter kind and is also called propositional knowledge, which is our concern here

such knowledge is not limited to facts but includes mathematics (e.g., Pythagoras theorem follows from the postulates of Euclidean Geometry), and scientific laws and theories

the concept

knowledge is meaning realized; i.e., knowledge is constituted of concepts and their actual objects

propositional vs embodied knowledge

why embodied knowledge is important to realization—and more—why it is realization

illocutionary force

the interest is not in the specifics of Searle’s theory but in distinctions such as (i) “you are a king” and “I declare you king” and (ii) factual vs grammatical correctness

is knowledge possible? significance of the question

but can there be knowledge?

the significance of the question is (i) that there can be knowledge at all can be questioned but (ii) given that we have at least a significant amount of practical knowledge, the question of whether knowledge is possible at all seems absurd

regarding item #i above, the problem is not just one of error (for ‘error’ presumes there is an referent, which the concept does not quite get) but that the concept is not the referent and may therefore be not at all of any referent; the approach, executed in what follows, is—first, via abstraction to perfection; second, to introduce pragmatic or practical knowledge as complement to the abstract; finally, to show that the perfect and the pragmatic have a synthesis as perfect according to an emergent value, the value of realization of the ultimate in and from the immediate

however, the question is also important from the point of view of cartesian doubt—in questioning knowledge, we are led to refining the concept, assessing whether there are kinds of knowledge and what their criteria and relationships might be, and ways to acquire and validate knowledge

note that a conception of knowledge according to which there is no knowledge, is absurd (because obviously, we have some knowledge of some kind); but it is useful to criticize the possibility of knowledge (i) at all, so as to improve knowledge and understanding of what it is (ii) as, e.g., representation, so as to discover the nature of knowledge and (iii) perfect representation to see if it is at all possible

let us now entertain preliminary considerations on abstraction

knowledge—value and limitations, an assessment

the value is aesthetic—knowing the beauty of the word; pragmatic and ethical—knowledge is useful in negotiating the word and improving the quality of life; in turn ethics is significant in determining (i) what knowledge is useful and (ii) criteria for validity of knowledge as in, e.g., the real metaphysics

some potential limitations are (i) validity, considered above and later, (ii) knowledge itself is insufficient to utility, learning from application is important; however, learning or experiment is part of the cycle of knowledge, (iii) incompleteness of the knowledge systems of human culture and the real metaphysics—this is not a true limit, for we would not expect completeness and, further, the incompleteness revealed in the real metaphysics is positive in that it is not only a fact of our nature but a call to adventure, (iv) knowledge will not solve all ills—a limit only relative to the expectation that it would, (v) knowledge can be used for harm—but this is inevitable and the resolution is not for ‘good people’ to not develop knowledge, but to have ethical intent (this is in part a value), and (vi) knowledge itself is not complete realization, but it does phase into full realization

further considerations on the nature of knowledge

knowledge was introduced as a (system of) concepts and actual referents; that is, I have in my mind an experience from memory and reconstruction, which corresponds to something in the world (it may be experience itself); the concept was criticized and a response given

an approach in modern analytic philosophy is as follows—(i) meaning and knowledge in the above sense are problematic (ii) therefore, an abstract ‘bearer’ of knowledge is sought and one bearer is thought to be the proposition

the questions of epistemology include, then, the adequacy of this conception (b) criteria for justification (e.g., justified, true, belief), and (c) means of justification, particularly the issues of what are justification, truth, and belief, and what are measures of them

these are not closed questions

however, from the present purpose, we have seen that knowledge as concepts and their referents is adequate and leads to a kind of perfect perfection

further, while the questions of epistemology remain important, the present metaphysics to be developed and its associated epistemology, frame and enable assessment of the significance of the epistemological questions; particularly, it is found that the questions have a local character and that their incomplete solution is not an ultimate problem

existence (twbf)

given a concept x, if it has a referent, we say ‘x exists’, and x refers to both concept and referent

if there is no referent, or if it is fictional, we say ‘x does not exist’

the term ‘object’ was not used as the idea of a bare object, i.e., one without specification at all, has no sense

however, the concept-referent pair may be called the object, x

being*

being and experience (awareness in all its forms) are inextricably interwoven (this does not mean there are no such things); experience is implicit in the treatment of meaning and below, but it is convenient to defer explicit treatment till after the development of metaphysics

the concept of being (twbf)*

a being is that which exists; being is the characteristic of beings as beings

we may also say that a being is that that which can be validly known to affect experience—or that a being is the referent of a concept

being and beings

this may be detailed elsewhere (after absorption of material from the way of being - in process.docm (html) > the way)

beings are identified as referents of concepts because (i) the connotation of ‘entity’ is too specific—if they are referents (if they exist), entities, processes, relations, concreta, abstracta, particulars, universals, tropes, causes are all beings (ii) without a concept, nothing is identified

concepts and objects, again

the verb to be (twbf)

being vs existence (twbf)

here, being and existence are identical

being and existence are often thought elusive or mysterious; this happens when we think of them in terms of kind or category of existing thing, e.g., mind, matter, or process—and this is problematic as these kinds are neither well defined nor a complete catalog of kinds

on the other hand, if affecting experience is the criterion of existence, then effectively all kinds of being and beings are included (later we will be able to omit the term ‘effectively’)

further, as any attempt at better understanding always leads back to experience, a better understanding is not available

but (i) can we in fact legitimately omit the term ‘effectively’ (we will find the answer to be ‘yes’) (ii) does this lead to our best understanding and is our best the best (the answer is found to be—‘sometimes it is perfect’ and ‘at other times, the best we can do is limited approximation or pragmatic’ but, in terms of values that will emerge, the combination of the ordinary perfect and the ordinary pragmatic is perfect in an ultimate sense)?

if something is experienced, it has being

why being?

foundation

we want a foundation for knowledge—a way for our knowledge to be reliable; substance, e.g., matter or mind, and relation and process, i.e. categories are historically one way to go to foundation; the idea is here is something simple that is in the world, let us attempt to show that everything is a manifestation of it and therefore found all knowledge of things

an essential problem of this approach is that we do not know that the hypothetical foundation is itself perfectly known or generative of all things and knowledge of things

but being is clearly given and not limited in the way of substance; thus, whatever it can found is founded in something definite (being) which, unlike category, needs no further foundation

questions that now arise are (i) whether being can found knowledge of the entire universe (ii) and to what extent such knowledge can be perfect (and what ‘perfection’ should mean)

we will find that it can; and we will develop such a foundation

further aspects of being affirming it as suitable for foundation

the being that affects no conscious experience has no significance (later we see it does not exist—i.e., there is no such being)

therefore, being and experience are coupled

since the medium of our presence in the world is experience, it is essential to tie being to experience (in fact we cannot do so and attempts to do so lead to paradox); however, it is also effective to defer explicit discussion of experience

therefore, we begin with meaning and knowledge, in which experience is implicit

about perfection

why should we need perfection? is not a good approximation enough?

in some practical matters our best approximation is good enough; but there are matters, some practical, in which we would like perfection but, at least for the present, have to live without it

on the other hand, if we want knowledge of the real, the only such true knowledge is perfect

but why would we want knowledge of the real? (i) for some practical matters as noted above and (ii) when we want to go beyond our world, our paradigms, to truth, only perfection is good enough—and, ultimate truth is ultimately practical (iii) and as noted above this is a practical endeavor, attained by a proper understanding of ‘perfection’

adequacy of the concept of being

there are two issues—what is the relation of the concept of being above (i) to being itself (ii) to received concepts?

the first issue is one of meaning and knowledge; the best attitude is that we are searching for a meaning of being such that the knowledge of being best captures what we want—what is fundamental in the world and what is founding of knowledge; it is a search and so the meaning of being cannot be a posit and is unlikely to be even a critical acceptance of the received; that we have capture the essence we seek, will emerge in the development, particularly in finding that we have captured the—some—essence of the universe

regarding the second issue, the word ‘being’ has more than one use; the ‘being’ of a thing often denotes the essence of the thing; but here we do not use ‘being’ in such sophisticated ways; our way is simple; provided we do not conflate the uses of ‘being’ we run into no error of meaning conflict; though there is one sign, ‘being’, we can see it as or more two symbols with different meanings, perhaps related; the issue is whether we can build a consistent, coherent, and powerful picture of the universe based on being; and the answer is “we can and will”; later one may seek to related to the present meaning to the received—we will find that what is valid in the sophisticated meanings of ‘being’ is contained in our meaning, and which may be understood in terms of the ‘real metaphysics’ that emerges from our meaning

it is also important that the definition of being as something real (above) is incomplete and that for completion, it will be necessary to place it as part of an entire system of the universe—an articulated system of terms, ostensive truths, and reason

note that for the same reasons, similar considerations will pertain to all concepts introduced

a critical issue—how can we know being and beings? (twbf)

that there is being is evident for otherwise there would be neither things nor illusions of things; but are there beings or, more precisely, is our seeming knowledge of beings true and precise knowledge?

it is also important to ask why we should be concerned with true and precise knowledge—why is pragmatic or good enough knowledge not enough? the response is that pragmatic knowledge is often enough, e.g., to travel from one place to another, or to build a safe dam; however, since small errors multiply, only perfection is adequate for knowledge of the ultimate

how, then, can we know beings? this has begun to emerge with our discussion of meaning and knowledge, and the emergence will be complete in terms of the abstract and the concrete as discussed below (and as completed with the ‘real metaphysics’)

abstraction (twbf)*

the concept

to abstract is to remove distortable detail from the concept-object; what remains is real and immediate, not remote; this is found possible in what follows; it is also useful—particularly, we find a powerful abstract metaphysics that is perfect in the traditional representational sense, and which shows an ultimate universe and our place in it, particularly that we can realize the ultimate

effectiveness of abstraction

but is the abstract instrumental? i.e., can it be used to find ways to live well in the world and to approach the ultimate? we will join the perfect abstract metaphysics joined to concrete but only pragmatic knowledge; we will find this join to constitute a system, the ‘real metaphysics’ that is not perfect by traditional criteria (correspondence, coherence) but is perfect according to the emergent value of being on a path to the ultimate

cause, abstract and concrete (twbf)

there was originally a section named ‘reasons’, for I originally thought ‘reasons’ to be more general than ‘causes’ but I now see that causes are sufficiently general, while ‘reasons’ may be thought of as explanations of causes; therefore the new title of this section is—

the essence of this section may be introduced to the section of the same name under being and kinds of being, below

note—go systematically through the document, changing a reason to a cause and reasons to causes, and being careful to leave the other meaning of reason as ‘understanding and inference’ unchanged

the concept

here, cause is generalized from the concrete (i.e. a concrete being as cause for an effect in another concrete being) to include general cause (interaction among beings of any kind on the abstract – concrete continuum)

note that in the notion of existent or referent (‘object’) developed here, abstract and concrete objects are not opposed or poles but are essentially of one kind, but lying on a continuum

cause was originally discussed here, but it is more effective to discuss it below, under ‘kinds of being’, and further develop it through cosmology

the concept is developed from its introduction

the power of the concept of cause

the power of the concept of cause as generalized here is that it generalizes or abstracts the idea of concrete or material cause, commensurately with the abstraction from substance to being

beings and kinds of being

in the way of being - in process.docm (html) > the way, this title is ‘kinds of being’

‘object’—study topic

Object (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Possible Objects (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)—source

we saw that a being as a real referent of a concept is very general

the concept of kinds

kinds

beings may be classified in ways or kinds; in this division we consider some kinds and varieties of being

categories

categories are kinds or genera at the highest level—just below being itself

significance of the concept

study of being at the highest level—what is there in the universe, continuing the study of being (i.e., of ontology), beginning of cosmology

in everyday experience and science, various kinds are encountered—study of kinds may reveal the reality status of kinds, clarify their intrinsic structure, their completeness and incompleteness relative to the range of kinds

principles of enumeration

the development of the real metaphysics, to come, enables identification of beings; in addition to the above, the following arise—

cartesian methodology (doubt)

abstract – concrete continuum and form; kinds as beings

abstract and concrete reasons, which are elements of an abstract – concrete continuum, but which are important enough to occupy their own section

sentience and agency continuum

parthood continuum

these principles are treated next, in separate sections

cartesian principles

where knowledge can be shown non-illusory, there is being; e.g., while an object of experience may be illusory, the experience and the experience of experience are not

to build up the world from the Cartesian primitive above, map experience, noting its interpretations, show that the different interpretations are exhaustive, and that logically indistinguishable interpretations are different descriptions of the same thing or world

abstract-concrete continuum

perception is a filter; percepts are among the building elements of concepts (see meaning); there are no truly concrete objects, but perceived objects are metaphorically described as concrete (or ‘reified’); there are (at least) two approaches to abstract objects—the following two are complementary (i) abstraction from the relatively or metaphorically concrete (ii) build up from elementary concrete objects (meaningless signs or undefined ‘terms’), abstract rules of structure (axioms), and abstract rules of formation of new structures (rules of inference or logic)

depending on degree and kind of abstraction, various kinds may be abstracted ‘out’, totally, or partially, e.g., spatiality, temporality, quality (e.g., color); thus

(i) rather than objects as concrete or abstract, there is concrete-concrete continuum, and

(ii) whereas at extremes of abstraction objects are often regarded as categorially non spatiotemporal and noncausal, they are, indeed spatiotemporal and causal, with minimal or zero level spatiotemporality and causality

some more or less abstract objects

linguistic elements, universals (e.g., redness), tropes (e.g., the redness of that red ball), the objects of mathematics, ‘concrete’ objects have degrees of abstraction (in partial repetition, we add that abstract objects are not located outside spacetime but have degrees of spatiotemporality abstracted out or, in the case of abstract science such as mathematics, not built in)

some relatively concrete objects of significance

sameness, difference, identity, and extension-duration-being (since no more than extension-duration arise from sameness – difference – identity, the series space – time does not extend further), and property

causes, abstract and concrete*

where text is crossed through, it is because I am no longer using the term ‘reasons’ as (abstract) causes… for I now see reasons and causes as falling under cause, abstract or concrete

therefore this comment and the crossed out terms can be eliminated

cause, creation, ‘reasons’, first cause, efficient and final causes, causes not just of becoming but also of being, absolute cause etc—study topic

reasons causes can be seen as falling on an abstract-concrete continuum and could be discussed above, but are important enough to warrant separate discussion

‘reasons’ and the term ‘reason’, introduced later, are related but significantly distinct

what a reason cause is

a reason cause is that which entails a state of being with some likelihood (with ‘state’ understood most generally and, particularly, not a snapshot of a being at a particular point in time)

possible vs likely vs necessary reasons causes

when the nature of the reason cause is only such that the state of being is not ruled out, the reason cause is possible or possibilistic

if the state is likely, the reason cause is probable or probabilistic

if the state is certain, the reason cause is necessary

if the reason cause is less than necessary it may be because the reason cause is only a tendency or because it is partial

material cause

a material or concrete cause is a kind of reason cause (another term for material cause is power, described by Plato as the effect of a being and the measure of being)

abstract reasons causes

it will be found that there are reasons causes sufficiently abstract to not count as manifest – concrete – ‘material’ beings

absolute reasons causes

if the reason cause is premise-free, the outcome may be called self-generated or generating

if the reason cause is premise-free and necessary, the reason cause is absolute

that there could be absolute reasons causes seems to deny our experience with cause; however, that there are some absolute reasons causes will be shown

the unconditional and the absolute

a state (e.g., existence) of a being is unconditional means that it obtains in all situations

that a state is unconditional is equivalent to saying that its reason cause of obtaining is absolute (necessary with the null premise)

if the reason cause of existence of a state is absolute, then, from symmetry of necessity with the null premise, all possible states must obtain

sentience and agency continuum*

categorially non-sentient; later we see there are no such beings

sentience level zero but potentially not zero; possible in a non-substance world

material level sentience; in a monist cosmos, matter has primitive sentience which is not consciousness in the way of animal consciousness, but, e.g., in our cosmos, if monist, builds up in organisms to animal level consciousness and more

animal sentience and agency—sub sapient

animal sentience and agency—sapient; self-aware, aware of awareness, capable of seeing the self as internalizing the apparent design of evolution as real design, capable of conceiving the ultimate and approaching it via intelligence, but not intrinsically being it

‘higher being’ (gods, if there are any) that is or is in command of being the ultimate; in the real metaphysics to be developed, all beings do approach this, at least haphazardly, and sapient beings raise the approach to the level of intelligence, design, and, if not linear process, then experiment and correction

what is god? i.e., are there possible, reasonable, and necessary conceptions of god? see the cosmology of limitless identity

regarding the ultimate—world as god rising – being – dissolving – rising… (a new word for ‘god’ is needed); see God and Other Ultimates (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy); Brahman, God, and the Dao

parthood continuum

whole, part, null

example—the universe, cosmoses, the void; individuals (see sentience and agency above)

study topic—mereology

existential continuum—negative, possible, and definite existentials

extend the treatment to the possible

treatment of God and religion

is e. j. lowe relevant here?

concept – object continuum

the idea of concepts referring to objects is common, but not necessarily what obtains (it will be shown to obtain precisely for some important concepts and roughly for ‘pragmatic objects’)

but perhaps what is the case is that concepts phase into objects (and this view will be given some justification)

low – high level being continuum

or top – down

includes but is more than just whole – null continuum

detailed – essential continuum

related to high – low; more about distinctions, than kinds; also a principle of organization for the narrative

universe*

though they fall the parthood continuum, it is effective to have separate divisions for treatment of the concepts of universe and the void

the concept*

the universe is all being (since not talking spatiotemporally, to say “over all time and space” would be superfluous and limiting)

importance of this conception

in many analyses of physics, metaphysics, philosophy, cosmology, and theology, the concept of ‘the universe’ is left vague or implicitly conflated with the concept of the empirical universe; this leads to confusion in these disciplines—e.g., the thought that the empirical is the real and the confusion whether the universe has or can have a creator or reason cause of being and the issue of whether there is but one universe; to resolve such issues, it is crucial to have a concept of ‘all being’, and here we choose to name that concept ‘universe’; though some may object, this choice eliminates the confusions (and the objections would have the effect of sustaining the confusions); this does not reject utility of the other conceptions for which terms such as ‘empirical universe’, ‘cosmos’—for ‘our universe’, and ‘material universe’ for discussions of creation

creation

self-creation impossible—it assumes the universe has manifest existence before it has manifest existence

creation by another being is logically impossible—there are no other beings

reason cause of being*

though not created, there may be a reason cause of its being; possibility is discounted as accident; since there are no premises outside the universe, a reason cause would have to be absolute; and absolute reasons causes for manifest being of the universe will be found

patterns and laws*

natural laws—study topic

a (natural) law is a reading of a pattern (typically of relations among objects in space and time in, say, a cosmos, rather than just local and spatiotemporal); may use ‘law’ to refer to the pattern itself

as it can be validly known, laws have being—i.e., laws are beings

cosmos

our cosmos is the empirically known part of the universe, with lawlike behavior, possibly projected beyond the empirical

the real metaphysics shows that there are limitlessly many cosmoses of limitless variety in transient interaction with the void

civilizations, worlds, individuals

the void

the void, nothingness—study topic

the concept*

the void is the null part of the universe or of any being

importance of this conception

consider the questions (i) what is the extent and duration of the (entire) universe? (ii) can something emerge or come from nothing?

the questions seem to be incapable of analysis based on the universe as studied in, say, physics; general relativity, quantum theory, and physical cosmology suggest nothing (multiverse theory is specialized and speculative); it turns out that analysis of the void and its properties is instrumental in addressing the issues and this is undertaken shortly, in the division on metaphysics; the following properties of the void are important

properties of the void*

the void contains no beings; particularly, the void contains no laws (this is the critical property)

it will turn out that it is critical that there is a void but that the number of voids, one or many, has no significance

necessary being

absolutely necessary cause without cause (‘first cause’, ‘uncaused cause’)

if there is an absolutely necessary cause, then, from symmetry, all possibilities obtain

method and content II being to the void

method II—being to the void (twbf) (PM)

introduction

in this section, we examine proof so far

we proceed as follows (i) examine the concepts introduced for elements of demonstration (ii) identify methods of proof (iii) point out the necessary holism of the conceptual system (iv) in a supplementary section, discuss the possibility of algorithmic metaphysics

some concepts

the following concepts from the development are intended to show holism of content and of content and method—being, beings, ostensive demonstration, meaning, knowledge, concepts, objects, referents, synthesis, abstraction, reflexive, content, method, possibility, existence, nonexistence, logic, causes, universe, law, void, content, method

method

in no particular order

method II—being to the void—(i) iteratively, choose initial concepts for a framework for all being; these include concepts for analysis of the framework, particularly ostensive naming of what is known directly, regarding both being and knowledge (ii) see via abstraction that this knowledge is precise (iii) note that and how the fundamental concepts and principles of reason—content and method—arise together (iv) note that principles do not arise and need not be stated at outset; and are not a final conclusion; but arise in analysis for use in what follows; and may be abstract and therefore of broad application

elementary understanding and elementary inference, especially necessary inference; it will be worthwhile to attempt to see and show that understanding and inference are interwoven—study topic

holism

note the developments above are not made possible by a single concept or a number of individual concepts but a ‘ring’ of concepts that constitute a system

algorithm

the development was in fact iterative, one of trial and error, of imagination and criticism; it was not developed via a mechanical algorithm

could it have been algorithmic? will metaphysical thought ever be algorithmic? it would seem that there would need to be (i) elementary terms, rules or processes of combination – dissociation – recombination, and rules or processes of inference, (ii) an intuition capable of at least elementary meaning, and (iii) elementary random process to generate elementary ideas, combinations, re-combinations, to ‘simulate’ the at least apparently necessary creative side of the process

consequences II—metaphysics up to the void (twbf) (PM)

this requires combing, synthesis, and listing

metaphysics*

in the following,
what is in the section, the concept of metaphysics,
why is in the significance of the conception, and
how begins in developing a real metaphysics

the concept of metaphysics*

metaphysics is knowledge of the real (if non-standard, this conception is effective here, and will be found to subsume what is valid in received metaphysics); though criticized as impossible, the anti-metaphysical age is currently over (c.2022: there are still critics)

significance of this conception

adequacy of the concept

under this conception, metaphysics will be found adequate and potent

importance of the concept

the importance is immanent in the development; explicit discussion is deferred to the possibility and necessity of metaphysics

relation to received conceptions of metaphysics

the received concept is not as neatly defined as above—rather, the consensus view might be derived from a study of the history and validity of the idea; however, the essences of the received view are subsumed and advanced under the present conception

metaphysics began with ‘being’

and we have begun to see definite metaphysics—there is being, there are beings, the universe is a being, laws are beings…

developing a ‘real metaphysics’*

alt title—‘beginning to develop… the fundamental principle and its use’

development of metaphysics continues; the next step is crucial and potent

is the void a being?

existence of the void*

existence and non-existence of the void are equivalent; therefore, the void may be taken to exist

the void exists; it is a being that contains no beings

there is at least one void

a heuristic regarding existence of the void is that it is ‘there’ alongside every being; this suggests that there are many voids

possibility (twbf)*

possibility, probability—study topic

the concept (twbf)*

a possible object or state is one for which its nature does not rule out existence

kinds of possibility (twbf)*

logical possibility obtains if existence is not ruled out by the concept (of the referent) itself

real possibility obtains if existence is not ruled out by the context; it presumes logical possibility—at least implicitly

the most permissive sense of possibility is logical possibility, for if a concept is illogical, e.g., contradictory, it cannot refer to a real object (referent) in any universe

kinds of real possibility

some kinds of real possibility are universal, physical, economic, sentient, and sapient; for a limited world or context, the possible is greater than the real; for the universe the possible and the real are identical; if the universe is conceptually limitless, the possible is the logically possible

necessity

a being or state is necessity if its concept implies its existence (the universe and the void are examples; being is also an example—for, with sufficient abstraction, being is a being).

logic, science

logic

though (deductive) logic is usually conceived as necessary inference, it is also the set of conditions on concepts for their objects to exist

dialetheia

the only established dialetheia concern edge or null beings

thus the void exists and does not exist—and which is non-trivial

the dialetheia or ‘true contradictions’ appear to arise (i) from different uses of meaning, e.g. “we step into the same river and we do not” (‘same river’ is used in two senses) (ii) the idea of limitlessness—a limitless being can make something more powerful than the being (a careless use of the idea of limitlessness) (iii) regarding empty universes—all beings in an empty universe are black and not black (and the related the void exists and does not exist… which seems trivial but turns out to be non-trivial—what would seem paradoxical for a manifest being is not always paradoxical for the void and this is significant in its consequences)

logic and science

see, e.g., the essential way of being.html

limitlessness*

if every logical concept has an object, the universe is limitless

our logics do not fully specify a limitless universe (i) because they are incomplete with regard to mode of expression (ii) because symbolism is discrete (iii) so far as they are inconsistent

the fundamental principle of metaphysics (twbf)—the universe is the greatest possible*

the principle of plenitude—study topic

the principle and its meaning

the fundamental principle of metaphysics is the assertion that the universe is the greatest possible; that is, if a state of being is logically or maximally possible, it obtains in the universe

i.e., it obtains somewhere and when in the universe;

this is an example of an absolute cause

an immediate implication is that the universe has limitless varieties of ‘physical law’ and, corresponding to each, there is a limitless array of cosmoses

note the use just above, of ‘limitless’ rather than ‘infinite’

that all possible beings emerge from the void entails that the universe and its parts are mixes of determinism (a part, often but not necessarily a temporal slice, determines the whole) and indeterminism

that all possible states are realized entails that the universe must phase between manifest and non-manifest (the void)

fundamental principle, first demonstration

even if the manifest and the void are, individually, contingently or possibly existent—

the manifest and the void together are unconditionally existent therefore absolute

i.e., there is an absolute cause of existence of the void together with the manifest

i.e., from the argument on unconditional and absolute causes every maximally or logically possible state must obtain

therefore, the real is limitless

note—though it is the more abstract of the two demonstrations, this placed first because it does not assume existence of the void, or even assign a meaning to such existence

an objection to the first demonstration

since unconditional existence of any state and the void is tautological, it seems a tautology, are unconditionally existent; nonetheless, it is true, and, further, the conclusion has content that exceeds that of the premise

in any case, possible association of doubt with the first demonstration, is one motive to consider a second and, later, a number of heuristics

fundamental principle, second demonstration

existence and non-existence of the void are equivalent; therefore, the void may be taken to exist; now, if from the void a (maximally or logically) possible state were not to emerge, it would be a law of or in the void; which would be a contradiction; therefore, all possible states must obtain; heuristically, our laws apply to what we see but not to nothingness

the universe is the realization of the greatest possibility; this demonstrated assertion shall be called ‘the fundamental principle of metaphysics’; ‘logic’ may be used as a name for a system of description of the greatest possibility

consistency of the fundamental principle

(here consistency of an assertion is constituted of internal consistency, which obtains if the assertion itself does not rule out its truth; and external consistency, which obtains if the assertion satisfies truth criteria, which has so far been taken to be perfect correspondence)

as it asserts existence only of the logically possible the fundamental principle is internally or self-consistent; since experience, science, and reason are ultimately empirical, they do not and cannot contradict that the logically possible obtains—i.e., the principle is externally, world, or referentially consistent; that is, being internally and externally consistent, it is fully consistent

note (i) regarding the empirical character of reason, that logic and the rational are empirical at root and (ii) it might seem that the fact that we do not encounter all possibilities is an argument against the principle, but it is not for our world is but one possibility and there is nothing in it that logically entails what the future will reveal)

doubt regarding the fundamental principle

(to doubt is to question whether something is true; doubt is critical to certainty; and if full certainty is not to be had, then to degree of certainty—and to attitudes to be held in absence of certainty, but, for example, in case of consistency and good reasons); still—

on doubt about the fundamental principle—even given demonstration and consistency, from the nature of the demonstration, and the magnitude of the consequences, doubt ought to be maintained (even though the principle is based in the empirical—the universe exists, and elementary logic)

doubt may be further addressed by heuristics and alternative attitudes

alternative attitudes (twbf)

this had been placed here, but is now after the real metaphysics, one level higher

it may be mentioned here and linked forward

some heuristic proofs of the fundamental principle (twbf)

new title—

some heuristic arguments for the fundamental principle

this and the next sections are imported from the simple overview and may need revision

what a heuristic is

here, it is a way of seeing a truth that is reasonable, evident, and intuitive, but not a proof

the value of heuristics

in absence of a proof, a heuristically seen truth has value as a guide when action is needed but certainty is not available at all or where action is needed but time constraints do not permit proof of certainty (provided of course that the ‘truth’ is consistent or, at least, not known to be inconsistent)

if there is proof, but proof meets only ‘best current’ standards of certainty, heuristics may supplement proof and confidence in proof (but we ought to guard against accepting a claim because we have become familiar with it)

in all cases, including that of certain proof, a heuristic may be intuitive and improve understanding

heuristic I—existence of the void

a heuristic is that the void is there, beside every element of being

heuristic II—proof the fundamental principle: assume there is an explanation of the existence of the manifest universe

if there is a good explanation of the existence of the (manifest) universe, it would be necessary, for to be just possible would mean that the universe could be eternally manifest and is therefore not an explanation; now the heuristic goes through as in the alternate proof above

heuristic III—proof from the idea of the limit to the laws of physics

we do have some ideas of the form of the next laws of physics—perhaps a unification of the four fundamental forces; but what of subsequent developments? given that revolutions in physics could go on forever, we admit that we have no clue, for there could be other forces, the known forces could be embedded in a larger picture, there could be cosmoses beyond ours and so on; however, we have a perfect idea of the ultimate laws—the limit to all laws: logic is the limit of all laws and, potentially, the ultimate physics

note for those familiar with our systems of logic—this might require discovery of logics beyond our truth functional, non-modal logics, i.e., beyond the propositional and predicate calculi

heuristic IV—proof from the size of possibility space

the known universe is empirical; that all possibilities are realized in the universe is consistent with reason; the magnitude of the possibility space limitless, therefore it is unlikely, with probability zero, that the universe is not limitlessly greater than the known

that this is heuristic because possibility set is not known to be actual

heuristic V—proof from possibility vs actuality

possibility and actuality are distinct relative to limited contexts: for the universe possibility and actuality are identical; but actuality for the universe is real possibility; therefore, real possibility is the greatest possibility

that this is heuristic is obvious, for possibility could be limited to the known

the number of voids

since any void has limitless power, the number of voids has no significance; what is significant is that there is at least one void; we may take there to be but one void

the void and the quantum vacuum

the void has similarities to the quantum vacuum; however, the void is not the vacuum; the distinction is essential

logic*

logic (‘argument’) is the system of description of the greatest possibility

our logics are a limited system of at least approximations to logic

later, the concept of logic is further developed

cosmology of limitless identity*

the cosmology

see the way of being-minimal.docm (html), the essential way of being.docm (html), and ../narratives/bare content.docm (html)

it is important to note that the way is both intrinsic and instrumental which merge

to the cosmology, should now be appended a consequence of the fundamental principle—the cosmoses, the beings (individuals, civilizations, peaks), are in interaction with one another (there may be temporary isolation) and in interaction with a system of transients, which is all embedded in the void

let us further append a discussion of peak being in terms of ‘god’

the ultimate

if internal contradictions are removed from the Abrahamic god, it is possible and therefore necessary; however the Abrahamic god does not necessarily pertain to our cosmos, where it seems most unlikely, but to some cosmoses—in fact a limitless number of them; however that god has limited significance for those cosmoses are likely unstable and their number, even though limitless, pales in comparison to the number of cosmoses and the number of cosmoses with a stable and meaningful concept of god (this is reasoned later)

what is a stable, meaningful, and necessary concept of god?

As a being—peak being above is an ultimate;

As a process—god may be seen as life and sapience erupting from ground level being; the process of evolution on earth thus far exemplifies a partial stage to such god; we are part of that process but not to the exclusion of the rest of life; we are potentially on the way to a peak in this life and necessarily on the way in some life; among the factors that make this god stable and meaningful are (i) absence of arbitrary contradiction arising in mythic religions (e.g., the Abrahamic) (ii) no requirement of perfection in terms of a need to escape from the harsh side of reality (iii) has ultimate character, but the nature of this ultimate is not remote—it is in the nature of any true ultimate that it must actually or potentially reach down to us and be reachable to us

There may be local, lesser ‘gods’ in some cosmoses

consistency*

the fundamental principle and cosmology of limitless identity may seem inconsistent with informed experience or common sense and empirical science; however, it is not and only seems inconsistent if experience and science are projected beyond their valid region—the empirical

why do we not see all possibilities in our cosmos? our cosmos is one possibility—it cannot be itself and another; other possibilities occur elsewhere in the universe

doubt, attitude (twbf)*

this was placed here, but is now after the real metaphysics, one level higher

it may be mentioned here and linked forward

method and content III developing a real metaphysics

method III and IV, the fundamental principle and its use (twbf) (PM)

method III—demonstration of the fundamental principle—the proof is ontological, based on the nature of being (note—while the famous ontological proof is not valid, that a proof is ontological does not imply invalidity); empirical in taking empirical givens (the facts that there are being, a universe and so on; and in the empirical character of elementary logic); and rational in arguing via elementary logic from the ontological and empirical aspects

method IV—using the fundamental principle—imagine a state; examine the state for internal and external consistency; if it is consistent, the state obtains

(note—here the proofs in question are proofs of consequences of the fundamental principle)

it is doubtful this can be made algorithmic, but such heuristics as reflexivity may be employed

note—proofs based on the fundamental principle do not address likelihood or significance (of course, we can attach significance and likelihood to the consequences); however, the real metaphysics is capable of addressing likelihood and significance

consequences III—fundamental principle (twbf) (PM)

consequences of the fundamental principle—

if there were another universe, the one we are in would not be the possible; therefore, there this, ours, only universe—the (one) universe

the void state is possible; therefore, the universe phases between void and manifest phases

the manifest phases include peak, distributed, and void identity; the peak and its identity are singular and subsumes the distributed, of which our apparently distinct identities are a part; and the void is an entirely dissolute state

our distributed identities attract and repel, both as conditions of their existence; the possibility of knowledge of mutual participation in greater identity arises (i) from the signature of the peak (ii) rational process

realization of ultimate and peak identity is given for all beings; there are intelligent pathways to the ultimate that are effective with regard to likelihood of realization and enjoyment of pleasure and pain; it is not a contradiction for two or more beings to realize peaks for in doing so, they merge as one

about fear of the ultimate—how should we respond to claims by some people, that the ultimate ought to be avoided, that to seek it is dangerous, is ‘blasphemous’? we respond that a true ultimate is unavoidable, is present in the immediate (even if not recognized), and that we are of it, that its nature to beckon us to approach it, that it is our nature to undertake the approach

real metaphysics*

motive (twbf)

since derived from perfect abstract concept-objects, the fundamental principle and cosmology of limitless identity are perfect knowledge in the sense that what they describe, the concepts, are perfectly faithful to their objects—the universe and its inhabitants—individuals and civilizations

note that the fundamental principle shows what will be realized, it does not show how to realize it—

the metaphysics*

to render the perfection of the fundamental principle as practical, let us append to it ‘tradition’—that which is at least pragmatically valid in received knowledge up to the present

in realization, we may attain the ultimate in this life; otherwise, we move from self to self, from civilization to civilization, from cosmos to cosmos, from manifest-real to non-manifest-limitless (no law in the void) with disposition to all being to manifest; as limited beings in our present forms, we do not have precise concrete knowledge of the present being-civilization-cosmos (it is not impossible but, on the nature of the concrete, not possessed of meaning); however, given the fact and value of realization of the ultimate, it is not even desirable for our concrete knowledge (e.g., the sciences) to have perfect object-faithfulness: ‘good enough’ is good enough

the join of the perfect abstract to the local and pragmatic can be now seen as not a patch up, but seamless

the perfect abstract illuminates and guides the pragmatic; the pragmatic illustrates and is enabling in realization of the ultimate; the seamless system is perfect in terms of the value of enjoyment, the imperative of realization—beginning in our world; this system is named the real metaphysics

the real metaphysics is a dual metaphysics and epistemology (with theory of meaning), united as one by the fundamental value of realization

regarding the a priori as pertaining to a system that is seen as self-founding once thought through, rather than as prior to experience of the world (and even inner experience, e.g., thought, body sensation), the real metaphysics is a priori or self-founding with regard to depth for knowledge, action, and value (as seen in cosmology of limitless identity, in terms of being, universe, and void as abstract) but not with regard to breadth; breadth is ever open for limited beings and is where exploration, discovery, and adventure are found; also note the breakdown of the empirical-rational distinction (see the abstract-concrete continuum)

‘real metaphysics’ is best knowledge of the real

general logic, reason

the logic – conceptual or intensional approach

the real metaphysics brings logic and the concrete sciences under one umbrella; it may be called general logic; it has a necessary side logic as necessary inference and establishment of fact and science as likely inference (induction) and tentative establishment of fact

note that (i) ‘science’ and ‘logic’ are brought on par in that their discovery is inductive while their application, assuming their truth, is deductive (ii) mathematics, linguistics, computer science, and other symbolic sciences (as we may name them), can be placed under the named umbrella of the ‘abstract sciences’, which is also subsumed under general logic, (iii) general logic subsumes establishment of fact (understanding) and inference (reason), for which we also like the name general reason; we contract the latter to reason, which includes both understanding and reason in its limited meaning, (iv) noting that experiment is a part of general logic – reason and that action generalizes experiment, action, too, is subsumed under general logic

(real) metaphysics, (general) logic, and (general) reason are one

the logic – extensional or bottom-up approach

the approach above was top – down; let us develop a bottom – up approach

a (referential) concept may fail to refer (i) because the structure of the concept does not permit of reference at all (the failure is logical) (ii) it may refer but does not in fact (the failure is in matching the world—it is scientific); this brings logic and science under one umbrella (general logic)

a theory of the universe

the real metaphysics, general logic, and general reason, which are the same, are the theory of the universe

reason and reflexivity

philosophical or metaphysical holism; circle of problems and paradoxes (especially of interpretation)

imagination

doubt, attitude (twbf)*

this was originally placed in ‘developing a real metaphysics’, one level lower

doubt about the fundamental principle is important, from the nature of its ‘ontological’ proof and the significance of its conclusions

therefore, from its consistency, two alternative attitudes, but complementary attitudes to the principle may be maintained—(i) as a postulate regarding the real (a metaphysical postulate) (ii) as an existential principle of action*

doubt

it is right to doubt the fundamental principle, the real metaphysics, and cosmology of limitless identity

consistency (bc)

however, since they are consistent with informed experience and empirical science, if we find doubt to disallow affirmation of their demonstration, the following alternative attitudes to the principle may be undertaken as optimal risk in maximizing truth, enjoyment, and realization

attitude (bc)

The principle as a postulate or hypothesis for an ultimate metaphysics

The principle as an existential principle of attitude and action

a desire to believe

an objection that some will have is that the principle, its demonstration, and the attitudes to it above, may stem from a desire to hold it true; it is not a logical objection, but it cannot be entirely denied; herein lies an element of choice; but it should be noted that the principle is not all ‘wine and roses’, for, if the ultimate is inevitable, so is great pain on the way

method and content IV the real metaphysics

proof based on the real metaphysics

this is retained temporarily because it is in the way of being - in process.docm (html)—it should be absorbed to method of proof VI, below; note that the first two items below are already part of proof based on the fundamental principle

imagination is essential to producing pictures of and within the universe

if internally and mutually consistent, the pictures are realized

likelihood can be estimated in terms of paradigms listed in the division on cosmology

method V and VI, the real metaphysics and its use (twbf) (PM)

method of proof V—demonstration of the real metaphysics: each of the abstract and the pragmatic are—were earlier—founded to a degree and in a manner appropriate to the content; the abstract is representationally perfect, the pragmatic is not; their join is imperfect in terms of representation and other received criteria; however, their join is perfect in showing a true and ultimate cosmology, and in terms of an ultimate value that emerges from the perfect abstract side

method of proof VI—using the real metaphysics—(i) use of imagination—creative picturing and hypothesizing, including tentative truth posits—is essential to coming up with pictures of the universe and its parts (ii) determining consistency—if internally, mutually, and externally consistent, the pictures are realized (iii) appeal to likelihood—likelihood can be estimated in terms of paradigms from cosmology

(taken from proofs based on the real metaphysics of the main narrative)

(note—here the proofs in question are proofs of consequences of the real metaphysics)

this is a critical point, because likelihood enables rational selection from among alternatives; note that rationality makes essential reference to value, and includes feeling and emotion, particularly as having a role in determining value; a primary value is realization of the ultimate; appeal to paradigms of value are a supplement for action in the immediate in itself and on the way to the ultimate

consequences IV—the real metaphysics (twbf) (PM)

consequences of the fundamental principle are also consequences of the metaphysics

metaphysical and cosmological implications

some metaphysical and cosmological implications of the real metaphysics: the entire system of the narrative, which includes resolutions of the classical and modern problems of metaphysics; metaphysics as philosophy as science as including ethics; the ultimate nature of and paths to our destiny

the power of emergent systematic metaphysics

there was a heyday of systematic metaphysics; revolts against it; and returns to system with metaphysics redefined by some thinkers as the study of abstract objects (the intended comparison being to physics as the study of concrete objects)

however, we have seen that metaphysics as conceived here is the study of all things, with emphasis on ‘things’ at a general rather than particular level

how the real metaphysics is systematic

what has emerged here is a potent systematic metaphysics; it is stressed that the system is emergent, not imposed; it is further stressed that the system is essential, for the elements of the metaphysics stand together, where alone they would fall

therefore, there is no need to enter into a debate on the pros and cons of systematic, or a debate with those who reject the ‘grand narrative’—for in that sense, here there is no narrative

let us just note that—

the system of the real metaphysics is emergent

it is neither imposed nor posited; and—

emergent system is potent

the possibility and necessity of metaphysics

that metaphysics is ‘possible’ even if the criterion for knowledge is perfect correspondence, a potent metaphysics—the fundamental principle and its consequences—has been shown; the key to this development was abstraction; the abstract metaphysics was extended to incorporate pragmatic knowledge in terms of a dual criterion that emerged with the metaphysics itself

but why should metaphysics be needed? (i) many of our most significant questions are answerable only in terms of a metaphysics, and the metaphysics is often tacit—e.g., secularism; it is therefore desirable to make our metaphysics and any metaphysical assumptions explicit (ii) when moving beyond the world of direct experience, we need a sufficiently precise metaphysics, without which our metaphysical assumptions prejudice all knowledge

../old/the essential way of being.docm – criticism (html) ewbc

Appraising metaphysics

It is easy to see why this meaning has been criticized. In the following I will raise and respond to criticisms of the conception of metaphysics as knowledge of being as being.

APPRAISING METAPHYSICS. The CRITICISMS and RESPONSES below constitute an appraisal of metaphysics, particularly metaphysics as knowledge of being. The main criticisms and discussions are from (a) experience (knowledge) is not the object, (b) the tacit assumption that perfect faithfulness is the universal criterion of knowledge (the metaphysical framework of the essay is perfect in this sense), (c) criticism from science, (d) the claims of what is called special metaphysics (concerning special objects, e.g., those of the established religions—which is not the concern of the framework developed), (e) the critique of what has been called the ‘grand narrative’, and (f) the criticism of systematic metaphysics, especially from the perspective of a history of failed systems from the past.

Criticism A: Experience is not the object

In the first place, since experience—perceptual and / or higher conceptual—is not the object it would seem that perfect depiction is or at least may be impossible.

Response

The objection is valid when it comes to knowing the details of the world in which perfection is at least contentious. Thus, Kant, in answering to this criticism, argued that perfect perceptual knowledge of natural categories of the world is built into our intuition (Kant called this the transcendental aesthetic). Kant took those categories to be those of Euclidean Geometry and Newtonian Mechanics which we now know to not be the world categories (and we have no reason to think modern science provides us with world categories). However, we have already seen and remarked that we know experience as such (and knowing something entails that we know that that something exists); and that we know the real world as such (whose existence is also known perfectly). Thus, we know being as such and already know definite examples of it (the being of experience and the world); and we also know universe, identity, space and time, law, and the void (which are all examples of being). It is important that these are not known precisely in all detail, but that is not the claim; rather the claim is that we know the being of these things as such (and whether the knowledge is trivial or not remains to be determined).

Though it is not the object, in the case of the objects of the metaphysics to be developed, experience is PERFECTLY FAITHFUL. In other cases, a significant range of knowledge from tradition, perfect faithfulness will be shown impossible and so not to be desired; this range will, however, be PERFECTLY SUITED AS A LOCAL INSTRUMENT at the border of the immediate and the ultimate.

Criticism B: The question of perfect faithfulness

Another point is significant: the objection takes for granted as do realms of critical and constructive thought that perfect precision is the criterion that we should be using.

Response

It is important to point that perfect depiction is a tacit, but often unstated criterion for knowledge because it is often unstated. I am not going to universally reject this important criterion—there is no reason to do so. However, once stated it can be considered as to where it is appropriate and where not.

It is important that the core of a metaphysical system that I call knowledge of being as being should satisfy some criterion regarding depiction. But can it satisfy perfect depiction? Error and illusion in knowledge and perception suggest not. But here the new categories (relative to the Kantian and other categorial systems) have been chosen for perfection. Experience as experience, real world as real world, being as being, universe as universe, natural law as natural law are all perfectly known. As stated earlier, this perfect knowing does not refer to particulars of the categories such as types of experience or details within the universe. In the case of experience where I know that I am having some particular experience it is not a claim about the kind of particular experience or, generally, about the object of the experience. However, in the case of experience as experience or being as being and so on as the object of experience, the knowledge is perfect.

We have satisfied this criterion of perfect depiction for the new categories (experience etc), but, crucially, we will find out via proof that this cannot and should not be the criterion for all knowledge (for all purposes). This will be significant in extending the metaphysics under development from the realm of perfect precision to another realm that will be found perfect via proof in another and appropriate sense.

PERFECT FAITHFULNESS and certainty have often in the history of ideas been taken as tacit criteria. This criterion is appropriate sometimes, but not universally.

Criticism C: The claims of science

Two special criticisms from science are (i) science now occupies the role of knowledge of being and (ii) science shows that metaphysical knowledge beyond its borders is impossible (note that the term ‘special criticisms’ is used because general criticism from science is tacit in the criticisms above).

Response

Response to criticism i. So, far as it is empirical, science cannot claim to cover the entire extra-empirical domain (it cannot even claim to know the extent of that domain). A question of metaphysics, therefore, is whether there can be any knowledge of that domain. A generic answer is that we do know experience as experience, being as being, and especially universe as universe; therefore such knowledge is obviously possible; we have already seen this knowledge to be non-trivial and starting in the chapter on the fundamental principle we will begin to see that it is immensely potent. A detailed answer now follows.

Response to criticism ii. One view is that while scientific facts (data) can be confirmed, theories explain facts, but because they intend to go beyond facts so far can only be disconfirmed (we trust scientific theories not because they follow logically from data—they do not—but because they capture some local pattern very well which is evidenced by testing and application; but they do not necessarily capture universal patterns which is evidenced by the history of scientific revolutions). However, if a scientific theory were regarded merely, but still powerfully, as a local pattern it would be factual, but not universal. On the other hand, because of the abstraction (as contrasted to detail rather than concreteness) of the fundamental concepts here, the metaphysics is universal and can be and is (will be) confirmed as universal and potent.

Criticism D: The claims of epistemology

Some aspects of epistemology are considered above and through the essay—usually without explicit reference to epistemology.

The importance of epistemology has risen in the modern period. After the first enthusiasm of turning away from scholasticism to rationalism, rationalism began to look upon itself. Since Newton, his mechanics had come to be regarded as necessary consequences of the observations. David Hume pointed out the lack of necessity to the mechanics as well of the nature of space, time, and causality. Immanuel Kant responded; he attempted to restitute mechanics through causation (with remarkable success for the period); but remained critical of any metaphysics beyond his system. Today, we know that Kant’s constructive system is a partial failure (because space, time, and mechanics as understood by Newton are only approximate categories of both world and mind). We have retained and amplified Kant’s doubts; today there is interest in metaphysics of a kind that does not satisfy the definition of this essay—e.g., (1) as the logical study of experience itself rather than what it is experience of and (2) as the study of abstract objects which, in the study in question, are contrasted to the concrete objects studied in the sciences.

Response

I begin with some general remarks. If metaphysics is knowledge of the universe and the universe is all things; and if epistemology is the study of knowledge, then, since knowledge is in the universe, epistemology is part of metaphysics. That is, epistemological claims are metaphysical claims. This is important (it does not, of course, invalidate epistemology or its importance; nor does it validate the rest of metaphysics). But the metaphysics of this narrative is validated on its own ground; that metaphysics employs dual criteria and, showing them to mesh and be sufficient to knowledge claims is part of showing the validity of the present metaphysics. In other words, the metaphysics does not and does not need to look elsewhere for validation; further it is shown that this self-referential aspect is neither paradoxical nor does it lead to tractable or refractory infinite regress.

It may be enlightening to consider the claims of epistemology in some detail. (1) What is knowledge? The metaphysical system is multi-conceptual in this regard. Regarding the pure part—regarding experience, being, …, realism as such—the metaphysics is perfect depiction. Regarding the part that seems to be incapable of perfect depiction, the criterion of being good enough in relation to the aim of the metaphysics as well as to being-in-the-world, is found to be the best possible as well as adequate. The conclusion is that a uniform conception of knowledge is neither necessary nor desirable. The mosaic and meshing conception are maximally effective. (2) On what axes can we contemplate knowledge? We can consider the nature of knowledge (just done), the information-knowledge-understanding axis, precision, and probability of truth. The mosaic nature of knowledge is seen to be well suited to the information etc axis. Precision is critical because it is often tacitly assumed that it should be absolute. Here, the mosaic enters again: the perfect part has absolute precision which it meets perfectly; the practical part has less than perfect precision which it meets imperfectly according to the depictive criterion, but adequately in relation to the best possible and to achieving the aim of realization. Here, probability enters because we are not certain of the derivation of the fundamental principle. Generally, this is not a criticism because it marks almost every aspect of knowledge. However, because the pure part of metaphysics claims perfect knowledge it is a criticism. The response to this last issue is contained in the discussion of doubt and existential attitude (it is important that the doubts do not consider internal / logical or external / empirical consistency).

Criticism E: Special metaphysics

There is a host of metaphysical systems from the history of ideas that speculate special kinds of being. These include (a) the imaginative systems of the Greeks (b) the scholastic-theological systems of Christianity between Greece and Rome and the modern era (c) various systems of European, British, and American idealism. Though some of these are useful as richly suggestive, their speculative character was part of what led in the twentieth to near wholesale abandonment of metaphysics.

Response

However, the twentieth century also saw the rise of metaphysics of experience. This is the useful attempt to understand our entire range of experience in terms of fundamental aspects of experience itself. This is useful because (a) it may lead to enhanced understanding not only of experience as such, but also to integration of what is valid in experience itself and religion and science and (b) while natural science is useful in understanding experience what they have taught us is limited and often misleading (the fault is not of science itself, but of faulty conclusions from it).

This is not and cannot be an a priori justification of particular systems of metaphysics of experience. That justification, for example in the case of A.N. Whitehead’s Process and Reality of 1929, can only come from painstaking examination (and regarding such examination we should distinguish the main theses and themes from particular conclusions).

The metaphysics of the essay is NOT A SPECIAL METAPHYSICS. As will be seen, the metaphysics may be deployed to develop and evaluate special objects; such evaluation in the universe as realization of all possibility must be for significance rather than absolute truth.

Criticism F: Critical theory and the meta narrative system

In the twentieth century the term ‘grand narrative’ or ‘meta narrative’ has been pejoratively applied to metaphysical systems and other meta narratives of the past.

Response

This criticism has come from critical theory which holds that our narratives should be relevant to the condition of humankind, but that meta narratives offer legitimization via an incomplete-able master idea. A variety of responses could be given. Perhaps the most important one is that truth is necessary to relevance and therefore truth and relevance should be evaluated case by case rather than by a meta-meta narrative such as critical theory. It is common counter-criticism of the grand narrative idea that Jean-François Lyotard who brought the term grand narrative into prominence (in the 1984 translation of The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, 1979) has himself has spoken of “the great narrative of the end of great narratives” (such as progress, enlightenment emancipation, and Marxism) (in his The Differend, 1988). That is, the idea that the grand should be globally replaced by local more modest singular narratives is itself grand.

TRUTH, significance, and RELEVANCE should be evaluated case by case. The criticism from critical theory is itself a form of grand narrative.

Criticism G: System

The problem of special metaphysics is significantly the problem of system—i.e., castles of ideas whose foundations are shaky. This is similar to, but more general than and predates the criticism from critical theory. It is one of the main reasons for the twentieth century abandonment of metaphysics (the other being a failure of imagination and criticism in the face of science).

Response

A response has already been made that failures of particular systems do not imply failure of all systems.

However, there remains a general attitude among some thinkers that is critical toward system as such. The attitude is consequent to the thought that the world is so varied that it cannot be brought under system—that the attempt at system minimizes the world and is a symptom of a failure of nerve of a thinker who cannot approach the varieties on their own merit.

In fact, the world exhibits SIMILARITY and DIFFERENCE. Therefore, SOME SYSTEM IS NATURAL. Where it is natural, it brings coherence and efficiency of understanding. To have some system does not disallow but may enhance the study of the variety. System requires criticism, of course, and the outcome will be case by case acceptance or rejection.

General response to criticism: The metaphysical system of this essay

In this essay, as the reader may see so far, the metaphysical ideas are being built up one by one from direct experience that is so precise that one and same experience count as percept and higher concept (there is interpretation, but it serves to illuminate rather than to secure the meanings). The one-by-one character is not quite true—it reflects the unfolding of the essay, but, in fact, the system emerged as a whole from a period of trying, reflection, and improvement.

Thus, the system is not systematic just so as to have a system. It is systematic in the first place because it began to emerge as such in response to self-correction. The initial steps were experiment with material, process, and idealist views that (a) were roughly equivalent despite the outward differences and (b) were incomplete because, invariably, something had to be posited. This was the origin of the choice of being simply, and without commitment to kinds such as mind and matter, as that which exists. Narration of this process is omitted from the main development of the essay; however, its impact is present and significant.

The next step was seeing that the universe and the void are equivalent. At that time, I saw the universe as the universe revealed by science, especially physics. However, I saw that to actually show the equivalence of void and universe I would have to interpret void as the complete absence of being and dually the universe as all being over entirety. However, that was not enough, and it remained to realize that I should focus on the void and its properties. I further had to see that natural laws have being and that therefore there are no laws in the void. It is this that led to the fundamental principle of metaphysics and ultimately to the universal metaphysics.

Other developments paralleled this. One was the crucial question of where human being fits into the scheme. I experimented with a number of notions: intuition, organism, and others before arriving at experience as not only a good answer to the question of fit, but also further empowering the foundation giving it flesh. Thus, there is experience, there is a real world, and these are definite and significant cases of being.

Thus, along the way, I began to see the importance of the system to coherence and, therefore, to its actually being able to say something which could then be criticized for acceptance or rejection and further improvement.

GENERAL RESPONSE to criticism—THE METAPHYSICS OF THIS ESSAY. The FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS of the metaphysics arose in a search for what is fundamental in our place in the universe and each concept has been established as perfectly known in experience. The SYSTEM of the metaphysics of the essay developed naturally—it was neither forced nor imposed.

Parallel to experience as the core of significant being, civilization emerged as the vehicle of concerted action by sentient beings. And the concept of tradition as defined here emerged as framed by the metaphysics and as giving it an instrumental character.

Justification of the present sense of metaphysics

The discussion so far has justified the reintroduction of an old sense of metaphysics. It does not attempt or intend to show that other senses have no use or validity and it need and should not. In fact, it cannot for the various senses of metaphysics are different symbols and so there is no issue of primacy or privilege (these issues arise particularly when a thinker would appropriate a symbol by appropriating a sign).

But to introduce some particular meaning, old or new, that meaning should not be merely justified logically and epistemologically for these two conditions do not by themselves imply significance. The essay itself will show the significance of the meaning of metaphysics used and for the metaphysics to be developed.

The present sense of metaphysics is VALID and POTENT (but it should not be confused with other senses).

However, some other uses are so different as to have the same sign ‘metaphysics’ but be different symbols (in that even family resemblance is absent).

There are other valid senses of metaphysics. The different meanings may of course be compared and even joined—perhaps as part of a larger enterprise, e.g., philosophy (which, from the tacit default secular worldview has come to have meanings that, though useful, are very and unnecessarily limited.

ontology and special metaphysics

this section is included for completeness; the distinctions in this section are rather conventional and somewhat arbitrary

ontology as general metaphysics

ontology or general metaphysics is the study of being as being, and of its kinds

special metaphysics

the ‘special’ in special metaphysics has been used with two connotations (i) particular aspects of the study of the real; with a sufficiently broad notion of being, these may be seen as falling under being; studies under this aspect of special metaphysics are included in the problems of metaphysics (ii) special and posited or hypothetical kinds, e.g., religious and fictional, which may appear absurd or unreal in secular thought, but, if rendered consistent, are, on the real metaphysics, to be found somewhere in the universe, with significance, e.g., for us, to be determined on an individual basis

reason (bc)

reason and metaphysics

as reason has been discussed adequately above, this division is redundant. it is included to highlight the importance of ‘reason’

reason the highest level of rational process

as reason has been discussed adequately above, this division is redundant. it is included to highlight the importance of ‘reason’

let us repeat here that reason incorporates understanding or direct knowledge the lesser meaning of reason as inference; that it incorporates value and action; and that, with appropriately and rationally extended meanings, reason, general logic, and yoga (which includes meditation), are one—i.e., the same thing

against exclusive specialization

this stands in opposition to the tendency to exclusive specialization; there is value to specialization, but it ought not to exclude identities within and among the thought of different traditions, and it ought not to be reified

reason and method – relation and contrast

new topic

sources to use

../resources/doubt and reason.docm (html)—source

../topic essays/reason and the way of being.docm (html)—source

problems of metaphysics

plan

minimize—especially modality

origin

what are the natural and reflective origins of the problems of metaphysics?

as study of the real, metaphysics begins with (i) immediate understanding of the world and its history—in experience and being (ii) reason—elementary logic (the origin is in ordinary experience of the world and, since it is not a perfect revelation of the world, the attempt to understand and improve its ‘realism’)

these have dimensions, which may be understood progressively in a natural unfolding from the immediate

aim

to derive a set of problems, which should include the classical and modern problems of metaphysics (as far as is consistent with the concept of metaphysics, allowing flexibility for practice),

to show their completeness over the range,

methods of address, particularly necessity and completeness with respect to their subject (as far as possible)

emergence

about emergence in the narrative

the aim of this section is to suggest a sequence of emergence of the problems—a ‘logic of emergence’, parallel to the development of the narrative

one sequence of emergence follows the development in the narrative, arrived naturally and iteratively—meaning, knowledge, and being > kinds of being, first treatment (source: ‘in process’ and ‘bare content’) > causes (and reasons, which are now seen as minimal and zero premise causes) > the universe and the void > the fundamental principle, the cosmology of limitless identity (with realization), and the real metaphysics > issues of (human) destiny and choice > reason > sameness, identity; extension and its conventional association with matter, duration and its conventional association with matter-mind (but as is seen mind-matter is ‘one’ with both extension and duration), and their absence (‘spacetime’) > given being as being-in-itself and mind (experience) as being-in-relation—therefore no further coordinate or Spinozan attribute, but there are modes – properties – qualities > experience and significant meaning > dimensions of being; kinds of being, second treatment; metaphysics, cosmology, and physics; religion and religious cosmology > realization and pathways to the ultimate

two issues

where should the real metaphysics be placed; though the treatment loses no power, it is elegant to defer it but efficient to place it as early as possible

similarly, some issues may gain in naturalness and clarity from two treatments, one before and one after the real metaphysics, but it may be more effective and eliminate confusion from one treatment after the metaphysics (the choice does not affect the power of treatment)

there is more than one coherent resolution; here, the resolution is

to develop the metaphysics with only what is essential to the real metaphysics coming before it (exceptions—some explanation, implicit treatment of experience via semantic meaning, for motivation and demonstration of power the cosmology of limitless identity placed just after the demonstration of the fundamental principle, brief discussion of abstraction just after being)

mostly, the study of experience, problems of metaphysics, cosmology, and realization will come after the real metaphysics

a modern account: western metaphysics

this section derives from metaphysics (stanford encyclopedia of philosophy) with minor modification

the way and its metaphysics have pre and post metaphysical implications for most of the following problems, and in some cases the narrative contains definitive treatment

pre-modern—the nature of being

being as such, first causes, unchanging things

categories of being and universals

the problem of substance

early modern

materialism and empiricism

idealism

Immanuel Kant

modern and current

modality

these are thoughts on modality of existence; I think they can be enhanced to embrace modal implication; at present, the modalities considered are ordinary, real, metaphysical, but such modalities as temporal, deontological and so on are not considered

this section needs work before inclusion in essays

a first source is Modal Logic (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

study modality and its relation to the following—study topic

some thoughts on modality

possibility and necessity—treatment in light of the metaphysics

given a concept of an existent (existents), it is possible according to a criterion, if existence of the object is not ruled out by the criterion; it is necessary according to the criterion if non-existence is ruled out by the criterion

in this sense, possibility as a property of concepts and their potential objects rather than a property of an object

kinds of possibility—i.e., criteria

intrinsic—i.e., to the concept; the most inclusive is logical

kinds—modes of expression or concept, leading to ‘logics’

extrinsic—i.e., to the object, i.e., real, e.g., the conditions or world of its existence, e.g., physical

from the fundamental principle, the most inclusive extrinsic or real possibility is identical to logical possibility

metaphysical

the idea, here, of metaphysical possibility is to consider general constraints to kinds of being, from their nature rather than their being in our physical world

general

identical to intrinsic, i.e., logical

special

real in having some features of the real but not necessarily of any particular being (cosmos)

purpose—to analyze the real or aspects of it without encumbrance of particulars

real

form—i.e., form and formation > extension, change

theoretical—limited by theory, hypothesis, or law

scientific—limited by theory, hypothesis, or law, e.g., physical, cosmological, chemical, geological, biological, psychological, social, economic, and political

mathematical

sentient

intelligent

self-aware—able to inquire into the nature and meaning of (its own) being

identity (and persistence and constitution), space, and time

space, time, being (matter, mind)—study topic

what ‘beyond spacetime’ might mean—study topic

causation, determinism, and freedom

the mental and the physical

consciousness, mind, and matter

the problems of metaphysics

this section develops a version of the problems from the modern—‘canonical’—account above, as enhanced by the real metaphysics and with consideration of eastern metaphysics

the treatment will focus on problems not addressed in the development; problems treated may be linked or have only enhancements

issues about metaphysics

what metaphysics is

the possibility of metaphysics

the questions of justification—foundationalism, coherentism, infinitism and circularism, and pragmatism

on metaphysics and meaning—the centrality of meaning to ‘what metaphysics is’ and issues such as the nature of philosophy and its branches, the knowledge and technology disciplines

the relation of metaphysics to philosophy, epistemology, logic and reason, and value; to what extent does metaphysics contain all; what is prior in understanding

the question of ‘purism’—ought the criteria for knowledge and, correspondingly, the nature of metaphysics be single valued, e.g., perfect or pragmatic, or a mix of criteria (as for the real metaphysics)

metaphysics and imperative

does metaphysics have methods of its own?

see Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

problems of special metaphysics

metaphysical systems,

especially religion

problems of western metaphysics

above; and

theory of human and higher being—

with an eye on Heidegger’s metaphysical motivation—but not to be restricted to Heidegger’s focus or methodology)

problems of eastern metaphysics

India

this is limited at present to what has been useful in the development of the way and the real metaphysics; this may be formulated as a single question—

how do Yoga, Samkhya, and Vedanta (and Adi Samkara’s thought) imaginatively and critically suggest, inspire, and fit into the way and the real metaphysics

other

to be developed

sources for problems of eastern metaphysics

Metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Naturalism in Classical Indian Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Epistemology in Classical Indian Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Concepts of God (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)—Concepts of God (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)—Theistic Vedanta and God’s Relation to the World

Vedanta - Wikipedia

A Sourcebook In Indian Philosophy (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore)

problems emerging from the real metaphysics

consequences of the metaphysics

the fundamental question of metaphysics

a principle of sufficient reason

the abstract and the concrete

a system of the world

consequences of development of the metaphysics

metaphysics, foundations, and method

a metaphysics of questions

given interpretations (the real), indistinguishable interpretations (and worlds)—standard v solipsist (and variations: Descartes’ demon, brain in a vat) v field of being universe, free will, world as simulation (meaning), Russell’s worlds

a circle of essential problems and learning from them—(a) the circle: metaphysics – meaning – knowledge – epistemology – reason – science… (b) learning: while they seem to be mere puzzles, they enable construction of a realist world view or metaphysics

applications emerging from the real metaphysics

for a comprehensive set of topics, see ../narratives/Versions/a journey in being-outline-February 9, 2020.doc (possible) and the essential way of being.html—source

method of application

imagination and criticism—of scenarios, systems, and logics (pure phase)

use of received paradigms—enhanced—for estimation of likelihood, feasibility, value, and value of expected outcomes

the fundamental question of metaphysics

a principle of sufficient reason

the abstract and the concrete

a system of the world

a metaphysics of questions

metaphysics, foundations, and method

criticism, doubt, imagination, interpretation

special problems and resolutions

logic and science

philosophy of consciousness

form

determinism and indeterminism

free will

significance of the issue

arguments against and counterarguments

arguments for and counterarguments

summary

what is free will

resolution and doubt

no perfect symmetry in the world

new paradigms—fundamental principle and the real metaphysics

‘future’ problems of metaphysics and cosmology suggested by the real metaphysics

theory of possibility—building up theory of what is in the universe; it will depend significantly on using and building systems of logic, which need not be based in discrete symbol systems; it will depend on imagination and constructive techniques—

“logical and mathematical cosmology”

theory of probability—in determining what kind of systems are most numerous

theory of stability—what systems are long lived

sentient systems—systems capable of meaning (semantic and significant) and their possibilities of emergence, agency, and contribution to (and take over) of evolution of the universe—realization of peak being; their peaks and varieties

other issues emerging from the narrative

themes

these topics are applications or developments of the real metaphysics not covered above. They include (i) topics emergent from the metaphysics (ii) implications of the metaphysics for problems of eastern and western metaphysics.

some related problems of philosophy

from Bertrand Russell’s problems of philosophy—

these are important foundational issues, often considered open, that, in this narrative, have sufficient emergent resolution in terms of emergent values

appearance and reality

the real

meaning, truth, and knowledge

sensing, intuition, understanding, and reason

induction, deduction, and the a priori

general principles and the a priori

summary—problems of metaphysics

of being—what is it to exist, what things and varieties exist (ontological—from the ideal to the material, and ethical) , how are they arranged, what are their dynamics

of metaphysics itself—what is it, is it possible, does it have methods of its own (over and above general understanding and reason), and what is its relation to philosophy and ethics (including overlap), what can and does it conclude

of significance—what are significance and meaning (the concept and the referent), in what kind of being do they occur, how are they realized

of knowledge of being—how do we know being, is this knowledge pure and perfect or pragmatic or mixed, how is this knowledge justified—with or without absolute foundation vs with or without in process founding

of western metaphysics—(i) pre-modern: the nature of being (being itself, cause and change; categories and universals; substance) (ii) early modern: materialism and empiricism, idealism, Kant (iii) modern and current: modality; identity, space, and time; causation, determinism, and freedom; the mental and the physical and, particularly, consciousness, mind, and matter

of eastern metaphysics—consciousness as the nature of the real, the universe as transience within the unconditional, pragmatism vs idealism vs realism, the world as flow

arising from the real metaphysics with overlap of received problems—(i) consequences of the metaphysics: the fundamental question of what exists, a principle of sufficient reason, the abstract and the concrete, system of the world (ii) consequences of the method of the metaphysics: foundation and method, the essential questions and questioning, world and interpretation, analytical thought and synthesis or building a worldview from a circle of analytic problems and paradoxes (iii) the identity of logic, argument, metaphysics, science, and mathematics (iv) theories of possibility, theory of probability-stability-longevity-variety estimation in general cosmology and cosmology of form and formation, especially theory of variety and capability of sentient systems

sources to use

../../1. World and Being/realization/being-elements/2010/Archive of old versions/History of western philosophy.docm (html)—source

../resources/journey in being.docm – history of the metaphysics (html)—source

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – topics in metaphysics (html) tacm

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of eastern metaphysics (html) tace

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of western metaphysics (html) tacw

experience*

Versions/the essential way of being-February 27, 2022.docm (html)—source

experience and the real world—study topic

experience and metaphysics*

the following concept and discussion of experience is part of metaphysics; however, it is effective to treat it separately

what experience is*

first use—subjective awareness in all its forms and degrees

note the enhancement of the meaning of experience from earlier informal use; will further enhance below

experience, experience of, the experienced

relational, even pure experience is internal / potential experience

problem of strict materialism—in a substance cosmos with experience, the substance is one but has two sides

second use—extended to the root in a substance cosmos

third use—in the universe

significance of experience

we live in experience

the being that has no effect in experience is effectively non-existent

experience is change (entity) – relational or form – formation

place of concept (linguistic) meaning

effective place of our being; place of significance (‘meaning of life’)

dimensions of experience

inner-outer etc; import from bare and very bare, etc

interpretations of experience (1)

deferred to cosmology; fits here but more efficient there

universe as field of being

dimensions of being*

the dimensions

deferred to cosmology

source

../topic essays/dimensions of experience and the world.docm (html)—source

dimensions of experience and the world-

method and content V interpretations of experience

method VII, equivalent interpretations (twbf) (PM)

new

consequences?

cosmology

source ../old/the essential way of being.docm – cosmology (html) ewbco

cosmology and metaphysics

cosmology is part of metaphysics; however, it is effective to treat it separately

the concept and its significance

cosmology is the study of the extension, duration, variety, and magnitude of being, beings, and kinds of being

it shows the form and formation (‘state, relation, process’) of the universe and our relations (the relations of beings) to the universe—and is therefore instrumental in realization

general cosmology

refer

source bare content

what general cosmology is

general cosmology is cosmology without regard to specific kinds of form and formation

principles

the principles

logics for cosmology—study topic

general logic—real metaphysics; reflex application (imagination); modes of expression, discrete and continuous; constructing the logics

for the purpose here, it is essential (i) to see logic (argument) as a theory of the possible (as complementary to theory of inference)

systems

…and maximal and articulated systems of concepts that satisfy the logics---

abstract

beginning with cosmology of form and formation… and physical cosmology

… micro and super cosmoses

the block universe

peak being, determinism, knowledge of all things ( “re-incarnation”), which in non-peak phases is a disposition; limited being and indeterminism <> determinism

interpretations of experience

fits here; important enough to have its own section

metaphysics for cosmology

interpretations of experience (2)

what an interpretation is

…

significance of interpretations

the world and its parts have appearances (not unique of course)—what is their relation to the real? there may be more than one consistent picture of the real—including the appearance itself (if self-consistent); the study of the interpretations may reveal a one or more valid picture; if there is only one, it is ‘real’; if there are two or more interpretations, some may be clearly pictures of limited cosmoses; the remaining will be equivalent descriptions of the universe for which selection can be made only on assumption (hypothesis, posit), which will result in application to limited worlds; the remaining descriptions, equally real, will be suited to different purposes or perspectives, e.g., local vs universal

there is experience; its aspects—experience of’ and ‘the experienced’

the most basic; shown above to be real—i.e., not just an interpretation

basic interpretation—map—of experience

experience – experiencer – experienced

shown later to be of the real—i.e., to have reality

next level interpretations; shown later to be of the real

material interpretation—impossible in a substance cosmos; has real instances in the real universe (of the real metaphysics)

standard interpretation—local monism—conscious beings are focal conscious centers in a field with the environment as low or zero but not null experientiality; does not apply to the universe; may apply precisely to some cosmoses for a limited period of time (are they stable?); seems to apply at least approximately to our cosmos, at least for a limited period of time (relative to the duration of the cosmos)

solipsism—limited individual—has realizations but of limited significance

solipsism—unlimited individual – field of experiential being

equivalent interpretations

alternate descriptions—equally real; choice is a matter of convenience—standard for local and material vs field for universal and real emphasis

seeing the world as a field of experiential being does not deny the standard pragmatic interpretation; it gives equal weight to the intrinsic and the instrumental; it shows that the way of meditation is the inner aspect of yoga which subsumes the instrumental-material way

identity, space, time, properties; mind, and matter

deferred to form and formation because, otherwise, there would be repetition

cosmology of form and formation

evolutionary principles, biological and general (Stuart Kauffman - Wikipedia)—study topic

stable systems and cosmologies, relative stability, formation—study topic

principles

paradigm of general cosmology

paradigms of logic

logic, above; the logics

paradigms of expression

modes of expression—finite, countable, uncountable; linear, multidimensional

modes of imagination—linear, symbolic; multidimensional, iconic

paradigms of criticism and inference

modes of elimination (top-down)

modes of construction

logics for general cosmology

the problem—to build particular cosmologies, to fit them together in finite and other combinations, to fit them into the cosmology from the void

tradition (the received) – paradigms

paradigms of formation

large or single step to a formed state (‘chance’, improbable)

incremental: variation and selection; variation is ‘random’, required by FP, ‘imposed’ on what form there is; selection is arrival at a relatively stable form (probable)

complementary modes of expression

we often trace evolutionary pathways as a tree structure

alternatively, evolution can be seen as an emergent wavefront

such alternatives are and should be complementary, not contradictory

paradigms of mechanism

form (extension-duration-being), mechanism, causation, and determinism; with and without residual indeterminism

paradigms of structure

the microscopic and the macroscopic

paradigms of complexity

open

paradigms of sentience

open

applications (examples)

from void to cosmos via transient—with and without selection

generation and regeneration of cosmoses

origin and evolution of life

our cosmos, below

identity, space, and time, next

interpretations of experience, continued

the section discusses sameness, difference, identity, duration (change, time), extension (distinction, space), property, quality—a bottom-up approach to identity, space, time, being; and spinozan attributes and modes as a top-down complement to the bottom-up

identity, extension-duration-being

sameness, difference, identity

extension, duration, being (‘space, time, matter’); their completeness, interwovenness from incomplete distinction and distinguishability

property and quality

‘matter and mind’

the idea of matter is that of being-as-being (in itself; there is relation, but it is something other than matter as matter—as we are about to see); the idea of mind is being-in-relation (experience, relation); there is no further kind beyond ‘in itself’ and ‘in relation’ for the next in that series would be the relational in relation, which is relation, thus there is experience and experience of experience which is still experience although, as it is reflexive, it is an aspect of intelligence

spinozan attributes and modes (top – down alternative to the present bottom – up)

we have—are possessed of—thought and extension, the mental and the physical, which characterize our being, and by which we know the world

spinoza called these—thought and extension—‘attributes’; he posited god as a self-sufficient substance (its being is not dependent) with an infinite number of attributes of which (in view of the nature of our being, above) perceive only thought and extension

but the analysis shows just two attributes but limitless modes or properties

attributes of state

reconsider the word ‘attributes’

with reference to ‘interpretations’, earlier, the attributes are form (extension, the physical) and formation (time, ‘the mental’)

some issues of interpretation

solipsism, brain-in-fact, Descartes’ demon, simulated worlds…

free will

import from doubt and reason

physical cosmology

modern physical cosmology—study topic

general study

study of physical cosmology begins with—is enveloped by—the paradigms above

formation—origins and form of cosmoses, life

mechanism—relativity, quantum behavior – structure with indeterminism; as a theory of space-time-matter, relativity is a particular expression of extension-duration-being; quantum behavior is the residual of the transience emerging from the void and the quantum vacuum is residual of the void itself

structure—atomism

theoretical and computational approaches; simulation of worlds and cosmoses

modern physical cosmology

this is the study of physical cosmology today; for the way, it is an open project

metaphysics, cosmology, and physics (bc)

a possible section

dimensions of being*

pure

field of experiential being in form and formation as the world

pragmatic

from the real metaphysics, need not be perfectly known—may be chosen from the tradition (received knowledge)

nature

“the world as found”

elementary or physical

complex or living (biological)

experiential or mental

society and culture

“the world as we begin to construct it”

attitude and action – knowledge and construction

system of human knowledge with technology and implementation

humanities and history

the sciences, pure and applied

the arts, technology, and exploration

religion

the universal

“the world as we become it on the way to the ultimate”

categories and the dimensions

development of the person

this section considers individual development from birth; the following, which derives from the pragmatic dimensions above, is suggestive

natural

development of the fetus is primarily physical and biological, which includes physiological development, particularly neural; in its sensations of the outer world and its mother, there is some early sensory and social development

natural and social

the new-born continues natural and social development; which continue through childhood, youth, and adulthood

an adult is a person that is regarded as able to function in the world without guidance (they may need guidance in higher education and occupations, but these are ‘optional’)

however, even for a person that has successfully negotiated education, occupations, and parenting, and is seen as adult and ‘grown up’, i.e., someone who functions with maturity in society, but no more, independent experiential and universal development have barely begun; this is the case even for university researchers and teachers, religious leaders and professionals (e.g., priests), political and economic leaders; such persons may think they have reached a final stage of mature human development

experiential independence

social norms, what is considered the epitome of social adjustment, arises not as an absolute truth (which many think it is), but in give and take between consensus norm – reality – experiment – and mature thought; however, this is a beginning

now, the individual may begin to question and contribute to the norms; to see reality beyond the norms (e.g., morality, correct behavior, the secular view of the universe)

universal

this is the phase of true personal independence—true understanding of the ultimate; the place of the previous phases in it; behavior and thought toward realization of the ultimate; and, perhaps, in some cases, realization in ‘this life’

method and content VI cosmology

method VIII, cosmology (twbf) (PM)

new

consequences?

cosmology—an older treatment

../old/the essential way of being.docm – cosmology (html) ewbco

The object of COSMOLOGY is the variety, extension, and duration of being in the universe.

Cosmology is the explicit study of detail that is implicit under metaphysics. It includes physical cosmology.

The GENERAL PRINCIPLE of cosmology is the fundamental principle of metaphysics.

Particular aspects of cosmology such as space and time have additional defining features.

A common twentieth and twenty first century default view of cosmology is modern physical cosmology. However, in view of the fundamental principle, our physical cosmology is an extremely special case of general cosmology. Its principles are observation and physical law.

General cosmology

General cosmology is cosmology without restriction.

Our EMPIRICAL COSMOS is, but one example of one kind of form; it is not typical. There is an infinite number of infinitely varied cosmoses; a background void; and a continuum from transience to stability in between. Every cosmos is an atom, every atom is a cosmos. The variety of physical type law far exceeds our currently known laws even with variation of the fundamental constants.

An aside on supertasks

One interest in alternative physical laws begins with the idea of ‘supertasks’. I cannot add 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8… in a finite amount of time (and I do not have an infinite amount of time; of course we can find the result easily as a limit to be 2, but the interest here is in mechanical addition because there are more complex series for which limits may exist, but we may not be able to find them by evaluating a limit; further while we may be able to get arbitrarily close to the limit in a finite amount of time there are situations where we might want the precise result). A task such as computing the above sum mechanically in a finite amount of time is an example of a supertask. Perhaps impossible under our laws of physics, it would be possible under other laws (including the law of no law). Given that some tasks that are impossible on a Newtonian world view are possible in a quantum world there are interesting concerns local to our cosmos (1) tasks possible and feasible on the Newtonian view, (2) tasks possible and feasible on the quantum view, and (3) tasks possible and feasible on likely modifications of the quantum (and relativistic) views.

The series to be summed above is, but one kind of task. The range of tasks includes the intellectual and the technological.

On some physical laws I could perform a play myself, moving rapidly between one character and the next spending most of my time as the characters and occupying minimal time in transition (if the time spent being character A is 1/10 of the total time, I could emit light bright enough to simulate normal brightness; alternatively I might occupy multiple characters simultaneously; if the different laws might affect a classical audience I might use my power to shield them from untoward effects.

An interest in ALTERNATE PHYSICS is this. With appropriate physics our limits would be more than drama: it would be more than the PLAY AND EVEN THE CREATION OF COSMOSES and more.

General considerations

The only principle of general cosmology is the general principle of cosmology—the fundamental principle (of course particular cosmologies may be studied as examples of general cosmology).

A GENERAL CONCLUSION of cosmology is that manifestation and identity in the universe are limitless in variety, extension, and duration. Particularly, there must be phases of presence and absence of manifestation. The phases of presence are marked by peaks of being which themselves are without limit in variety and magnitude.

The universe has NO ULTIMATE BOUNDARY in space or time.

No peak is eternal in its concrete form; that would be a law of the void—a violation of the fundamental principle.

The abstract forms may approach the eternal. Here resides MEMORY across individual death and cosmological dissolution. The ultimate form may be called BRAHMAN or AETERNITAS.

A difference between this metaphysical concept and the common idea of God is the idea that the latter has particular interest in us which causes doubt when no help is forthcoming. In the metaphysical conception experience of the universe is a mosaic of pain and joy. This is the meaning of pain; that pain is sometimes unrelieved does not cause doubt about the metaphysical power. Ultimate power is already within us. As understood here, Brahman is not waiting to work for us, but our working is already an example of Brahman working.

The CENTRAL QUESTION about Brahman or God, under the universal metaphysics, must be, not whether it exists or why it may seem to not care, but what and of WHAT KIND OF BEING it is—what kind of process. Reverting to our intuition of the good the metaphysics implies that there is a peak form of good and that our good is part of its process. That is, we do not expect God to do good for us; rather, our process attempt at knowing-PERFORMING GOOD IS OF THE PROCESS OF BRAHMAN.

The PEAKS of form are not blind in general. They must include intelligence and commitment applied to form. The greatest significance occurs in experience.

Given any blind and remote peak of being, there is a significant peak (one known in consciousness) that is higher and a conscious peak that is higher. There is NO LIMIT TO REALIZATION by sentient (e.g., human) forms.

It was noted earlier that the individual inherits the power of the universe.

However, while in limited form the approach to the ultimate is eternal process which from the fundamental principle must contain EVER FRESHNESS.

Realization of the ultimate is given to the individual, but we anticipate that effectiveness and enjoyment are generally enhanced by intelligent commitment.

Space and time

We saw that given our experience of difference there must be space and time. From the fundamental principle there must be difference and so space and time (but the fundamental principle requires that it cannot be universal; and the structure of experience requires or at least suggests that there cannot be another dimension beyond space and time). Similarly, there must be cases of discrete, vague, and absence of space and time; and discrete as well as interwoven space-time; and cosmologies with immanent or relative space-time; and cosmologies with absolute space-time set up for them by other domains. For the universe, however, all space-time is immanent.

Universe

We saw that there is numerically one universe. However, it is conceivable that there are two or more non interacting domains (they would have no significance to one another). FP implies that there is no eternal non interaction (since interaction is possible). Therefore, dynamically there is one universe.

However, there is no universal causation (in the common sense). There are domains that do not interact for any given finite length of time.

We saw that from the concept of the universe there can be no first cause. The fundamental principle implies that no first cause is necessary. The manifest universe can be seen as necessarily emerging from a state in which the universe is void; however, this is not causal in any sense that is close to the usual sense of cause.

Mind and matter

The terms ‘mind’ and ‘matter’ are used here in a generalized sense.

Experience is the occasion for the term ‘mind’.

We saw that from our being, experience is a given. This shows us the sense (concept) of experience and so of significance. But now, from FP, experience and significance must be (exist; more generally, FP implies that anything that does exist must exist).

We saw that formed experience cannot be formless at base. Therefore, in a one substance metaphysics mind and matter must belong to the same root. Matter would be being as being and experience would be being in relationship.

However, the universal metaphysics is not a substance metaphysics at all. The universe is equivalent to the void (and therefore to any state of being). Every state is equivalent to every other state. All manifestation can be seen as coming without cause from the non-manifest.

Therefore, one form of matter and another form of matter can coexist. Similarly, one form for mind and another. And, similarly, a form mind and a form for matter. Essentially the universe is a no substance universe; but there may be infinitely many as if substances.

However, FP implies that the different as if substances are and cannot be eternally non interacting. And in a cosmology with mind (experience) and matter (form at all) that has effectively (as if) just one substance, mind and matter must be two sides of the root. As stated above matter and mind will be the root itself and the root in relationship, respectively. That we have regarded mind and matter as distinct substances or, more recently, mind as emergent (i.e., code for ‘we do not understand’), is not of the phenomena, but of our limited understanding. In many as if substance situation the minds and matters should all have form (no form implies no form of thought), but these forms may be at least temporarily non interacting. But (a) in that temporary situation every mind-kind will have its own form and therefore as it were substance and as it were cosmos and (b) in eternity the different matters / minds, if they remain manifest, will join at root. And of course, it is not known that that is not the present situation.

There are AS IF SUBSTANCE cosmoses. Some of these, perhaps ours, will be as if one substance cosmoses. Generally, however, a domain may have infinitely many as if substances. At root however, the as if substances will interact and there is NO AT LARGE SUBSTANCE. The void may function as substance for some purposes but is not substance.

But there is more. Ask Is not consciousness a mere accident in an alien neutral universe? The secular answer should be If so, it is no more an accident than the alien neutral material universe itself! That we would emphasize the accidental nature of consciousness over that of the material is to think that being material is a fundamental property while having awareness is not—which is supported by projection, but not by fact. However, the universal metaphysics supports the centrality of significance in the universe. By itself it says that much great structure will be significant. However, it does not imply that all or most great structure will be associated with or a product of intelligence.

Nature, spirit and the real

Similarly, in general there can be multiple modes of being.

However, in a one substance cosmos, spirit can be only the result of our ignorance of nature (but ignorance is a natural state; postulating spirit is natural; it is a source of science).

But the one cosmos substance is an approximation and temporary. If the first source of the idea of spirit is ignorance, that is not the essence of the global or eternal source. The assumption or projection of spirit as necessary because the surface as such is not understood may lead to superstition (in the pejorative sense) or knowledge including science and philosophy. And it is important that sometimes it is not possible to distinguish the path to superstition from the path to knowledge.

The Real is what lies behind. But that is no more than outlined above in discussing general cosmology.

Stable cosmologies

Adaptation

What are the principles of formation of apparently structured and rather stable cosmoses such as ours?

We can see three levels of description of nature. (1) A primarily descriptive level informed, but not explained by concepts, (2) An elementary level at which there are structures that have forms of structure and behavior that are described by laws that do not refer to the origins of form (3) A more global level that has forms of behavior that are explanatory, typically via increment and adaptation, of the origin and perhaps form of the elementary level.

In detail under #3, given a primitive or adapted situation, random increments occur over some kind of population because the situation is not one of perfect stability or symmetry. Those outcomes that have sufficient symmetry and stability survive as more than merely transient.

It is important that #3 apparently first arose in formulation of the theory of evolution in biology where it is immensely successful. There are some beginnings of this kind of explanation in physics and there are doubts about it from thinkers who think that the canon of physical thought is already established. But it is the explanation of explanations because it establishes the complex from the simple. Yet from FP it is not essential to existence; on the other hand, it seems essential to the nature of order.

At a fundamental level the driver of increment is the fundamental principle. At this level the universe is fundamentally indeterministic (all states are achieved / no states are not). At an adapted level there is residual indeterminism (if perfect symmetry is achieved it would be frozen, but for the destabilizing influence of other systems and, ultimately, of the void).

The adapted systems could be generated by the void. However, the mechanism of increment finds pathways of stability so that there is a high frequency of long-lived adapted cosmoses. It is reasonable to think that this process is the origin of most structured cosmological systems (since population is proportional to frequency x longevity).

The general picture is that of an indeterministic void background and therefore transients from it. So, me stable cosmoses emerge in one indeterminist step, but most emerge from the mechanism above which is the mechanism of formation of the cosmoses and their patterns (including laws).

The POPULATION the universe by cosmological systems should be dominated by a product of frequency of formation and longevity. We therefore anticipate that MOST COSMOSES ARE STABLE ones formed by incremental adaptation.

Realization and the significant meaning of pain

In a stable cosmology with living, experiential forms it is expected from adaptation that for the greatest population of experiential beings (a) in the mosaic of pain and joy, pain will be bounded by joy and understood as essential to adaptation (allowing for the possibility of its overcoming) and (b) INTELLIGENT AND COMMITTED action (i.e., thinking and feeling) aimed at knowing, creating, and realizing local and ultimate values WILL BE MOST PRODUCTIVE of enjoyment and peaks of form.

Freedom of will

There is no doubt that there is FREEDOM OF WILL. But this freedom does not mean total control. It allows that expression of freedom is often a struggle to discover and know what is desirable and feasible and to move (act / discover) incrementally toward it. The argument from materialism and determinism is false because that is not in the character of even what is called the material substrate; those who argue from such materialism, e.g., that social offenders have no choice in their acts, should recognize that, if their argument is true, they too have no choice in their judgment or the processes leading to it. It may well be, however, that virtue is a high expression of individual freedom while antisocial behavior is the result of an absence of freedom of will (and other factors) in the particular individual (this should have no particular bearing on any philosophy of punishment based in prevention of such individual behavior and general dissuasion rather than retribution or justice).

Physical law and the structure of our cosmos

Adaptation is a general principle for stable cosmoses.

Our cosmos has further features that make for life, intelligence, and novelty. Conservation of energy is an apparent necessity for stability (hyper and hypo conservative will be explosive and dead, respectively). The particular laws and physical constants are significant to our form of life: a small variation would make the cosmos sterile. Conditions such as the preponderance of certain elements are also important. This makes understanding life without some sort of supra cosmic adaptation improbable except if there are further principles that make intelligence and life likely. The quantum is one such for (a) it makes for both structure and novelty via indeterminist process arriving at structured states and (b) it operates at a micro level. The theory of the void has similarities to the quantum vacuum.

On natural law

The content of this section is somewhat tentative, and its improvement may come from many sources—especially from reflective interaction with the metaphysics.

From physics we often think of some laws as having universal application. Of course, the thought is far from universal, but it raises the question of the nature of natural law. We begin with examples.

What would it mean for the field equations of General Relativity to be universal? It would mean that the entire universe behaved according to them. There is no reason to think that that is even probable (even in the empirical cosmos they are probably approximation at best). What would it mean for the Standard Model of particle physics and related quantum mechanics to be universal? One implication would be that that model had existed for all time.

It is difficult to see how our physics of the large and of the small could be necessary. If they are necessary, then the options are (a) no universe at all and (b) only a cosmos or cosmoses with those specific laws. It is not clear how there could have been an initial singularity (big-bang) or even gradual beginning because this would be a contradiction: the options do not allow for ‘coming into being—especially of the laws’.

This leads to the following questions. Did the laws come into being? How? And if so, can they be universal. The answer that emerges in this essay are (a) no natural law of the types in physics are universal (and that if the metaphysics to emerge is beyond doubt, then the variety of such laws is without limit) and (b) the laws themselves do come into being via what is most likely a process self-adaptation from a void background in transient interaction with states of minimal form.

Some views of natural law are that they are (i) mere descriptions of observation, (ii) true by convention, (iii) imposed, and (iv) immanent. These in fact are some of the attitudes to law mentioned in A. N. Whitehead’s Science in the Modern World (1925).

The first two interpretations are different in nature than the last two. The first two suggest that the laws are arbitrary in some sense and the last two suggest necessity (if only local and temporal necessity). But there is no essential opposition between the two groups. The laws of course could have necessity while also being our descriptions of the necessities and subject to aspects of convention or even fashion (particles versus waves; not that I am not suggesting even that the particle wave duality is a true one, but only that one or other of such paradigms may have greater or lesser influence that results from nonscientific factors).

There are streams of thought that emphasize mere description and convention over necessity. It is important to recognize two sources of such trends: (1) skepticism and the critical attitude and (2) conflict among views of different cultures. Regarding skepticism, there are two attitudes I will consider (a) that there are always alternatives to our explanations of fact and (b) that there are no facts. The position that there are no facts is very strange in some ways for it singles out a very special class of fact (data) but ignores that the skeptic him / herself is a ‘fact’. Of course, there are alternative explanations, but the ones we choose are the ones we choose are the ones that have so far proven (practically if not ideally) most economical conceptually and effective empirically and instrumentally (and provided we limit claims to the empirical realm they do not just agree with fact but reveal pervasive form). A skeptical objection could now be ‘but fact and theory are thoroughly interwoven’, to which the response is, again, the one regarding alternative explanations. Regarding conflicts among different cultures, I think it fair to say that every cultural system has degrees of success and degrees of error for, even when we try to eliminate error, we are not always successful, but some net success is necessary for survival. Given that, I think it also fair to say regarding different views that different cultural systems occupy different niches and so the question of conflict need not arise (but seems to arise only when one cultural system is reductively, but inappropriately interpreted in terms of another).

Could the laws be imposed? Taking the universe as a whole, where would this ‘imposition’ come from? Nowhere—of course! That is, the laws can be imposed only by one domain on another.

Could they be immanent? Let us look at Newton’s Laws of motion and gravitation precisely because they are currently (2022) held as approximations. Certainly, we do not think there is a God causing the planets to move in arcs described to great precision by the laws. If they are at all imposed, then it seems most likely that it was the influence of another domain on the early (or perhaps also the later) epochs of our cosmos. And surely something like this is also true of the replacements for Newton’s theories.

That is, the opposition between imposition and immanence is not a true opposition, but one of which epoch of a phase of the universe we are looking at.

From the cosmology so far, the greater population of cosmoses in the universe are likely to have laws that are immanent in the sense that they come into being contemporaneously with the things (entities, relations, process…) to which they apply; and that this contemporaneous process is one of increment, not necessarily always small, through stable self-adapted (because near symmetric) states. This must be rather precisely what it means for the laws to be immanent. That is also the richest meaning of saying that the laws have being (but certainly not the only meaning).

Still the cosmology allows for two other possibilities. (1) That for some cosmoses (probably a very small minority) law and object arises in a single step and (2) Another domain is implicated in the origin (also perhaps a minority… and the greater the degree of implication perhaps the smaller the population except perhaps in the case of intelligent intervention; note that the interpretation to be given to the intelligence is that it should be intelligence that has arisen naturally rather than via mystical and / or divine process).

From the cosmology the cosmoses and NATURAL LAWS in the universe are limitless in count and variety; they are local in time and space; the greatest part of their population arises, first in adaptive process and perhaps second via intelligence that is continuous with and enhancing of adaptation to heights of form equal to and significance greater than ‘blind’ process.

Cosmology of identity, life, and civilization

Identity

The forms of the concept stand in and contain relationships. It is inevitable (FP) that some of these will be experiential. In the beginning the experiential may be minimal in their intelligence, but once their organization gets to a certain level, they become able to influence their own evolution (for better and worse which is one of the prices of intelligence).

Two things are happening or beginning to happen. Consciousness such as ours is not emergent relative to the primitive level, but a focusing, layering, environmentally receptive, self-reflexive etc of it (and it is thus that whereas primitive experience is not biologically adaptive it is its higher level that is for the higher level is simultaneously intelligent, feeling, and higher conscious).

The other happening is that of the two better or worse cases above there are pathways of better. The highest reaches of form are anticipated to be those of intelligence. It is where feeling, intelligence, and civilization—not always in the same combination—take over the form of a phase of the universe. Where one culture emphasizes the internal (experience), another emphasizes the external—knowledge of the world and technology; in Civilization both may be present and mutually enhancing. We asked of the meaning of Brahman. Here is one such meaning—and we are powerfully aware of it; and it will be instrumental if not in this life, then in another; but it is not instrumental for or to us: we are the instrument.

But even if only in some cosmoses there is significant feeling, what is its source? Or must it be without explanation? Answer: the void is without limit to its power; it is source and memory reserve for consciousness across individual cosmological death.

In summary, while we anticipate that the HIGHEST REACHES OF FORM may be dominated by civilizations and unities of committed intelligent forms, it remains true that there is no limit to the reach of such form.

Life

The facts of life in our cosmos suggest that for intelligence and life there must be a microstructure that supports complexity and inheritance.

Civilization

Our civilization is the web of human communities across time and continents. Universal Civilization is the matrix of civilizations, human and other, across the universe.

The FUNCTION of civilization regarding the ultimate is this. The individual fosters civilization and its process; civilization nurtures the individual and magnifies individual achievement.

Civilization and the individual are complementary modes of process.

Form

The adapted systems, we have seen, are (probably) the most populous; and, from near symmetry it is reasonable to think of them as embodiments of form (as conceived earlier in form). We now see why these should form a small sub collection of all forms: they are the forms possessed of high symmetry, for which a cosmos that has the forms is likely to have sentient (e.g., human) form of sufficient symmetry (intelligence) to be capable of mathematics for (some, perhaps many) of the forms of the local cosmos.

Sufficiently formed domains

Earlier we remarked that our cosmos is close to being a (an as if) substance cosmos. Consequently, elementary experience is present at the root with matter: matter is being as such, mind is being in relationship.

Readers may of course react ‘but surely atoms do not feel or think’. The response is of course they do not have feelings and thoughts such as humans do, but that there is in common to atoms and human feeling and thought a common primitive kind without which, at least in a substance cosmos or ontology, the only kinds of feeling or thought would be the as if kinds.

However, according to the fundamental principle, the thought of a substance cosmos is an idealization.

We saw that in general there can be infinitely many as if substances, but that they must ultimately meet at the root.

A sufficiently formed domain is an idealization in which substance like behavior is the essential mode. However, such behavior will also occur at the universal level in the emergence of significance.

Other examples occur: having discernible laws of physics, having one signal speed, participation in the greater form of the domain (just as we so far infinitesimally participate in the form of our cosmos).

The universal metaphysics implies this behavior at the level of the universe. It will of course be a peak behavior; concretely it may seem constant, but it will not be eternal (the only eternities will be in the abstract).

It is important that for every peak of magnitude H, there will be peaks perceived in significance of magnitude S, as well as peaks constructed of / by and so also perceived by significant forms of peak-magnitude C, such that C and S are both greater than H. That is:

The magnitude (variety, extension, duration) of SIGNIFICANT AND CONSCIOUS FORM is WITHOUT LIMIT.

realization

overview—not in the way—aim, means, pathways, resources

for realization, synthesize the way and foundation

aim of being*

pathways

../narratives/bare content.docm (html)—source

as we see below, a pathway is not a mold; it is an adaptable way or system of ways—but more; to be on a pathway is to share in the way, the development, and the negotiation

significance*

pathways as conceived above are effective

the significance and contribution of neither the individual nor the group is minimized; both are promoted

principles of development

the principles

yoga—reason with reflex, action – experiment; the real metaphysics

engagement, not following

flexible, adaptable, no compulsion—imperative is internal not imposed

refer to tradition, selectively

individuals, groups, civilizations; sharing

dimensions of being—pure and pragmatic; the range of knowledge

../resources/system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action.docm (html)

pain, therapy—of the culture and the times, ministry, being on the way

others, with lesser or absent autonomy – ministry (word?)

method and content VII realization (twbf) (PM)

new

overview of planning

the overview

the way

principles, program

life

enjoyment, support (material, human), development, execution

day (week…)

attitude (responsibility for inner state—meditate, outer—balance neutrality and engagement in the way), implement life (above), routine

source

../personal/main priorities.docm – periodic review (html)—source

everyday program*

elements

systems

yoga or embodied knowledge—traditional and modern approaches to living in the world

../topic essays/meditation.docm (html) (“yoga”) —study topic

Introduction to yoga and meditation

When moving from one way of life and thought to another, meanings change, even for terms that are retained.

The yoga systems of India employed mind and body in the aim of attaining a kind of perfection. The word ‘yoga’ had a significance of joining the true self (Atman) of persons to the universal self (Brahman).

In a limited sense yoga is meditative practice joined to meditative action. It is disciplined so as to become natural, not compulsive.

But what is meditation? It is use and training of mind to ends, including, of course, but not limited to mental states of the person.

In an expansive sense, yoga may include elements of mental and physical activity from all cultures, in the attainment of ends. Particularly of the ultimate achievement of peak being as in the way of being and the Brahman of Vedanta.

In their expansive sense, meditation and yoga are identical.

The way of being

Implications of the real metaphysics from the way of being include

The universe has identity. The universe and its identity limitless in extension, duration, variety, peak, and dissolution of being. The only limits to realization of a concept are consistency of the conception. These are the ‘limits’ of logic, which are not absolute limits.

Individuals inherit the power of the universe. There are no absolute limits to individuals. There are limits experienced as real, which are real while the individual is in limited form, which ought to be given due respect, but which are overcome in ‘this life’ or beyond.

There are efficient and enjoyable paths to the ultimate. Even passivity leads to the ultimate—however, if enjoyment (appreciation of pleasure and pain) is a value (and it is necessary for there to be value), there is an imperative to develop and be on paths to the ultimate.

However, if enjoyment is a value, there is an imperative to develop pathways and to be on a path.

Pain is unavoidable. Its proper address is to employ therapies of a given culture and to be on a path to the ultimate. These aspects to the address of pain are interwoven. This is the only address to pain, including pain that seems to serve no purpose (as in cancer) or seems absurd (the pain of an infant) or is the result of cruelty and uncaring.

Reason

There is the ‘world of ten thousand things’—daily life, economics, aspirations, politics, religion, science, philosophy, technology, grammar, space exploration, knowledge of fruit flies, ways of life – yoga, religion, rationality, reason…

And they are all written, for example in Wikipedia, as if authoritative thought on authoritatively established and authoritative disciplines and activities.

And relative to our finiteness, there is indeed some authority, though not necessarily in any one particular place.

Finality is an illusion—is it not?

Is there one enterprise under which it all lies? Is it developed? The answer of the way is “yes but as long as we are limited, it is a conceptual framework for a pragmatic core—and the framework is in principle absolute while the core is ever in process”.

That core may be named yoga, reason, or something else (all in process).

Here we name it yoga or reason.

Select approaches

The aim is to have supplements to the way of being.

Italicized items are of found to be of particular interest.

Primal ways—the experienced world and its hypothetical causes are not split. Reference—Make Prayers to the Raven, Richard K. Nelson, 1983.

Eastern, especially Hinduism (particularly, Yoga and Advaita Vedanta) and Buddhism (four truths, eightfold way of realization). Reference—Sourcebook in Indian Philosophy, C.A. Moore, and S. Radhakrishnan, 1957.

Abrahamic religions, especially Judaism and Christianity, and their symbolic truths. Reference—The Fifth Dimension, John Hick, 1999 (also a general reference on the meaning of religion).

Secular, modern, e.g. secular humanism, material, existential, and approach from Being, psychotherapies and psychoanalysis.

Some elements of the approaches follow.

Worldview

A philosophy, metaphysics, cosmology, and psychology. This defines the world in which we live according to the approach. It defines condition and aim of living. It may include afterlife, eternal destiny, spiritual and divine being or beings.

In the primal there is the immediate world and the spirit world of the inferred but unseen. The spirit world dictates prescribed and proscribed behavior which are determined by narrative as well as semi-empirically.

Popular Hinduism has many strands colors and gods. There is a core, especially Advaita Vedanta, that sees the universe as cyclic. The cycles of emergence, sustenance, and dissolution are Brahman—the conscious living universe. The individual, Atman, lies within and is ultimately Brahman.

In original Buddhism, metaphysical speculation is eschewed, life is an impermanent stream of becoming, all things are interconnected, what we think and do affects what we become. The human condition is specified in the four noble truths—suffering, its cause, therefore a way to eliminate suffering, and a path (the eightfold way).

In Christianity, God is the creator and lord, of the universe and morality—as in the commandments. Life is eternal and its destiny is heaven or hell. To achieve salvation requires worship and moral life. Worship is of God and of God’s son, Jesus who died for our sins. Many modern Christians see the cosmology as symbolic; they are there for the Christian message (e.g., love), the symbology, and community. Other Christians regard the Bible (and some of its interpretations) as literally true.

Secular humanism recognizes only the secular, natural, and human world and rejects the extranatural including God (but aspects of the natural world may be seen as God—as, for example, by Charles Hartshorne). Humans are not superior to other beings (animals); they are inherently capable of moral thought, attitudes, and behavior (imperfectly) but are not inherently good or evil. Science and philosophy are major sources of truth. Utilitarianism is the most common ethics, at least pragmatically. The concern for the individual and for humankind is fulfillment, growth, and creativity. Building a better world for ourselves and our children is possible and a primary value and may be achieved with “reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance”. Tolerance is not “anything goes”. It is many things, especially non-rejection of what is different and what is non-normative just because different or non-normative. But it is not tolerance of harm; it is not tolerance of intolerance. Yet its attitude to such things is to contain, understand, and limit, rather than to disconnect or punish.

Traditional religions have an implicit psychology that is often seen today as having positive elements as well as deficiencies which include lack of clear recognition of the nature of suffering and mental illness. These are addressed (imperfectly so far) by psychology, psychotherapy (which is not inherently a-religious), and psychiatry.

Pathways

The eightfold way of Buddhism and of Yoga, the Christian life of worship and morality are examples.

The eightfold way of Yoga is described by Moore and Radhakrishnan in A Sourcebook of Indian Philosophy—

“The special feature of the Yoga system, as distinguished from Samkhya, is its practical discipline, by which the suppression of mental states is brought about through the practices of spiritual exercises and the conquest of desire. The Yoga gives us the eightfold method of abstention, observance, posture, breath control, withdrawal of the senses, fixed attention, contemplation, and concentration. The first two of these refer to the ethical prerequisites for the practice of yoga. We should practice non-violence, truthfulness, honesty, continence, and non-acceptance of gifts. We should observe purification (internal and external), contentment, austerity, and devotion to God. Posture is a physical aid to concentration. Breath control aids serenity of mind. Abstraction of the senses from their natural function helps still the mind. These five steps are indirect or external means to yoga. In fixed attention we get the mind focused on a subject. Contemplation or mediation leads to concentration. Yoga is identified with concentration (samādhi), where the self regains its eternal and pure free status. This is the meaning of freedom or release or salvation in the Yoga system.”

The way of yoga is similar to the eightfold way of Buddhism—right views, intention or resolve, speech, conduct, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and right concentration or samadhi (‘meditative absorption or union’).

Phases of life

Progression from birth to death. ‘All’ cultures recognize phases, at least implicitly. Some systems define stages and prescribe activities.

Roles and careers. The main division is transsecular versus secular. Within the secular different roles and career paths reflect societal and cultural emphases and needs.

Degree of social involvement. Imperatives to social involvement are the contribution and the rewards. Withdrawal and indirect involvement are (i) personally rewarding, (ii) learning phases, (iii) source of contribution and progress in secular and transsecular realms.

Community and involvement.

In part for support and significantly due to the normative tendency regarding the nature of reality, community is essential. Sanskrit has the term Sangha which is common to Indian traditions and Buddhism. A monastery or temple may provide a venue for community, but community is everywhere. Without strength of personality, community is especially important to maintaining any contra-normative sense of the real.

For The Way of Being

For living in the world, the real metaphysics reveals the approaches of Yoga and Buddhism to have robustness. For living in the immediate and ultimate as one, Advaita Vedanta is robust—and real metaphysics gives it foundation, realism, elaboration, and a path. Real metaphysics does not reject the Abrahamic religions but finds their cosmologies and paths (i) less robust as real (ii) having symbolic value in emotional and material terms.

While the traditional and modern ways have value, for The Way they are seen as supplements to be regarded as experimental and subject to reinterpretation, redefinition, and enhancement. Perfection in this world according to the traditional-modern ways or individual internal criteria are valuable but it is always essential, in terms of values stemming from the real metaphysics, to keep such experimental notions of perfection in balance with being on a path to the ultimate.

beyul

../old/the essential way of being.docm – Beyul (html)—source

In Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul refers to special places, mythical or real, that are beautiful yet remote and hard to find. The finding is a pilgrimage in which the seeker finds the truth of the place, which is also the truth already, but hidden in the seeker’s self. A good reference is Ian Baker’s The Heart of the World, 2004. This personal account of Beyul refers to original Tibetan and earlier Western sources.

attitude, affirmation, dedication

../narratives/templates and dedication.docm (pdf)--source

routine

rise

rise early, dedicate, affirm, review

development and realization

the way—sharing, networking, and publication; yoga and immersive transformation (of individual and civilization)

ground

material and human foundation; work and relationships; meals and tasks

physical activity

physical activity—continuation of yoga—for health and preparation for culture and nature immersion (‘beyul’)

evening

rest, reflect, network, realize, prepare for the next day, sleep early

summary

(i) rise early, dedicate, review (ii) development, realization, sharing; yoga and immersive transformation (iii) work, relationships, meals and tasks (iv) physical activity for health and preparation for transformation (v) rest, reflect, network, prepare for the next day, sleep early

sources

../narratives/everyday template.pdf—source

../resources/dedication-affirmation.pdf—source

../narratives/templates and dedication.pdf—sources

universal program*

elements

new; keep this here?

the program, integration

pure being

being in the world – community – nature – retreat, renew, retrain, rework the way

becoming

nature as catalyst to the real; beyul—travel into nature to evoke true self and being; animal being—observation, situational empathy, defocus, reason

civilization as vehicle and path to the real, transformation via psyche—by immersion in social groups as place of being and catalyst to the real

civilizing the universe—especially via technology as enhancing being in the universe—universe as peak consciousness via spread of sapient being

universal, incompletely known—common way from self to Being: Atman to Brahman via the block universe and extended secular worlds consistent with experience of and in the world

being in the universe

realizing peak being (Brahman) in the present; (said to be) rarely achieved in ‘this life’ which is a beginning that is continued beyond death; outcome of being and becoming as intrinsic and instrumental; the everyday path as means; an open endeavor

summary

(i) being in the world – community, nature, retreat (ii) nature as catalyst to the real – to evoke true self (beyul) (iii) civilization as path – immersion in culture (iv) civilizing the universe via technology and yoga (v) realizing peak being via yoga (v) realizing peak being in the present—in fact (if rarely) or as beginning, to be continued beyond death

sources

../narratives/universal template.pdf

../narratives/templates and dedication.pdf

world problems and opportunities

see the system of the way, themes, and topics > realization > world challenges and opportunities

about religion

../narratives/bare content.docm (html)—source

what is religion?

in all cultures, there is a minimal consensual sense of the real rooted in common direct experience; in modern western culture it is the secular view, informed by science, also rooted in experience, unadorned by unconfirmed hypotheses or myth; the reason behind such views may promote them as pragmatic, but no more—reason neither affirms nor denies that the views are real (ultimate)

careful reason suggests that the minimal view captures neither the character of the real nor its extent (in time and space)

culture itself can therefore recognize that, while it is not science as we understand it, there is a place for conceptions of the ultimate; while such conceptions in religion have typically included dogmatic posits, we have seen a number of possible approaches from reason (i) speculation subject to reason (ii) reason as developed in the way, which critiques ‘what the extent of the empirical is’ (e.g., the fact and nature of being, universe, and the void)

there is thus a place for the idea of religion as the use our entire being (with reason), in search and realization of ultimate being

the religions

it is unfortunate that most religions come nowhere near this conception of religion and that while some religions are less irrational than others, all are possessed of elements of dogma; and that while the religions have social ‘uses’, and that while they point out the idea of an ultimate, they do not realistically point to the ultimate

this narrative does not consider the traditional religions to be true

in places that promote religious freedom, such freedom ought not to protect those parts of the religions that are not of religion

religion and the way

the traditional religions have elements that are suggestive of the ultimate; the way has no essential need for them; it does not promote them; however, those who follow the way may wish to infuse it with elements of their spirituality

the way promotes the use our entire being (with reason), in search and realization of ultimate being (a conception repeated from above), which includes secular life as an essential element

resources*

about resources

see the later section on resources

the narrative is the essential resource; ‘pathways’ has specific resources; this section has further resources (i) the development of the way itself as part of the way (ii) reference (iii) external sources and resources

sources

resource development (docm), resources (docm)

the system of the way, themes, and topics

about themes and topics

themes

a theme is an idea or concept that is important to the narrative, weaving through it, and binding it as a unity

topics

a topic is an idea or concept that is important to the narrative or is a significant consequence of it (or both)

general significance

many themes and topics have general importance in the history of thought and today—existentially (in our lives), academically, or both

origins and sources

the themes and topics were not conceived prior to development of the way—rather they emerged with it, being noted for significance to the way or in general and in that they were at least somewhat central to the way and its structure

the themes and topics may derive from received ideas, but will have been iteratively refined to have significantly new meaning and to fit together structurally and rationally

structure

the arrangement afforded is horizontal—covering a range of issues, vertical—covering content and foundation, and reflexive—narrative and meta-narrative

order of emergence of the themes and topics

standard

pre-metaphysical or naïve, as in piece meal philosophy

from concept meaning and being to the void

from the fundamental principle to the real metaphysics

the real metaphysics and its consequences, elaborations, and applications to thought, the disciplines, and realization

other

other orders of development arise in process

special styles

theme (Ctrl + Shift + T)

topic (Ctrl + Shift + Y)

into the way

see the way > origins, sources below

arrangement of the narrative

the concept

A theme of arrangement is a template that promotes (i) systematic emergence and logic of content (ii) uniformity of treatment and so of understanding.

Rigid adherence to these themes is neither necessary to nor productive of their purpose.

generic division and section content

division and section titles

division and section quotes

illustrations, diagrams, tables

pictures and art as source, inspiration, and para-narrative

narrative

quotes

footnotes for sources and detail

cross reference

standard topic arrangement

to what this applies

concepts

the whole, divisions, and subdivisions

the arrangement

what (the concept)

words (concept names), received meanings

the concept

the essence (if there is any over and above the concept)

given vs derived

why

significance for the narrative

significance in relation to received meanings of the concept

how

how known

how achieved, if relevant

reflexivity and meta-questions

always ask what the first principles are; e.g., can the particulate nature of matter be derived from knowledge of the world, particular existence of form (and life)

relations to the whole and other concepts

origins, growth, and current status—historical and in the way

received meanings and significance

study topics and sources

associated themes and their sources

on a database for the way

concepts, relations

theories

the way

living in the immediate and ultimate as one

the way and its unfolding

origins > limits > reasons > aim > means > realization

origins, sources

history, personal endeavor

limits v limitlessness

limited – unfolding v limitless – eternal view of being

secular—temporal, limited—birth, beginning – discovery, life – death, the end

transsecular—limitless eternal identity is the world of limited identities

reasons

search for the ultimate (meaning)

aim, the way

living in the immediate and the ultimate as one

means

knowledge to action

shared discovery and realization of the ultimate in and from the immediate

intention, knowledge, action

knowledge

worldviews and paradigms—received (secular and transsecular) v ultimate

disciplines—systematic v ad hoc

received and emergent culture, ideas, and reason

realization

action, realization

experience

experience

(a) the unfolding conception (b) as essence of being and meaning

experience is at the core of the way (i) as constitutive of our being and significant meaning (ii) via alternate but equivalent and realist of realist interpretations as defining worldviews

meaning—via experience, the sufficiency and necessity of a symbol-concept-referent conception of concept and linguistic meaning is shown; attention to emergent vs received meaning of terms is emphasized; the importance of mutual and emergent conception of the meanings of a system of terms is emphasized; this conception of meaning grounds an effective conception of knowledge

experience, being, and significant meaning

This is about the meaning of life; the ‘other’ meaning of meaning—concept-object and semantic meaning, is also a theme, noted below

meaning and significance ought to be one beginning of philosophy and though I do hold this position, there is also a good argument for it

experience, interpretation, and the world

given experience and what is necessarily true in and about it, there are multiple interpretations of the nature and content of experience

one interpretation is typically the standard “common sense” or “realist”; others are different and therefore challenge the standard

the alternatives may seem bizarre, but ruling them out seems difficult

what is the point of the alternatives? first, they challenge our sense of reality—perhaps it is not (quite) true; and if it is true, then the challenge is to sharpen our understanding and reasoning

the issue

are the interpretations really indistinguishable? they are logically indistinguishable but can be distinguished by some facet of reality, which however is itself in question

paradox resolution helps clarify the nature of the real

kinds of resolution

the standard resolution needs to be clarified or modified

the standard and alternate are both valid but appropriate to different contexts; sometimes the alternate is more general or universal

sometimes the standard or modified standard is found to be more likely but not necessary

when the interpretations are truly indistinguishable, it is not necessary to distinguish

building metaphysics

there is a circle of problems (standard interpretation of the world and alternatives, issue of free will…) which assist in building valid pictures of the world

sources for the paradoxes include

bare content and doubt and reason—source

add—why are you the specific you that you are

semantic meaning

see theme experience, above

introduction

placed early because it is critical to clear thinking about concepts (without such a theory, any ‘theory of objects’ is racked with vagueness and even paradox)

criticisms of the concept of the object; responses

on semantic meaning

on received and emergent meanings

theory—semantic meaning

paradoxes of meaning

referential concepts

objects and intention

meaning

resolution of paradoxes

knowledge

received and emergent meaning

should this be a theme?

a ring of concepts

the following is empowering—formation of meaning as interaction (i) among terms (understood to be associated with conceptions) as constituting a system itself possessed of meaning and (ii) between terms and referents, system and world

a ‘ring’ of essential concepts centered on experience and being and its aspects and kinds—being, cause, universe, possibility (limitlessness), the void…

experience and being

experience—from variety on the surface, to depth and foundation

being—from generality, abstraction, and foundation to variety and richness

experience

a first meaning from acquaintance—conscious awareness in all its forms

final meaning, derived from experience of the world—relational being as the world

words to mark and differentiate first through final meanings

the world

experience, interpretation, and the real

two senses of meaning—significance v concept-referent, distinction and unity

significant meaning

experience as the place of significance and being—though not the world, I never transcend it

from which it will emerge that in the final analysis, the real is knowledge of the real

meaning

meaning (symbol-concept – referent), intention, knowledge, and action

metaphysics

metaphysics and worldviews

metaphysics and its problems

aim

to derive a set of problems, which should include the classical and modern problems of metaphysics (as far as is consistent with the concept of metaphysics, allowing flexibility for practice),

to show their completeness over the range of being,

methods of address, particularly necessity and completeness with respect to their subject (as far as possible)

sources—the way of being

../../1. World and Being/realization/being-elements/2010/Archive of old versions/History of western philosophy.docm (html)—source

../resources/journey in being.docm – history of the metaphysics (html)—source

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – topics in metaphysics (html) tacm

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of eastern metaphysics (html) tace

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – problems of western metaphysics (html) tacw

emergence in the narrative

the aim of this section is to suggest a sequence of emergence of the problems—a ‘logic of emergence’, parallel to the development of the narrative

one sequence of emergence follows the development in the narrative, arrived naturally and iteratively—meaning, knowledge, and being > kinds of being, first treatment (source: ‘in process’ and ‘bare content’) > causes (and reasons, which are now seen as minimal and zero premise causes) > the universe and the void > the fundamental principle, the cosmology of limitless identity (with realization), and the real metaphysics > issues of (human) destiny and choice > reason > sameness, identity; extension and its conventional association with matter, duration and its conventional association with matter-mind (but as is seen mind-matter is ‘one’ with both extension and duration), and their absence (‘spacetime’) > given being as being-in-itself and mind (experience) as being-in-relation—therefore no further coordinate or Spinozan attribute, but there are modes – properties – qualities > experience and significant meaning > dimensions of being; kinds of being, second treatment; metaphysics, cosmology, and physics; religion and religious cosmology > realization and pathways to the ultimate

the problems of metaphysics

this section develops a version of the problems from the modern—‘canonical’—account above, as enhanced by the real metaphysics and with consideration of eastern metaphysics

the treatment will focus on problems not addressed in the development; problems treated may be linked or have only enhancements

issues about metaphysics

what metaphysics is

metaphysics as knowledge of the real is shown possible and to encode the essence of received and emergent metaphysics; this is based in and interactive with the development of concept of experience and is basis for analysis of received…

the possibility of metaphysics

the questions of justification—foundationalism, coherentism, infinitism and circularism, and pragmatism

on metaphysics and meaning—the centrality of meaning to ‘what metaphysics is’ and issues such as the nature of philosophy and its branches, the knowledge and technology disciplines

the relation of metaphysics to philosophy, epistemology, logic and reason, and value; to what extent does metaphysics contain all; what is prior in understanding

the question of ‘purism’—ought the criteria for knowledge and, correspondingly, the nature of metaphysics be single valued, e.g., perfect or pragmatic, or a mix of criteria (as for the real metaphysics)

metaphysics and imperative

does metaphysics have methods of its own?

see Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

some issues of metaphysics are whether it has methods of its own (over and above general understanding and reason), what it can and does conclude, and what its relations to epistemology, logic, and ethics are

problems of special metaphysics

metaphysical systems,

especially religion

problems of western metaphysics

this section derives from metaphysics (stanford encyclopedia of philosophy) with minor modification

the way and its metaphysics have pre and post metaphysical implications for most of the following problems, and in some cases the narrative contains definitive treatment

pre-modern—the nature of being

being as such, first causes, unchanging things

categories of being and universals

the problem of substance

early modern

materialism and empiricism

idealism

Immanuel Kant

modern and current

modality

modal logic is an extension of truth functional logic; in standard truth functional logic, statements are true or false, and from a set of premises, conclusions may be derived by rules of inference, such that, if the premises are true, the conclusions are true; in standard modal logic, statements are necessarily or possibly true (or false), and the job of modal inference is to derive further necessarily or possible true statements; the term ‘modal’ refers to modes of truth—necessary or possible truth; the idea has been generalized to other modalities, e.g., temporal—it will always be true, it is presently true and so on; there is a range of modal further logics, e.g., doxastic logic, e.g., x believes that; for more, see—

a first source is Modal Logic (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

identity (and persistence and constitution), space, and time

space, time, being (matter, mind)—study topic

what ‘beyond spacetime’ might mean—study topic

causation, determinism, and freedom

the mental and the physical

consciousness, mind, and matter

the following is not in the stanford encyclopedia of philosophy article on metaphysics

theory of human and higher being—

suggested by Heidegger’s metaphysical motivation and its development in his Being and Time—but not to be restricted to Heidegger’s focus or methodology

problems of eastern metaphysics

India

this is limited at present to what has been useful in the development of the way and the real metaphysics; this may be formulated as a single question—

how do Yoga, Samkhya, and Vedanta (and Adi Samkara’s thought) imaginatively and critically suggest, inspire, and fit into the way and the real metaphysics

other

to be developed

sources for problems of eastern metaphysics

Metaphysics in Chinese Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Arabic and Islamic Metaphysics (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Naturalism in Classical Indian Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Epistemology in Classical Indian Philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Concepts of God (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)—Concepts of God (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)—Theistic Vedanta and God’s Relation to the World

Vedanta - Wikipedia

A Sourcebook In Indian Philosophy (Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles A. Moore)

problems emerging from the real metaphysics

consequences of the metaphysics

the fundamental question of metaphysics

a principle of sufficient reason

the abstract and the concrete

a system of the world

consequences of development of the metaphysics

metaphysics, foundations, and method

a metaphysics of questions

given interpretations (the real), indistinguishable interpretations (and worlds)—standard v solipsist (and variations: Descartes’ demon, brain in a vat) v field of being universe, free will, world as simulation (meaning), Russell’s worlds

a circle of essential problems and learning from them—(a) the circle: metaphysics – meaning – knowledge – epistemology – reason – science… (b) learning: while they seem to be mere puzzles, they enable construction of a realist world view or metaphysics

applications emerging from the real metaphysics

for a comprehensive set of topics, see ../narratives/Versions/a journey in being-outline-February 9, 2020.doc and the essential way of being.html—source

method of application

imagination and criticism—of scenarios, systems, and logics (pure phase)

use of received paradigms—enhanced—for estimation of likelihood, feasibility, value, and value of expected outcomes

the fundamental question of metaphysics

a principle of sufficient reason

the abstract and the concrete

a system of the world

a metaphysics of questions

metaphysics, foundations, and method

criticism, doubt, imagination, interpretation

special problems and resolutions

logic and science

philosophy of consciousness

form

determinism and indeterminism

free will

significance of the issue

arguments against and counterarguments

arguments for and counterarguments

summary

what is free will

resolution and doubt

no perfect symmetry in the world

new paradigms—fundamental principle and the real metaphysics

‘future’ problems of metaphysics and cosmology suggested by the real metaphysics

theory of possibility—building up theory of what is in the universe; it will depend significantly on using and building systems of logic, which need not be based in discrete symbol systems; it will depend on imagination and constructive techniques—

“logical and mathematical cosmology”

theory of probability—in determining what kind of systems are most numerous

theory of stability—what systems are long lived

sentient systems—systems capable of meaning (semantic and significant) and their possibilities of emergence, agency, and contribution to (and take over) of evolution of the universe—realization of peak being; their peaks and varieties

other issues emerging from the narrative

themes

these topics are applications or developments of the real metaphysics not covered above. They include (i) topics emergent from the metaphysics (ii) implications of the metaphysics for problems of eastern and western metaphysics.

summary of the problems of metaphysics

of being—what is it to exist, what things and varieties exist (ontological—from the ideal to the material, and ethical) , how are they arranged, what are their dynamics

of metaphysics itself—what is it, is it possible, does it have methods of its own (over and above general understanding and reason), and what is its relation to philosophy and ethics (including overlap), what can and does it conclude

of significance—what are significance and meaning (the concept and the referent), in what kind of being do they occur, how are they realized

of knowledge of being—how do we know being, is this knowledge pure and perfect or pragmatic or mixed, how is this knowledge justified—with or without absolute foundation vs with or without in process founding

of western metaphysics—(i) pre-modern: the nature of being (being itself, cause and change; categories and universals; substance) (ii) early modern: materialism and empiricism, idealism, Kant (iii) modern and current: modality; identity, space, and time; causation, determinism, and freedom; the mental and the physical and, particularly, consciousness, mind, and matter

of eastern metaphysics—consciousness as the nature of the real, the universe as transience within the unconditional, pragmatism vs idealism vs realism, the world as flow

arising from the real metaphysics with overlap of received problems—(i) consequences of the metaphysics: the fundamental question of what exists, a principle of sufficient reason, the abstract and the concrete, system of the world (ii) consequences of the method of the metaphysics: foundation and method, the essential questions and questioning, world and interpretation, analytical thought and synthesis or building a worldview from a circle of analytic problems and paradoxes (iii) the identity of logic, argument, metaphysics, science, and mathematics (iv) theories of possibility, theory of probability-stability-longevity-variety estimation in general cosmology and cosmology of form and formation, especially theory of variety and capability of sentient systems

related problems of philosophy

from Bertrand Russell’s problems of philosophy—

these are important foundational issues, often considered open, that, in this narrative, have sufficient emergent resolution in terms of emergent values

appearance and reality

the real

meaning, truth, and knowledge

sensing, intuition, understanding, and reason

induction, deduction, and the a priori

general principles and the a priori

worldviews

worldviews and development of a transcendent and ultimate worldview; an ultimate metaphysics is developed—it incorporates perfect-by-correspondence-criteria and pragmatic knowledge, which is perfect by emergent criteria; its development is crucial to the way; it is applied to a range of classical, modern, recent, and emergent problems of metaphysics

what

limit frameworks—outer and inner, the way the world is known to be

from necessary to contingent fill in—sub-paradigms and details

received vs emergent culture, ideas, reason, and program of action

the secular and the transsecular, and their standard limits

overcoming the limits—criticizing standard critical thought, opening up imagination; from purism to its criticism, to its re-affirmation in new form

possibility, necessity, and the real (actuality)

system of human knowledge—the disciplines

use—system of human knowledge—source

philosophy and its problems

source—what is philosophy.docm (html); the entire document is relevant and it is therefore not imported here at this time

source—toward a database for philosophy.docm (html)

the concept

knowledge of the real

foundation

method and content in process; though some knowledge can be argued prior to reason and other knowledge to sense, in an ultimate sense, knowledge is emergent with being—no apriorism, in the sense of all knowledge being emergent with limited being and as part of ultimate being

foundation

method and content emerge and are interwoven with the way (method and content 1 – 6)

abstraction and concretion

foundation

foundationalism

…, sensing, understanding, reason, and method

method and content

i.e., method and content, reason and understanding as one… and their co-emergence

theme

method I - IX

reason and method

as efficiently tying all agency together

as including action

emergence of critical thought

argument

general logic

critical reflexivity

the limits and shortfalls of received reason

the abstract and the concrete

topics

abstraction and concretion (also part of foundations)

abstract and concrete objects

the abstract and the concrete

a continuum defined by abstraction as removing elements of concepts that are essentially distorted

but a categorial unity—knowledge of the world

the abstract and the concrete form the foundation of the real metaphysics

basis for theory of abstract objects

theory of objects

general theory, developed in stages

in the context of theory of meaning and knowledge

in context of theory of abstract objects and the abstract metaphysics

in the context of the real metaphysics

theory of abstract and concrete objects

from the theory of meaning and knowledge, all objects have abstraction; therefore, from the concept point of view, there is a concrete-abstract continuum

from received knowledge, some objects exist as abstractions, others exist as symbolic constructions, and others are possibly existent on various possibility criteria, but are not known to exist

from the real metaphysics, all logically possible objects exist; even the logically impossible objects exist as ‘null objects’, but while this adds symmetry to the conceptions, it does not add to the real

special topics

why there is something rather than nothing

what has being

identity, extension, and duration

being

experience, meaning, abstraction and concretion (the abstract and the concrete), being, and beings

metaphysics

the limitless universe—metaphysics, logic, abstract and concrete science as one, cosmology

dimensions of being

cosmology of limitless identity

identity, extension, duration

the limited and the limitless (self)

realization

the principle

paths and ways

realization—interwoven problems and forward movement (challenges and opportunities; therapy interwoven with achievement)

prospect

life, death, and beyond

world challenges and opportunities

Sources

../resources/journey in being.docm – challenges and opportunities (html) jibc

../resources/world problems and opportunities.docm (html) wpo

../personal/global security.docm (html) gsec

Being in the world vs. the ultimate

In the ultimate the transient and the universal merge.

So being-in-the-world and the ultimate are to be in interactive balance.

We do not reject either the immediate-pragmatic or the meta-narrative.

To reject either is to diminish both.

To live well is simple—except when one does not have well-being.

Challenges and opportunities

We begin with an example and build up principles. Listing of problems is in subsequent sections.

Issue	Principle
An example—global climate change, asserted by scientists to be practically certain and significantly the result of human activity. Should we act on this?	We ought not to wait until problems are certainly true. We ought to identify propagandist panic. We ought to see that long term economics benefits from proper action and to find solutions that promote well-being in all areas.
But there are many competing problems.	There needs to rational assessment of priorities and allocation of resources.
Perfect rationality is not possible.	Good enough rationality is good enough (‘perfection’ does not have definite meaning).
Rationality does not take quality, feeling, or value into account.	That is a misconception of rationality.
There are differing views and politics.	Seek need realism, holism, experiment, learning, and dialog.
Experiment, learning, and dialog are not enough.	It is the nature of the world, which ought not to be a reason to not engage. Realism and holism includes higher values, which, in this world, do not have a perfect effect, but which are a beginning. In understanding realism, we also understand that our usual conceptions of perfection are imperfect. A perfect conception at a higher level, allows imperfection at a lower level of received value.
The range of challenges, opportunities, problems, and ways to address them are not known.	It is needed to work toward enumerating, evaluating, and synthesizing them—and toward action. Synthesis includes seeing the interactions among issues and seeking optimum or good enough allocation of resources among problems and opportunities.

Cataloging the issues

There are various lists. Following combines and modifies the most recent 2004 UN High Level Threat Panel’s and Richard Smalley’s around 2005 ‘Top Ten Problems of Humanity for the Next 50 years’. I have made some additions—enfranchisement (Smalley listed democracy and education separately), environment and resources (were listed separately), culture (emphases opportunities, includes knowledge of the world, an appreciation for what is of worth, and the understanding of conservation and planning—which makes the list reflexively complete), and geopolitics. The list below begins with ‘problems’ but beginning with the environment and resources the items present problem and opportunity.

Poverty and disease.

Violence.

War, terrorism, and transnational organized crime.

Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (nuclear, chemical, and biological).

Atrocities.

Genocide, sex trade, body part kidnapping, and other atrocities.

Environment and resources.

Environment—climate, land, air, and water.

Resources—water, food, energy, land, plant, animal, and materials.

Approaches—science and technology; see culture, population, and geopolitics below.

Enfranchisement.

Democracy, education, quality of life.

Economic class.

Women, men, children.

Minorities.

Culture—knowledge and action.

Knowledge—systematic and general, secularism-religion and (versus) realism (see the document ‘system of human knowledge’ in which the main divisions are universe, artifact, and symbol).

Morals and trust.

Art and human expression.

Population.

Population is a root issue. Intervention is possible. Moral concerns make moral action difficult to conceive and there is a tendency to therefore neglect the issue. This should not prevent reflection and search for solutions. Better education, improved economic status, and perhaps political enfranchisement result in lower birth rate (as low as 1.4 children per couple in some places). Education and opportunity for women and minorities is recognized important. I think, however, it is important to not exclude any segment of populations with the thought that they are the power or wealthy class. Men are as critical as women. It is critical to reach across borders. Exclusion reinforces negative practices. Inclusion is at least an invitation to the positive.

Geopolitics.

The future of nations and national boundaries.

Modern community—‘developing’ and ‘developed’.

Pre-agricultural communities.

Animal rights.

The fundamental problem of political action

Root issues. Political and economic principles of transformation and action. Regarding these issues this includes their ongoing enumeration and evaluation of the individual and system of issues for allocation of resources; particular attention should be given to root issues, material and other, that spawn many others and for which intervention is possible and moral.

Problem of action. When, an individual, look at our world I may become frustrated. Why? It is in part that there is so much opportunity yet so much waste. However, I know of no law of the universe that says that this is avoidable. This does not remove my dissatisfaction with waste but it does suggest what I might do about it. In a material sense all I can do is begin with myself here and now in the present. But I can do more. I can reflect I can communicate and I can act. The point then is the spirit of action. I can act but not control. Therefore the spiritual advice to not be attached to the fruits of action is not only spiritually empowering but practical as well—in (a) that I avoid useless frustration and (b) in empowering my action.

Scenarios

Imagining scenarios—problems, challenges, opportunities—can be useful in anticipation and in setting up policies and institutions.

This list is a beginning.

World threat from military industrial complex via manipulation of politics and or naked power.

Terrorism.

Weapons of mass destruction threat.

Ecological disaster.

Famine.

Political campaign.

Breakdown of nations.

A time when post-agricultural economics is no longer viable.

Political economy of the world and its regions

Implications of the universal metaphysics

The universal metaphysics implies that science, politics, economics of the future should be more than ‘republican’ i.e. entrusted to designated (elected and other) persons but one of participation and immersion.

General comments

To think critically about the political economy is not only to make choices from known options but to also construct new ones.

It’s a tall order and one might want to begin small but this is not a text book. The subject and its facets are a main reason to consider the political economy.

Politics is important to economics as the arena of decisions. But it is important for other reasons as well—social, international, military and more.

Politics and Economics

Forms of government with a view to human ideals, cultural, economic, technological, and military power.

World Economics

Nations and trade blocks

Influence of politics

The present scene: America

Redistribution of wealth (competition for resources)

Global competition for resources

Productivity

Pockets of stagnation and poverty

Theory: macroeconomics and money

GDP, PPP, and national debt

Ideology: liberal, conservative; neoliberal and neoconservative

Economic sectors and levels

Finance and banking

Commerce and industry

Education, creativity, and entrepreneurship

Government: World through local

Consumer: markets and individuals

Politics: America and the world

The constituencies

E.g., the religious right

The parties

Government

Post 2016 election America and World

Religion and reform

Reasons for reform rather than elimination

realization

prospect

life, death, and beyond

illustrations

the photographs in some versions are integral with the narrative and intended to convey two interwoven aspects (i) the narrative and the world (ii) nature as place of being and inspiration for the ideas

into the world

being in the world

appendix

an older system of themes and topics

source ../old/the essential way of being.docm – topics and themes (html)

Topics

A number of TOPICS from the history of thought arise naturally in the development. Where the historical development is incomplete, the universal metaphysics enhances completeness and definitiveness. Some topics are experience and the real world, meaning, being, universe, cause, and creation, first cause, possibility, what it means to be beyond space and time, natural law, the void, efficient and final causes, the fundamental problem of metaphysics, theory of objects, general cosmology and the stable cosmologies, and the way of being. It is important that the terms ‘experience’ and so on are used in specific ways as defined in the formal development from the chapters experience through template.

Most of these topics appear in the contents. Some important topics that have novelty in their presentation are experience and the real world, meaning, adherence to being as meaning no more than be-ing (the ‘more’ is in, but not of being as such), universe, cause and creation, first cause (the universe as all being is not created or caused, there is no first cause), possibility, what it means to be beyond space and time, natural law, the concept and power of the void (in showing the universe to be realization of all possibility and that there is no universal causation in any modern or traditional sense of causation and that both efficient and final causes have local significance, but are different and should not be confused), resolution of what has been called the fundamental problem of metaphysics (why there is being at all) and replacement by a new fundamental problem (identifying what has being), theory of abstract and concrete objects that eliminates the distinction as essential, significant expansion and analysis of general cosmology including mechanism of generation of stable cosmologies (e.g., ours) without end, development of a way of being.

Themes

The THEMES are topics whose development emerges naturally over the course of this work. The following themes are selected for significance: metaphysics; theory of knowledge; logic and science; identity, space, and time; mind and matter; the aim of being; on certainty, meaning, and the aims of knowledge; ways of thought; secular and trans-secular world views; the way of the ordinary—a way out of the secular / trans-secular divide; the ordinary is extra-ordinary.

The themes occupy the rest of the introduction.

Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the main theme of the ideas. Emergence of the other themes parallel development of the metaphysics.

METAPHYSICS is the main theme for the ideas. The metaphysics of the essay is the universal metaphysics—the universe is the realization of all possibility. The metaphysics is demonstrated, and the selection of fundamental concepts is crucial to the demonstration. Since it is it is in the concept of the impossible that it is never realized the range of being admitted and required by the metaphysics cannot be exceeded by any other system. This is counterintuitive and therefore it is important to see, and it is shown in the essay that provided ‘possibility’ is properly understood, this metaphysics is and must be internally (logically) and externally (factually including scientifically) consistent. The primary purpose of the metaphysics, in the development, is foundation for knowledge and realization of ultimate being as such and in the immediate (over and above other purposes that may be read in the metaphysics and uses for which it may be deployed).

The introduction discusses a number of preliminaries to metaphysics. Metaphysics begins with experience, but without explicit mention of the term ‘metaphysics’. A preliminary discussion of metaphysics in general is in metaphysics and appraising metaphysics. In these discussions a number of meanings of ‘metaphysics’ are considered, and one is selected for importance to the work (this is not a denial of the significance of other meanings). The meaning selected is knowledge of being as such. This meaning has been subject to a number of criticisms in the history of thought, therefore a justification of is given.

Then the particular metaphysics of the essay, the universal metaphysics, is developed, given interpretation, elaborated and deployed interactively to enhancement of the traditions of knowledge and practice (the fundamental principle of the metaphysics is that the universe is the realization of all possibility, i.e., its power is unbounded and therefore conferred on individuals). This system is used as a basis for realization. The universal metaphysics unfolds from experience through cosmology. Its foundation is experience through possibility, and law and the void. The framework is developed in the fundamental principle and realism. A practical system—the join of tradition, experience, and the universal metaphysics—is developed in extension of the metaphysics. The metaphysics is further developed and applied in objects cosmology.

Categories in metaphysics

The aim of the metaphysics in the essay is to illuminate the world and to support the way of being and realization. The topic of categories is peripheral to the aim. However, it is an important topic in metaphysics from Aristotle, through Kant to the present time and it is inevitable that it should be a significant if tacit theme. The purpose of the categories is to build up a system of understanding.

The idea of the category is this. If being is the most general kind (as being predicative of all things that there are) then the idea of a category is a kind just below being in generality. Thus, we do not expect a category to be as general as being except as we admit being itself as a category (it is expected that what is fundamental in science should be given place among the categories, but since we are seeking the general the elements of science will not define or exhaust the categories). Some thinkers write as though this is the conception of category.

However, when we look at the history of the idea another aspect of the category stands out. It is that a category as such should be known perfectly just as being as being is known perfectly. Thus, we like to think that the categories of being are the categories of perception and conception. Of course, the generality requirement is important: we would like the categories to be significant.

There is one more requirement that we might like categories to have. It is that there should be a system of categories that together stand as efficiently describing a portion of reality (efficiently means that the description is implicit so that details may be worked out in particular situations) and, further, in general metaphysics we would like that portion of reality to be reality itself so far as it is categorially describable. In summary:

A system of METAPHYSICAL CATEGORIES is a system of concepts that efficiently describes all of reality at the greatest level of detail that is susceptible to precise treatment relative to appropriate precision which may range according to purpose from good enough, to very precise, to PURE or perfectly precise (this leaves freedom because the degree of precision is not specified; note that good enough and very precise are vague when, e.g., for any degree of numerical precision, prediction can become imprecise at sufficiently long times from initial conditions—i.e., because they are relative to purposes). In the present treatment we will see different levels—the pure level for which the categories are being, all / some / no being, and so on; and the practical which includes much more. A system of categories for pure part of the present metaphysics would include experience, being, meaning, world, universe, domain, void, and realism.

This system emerges with the narration and summary lists of the categories so far are given at a number of points in the essay.

Theory of knowledge

The development of the metaphysics contains a parallel implicit account of knowledge—a theory of knowledge.

The outline of this theory is (a) as framework the metaphysics is ultimate in what it shows of the universe and perfect as depiction, but it is incomplete in concrete particulars which are referred to (b) the human tradition of knowledge and practice in parallel with reflection and experience; (c) the metaphysics and tradition together form a perfect instrument of knowledge and realization; (d) it is understood that for the tradition perfection is understood as good enough for the ultimate purpose (and also in that final perfection as certain perfect depiction is neither possible nor desirable); however, (e) traditional epistemology, so far as it diverges from the present account, retains its practical and local value, but many of its final or ideal aims which were pertinent to a view of the universe as relatively closed are no longer pertinent in the ultimate and open view of the universe.

Logic, mathematics, and science

These and many other concepts are given reconceptualization in the essay. In many cases the reconceptualization differs from received conceptions. However, for logic, mathematics, and science the NEW CONCEPTUALIZATIONS, while founding and broadening, are dual to and mutually enhancing of (some, especially modern) received conceptions.

The notions of LOGIC and SCIENCE are re-conceptualized, and the traditional systems are elements within the revised frames. In particular, along with Quine and in consequence of the universal metaphysics, logic and science form a continuum from the universal to the local.

The main developments are in the following sections: experience, meaning, possibility, and the fundamental principle (which provides the impetus and foundation for the reconceptualization) through cosmology.

While founded in the fundamental principle, a re-conceptualization of MATHEMATICS is given in objects > unity of experience.

Identity, space, and time

The main initial development is in identity, space, and time. This discussion begins with experience. Since the discussion of fundamental aspects of the world cannot be complete without at least a framework of understanding of the universe (e.g., via metaphysics) the discussion here remains ambivalent regarding some fundamental issues such as universality and relative versus absolute character of space and time. Space and time are revisited, primarily in general cosmology, where the ambivalence is significantly eliminated.

Mind and matter

It is important that the terms ‘mind’ and ‘matter’, while related to received concepts, are here understood in broad terms relating to the terms ‘experience’ and ‘being’. Further, the theme ‘mind and matter’ is developed because it is important in the history of thought; however, this theme is not fundamental to the development

The main initial development is in experience, world, and being. Much of this development is interspersed with the main discussion without explicit mention of mind and matter (the terms are to be understood relative to being rather than as fundamental in their own right as found and understood in our cosmos). As for identity, space, and time, the initial discussion is intentionally and necessarily left ambivalent. The topic is revisited, primarily in general cosmology, where the ambivalence is significantly eliminated.

A fundamental point to this theme is as follows. In an ontology with matter as the one primary substance, either the only mind would be as if mind or mind would be material (and it would be complex mind rather than mind as such that emerged for mind as such would already be there). However, the metaphysics to be developed is not a substance ontology: it allows infinitely many temporary as if substances, but no actual enduring or eternal substance. The as if substances could be matter like (with as if mind) or mind like (and its forms would be at least as if matter). However, there would be no eternal non interaction between the as ifs. In some well-formed cosmologies there would be one as if substance that over its period of duration functioned as substance.

The aim of being

The aim of the way of being is stated in general terms at the beginning of this introduction. The development of the metaphysics enables precise statements later in the way of Being > the way > aim.

On certainty, meaning, and the aims of knowledge

Let radical skepticism name a range of views from there is no such thing as knowledge—the very concept is without meaning (for the claim to make sense a concept of knowledge would have to be specified) to there is no certain knowledge.

There are persons who label themselves ‘radical skeptics’. However, I will argue that the significance of such views is to clarify the nature and aims of knowledge and so the aim here will not be to disprove the skeptics’ claims. The aim is constructive. It will be to address the skeptics’ claims so as to show that it is in the meaning of knowledge that there is reliable knowledge that is a basis for action. Here, there will be shown to be some certain knowledge, but its certainty will not lie so much in fact as in the nature of experience. Later in the essay a system of certain as well as not so certain knowledge will be built up (and we will show that certainty is not always a possible or desirable goal).

I hold that knowledge-in-itself is an ideal, but that knowledge-by-itself—without action—is empty (if coming to know is action then unless it has existed forever, knowledge-by-itself is logically impossible).

So, at outset there is an interest in certainty, but we do not want to be bound by it. The most liberal outset view is that there are degrees of possible and actual certainty and that each is appropriate to some situation. So, a problem with the skeptic’s challenge and responses would be to think that there should be a single universal criterion for (perfection in) knowledge.

Descartes’ response to his program of radical doubt was to find and start with the certain: doubt that I am thinking is thinking; so, there is thinking; so, there is a thinker; and so, the famous ‘I think therefore I am’. One criticism is the assumption of an I. A response is to say that there is awareness for doubting it involves awareness and to later argue for the I. But these arguments call into question what our terms mean. We might question the meaning of ‘I think therefore I am’ or ‘there is awareness therefore there is being or existence’. Are they truly conclusions from premises or are they, instead, disguised definitions or explanations of meanings of ‘I’ and ‘am’ and awareness and existence? Suppose I wonder what I mean by ‘I’. When I do not find a concrete thing, it occurs that I may be a construct, metaphorical. But I could also think I was looking for the wrong thing. But what could a wrong thing be? It must be that I had an idea of something (concept), but found nothing (object); i.e., I had been trying to match concepts (ideas) with objects (in the world)—i.e., I have also been questioning the meaning of ‘meaning’ which we now see as the activity of matching concepts (ideas) and objects (in the world).

This discussion has raised, but not answered some issues about certainty and knowledge. What are their roles? How much do we need or should be value certainty perhaps the insistence on certainty in view of certainty is pre-mature and acceptance of certainty is a virtue rather than a fault? Clearly the discussion suggests there is a give and take between the roles of certainty and meaning: if we do not know our meanings, certainty loses relevance; and to the extent that meanings are rough, there is no point to absolute certainty.

The line of thinking so far in this section suggests that we have or should have a clear and definite answer to all the issues raised before we get into the act of (i.e., a priori to) knowing and using knowledge. That is, we should know about knowing before we know about the world. Put in the way of the first sentence of this paragraph there is no reason to expect the a priori answer; put in the way of the second sentence we should expect to not have or be able to have the a prior answer. There is a third way of putting the point: since knowing and knowledge of the world is part of the world, the most useful or optimal a priori attitude is to expect the two levels of knowing (if indeed we should consider them separate) to emerge together.

That is the approach and one reason for the structure of the work—especially the beginning with experience and the emphasis on meaning. What we will find is (a) an ultimate and secure metaphysical framework (here ‘secure’ means that any uncertainty is no more than is given as part of being with intent and desire to be in becoming) (b) the metaphysics frames the remainder of knowledge including what is valid in tradition (our ancient through modern cultures and ongoing endeavors) which ranges from less than certain to certain (c) individual and civilization realizes the revealed ultimates (in which process individual and civilization are likely to undergo transformation) (d) for limited form realization is endless endeavor of variety and extension without limit, and (e) the absence of perfect security is an existential challenge that adds to the quality of the process—i.e., of living in the immediate.

Certainty and doubt as themes

When we approach knowledge, we begin with the thought that perhaps all knowledge is suspect.

In beginning with experience, we find that there is a real world that is the object of and contains experience. This is seen to be certain. Understanding the importance of experience, leads to the theory of meaning of this document (anticipated by others).

This enables certain and precise knowledge of being as being, universe as universe, natural law as a feature of being, the void as the void, and realism as realism (to mention some elements of the certain). Thus, the certainty of the universal metaphysics as framework (subject to the discussions of existential doubt which, to the extent that it holds up, adds to the existential challenge of realization). And so, the certainty of realization of the ultimate.

Doubt is critical to certainty and is discussed at a number of points with regard to particular doubts and doubt in general. It is important to consider doubt in general in relation to the specific doubts. The combination leads to clarification of specific concepts as well as to concepts, meaning, issues of realism and proof in general. Discussion of doubt is immanent in the essay; explicit discussions are in experience > doubt and the already mentioned section on existential doubt.

However, local knowledge of detail is imprecise and uncertain in that we do not know its full range (but to demand precision within its range is unreasonable and to therefore think it is uncertain within that range if precision is not met is without meaning). But this imprecision is impossible, but unnecessary and not desirable to overcome: it is the mark of what is, in its way, the perfect instrument in realization. The join of the precise and certain with the less than precise is the universal metaphysics in its inclusive sense.

Ways of thought

The aim of the work is part of and derives from the process of civilization, especially its disciplines of knowledge and practice.

This process has evolved a range of ways—habits, paradigms, and practices—of thought, visited and revisited, reinforcing and opposing, that may be seen as thematic and guiding. However, the ways have also been reductionist and unnecessarily constraining. A goal of this theme is to identify, understand, use, and critique the ways.

Some of these ways are (a) isolation of knowledge from action, (b) emphasis on certainty, (c) emphasis on uniformity of criteria—e.g., that all knowledge is or must be certain, that all knowledge is uncertain, that all knowledge is or includes projection of the knower, that no knowledge is entirely of the object, (c) the themes of form and ideals, substance and matter, (d) refractory a priori elements, (e) the opposites and oppositions of empiricism and rationalism, (f) that metaphysics as knowledge of being is to be taken as depictive knowledge of all being in all its detail and that certain and perfect knowledge of this is impossible (it is indeed found impossible to limited forms of intelligence, but what will be called ‘pure metaphysics’ need and should not be knowledge of all being in all detail).

The ways will be visited in the development. However, attention to the ways is not a main purpose. The purposes of the visitation are (a) to illustrate the power of the universal metaphysics (b) to show some important cases where the ways have been unnecessarily restraining and in what ways they may have ongoing validity.

Secular and trans-secular world views

Knowledge of the world is invariably incomplete and so the supernatural arises perhaps in an attempt at explaining the world. In primal civilizations the natural and supernatural are fused. Anthropological analysis finds the fused picture of the world to be empirical and adaptive in a style of life in which humanity sees itself as part of rather than primarily as attempting to control the world.

In modernity there are two main modes of seeing and being in the world which are significantly split. The secular emphasizes the world of common experience and tends to a foundation in science. The trans-secular holds that there is more than is emphasized in the secular and tends to foundation in religious or secular metaphysics.

Thus, the secular and the trans-secular are not exclusive. However, they are often seen as in opposition due to secular reductionist positivism and or trans-secular fundamentalism. Though those who hold such views explicitly are not a majority, they are the widespread modern default.

A metaphor for the exclusive faces of secularism and trans-secularism is that of two small tangentially connected spheres in an infinite space of the real.

But since these tacit views are widespread the existential attitude of modernity suffers from impoverishment and conflict. If the universe is the realization of all possibility, modern humanity rejects the great opportunity of being (the secular position) or rests in the thought that all is already known (the trans-secular default).

Jointly the secular as REDUCTIONIST-ELITIST the trans-secular as FUNDAMENTALIST-EXCLUSIVE are limiting in all realms. However, even when their approaches are open, they are beset by constraints of styles of thought and attitudes toward the possible and the potential. They are particularly limited in relation to what is, for them, unrealized potential from the power of the idea of being (i.e., they seem to have not as yet seen or recognized the metaphysics of this work). Open, initially neutral, and critical thought and action—metaphysics—is an approach to the ultimate as such and the ultimate in the immediate.

The way of the ordinary—a way out of the secular / trans-secular divide

Whereas some metaphysics of the past is fantastic, another approach starts with the ordinary.

Would that mean starting with the immediate? That would ignore what we do not know. To start with the ordinary and without prejudice is to start with all things (entities, relations, processes and so on).

But that would be too detailed and its knowledge too imprecise to be a good place to start.

Instead, the ordinary should be That which is common to all things. What is that? Consider that what is not common is what is different—e.g., one object is green, another is red; one is an entity, another a process, a third is a relation. What is common must transcend properties that differentiate. What does not differentiate is that an object is there, i.e., that it exists, i.e., that it has being.

However, the development begins with experience. The reasons for this are (a) talk of being in the abstract is so devoid of meaning as to lead to paradox, (b) it is in experience that being is registered, and (c) as the place of our being and as relationship to the universe, experience is a prime example of being and the place of connection to what would otherwise be an abstract understanding of being.

This discussion could now talk of the power of these ideas, but that and more is developed in the main content of the work to which readers are now referred.

In the development of the ideas and the power, we never get truly outside the ordinary.

The ordinary is extra-ordinary

In going BEYOND THE ORDINARY—beyond ordinary ordinariness, we will arrive at the extraordinary extra-ordinary. The NEUTRAL experience as experience and being and being MAKE ONLY ONE DISTINCTION—the REAL VERSUS THE UNREAL. The essay therefore begins with experience of and as being.

epilogue

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the way as connecting past, present, and future as one

a continuous stream of text

every generation ought to its way as grounded in and summarizing the received ways.

this may inherit the virtue but not the burden of the past.

A guide for immersion and realization

The way in paves the way; experience, being, and possibility, provide foundation; and metaphysics, in turn, founds the way, for which there are resources.

It is all tied together in a foundational framework.

The way, is the path.

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the remaining material is informal

practice is ‘in the world’; this division emphasizes living in the world

‘return’ turns from the general to the specific in reflecting an author’s thoughts about the future—especially my future, this work, the world, and specifically about connecting the way to the world

some significant ideas for return are—maintaining the narrative, sustaining transformation, connecting past to present to future; immersion in the worlds of nature and culture as transformative, becoming; sustaining commitment, renewal, retreat; challenges, problems, and opportunities of the world; written tradition, literature, maintaining a stream of continuous text via periodic summation of the literature

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my journey continues—‘from here’ – the plan; the vision, immersion, sharing

epilogue—details

It is time to move into focus on being in the world. It is time to pass the torch—I will now live my life in the way.

History was first seen as linear, then cyclic, and then a block that contains the variety without end. Text and world are continuous, and this suggests an idea-based approach to publication emphasized over a person-based approach. One way to implement this would be via an evolving system of canonical subjects and ideas.

The way and its text have origins in personal, world, and universal history. I have sought to keep contact with history while developing, writing, and living the way.

It is now time to complete this cycle and to move into focus on being in the world.

This involves sharing, Sangha, and living that way of life that is living well and also being—realizing—Brahman.

Past, present, and future as one

The universe is the greatest possible being. It may be seen as cosmoses—and more—in transient contact with the void; cosmoses that are limitless in identity of object and self, extent, duration, variety, peak, and dissolution; that are one as Brahman; which is the inheritance and being of all beings; and which, while limited, we experience as ever fresh.

From the perspective of the one, it is transhistorical. Limited beings experience linear or cyclic history. While limited but at greater realization, beings cycle without limit to extent, duration, variety, and number of cycles. The one, Being, Brahman, is trans-cyclic; it has a description as a limitless block universe.

A view of history as linear is—may be—embedded in a view of history as the block universe.

Practice, knowing, knowledge, and action are one

Practice, knowing, knowledge, and action have distinctions and are yet one.

Communication, text, ideas, and being

Introduction

Individuals share their ideas, their learning, in speech and text. Moving forward is grounded in the communal pool of ideas.

There is a premium on individuals and specific texts and so the process is historical (except in some established disciplines). The attempt to move forward requires interpretation of the texts and thus the process is sometimes moving forward and sometimes, when history is suppressed or weakly interpreted, moving back.

The historical emphasis on individuals and their texts becomes a burden.

Continuous text

The idea of continuous text begins with the thought that the stream of text is one text. Though authorship is not denied, the focus is on ideas, and an aim is explicit refinement of ideas over or at least in balance with ideas as cumulative.

A process of continuous text is that authors shall or may choose to study previous texts as they develop their own ideas and weave history into their own texts. Some ancient texts will have only indirect influence. This may seem to be a loss when it comes to the greatest texts of the past. However, exceptions may perhaps be made, but the gain is a balance between the value and burden of history in the process of moving forward rather than moving into stasis.

One approach is to define an evolving system of canonical ideas and develop, correspondingly, a system of canonical texts. If multi-authoring coordinated by editors is cumbersome and limiting on true originality, a balance can be maintained between multi and single authoring.

Continuous text is likely to be enhanced by software implemented on electronic information processing, communication, and networking systems. This may overcome limitations of perspective by facilitating translation among multiple perspectives. Perhaps artificial intelligence will have a role in the creative side of the process.

The future of the way

I will live my life in the way and in sharing.

It is time to pass the torch.

epilogue*

this is the essential post narrative

the written way has matured and I am ready to move with it, into the world with a dual immersive and instrumental approach

writing may continue ‘in the world’, but without compulsion; I will seek ‘universal text’ a notion of (i) living and thinking on the front of being (ii) capturing the essence of the received and the front, and rendering them in action and ‘cumulative’ text (the latter as springboard and response to the historically recent explosion of information)

embodied realization is essential—for individuals, societies, civilizations and that civilization which is a unity of civilizations across time, continents, and cosmoses

past, present, and future are sought as one

practice, knowing, knowledge, and action are one

communication, text, ideas and being are one

the future of the way, for me, is to live out this life in the way, in sharing, and in passing on the light

author speaking as author to readers—appreciation, sharing, the road ahead

past, present, and future

appreciation

sharing

the road ahead

resources

the resources are gathered under this heading; in the text they may be separate

resources for the way

over and above path templates, dedication, and other material in the text

enter further kinds from sources

the way itself

the essays

Ground

metaphysics

realization

general resources

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The website http://www.horizons-2000.org has general resources

Purpose of the resources

The aim is to provide resources for readers who would enter the knowledge and / or becoming processes of the essay. A reader who would use the text as a system may refer the parts The way of Being through Template. They would adapt this material and supplement Everyday practice of thought, presence, and action and System for ideas, action, and pure being with material of their own choosing, perhaps following some of the suggestions below. However, the first aim of the essay is entry into the process, not system for successful systems which arise in response to the occasions of an era tend to become formulaic. This is the reason for the generic character of the presentation and of these resources.

The main resource for any reader is her or his presence and initiative in the world.

Perhaps I can assist this process by stating my resources. Even as a personal list these resources are very incomplete with regard to breadth and detail. However, I shall repeat that the aim of this resource section is to give readers a beginning in finding their own direction relative to this work.

The purpose of the following selection is to be useful in stating and following a universal aim. There is special focus on the mechanics and the process.

Knowledge

A personal history of ideas

A driving force has been beauty—the dual beauty of the world and of ideas (see a personal account of nature as source, below). Thus, at least implicitly, I have always regarded knowledge and action interactively. I now see that knowledge requires completion by action and that without knowledge (ideas) there is no such thing as action. Knowledge and action require one another.

In the beginning and throughout my process was driven by beauty and the practical and ideal concerns of this world and the ultimate.

The background to this account is my early and ongoing broad interest in ideas and their history. Perhaps breadth is not essential, but for me it was immensely useful to my process of understanding and discovery. That process began with a material and evolutionary perspective, saw limitations to that perspective, sought a perspective that did not deny matter and time, but that would transcend it, along the way experimented with a variety of idealisms, found the idealisms wanting and not too different from the materialisms. Finally, after much experiment, I arrived at a place where it occurred to me as reasonable that the perspective, I sought would be possible if the universe and nothingness were equivalent.

This thought did not come out of a vacuum, but there are suggestions of the equivalence in modern physics as well as modern and ancient thought. Nowhere, however, did I find an explicit statement or proof of the idea I sought. The system of this essay arose in some main steps interspersed with study, reflection, criticism, and increment. The entire process was inspired by the notions of the ultimate, civilization and its process, and nature (the latter is described below in nature > a personal account).

The main steps were (1) the experiment with paradigms (materialism etc) and realization that perhaps the universe is equivalent to the void the key to going beyond paradigm, (2) seeing this idea in intuition, but failing to prove the equivalence, (3) realizing that the key to proof is to carefully define and look at the properties of the void (it is the null domain, it exists, it contains no natural law) and following up with proof (given in the essay), and (4) developing and elaborating the resulting metaphysics and applying it to a range of concerns—primarily realization, and secondarily, but most usefully to a range of problems from the history and current situation in ideas.

Regarding our religions, as for any actual institution, we can see faults and positive aspects. My personal inclination has been to not ignore the multiple faults (they require redress), but to emphasize what is beautiful, what I could learn in relation to the immediate and the ultimate. I have learned (a) the generality that as allegory religion points to the idea of an ultimate where tacit secular thought is closed by self-satisfied unseeing (ignorance in a non-pejorative sense), and (b) special transformational aspects in or related to the religions such as affirmation, meditation, yoga (the eastern schools), the Beyul of Tibetan Buddhism, the vision quest of Shamanic practice. The theory of meaning has led me to think that religion (the concept) is not the empirical sum of the religions.

The significance of breadth, depth, and time

Depth is significant; it is the experience of being deep and good at one thing and therefore the ability to contribute; but the experience of becoming good—of learning—is useful in itself as building confidence, as learning how to learn, and as complement to breadth.

Breadth is important too; I refer not only to learning, but to the range of modes of useful activity. It is not essential to cover the entire range, but still knowledge of the range as a whole—a bird’s eye view—is good as familiarity with the world and as ground that provides experience and information for judgment. Breadth of knowledge and experience is useful (a) in providing a toolkit of ideas and experience from which to draw and (b) as informing us of what we do not know—as a guard against that parochialism and insularity that results from being ignorant of our ignorance.

Obviously acquisition of breadth and depth takes time. Balance between learning and achieving is important. Knowledge of what one can achieve is important (one should be open about this because it is not just things like testing, but also doing that provides this knowledge). The process is incremental and interactive for acquisition of depth is part of achieving and acquisition of breadth shows us how we might make the balance between learning and achieving. A single formula is not universal, but the discussion of this section is not a prescription—even the person who would be a specialist will benefit from exposure beyond career and specialty. I do think that the aims of the way of being of this essay are well met by breadth and depth in combination

Introduction to knowledge resources

The site http://www.horizons-2000.org gives some of my general sources. Here I state some main influences which are the western and eastern traditions of philosophy including metaphysics, trans-secular process, the abstract and concrete sciences, art, literature, technology, and history. The internet has a number of useful general resources such as encyclopedias—see a list of useful links. Also see a system of human knowledge and practice.

The following lists, very partial even as personal sources, are of persons whose writings have taught and inspired me.

Philosophers—mostly

Veda Vyasa (date and authenticity unclear), Thales of Miletus (624-525 BC), Parmenides (dates uncertain, born about 530 BC), Plato (424/423 BC-348/347 BC), Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC), Adi Samkara (788-820), Johannes Scotus Eriugena (815-877), Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274), René Descartes (1596-1650), Baruch Spinoza, Baruch (1632-1677), Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1716), David Hume (1711-1776), Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Hans Vaihinger (1852-1933), Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), Karl Popper (1902-1994), Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), Carl G. Hempel (1905-1997), Kurt Friedrich Gödel (1906-1978), Willard Van Orman Quine (1908-2000), Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001), John Searle (1932-), Richard K. Nelson (1941-), author of Make Prayers to the Raven (1983), Hugh Brody (1943-), author of The Other Side of Eden (2000).

The most influential have been Plato, Samkara, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Whitehead, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and Popper.

I admire persons, but hold that, from history, it is the ideas that are most important. The main use of the ideas may require interpretation but is not interpretation as such—it is to attempt to go and see further. I find that this use is best facilitated by finding what is best in the works which requires appreciation over detraction and evaluation over mere criticism (true criticism is of course identical to true evaluation).

The anthropologists Richard Nelson and Hugh Brody have made up for my lack of actual experience with primal cultures in appreciating the beauty and power (and problems) of a primal way of life, especially in the far north of the American Continent. If you have the impression that I admire that way of life you are correct; however, I hope not to judge that versus my present way.

Scientists

Isaac Newton (1642-1727), Charles Darwin (1809-1882), James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), Albert Einstein (1879-1955), Ernst Mayr (1904-2005), and the creators and developers of quantum mechanics and modern physical cosmology.

Religion

Religion stands against the secular assertion that the secular is the only real and the only value. In this religion is absolutely true.

I have found the religions and their leaders, in fact or legend, informative to my thought and inspiring in my life.

Any movement is likely to have negative sides and uses. However, the problem of our or any time is to attempt to understand and negotiate beyond the secular in a way that is best for the time.

I have admired what I have read of the lives many religious persons and leaders and saint like persons, especially Buddha, Jesus, and Gandhi. However, I make no recommendation to the reader except to follow their own path (or non-path).

Practice

The ways and catalysts

Developed earlier and below.

Traditional sources

Developed earlier and below.

Nature

There is a tradition of nature as inspiration, especially among primal cultures and the east.

A personal account of nature as source

Cumulatively, I have spent roughly two years in designated wilderness areas in the United States and Mexico: times of health, enjoyment, friendship, and occasional risk. My findings are as follows. (1) I discover the truth of the place by immersion. (2) The discovery of new places is wonderful. (3) Repeated return to one place is greater immersion. (4) Going with others is enjoyable. Minimalism and isolation are the greater immersion and inspiration (just as living is inspiration). Immersion is connection to the ultimate and the beginning of incremental transformation. (5) Being in nature is a ground and gateway to the ultimate (just as for primal peoples and civilization). (6) Nature is a place where I have received great inspiration for my thought (but so is my civilization, so are my cultures). Perhaps the two greatest conceptual realizations are #1 in 1999: that the equivalence of the universe and the void would lead to an ultimate true nonsubstance metaphysics (while hiking one afternoon on a trail in the Trinity Mountains of Northwestern California) and #2 in 2002: in the shadows of the same mountains in the cool just before sunrise, that to look at the properties of the void rather than the universe is the key to the equivalence of #1.

Perhaps what readers may derive from this are the inspiration of nature and the selection of his or her own special places. They would discover their personal Beyul as an element in their transformation.

Beyul

In Tibetan Buddhism, Beyul refers to special places, mythical or real, that are beautiful yet remote and hard to find. The finding is a pilgrimage in which the seeker finds the truth of the place, which is also the truth already, but hidden in the seeker’s self. A good reference is Ian Baker’s The Heart of the World, 2004. This personal account of Beyul refers to original Tibetan and earlier Western sources.

Civilization

The process of civilization also offers support as well as mutual search and realization. It offers audiences, institutions, disciplines, and fellowship in endeavor (these have overlap).

Institutions

The modern world offers an array of institutions—universities, libraries, the internet as information resource and as sharing via blog and publishing, churches, spiritual groups and teachers, publishers.

The institutions provide audiences, teachers, the advantages of institutional setting, and fellowship.

Some groups and institutions focus on other regions and cultures of the world.

Disciplines

Science and sciences (concrete and abstract), philosophy, anthropology, technology, art, religion and religions, yoga of the Gita and other systems, Tantra, and vision quest.

Being

If knowledge, nature, and civilization are considered ground resources the higher resources or vehicle include mind and the universal which, on the metaphysics, are mirrors of each other. Mind is implicit in the resource development section below and other places in the essay, but explicit repetition is useful.

Mind is not to be distinguished from emotion or heart or from the body. Psyche and organism might be alternate useful terms. However, the most inclusive term is being.

Study of psyche

Some issues in the study of psyche are: mind and body; the functions (quite different on different accounts even, say, within western academic psychology); and the function—what is mind and what is its role?

Mind and universe

Taken up in the next topic.

The universal

As for mind, this study is implicit elsewhere. Per the universe the essence of mind and universe join in identity.

Mind, knowledge, and experience of the universal

In theory as in the discussion under being; experientially as in meditation and other approaches such as the ways and catalysts and the experience of Beyul as bringing out deep characteristics of mind and the universal (though the particulars of our minds are very local, mind itself is the essence of significant being).

Metaphysics

Development of metaphysics is study of the universe.

developing Resources 2022

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This material is especially intended for the printed manual. The material overlaps earlier material of this chapter, but (a) omits much of the resource system I have already used and (b) emphasizes resources I want and or might need, especially for the path ahead.

Note—many links in this section are broken.

Introduction

Destiny is that part of the future over which we have reasonable effect. Obviously, we do not control ‘everything’—nor do we want to for openness and uncertainty are sources of significant meaning. However, broad engagement, as we have seen is good, and the broad aim is also to find what we may rather than have specific outcomes.

The attitude of this essay is that our process is a mix of arrival, transience, and destiny. We would live in the immediate and the ultimate—each is incomplete without the other—and both are processes.

Since we do not know what will be useful, breadth of knowledge and experience are important; it has been and continues to be a part of this endeavor.

Summary

Knowledge for development. Publication and sharing.

METAPHYSICS—especially process and symbolic; SCIENCES—science as such; concrete and abstract sciences including mathematics and logic; CIVILIZATION, WAYS AND CATALYSTS (note placement of ways… near civilization), ARTIFACT and ART; INSTITUTIONS, PERSONS, PLACES.

Metaphysics

THE METAPHYSICS, metaphysics, foundation and development, language, logic, mereology, adequacy and minimal arrangement of the dimensions, processes, and phases of being and becoming. Some DETAILS: begin with some case studies—e.g., Process and Reality (1929), A.N. Whitehead; Space, Time, and Deity (1920), S. Alexander; the Symbolic Metaphysics of Edward N. Zalta, e.g., at The Metaphysics Research Lab (Zalta’s interesting conception of abstract objects may be useful and suggestive even though it is quite different from the concept of the abstract object in this essay). The metaphysics of natural law is a useful topic that might well go under science below.

Narrative mode and philosophy

See a detailed plan for study and action.

Design and planning

See a detailed plan for study and action.

Science and the sciences

SCIENCE and the SCIENCES—abstract and concrete in relation to realism and possibility: logics as a first approximation. SCIENCE AS SCIENCE, as defined by principles—descriptive, elementary, and adaptive with focus on origins, form, and adaptive systems.

Abstract sciences

ABSTRACT SCIENCES and sciences of symbolic systems—logic, mathematics and set theory and its foundations, linguistics and grammar, topics such as self-representation, computation, and finite mathematics. So, me DETAILS. LOGIC: (a) concepts of logic and realism (b) formalism for maximal capture realism and possibilism without paradox, (c) specific topics—propositional and first order predicate calculus, and (d) mathematical logic—proof theory and constructive mathematics, model theory, set theory, and recursion theory (and relations to theory of computation and category theory); (e) reading: W.V. Quine [Philosophy of Logic, 1986; Methods of Logic, 1982; Mathematical Logic, 1981; Set Theory and its Logic, 1969]. Related topics: the AXIOMATIC THEORIES OF SETS and MEREOLOGY. Further TOPICS IN MATHEMATICS for the metaphysics: ARITHMETIC: number theory, number systems, transfinite numbers, analysis; ALGEBRA and algebraic structures; geometries—including non-Euclidean, convex, discrete, topology, homotopy—origins in numbers and structure of number systems, solutions of equations, and linear algebra; fields of algebra: order theory, algebraic systems, number theory, field theory and polynomials, commutative rings and algebras; ANALYSIS—study of change in the small and in the large—sequences, limits, and metric spaces… real, complex, and functional analysis… calculus of variations, harmonic analysis, Clifford analysis, and non-standard analysis… differential equations, measure theory, and numerical analysis; COMBINATORICS approach are enumerative and analytic, topics include partition and graph theory, finite geometry… algebraic, geometric, arithmetic, and infinitary combinatorics; GEOMETRY: convex, discrete, and combinatorial geometry… differential (including non-Euclidean) and algebraic geometry… topology, algebraic topology including homology and cohomology… manifolds including complex manifolds and Morse theory; STATISTICS AND DECISION SCIENCES; THEORETICAL COMPUTER SCIENCE.

Concrete sciences

CONCRETE SCIENCES. Physical sciences and the interface of metaphysics, quantum theory and relativity; physical and evolutionary-adaptive cosmology; CHEMISTRY—especially chemistry for functional and evolutionary biology; EARTH SCIENCES. BIOLOGY, function, genetics and epigenetics, evolution, and ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS—general theory and application in biology and cosmology. PSYCHOLOGY and social sciences with focus on immersion.

Foundations of ethics and value

Foundations of ETHICS and VALUE with special focus on implications of the metaphysics and the way of being.

Ways and catalysts

Select focus on TRANS-SECULAR and INTRINSIC MODES of being and transformation—principles of special metaphysics and religion, yoga, Tantra… PRINCIPLES, DISCIPLINES, and PRACTICE (select and focus). It is CRITICAL that the goal for ways and catalysts is experiment with incremental and step-wise realization. STUDY EMPHASIS is therefore supportive rather than definitive and multi-fold—(1) The MEANING OF RELIGION (understood in terms of the theory of meaning); (2) The CLASSICAL ways and catalysts emphasizing practice and use-in-action—some TOPICS: life ways of Buddhism (especially Tibetan) and Hinduism (especially the Gita and Kashmir Saivism); catalysts of physical, isolation (vision quest), death awareness, sacred places, and acting; and (3) UNCONVENTIONAL AND HETERODOX ways and sources. Later—perhaps rewrite the Gita (sources currently not available on the Internet 1, 2, 3). Special focus on CATALYSTS—dreams, hypnosis, meditative states; altered states and CATALYTIC FACTORS.

Civilization

CIVILIZATION. (1) Concepts of civilization (understood in terms of the theory of meaning); civilization as process and nurture—the concepts of human and universal civilization and history; physics, cosmology, sociology, psychology, for universal civilization; immersion in natural, social and cultural, psychic and universal process; shared endeavor; see TRANSCOMMUNITYDESIGN; artifactual and technological enhancement—support, synthetic, and stand alone. (2) IMMERSION CULTURE—knowledge, sciences of matter, life, society, mind, politics and economics; (3) In relation to the section cosmology > cosmology of life and identity > civilization what is the dynamic of process, realization, problem, opportunity; and (4) Items below—artifact, ways and catalysts, institutions, places, contacts.

Artifact and art

ARTIFACT. Review (1) The AIMS—support in realization and creation of AWARE AND AUTONOMOUS systems (and why, in terms of the metaphysics the latter is one sufficient approach), (2) The concept of ARTIFICIAL BEING (understood in terms of the theory of meaning), (3) Concepts of the same (e.g., SCENARIOS), (4) Theoretical and computational approaches, (5) Practical approaches. ART including literature and drama and its relevance to metaphysics and realization.

Other topics

Other topics in a SYSTEM OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE, selected for significance to the aims and ways; art.

Institutions, persons, and places

INSTITUTIONS, PERSONS, AND PLACES. (1) For the above, (2) Support and sharing, (3) Contacts, (4) Place—nature and culture.

Publication and sharing

PLANS for the MAIN DOCUMENT. The document is a FRAMEWORK for manual and future versions of the way of being.

I am satisfied with the essential content (this document does not contains all developments and applications of the metaphysics so far and no doubt there will be improvement and new considerations). However, improvements in formulation, and details and style are certainly possible. The main change to be made is in what I learn in the years to come.

This version

The discussion ‘essentials of the approach’ is a beginning for a PROLOGUE.

Write an informal prologue motivating the metaphysics from the point of view of (a) the person who wonders whether there is more than imagined in the secular, trans-secular, and personal views (b) the question of What there is in the universe to motivate the argument regarding realization of all possibility. Note that such a prologue might best be combined with the preface and the introduction.

Provide TEMPLATES for readers, e.g., (1) for PHASES of realization, (2) planning details of the phases as in THE WAY and PATH, and (3) DAILY PRACTICE. The templates will have blanks to fill out, but the intention is suggestive.

Writing a final version

I will write the FINAL VERSION during and after transformation of being. I plan to use this document as a basis for ongoing reflection on content and refinement will be important.

The present documents—this one and shorter versions—will be used as a basis of an accessible publication for a wide audience. This will be written during and after transformation of being.

Write a simple and non-technical manual. Emphasize motivation and explanation over technicality, proof, and rigor.

Issues for reflection

The MAIN ISSUES for reflection and writing are the fundamentals of realization and actual achievement.

Continue to reflect and write notes.

The big picture—the main ideas and flow.

New TOPICS and THEMES.

Points and arguments to make, clarify, improve and / or shorten. Distinguish between explanation, motivation, and proof. Regarding proof, where there is heuristic argument make sure that the distinction between the heuristic and the formal deduction is clear. Where the argument is informal and / or probable, make this clear.

Implement styles.

Uses of single and double quotation marks. The issue of use versus mention.

Experience

Breadth and depth of experience and awareness in the secular and trans-secular realms: nature, culture, and society (civilization), relationship, psyche, art, and artifact, the sacred and the universal.

history of the metaphysics

../resources/journey in being.docm – history of the metaphysics (html) jibh—source

In history

It will be useful to recapitulate the history of the universal metaphysics. Its history is ancient. Equivalence of individual and universal identity occurs in the Upanishads and in the Vedanta of Indian Philosophy; these thoughts were taken up in the west by such thinkers as Max Muller and Erwin Schrödinger. The idea of Aeternitas, all knowing and being as an entity, occurs in the writing of Thomas Aquinas. The idea of the universe as all that there is and all that there is over all space and time is found in the thought of Eriugena. The connection between logic and necessity (and possibility) is very well known. The idea that every possibility must be realized in an infinite time is also we known and has been called the ‘principle of plenitude’ (but is not true for mathematically something can be possible but have probability zero—it is possible that a random sequence will generate π but the probability is zero). Early philosophy emphasized and Heidegger re-emphasized the importance of being to metaphysics. The sciences and the metaphysical systems abound with suggestion. Quantum theory suggests that almost every possible event has some probability of occurrence. If ‘possibility’ has definite meaning then it seems that it is either true or false that every possibility is realized. Thus thought must be pregnant with the idea that all possibility is realized. The main ideas of the narrative and its developments draw from many sources.

Sources of inspiration

The history of ideas is an obvious source of inspiration. Enjoyment of the world was and is, for me, an obvious motive and inspiration.

Wilderness has been a source of inspiration. It is more than beauty for the beauty suggests that there is something deep about nature—especially in modernity where we are often cut off from nature. The beauty suggests that here is one gateway—one portal to the real.

One of my earliest memories of nature is traveling with my parents and their friends to hot springs in Bihar, India. We were then living in the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata). I was six and I thrilled to the spring and its setting in a valley skirted by hills—and then to the early morning lorry (truck) ride home beginning in the dark on country roads. When I was eight we moved to a small town. Our house was on the outskirts of the forest. I was in heaven.

From 1975—1986 I backpacked in the Adirondacks of New York, Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains in Texas, The Gila Wilderness in New Mexico, Weminuche in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. In that period I hiked about ten times in Copper Canyon (Barranca del Cobre (Copper Canyon), Chihuahua, Mexico and many times in the Trinity Alps of Northwestern California. Over this time I developed—realized—what I feel to be a deep connection with nature itself and what I feel to be nature as gateway to self and the universal—I understand that this might be projection but when we count what ground we may have in the real and the ultimate where can we go but to nature, culture, self, civilization, reflection, and body? There are of course many traditions that emphasize the connection in and via nature. The philosophy of India is often said to be the philosophy of the forest sages. And it is quite true that for many thinkers nature has been the place of insight.

I have cultivated nature as source; as place of renewal; and as place of insight.

My motives

My discoveries—the process—have had a number of motives. From the beauty I experienced in the world I wanted to know the extent of the beauty (and so the extent of the world) and the extent of our relations to the world. Science, which has its own beauty, has a picture that is often taken to be the whole world. However, science and common experience are neither perfectly precise nor complete and it is consistent with science that the universe is limitless. I wanted to see whether what we experience as limits, particularly death as an end to all experience, were in fact limits. But I did not want a system of belief—such systems are already available. I wanted something that could be trusted. The something must be our connection to the world which includes our selves. It must be in experience.

A number of literary traditions exult the role of nature. Romanticism in Europe began as a reaction against the prevailing rational ideals; the romantic poets preferred intuition and emotion over reason and the pastoral over the urban. To exalt these themes however is not necessarily to diminish reason. The forest sage is a tradition in India. In Tibetan Buddhism the term ‘Beyul’ refers to a hidden, difficult to reach, and beautiful place or land to which search opens up depth in one’s being that mirrors depth of place. Culture in the form of literature, philosophy, and science have been sources of inspiration and understanding.

Nature has been a source of inspiration for me. It has been a ground of being, portal to the ultimate in emotion and cognition, and a source of explicit inspiration in thought.

Early process

I sought to discover the extent of being (use of the word ‘being’ came later). I sought this, first, in science and science based world views and then in what lies beyond. A vehicle for this seemed to lie in the idea of metaphysics. I engaged in materialism, evolutionism, process philosophy, and idealism but found them all wanting especially in that the systems posit substance.

In 1986 I spent two weeks in the Trinity Alps in Trinity County, California. I had been reflecting on the power of evolutionary thinking. Over the two weeks I was inspired to see how I could develop these ideas systematically to develop and understanding of the world and knowledge.

I was aware of and felt that I should address of the criticisms of metaphysics. I recognized that if substance is understood with sufficient generality to be able to provide foundation for all knowledge the different substances would be identical. This motivated the non substance approach from being.

I use ‘being’ in a formal and specific sense in this narrative. In nature I felt that I was in being. One stormy night in the Trinity Alps in 1988 I was inspired to see and elaborate the universe as a conscious organism. I cut my time in the mountains short, came home and wrote my inspiration as an articulated and reasoned piece. I know that my thought was largely an intuition but the work was useful in giving me a framework for and an inroad to a rational and holist understanding of being.

In 1999 I had been thinking of the relation between ‘something and nothing’. That there is something has been a long standing issue in philosophy and science. After abandoning the substance approach (it is essentially incomplete) to understanding being and the universe I had the thought that perhaps completion of understanding might obtain if I could show that the universe is equivalent to the void (and today I know from the universal metaphysics that understanding is complete for depth but ever open in breadth).

One day in the autumn of 1999 I was hiking uphill but around mid-afternoon began to experience the climb as effortless. Amid trees, sunlight, shadows, and brown earth I felt unity with earth, universe, and emptiness of being. This insight was perhaps the result of my thoughts of equivalence (above). This heightened my interest in showing the equivalence of universe and the void.

A suggestion from physics (that matter and its gravitational field can have zero energy) reinforced and may have been at the root of the intuition of the equivalence and gave me the thought that I could prove the equivalence. But I was unable to prove that the universe was equivalent to the void over the period 1998-2002.

First proof

However, the present proof is the first instance of a proof.

It is quite different in its manner and object from ‘traditional proofs of God’. Therefore the limitations of those proofs are not limitations of the present proof. It is remarkable that the metaphysics delivers not only proof but also its apparatus. Thus there is no a priori. This shows that the proof is, figuratively, dynamic rather than static and that is precisely the best we expect in an open universe.

Empowerment

The proof and the fact of the proof are immensely empowering in that (1) we know rather than speculate the truth (2) it shows the universe to be ultimate and the metaphysics to be ‘container’ for all knowing and (3) it gives us a ‘computational tool’—the universe is the object of realism.

Fundamental insight

Then in 2002, I had the insight to focus on the void and its properties. I had again been hiking in the Trinity Alps. I had the insight as, fresh from a two week trip in the mountains, I entered the town of Weaverville at about 6 am one morning. This was the pivotal insight that led to the universal metaphysics.

Having arrived at this insight I began to develop the system. I saw immediately the connection to logic and this led quickly to the main ideas of general cosmology and the relation between personal and universal identity. Development of a secure relation to logic, science and development of the epistemology were slower. Suggestions from science and current philosophy enabled development of the connection to physical cosmology and mind.

The essential incompleteness of the metaphysics for a limited form led from the personal experience of journey to the universality of the idea of journey and to the conclusion that metaphysics will be and can only be completed in action.

In parallel with these developments I realized that there could be no secure basis of the metaphysics in substance (mind, matter, process and so on) and that it remained for the metaphysics to be grounded. I was already familiar with the importance of the idea of being from Greek thought and Heidegger and the significance of experience from personal reflection and reading in the study of mind in modern philosophy including the recent work on ‘consciousness studies’.

Thus motivated I refined my thought on the concepts of being and experience and tailored them to my purpose.

Development

The process has been incremental and is no doubt capable of improvement and further development. No matter my level and clarity of insight there is, it seems, a not yet ending process of insight and clarification.

Achievement

Yet some shell of the fundamental truths appears to have been attained.

Action

However, as occasioned by the achievement and the desire for its completion, and as outlined in talking of a path, I now turn to action.

I know that nature must be one place to search into being.

Ideas parallel action

My idea of action is that it is bound to ideas. Without ideas, action reduces to ‘mere’ physical process. On the other hand, action is not mere ‘doing’. Action completes ideas, ideas validate action and its meaning. Ideation is action.

I have taken the universal metaphysics to the apparent limit of obvious development. It is given that this is just a beginning for the metaphysics harbors all forms. I have glimmerings and hints from various directions of vast and perhaps difficult depth.

I occasionally reflect on these matters as I prepare for action.

I realize that I should return to nature where I may have inspiration and that is good for nature is also one place that I seek a path of action.

topics for study, reflection, and research

../old/the essential way of being.docm – topics for study (html) (has not been used yet)—study topics

glossary (lexicon)

functions

use in the narrative

received use

alternate terms

concepts

../narratives/bare content.docm – the concepts (html) bc—source

main concepts are in italics; for convenience, some terms, here and in the main text, are identified as concepts in more than one place

about the way

aim of the way

origins

origins, significant meaning (‘meaning of life’), becoming; sources—ideas and action—history and individual experience

destinations

destinations, the ultimate, the present or the immediate, the real metaphysics

meaning

consensus experience, concept meaning (‘linguistic’)

this edition

imagination, originality, foundation, self-foundation, axiomatic approach, informal vs formal development, application, introduction, preview, principles of organization, flow of ideas, motive, explanation

being

being and beings

being (the verb to be), a being (plural—‘beings’), characteristic

being, foundations, and grounding

foundation, grounding, anthropomorphism, cosmomorphism

concept meaning, knowledge, logic, and science

referential concept, icon, sign (simple or compound), language, symbol (linguistic), meaning, knowledge, necessity, contingency, fact, science, art, value

kinds of being

kind, correspondence (this concept and the next concern the nature and criterion for validity of knowledge), pragmatic

possibility and laws of nature

possible being, pattern, law of nature, law, cosmos, necessary logic, logical possibility

reasons

explanation (general), a reason (noun, plural—‘reasons’), logical reasons, possibility, probability, explanation (explanatory reason), necessity, material reasons, power, material cause, self-cause

the universe and the void

universe, creator, the void

introduction to the fundamental principle of metaphysics

no concepts introduced

existence of the void

determinism, indeterminism

the fundamental principle

the fundamental principle of metaphysics, the principle of plenitude, manifestation

consistency of the principle

no concepts introduced

the ultimate

identity, cosmology of identity, peak being, the ultimate, the individual, realization, death

metaphysics

introduction

tradition

metaphysics

metaphysics

the real metaphysics

real metaphysics

consistency of the real metaphysics

no concepts introduced

doubt and attitude

doubt, heuristics, attitude, metaphysical hypothesis, existential principle

experience and significant meaning

experience, significant meaning

universe as field of being

interpretation, materialism, solipsism, field of being, field of experiential being, god

dimensions of being

dimensions of being, form, extension, duration, pure dimensions of being, pragmatic dimensions of being, nature, society, culture, the universal

metaphysics, cosmology, and physics

cosmology, absolute indeterminism, absolute determinism, block universe, dialetheia, quantum field, becoming from the void, emergence

about religion

rational speculation, religion

reason

introduction

justification, local world, quality of life, epistemology, axiology, action

the meaning of reason

understanding, reason, abstraction

developing reason for the way

substance, grammar, lexicon, logical proof, implication, non-contradiction, the a priori, self-foundation, ethics, aesthetics, holism, rational speculation, paradigm, general cosmology

what the foundation in reason says

depth, breadth, logic, science, general logic, science of the universe, procedure, method

pathways

aim of being

intelligence, enjoyment, pleasure, pain, value, imperative, aim of being, paths, sharing

paths

meditation, yoga

ways

ways

introduction to the path templates

template

design of the templates

principle, design, adaptability, individual orientation, cultural orientation, immediate, universal, community, civilization

every-day template

dedication, affirmation, review, priorities, realization, (yoga) practice, action, sharing, engagement, networking

dedication

discovery, realization, bonds of limited self

affirmation

consciousness, ‘That’

universal template

pure being, retreat, renewal, dimensions of being, being in the universe, brahman, this life and beyond

the instrumental vs the intrinsic

instrumental (dimension), intrinsic (dimension)

resources

resource, general resources, knowledge resources, resource system

dictionary

../narratives/topics and concepts for the way.docm – dictionary (html) tacd—source; with received meaning

also has essential and detailed concepts for the system

The terms here are important to the way. However, the meanings, while they are not and cannot be the received meanings, ought to have some relation to the receive.

The aim of this dictionary is

Resource for received meanings—it is not the aim to be definitive but only to provide a sampling of the received,

To emphasize that the meanings in the way are related to but different from the received, and

To remind readers that whereas received meanings constitute families of meaning, the meanings employed in the way are definite, and yet significant.

The main source for the received meanings is Dagobert D. Runes, Dictionary of Philosophy, revised edition, 1983.

axiom, postulate	axioms and postulates are primitive or given truths of an axiomatic system, sometimes regarded as self-evident; sometimes, as used by Euclid, the axioms are general truths or principles of deduction, while postulates are the primitive truths of the particular system
method	any procedure employed to attain a certain end; any knowledge techniques employed in the process of acquiring knowledge of a given subject-matter; the science which formulates the rules of any procedure.
experience	the condition or state of subjectivity or awareness; the term differs from consciousness by emphasizing the temporal or passing character of affective undergoing; usage is not uniform… thus, Bradley identified it with consciousness, while W. James used it to mean neutral phenomenon without implications of either subjectivity or objectivity
empirical	relating to experience
given	whatever is immediately present to the mind before it has been elaborated by inference, interpretation, or construction
abstract	designation applied to a partial aspect or quality considered in isolation from a total object, which is, in contrast, designated concrete
concept	any generic or class term (Kant), as abstract object vs mental representation (general)
intentionality	Latin intentio, from intendere, to stretch; the property of consciousness whereby it refers to or intends an object; the intentional object is not necessarily a real or existent thing but is merely that which the mental act is about; intentionality is the modern equivalent of the Scholastic intentio.
object, existent	that toward which consciousness is directed
meaning	a highly ambiguous term, with at least four pivotal senses, involving (a) intention or purpose, (b) designation or reference, (c) definition or translation, (d) causal antecedents or consequences; yet other meanings or variants are (i) linguistic meaning (a variant of b) and (ii) significant meaning or ‘meaning of life’ somewhat related to a)
type-token ambiguity	for a word with multiple meanings, the individual meanings are tokens, which belong to the class of meanings or type; often but not always, the class is a family but generally the class may be multiple but unrelated families
knowledge	relations known; apprehended truth; opposite of opinion; certain knowledge is more than opinion, less than truth; theory of knowledge, or epistemology (which see), is the systematic investigation and exposition of the principles of the possibility of knowledge; in epistemology: the relation between object and subject
epistemology	the branch of philosophy which investigates the origin, structure, methods, and validity of knowledge
empiricism	that the sole source of knowledge is experience; experience may be understood as either all conscious content, data of the senses only, or other designated content; may deny that any knowledge, e.g. universal and necessary truth, can be obtained a priori
rationalism	a method, or very broadly, a theory of philosophy, in which the criterion of truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive.
existence	the mode of being which consists in interaction with other things; opposite of essence; in Husserl’s writings “existence” means being of any kind (or, more restrictedly, individual being)
foundation	foundationalism concerns philosophical theories of knowledge resting upon justified belief, or some secure foundation of certainty such as a conclusion inferred from a basis of sound premises the main rival of the foundationalist theory of justification is the coherence theory of justification, whereby a body of knowledge, not requiring a secure foundation, can be established by the interlocking strength of its components, like a puzzle solved without prior certainty that each small region was solved correctly
substance	the term used to signify that which is sought when philosophers investigate the primary being of things; in metaphysics, primary substance is the individual unity of matter and form, and secondary substance is the universal form which is individuated in each thing
neutral monism	the doctrine that regards neither mind nor matter as ultimates
materialism	that only matter is existent or real (matter is the physical or sensible)
idealism	any system or doctrine whose fundamental interpretative principle is ideal (emphasis—of ideas rather than of values); metaphysical idealism identifies ontological reality exclusively with the ideal, e.g. mind, spirit, soul, thought
to be	several wholly different meanings of the verb to be should be distinguished, including at least the following—predication of a monadic prepositional function of its argument (the sun is hot, seven is a prime number, mankind is numerous); formal implication (gold is heavy, a horse is a quadruped, mankind is sinful); identity (China is Cathay, that is the sun, I am the State); formal equivalence (lightning is an electric discharge between parts of a cloud or a cloud and the earth)
being	that which is, without qualification (Spinoza); the varieties of meaning and distinctions therein are of interest here in their multiplicity and which are excised; here the lack of qualification includes that ‘is’ refers not to temporal, nor spatial distinction, nor, except so far as it may be necessary, even to lying within space or time
nonexistence	non-being: (1) non-existence or the non-existent; absence or privation of existence or the existent; (2) absence of determinateness or what is thus indeterminate j (3) unreality or the unreal either lack of any reality or what is so lacking (absence, negation, or privation of reality)* or lack of a particular kind of reality or what is so lacking; otherness or existents of another order of reality than a specified type* failure to fulfill the defining criteria of some category, or what so fails 5 (4) a category encompassing any of the above. Confusion of nonexistence and unreality renders paradoxical the question whether non-being is
power, effective cause	the physical, mental, and moral ability to act or to receive an action
causa sui	cause of itself; necessary existence
part – whole	most applications of the concept of whole explicitly resort to a principle which asserts that a whole is more than the sum of its parts; a theorem in the logician Lesniewski’s formal theory of part-whole relationships (mereology), states that every object is identical with the sum of its parts
world	the domain of human experience
interpretation	the assignment of meanings to various concepts, symbols, or objects under consideration
universe	metaphysics—(1) the complete natural world, (2) that whole comprised of all particulars and of all universals, (3) the absolute; logic—the universe of discourse in any treatment is the class such that all other classes treated are subclasses of it and consequently such that all members of any class treated are members of it
void	the philosophical concept of nothingness manifested (“nothingness” is a philosophical term for the general state of nonexistence, sometimes reified as a domain into which things pass when they cease to exist or out of which they may come to exist)
modality	the name given to certain classifications of propositions which are either supplementary to the classification into true and false or intended to provided categories additional to truth and falsehood namely to classifications of propositions as possible, necessary, actual (vs potential, possible; also different from necessary in that necessary existence implies but is not actual), problematical, and the like
possibility, necessity	see above; according to distinctions of modality, a proposition is possible if its negation is not necessary; a proposition is necessary, if its negation is not possible
necessity	a state of affairs or being is necessary if it cannot be otherwise than it is
real necessity	real necessity is that whose negation would be contrary to the nature of the world—e.g., negation of physical necessity would violate laws of physics
logical necessity	that whose negation would violate logic
formal logic	investigates the structure of propositions and of deductive reasoning by a method which abstracts from the content of propositions which come under consideration and deals only with their logical form
probability	chance, possibility, contingency, likelihood, liveliness, presumption, conjecture, prediction, forecast, credibility, relevance; numerical value associated with likelihood of an outcome based on identifying equally likely events and number of events and counting the number of events that count as the outcome vs total number of events; associated with lack of knowledge vs properties of physical reality vs conceived implications of conditions of creation
unconditional being	in one meaning, a being that exists for all of its existential markers (of sameness-difference) is said to be unconditional in another related meaning, a being that exists for all existential markers of the universe is unconditional note that this are my definitions
metaphysics	traditionally given by the oracular phrase, “the science of being as such.” To be distinguished from the study of being under some particular aspect; hence opposed to such sciences as are concerned with ens mobile, ens quantum, etc. The term, “science”, is here used in its classic sense of “knowledge by causes”, where “knowledge” is contrasted with “opinion” and the term cause has the full signification of the Greek aitia. The “causes” which are the objects of metaphysical cognition are said to be “first” in the natural order (first principles), as being founded in no higher or more complete generalizations available to the human intellect by means of its own natural powers
systematic metaphysics	in the early modern period (17th and 18th centuries), the system-building scope of philosophy is often linked to the rationalist method of philosophy, that is the technique of deducing the nature of the world by pure reason. The scholastic concepts of substance and accident were employed. (1) Leibniz proposed in his Monadology a plurality of non-interacting substances. (2) Descartes is famous for his dualism of material and mental substances. (3) Spinoza believed reality was a single substance of God-or-nature.” Source—https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics. There is overlap among speculative and systematic metaphysics. Speculative philosophy may go beyond the empirical but does not eschew the empirical altogether; rather, it uses reason to reveal and build upon ideas intended to capture the essence of the world; and thus favors rationalism over empiricism; and it is the choice of the basic ideas that is speculative
metaphysical possibility	metaphysical possibility is either equivalent to logical possibility or narrower than it (what a philosopher thinks the relationship between the two is depends, in part, on the philosopher’s view of logic). Some philosophers have held that discovered identities such as Kripke‘s “Water is H2O” are metaphysically necessary but not logically necessary (they would claim that there is no formal contradiction involved in “Water is not H2O” even though it turns out to be metaphysically impossible). In reality though, water also contains H3O+ and OH− ions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjunctive_possibility)
category, dimension	In Aristotle’s logic a category is (1) the predicate of a proposition) (2) one of the ultimate modes of being that may be asserted in predication, viz.: substance, quantity, quality, relation, place, time, position, state, action, passion.
identity	in psychology: personal identity, or the continuous existence of the personality despite physiological and psychological changes
duration	a limited extent of existence in time, more or less long, from a fraction of second to countless ages
extension	physical space, considered as a single concrete, continuum as contrasted with the abstract conceptual space of mathematics
history	ambiguously used to denote either events or records of the past (‘historiography’ is used for history as record); also ambiguous in denoting natural as well as human events, or records of either
ethics	that study or discipline which concerns itself with judgments of approval and disapproval, judgments as to the rightness or wrongness, goodness or badness, virtue or vice, desirability or wisdom of actions, dispositions, ends, objects, or states of affairs
cosmology	a branch of philosophy which treats of the origin and structure of the universe. It is to be contrasted with ontology or metaphysics, the study of the most general features of reality, natural and supernatural, and with the philosophy of nature, which investigates the basic laws, processes, and divisions of the objects in nature
form	substantial form—substance distinct from matter to sensuous intuition; with prime matter it constitutes a natural body; there are as many substantial forms as there are different bodies metaphysical form—is the substantial essence of the whole thing as rational animal is said to be the metaphysical form of man
imagination	imagination designates a mental process consisting of: (a) The revival of sense images derived from earlier perceptions (the reproductive imagination), and (b) the combination of these elementary images into new unities (the creative or productive imagination.) The creative imagination is of two kinds: (a) the fancy which is relatively spontaneous and uncontrolled, and (b) the constructive imagination, exemplified in science, invention and philosophy which is controlled by a dominant plan or purpose.
criticism	(Kant.) An investigation of the nature and limits of reason and knowledge, conducted in a manner to avoid both dogmatism and skepticism
skepticism	(1) a proposition about knowledge that (i) no (almost no) knowledge is possible or (ii) that all (most) knowledge is associated with doubt (2) a proposition about a method of obtaining knowledge: that every hypothesis should be subjected to continual testing
doubt	philosophical doubt has been distinguished as definitive or provisional. Definitive doubt is skepticism. Provisional doubt is the rule proposed by the Cartesian method of voluntary suspension of judgment in order to reach a more dependable conclusion
evolution	the development of organization. The working out of a definite end; action by final causation. For Comte, the successive stages of historical development are necessary. In biology, the series of phylogenetic changes in the structure or behavior of organisms, best exemplified by Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. In cosmology, cosmogony is the theory of the generation of the existing universe in space and time. Opposite of: epigenesis
determinism	the doctrine that every fact in the universe is guided entirely by law. Contained as a theory in the atomism of Democritus of Abdera, who reflected upon the impenetrability, translation and impact of matter, and thus allowed only for mechanical causation; the doctrine that all the facts in the physical universe, and hence also in human history, are absolutely dependent upon and conditioned by their causes; in psychology, the doctrine that the will is not free but determined by psychical or physical conditions
accidentalism	the theory that some events are undetermined, or that the incidence of series of determined events is unpredictable (Aristotle, Cournot); in Epicureanism such indeterminism was applied to mental events and specifically to acts of will—the doctrine then assumes the special form: some acts of will are unmotivated. A striking example of a more general accidentalism is Charles Peirce’s Tychism
tychism	a term derived from the Greek, Tyche, fortune, chance, and employed by Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) to express any theory which regards chance as an objective reality, operative in the cosmos. Also, the hypothesis that evolution occurs owing to fortuitous variations
destiny	future necessity; the legal outcome of actuality; divine foreordainment, or the predetermined and unalterable course of events; defined by Peirce (1839-1914) as the embodiment of generals in existence
indeterminism	theory that volitional decisions are in certain cases independent of antecedent physiological and psychological causation
free-will	the free-will doctrine, opposed to determinism, ascribes to the human will freedom in one or more of the following senses: (a) The freedom of indeterminacy is the will’s alleged independence of antecedent conditions, psychological and physiological. A free-will in this sense is at least partially uncaused or is not related in a uniform way with the agent’s character, motives and circumstances. (b) The freedom of alternative choice which consists in the supposed ability of the agent to choose among alternative possibilities of action and (c) The freedom of self-determination consisting in decision independent of external constraint but in accordance with the inner motives and ideals of the agent

lexicon

../resources/journey in being.docm – lexicon (html) jibl—source

Definition

definition A definition specifies a concept. It does not guarantee an object. Thus the existence of the object must be shown. The means of showing depends on the field.

In mathematics which—in the modern understanding—introduces abstract concepts a preliminary step is to establish or argue or at least hope for consistency; a second step concerns completeness which cannot invariably obtain and this is one way in which mathematics must remain open. What are the objects of mathematics? There are various views but a dominant one is that they are abstract and some thinkers hold that they reside in an ideal world. The present development shows that there is only one universe and mathematical objects reside there (if and only if the concepts are consistent).

In science—in application to a normal world (see ‘normal world’) below the concept must be identified with a normal object which almost invariably entails incomplete precision. What then is the value or point to precise proof? It is of course not clear that proof is universally certain across mathematics despite modern standards of rigor but this is perhaps the field of greatest certainty. What is the value of proof? The first value is the in the integrity (and beauty) of the mathematical systems themselves. A second value is that in application error may arise and it is useful to narrow down its source—particularly that it does not arise in the mathematics.

In the universal metaphysics we have shown that for the basic concepts the level of abstraction is such that the object is given. One exception is the void regarding whose existence we have doubt (which we have seen to be a good thing—at least in an existential sense). However, if the void exists our knowledge of it is perfect and the ultimate universal metaphysics that follows is also perfect. What seems surprising is that the metaphysics—with and without the void—is significant. Reflection removes some of the surprise of the conceptual system but not of the freshness, the wonder, the surprise, and the existential and instrumental challenge of the universe itself

Significant meaning

significant meaning When prefixed by the adjective ‘significant’, the sense of ‘meaning’ is the one that occurs in the phrase ‘our search for meaning in life is a lifelong endeavor’. This use of the word meaning important to the journey in being. For the other use of meaning in the narrative, see meaning.

Destiny

destiny Refers to the part of the future that may be controlled; and conceiving and designing for this future. In standard secular thought the remote future is not in control except perhaps as speculative ‘futurology’. Under the universal metaphysics, the seeming remote but given future is sought in the broadest of strokes. However we can enjoy what is necessary on the way: limitless variety of the journey, an ever changing vision of the universe, and engagement in the endeavor of realization.

Rationality

rationality Rational action is the best action. That there is one best action—a single path that is the outcome of pure reason is a fiction. Cumulative experience encoded in culture reveals value (what is seen as worthwhile) and means (of achievement). Value is not determinative—it is guiding for there is always choice—which in terms of freshness and power of being is a good thing. Further, imagination is essential to conceiving and charting action and this too is good and is another element in the non determinative character of value and reflection. Values and means are—at least in some directions—not final and so the nature of rational action is also a question of rationality. Further, we do not want to devote too much of our resources to thinking about action and so we are often concerned with ‘good enough’ action. Rationality also applies to knowledge which is a link in the spiral of action. All this presupposes explicit reflection. However, some cultures encode value and means in myth and intuition. The dichotomy of intuition versus reason however is false. Cultures and individuals lie on a continuum. All cultures have some implicit understanding or tradition and all have experiment and reflection. What varies is the emphasis.

Knowledge

knowledge A simple notion of knowledge is that it involves concepts—pictures—of the world. This comes under obvious criticism because not only is much knowledge not perfectly faithful, it is not clear what ‘faithfulness’ would be. Still we have seen that there is a ultimate and perfect universal metaphysics. Other notions of knowledge are practical—that which enables negotiation of the world; and the notion inherent in the idea of being-in-the-world. What we have shown is that the perfect illuminates and frames the rough; that the rough is always tentative and in process (for limited forms); but that the rough is perfect in its own way—it is the essential though always changing instrument of negotiation in the ultimate universe revealed by the perfect.

Being

being That which ‘is’. The word ‘is’ is used in a sense that any range or ranges of time (or, more generally of extensivity). The non esoteric origin of the term is a source of its potential power. Realization of the power is dependent on careful and imaginative use of the concept of being in which it is important to not admit other meanings as constituents of the concept but to allow or reject them as components of being as dictated by critical thought. See pure being.

Manifest

manifest All being is manifest. We could use ‘being’ to refer also to the absence of being—and even to ‘impossible’ being—and in that case manifest being would be the mark of a non void universe.

Experience

experience Introduced as subjective awareness, it’s meaning is extended to the root element that builds up as the varieties of our experience—pure, attitudinal, active, feeling, emotive, conceptual (which includes the perceptual). In any realm where matter is an effective substance, elementary experience is interaction—an effect of one element of matter in the experiencing element. In the universal where there is no substance, experience may be instanced without a material base.

Unconscious

unconscious The unconscious refers to experiences of which we are not immediately aware or to a body state—e.g. something that can be remembered—that may enter or affect experience. In the extended meaning of experience, there is no unconscious.

Action

action Intentional action which requires seeing, envisioning, and reasoned selection from among options. Risk is action.

Psychology

psychology, the concept The field of psychology is the field of experience—its ranges and unities (see on psychology for details of the ranges). A psychology is a particular theory, representation, or description. See practical psychology.

Real world

real world The world which is there regardless of being experienced but which contains experience and is known in experience. The real world is sometimes called the external world.

Concept

concept In its main meaning here a concept is any mental content. Primarily used to talk of concepts that refer to objects. Occasionally used informally to talk of a concept as a unit of meaning or ‘higher concept’. Includes percepts, feeling and emotion, and will or choice and knowledge driven action (the phrase is redundant since action is of its nature choice and knowledge driven). The entire range of psychological phenomena including personality fall under ‘concept’.

Object

object What is designated by a purportedly referential concept. If abstracted from this use either by talk of an object in itself or by assuming that a purported reference must refer, paradox may result. An object is not necessarily what we think of as an entity (it may be a process, a property, an interaction, a number of such things regarded as a whole) and it may be concrete or abstract. Under the universal metaphysics these distinctions break down (but do not lose their proximate or practical uses).

Meaning

meaning When not prefixed ‘significant’, meaning is conceptual or linguistic meaning. This use is crucial to the analyses of the narrative. The use of conceptual or concept meaning here consists in a concept and its object. In linguistic meaning a word or other language form such as a sentence is associated with the concept. If the language form is abstract—i.e. if it has no resemblance to the object, there can be no meaning without association to a concept that is or enables recognition of the object. Language is possible when such association is possible and it derives power (of expression and communication and, in written form, remote communication and transmission) from common contexts of use. An object is not always evident but it seems rare that there is no implied reference in the real or an experiential world. Analysis of meaning is crucial in uncovering paradoxes in language use and in knowledge that we already have. Analysis and synthesis of meaning (being) is the process of developing knowledge (being).

Perfectly known objects

perfectly known objects An object that is perfectly known via its elementary form or by or by abstraction of features that are perfectly known (or by reason including deduction). Examples of the former are being, experience, the real world, and universe; immanent law and logic are examples of the latter. Knowledge of the void is the result of reason.

Existence

existence Commonly identical to being. In some uses a distinction arises between being as being-in-itself and existence as being-in-relation. The distinction breaks down in case of perfectly known objects. For other objects what we know is the existing form. If we keep the distinction in mind it does not have quite the significance it might otherwise have for under the universal metaphysics the practical objects are transients within the permanent—practical knowledge is an instrument of ultimate realization.

Metaphysics

metaphysics knowledge of being. Metaphysics has been criticized as outside experience and therefore impossible and as too removed from the world to have significance..

Universe

universe The universe is all being over all extensivity (extension and duration).

Creation

creation A creator is external to the created. Emergence from nothing (regardless whether there is nothing) is not creation. Thus creation is cause in some at least primitive sense. The universe is not created (or destroyed—it may become non-manifest). One region of the universe may create another; or, once created, be involved in creation of its own future.

Possibility

possibility A context may be defined by its possible states of which only some are realized at a specific time. A state that is possible but not realized in a context only in reference to other but identical contexts (identical in terms of the possible states). For physical possibility the allowed states are defined by physics. The most liberal notion of possibility is logical possibility. For a cosmos, unrealized states are possible if they follow the laws of the cosmos. For the universe, there is no other but identical context; therefore what is not realized is not called possible. For the universe the realized (the actual) and the possible are identical. According to the universal metaphysics possibility is logical possibility.

Law

law Our written laws of nature are what we read or see as patterns (often expressed in abstract terms). The law itself is the immanent version of our reading. In previous versions I have distinguished the immanent versions by calling them ‘Laws’; however, while the distinction is significant it is not necessary to mark it by capitalization. The laws (immanent) have being.

Void

void The void is the absence of being. The void contains no (immanent) law. The void may be regarded as present with every element of being.

Fundamental principle

fundamental principle The fundamental principle of metaphysics is the demonstrated assertion that the universe realizes all possibilities. It show the universe to be far greater than in the standard cosmologies. Another form of the principle is that the universe is limitless—i.e. that subject to realism (fact—science—and logic provided these are understood to be in process) all conceptual systems are realized.

Limit

limit A limit is a possibility that is never realized. According to the fundamental principle the universe has no limits. Therefore every element of being is limitless for if the universe did not confer limitlessness on the element that would be a limit on the universe. It seems that for two distinct elements to be limitless would be a contradiction; however, limitlessness is realized in unification with all being.

Limitless universe

limitless universe According to the fundamental principle the universe has no limits; stated in instrumental terms—the only constraints on realization of the system of concepts is realism or logic.

Possibilistic universe

possibilistic universe The universe realizes all possibilities. The meaning is the same as that of ‘limitless universe’.

Emergence

emergence The term ‘emergent’ has a range of common connotations. Thus on some views of materialism, mind is not present in elementary matter but emerges at some level of organization of matter. Here, in a not unrelated sense, the void does not cause manifest being; rather manifest being (necessarily) emerges from the void.

Determinism

determinism A world is temporally deterministic when its present state at any time determines its state at all future times. A more general sense of determinism appropriate to a context that is not entirely temporal is when a part of the universe determines the entire universe. The universe is absolutely indeterministic in that from any state, any other state may emerge. However, it is also absolutely deterministic in that all states will emerge.

Deterministic basis

deterministic basis Classical physics is deterministic and the deterministic basis for prediction is the state of the world at any given time—a ‘slice in time’. Although our normal description of the world may not be deterministic there is some predictability to it. The deterministic basis is the base data for prediction. What is it? Perhaps, again, a slice in time. However, we are interested in projection from the normal to the entire universe. Sufficiently far from our world in extension—‘space and time’—the information in our world is entirely lost (if all possibilities are realized). A deterministic basis occurs in and pertains to normal worlds. The situation is more complex than that for there must be continuity of identity. The way in which this obtains is not clear even though quantum mechanics has suggestions regarding physical identity of indistinguishable systems of particles. The question of identity despite information loss is important and likely difficult. It is likely that there must be some balance between loss and growth; that the universe is perhaps never an isolated point even in the void state (how remains a problem to conceptualize); and that information gain (self adaptation, intelligence) balance loss—but how?

Universal metaphysics

universal metaphysics A perfect metaphysics of universal scope that is founded in and deduced via perfect objects. This metaphysics is a container—conceptual and practical—for the practical or approximately known but significant objects of our world. The practical are instruments of living in the world and of realization of and toward the ultimate. In a number of significant situations, the metaphysics permits perfect knowledge of some practical features; in all cases the metaphysics adds an ultimate color to their significance.

Abstract object

abstract object From the fundamental principle all conceptual systems are realized subject to minimal realism. Therefore all objects are in the universe; there is no conceptual divide between abstract and concrete objects. There are practical differences in how we experience and how we study them. This already shows that logic and mathematics are empirical.

Logic

logic We have seen that the truths of logic pertain to all worlds while the truths of science pertain to some worlds. This is one way in which logic and science have unity. However the method of science is said to be induction while that of logic is deduction. This is based on improper analogy for arriving at a scientific theory or logic is inductive while arriving at consequences under science and logic is deductive. This unity of science and logic may be called Logic.

Realism

realism Possibility cannot violate facts which includes the theories of science interpreted as facts for a fixed domain (where their truth is that they precisely specify a small range within which events occur). Possibility cannot violate the valid principles of logic. These constraints are not limits. Together they constitute realism or ‘logical realism’.

Logical realism

logical realism See logic and realism.

Empirical

empirical The term is not used in the sense of knowledge by sense perception alone. It means that all knowledge, even symbolic forms such as logic and mathematics, must and do refer to the world (even when we do not see the object). However the symbolic forms are not empirical in the way that science is. We can see that they must be experimental because they did not spring into culture fully formed—they may seem that way on account of remote (even evolutionary) origin. But we do see that the origin of new systems of mathematics and logic depends on indirect contact with the real—e.g. by checking for consistency and by direct contact in their application to objects that we experience as concrete. Logic and mathematics do not have precise purchase that they seem to when we recognize that their conclusions apply to precisely to concrete objects only insofar as those objects are precisely as idealized. Even the perfect objects are perfect only in their perfect empirical knowledge.

Normal world

normal world The metaphysics seems to violate the facts of our world which, in secular thought, confines us in various ways. In fact the metaphysics requires such normal worlds. What is changed is that the limits of the world (which are not the constraints of logic on concepts) that may have seemed necessary are in fact contingent and that they will be overcome but the overcoming is a function of knowledge and process.

Science and logic

science and logic Science and logic are not of the universe but of knowledge of the universe. The truths of logic are universal, those of science are local. The constraints of logic are on the freedom of concept formation; they are not limits on being. The limits of science are local, not universal. The universal metaphysics shows that for a finite being, science must always be in process; it strongly suggests the same for logic and mathematics.

Science of possibility

science of possibility Another term for Logic (to which our logic is an approximation). The purpose to the alternate term is that it suggests limitless complexity, intricacy, subtlety and perhaps also reduction of the same by insight.

Death

death A very real but not absolute limit. One gate to the ultimate. A spur to realization in this life. See reckoning with death.

Pain

pain May be seen as part of the condition of realization. Complement to enjoyment. We may learn from pain. Not to be recklessly cultivated but certainly not to be avoided at all cost.

Suffering

suffering That part of pain that is may be removed by correct knowledge.

Identity

identity Sense of sameness or self (sense of sameness of self is personal identity). The universal metaphysics implies that the universe has identity.

Personality

personality Includes identity, integration, and memory and their arcs.

Cosmology

cosmology General cosmology concerns the variety, extension, and duration of being and identity in the universe. The fundamental facts of cosmology are its limitlessness and that the universe has acute, diffuse, and absent phases of being and identity.

Civilization

civilization The web of human cultures across time and continents is civilization; Civilization is the matrix of human and other civilizations across the Universe. Universal Civilization is one part of an approach to ultimate identity.

Sameness

sameness Difference and sameness are fundamental duals—i.e. they are irreducible to anything simpler and each concept entails the other.

Difference

difference See sameness.

Extensivity

extensivity Characteristic of a region in which there are differences in identity. The narrative argues that extension and duration are the only extensivities. However dimensionality, fixed or fluid of form or number, is not required except that when it obtains it would seem to be greater than zero.

Extension

extension Marked by different identities.

Duration

duration Marked by differences for a given identity.

Space and time

space and time Measures of extension and duration, respectively. The general incomplete distinction between space and time (so space-time) is shown in the narrative.

Time

time See space and time.

Mind

mind Experience of the ranges and unities of experience give rise to the idea of mind. However, it is not part of the concept that mind has or gives rise to experience (such use is metaphorical). Mind is experience—in its ranges, varieties, and unities. See psyche.

Psychology

psychology See psychology under experience.

Substance

substance What makes an entity the entity that it is: in the history of metaphysics it is the substance or essence of the entity. The substance of all being has been thought to be that unchanging and ultimately simple (uniform) stuff that is the generator of all being and change. The universal metaphysics shows that the universe has no stuff—all its states are fundamental though some are more remarkable (regions of the universe may have as if substance). The metaphysics also shows that an entity has no need for substance—it is best understood as its own substance or form (there are however practical candidates for substance such as atoms or molecules for crystals and DNA for living forms).

Attribute

attribute Spinoza remarked that our being is characterized by thought and extension and argued (on some interpretations) that these are the first two terms of an infinite series of attributes of God. ‘Attribute’ is close to substance in meaning. The narrative shows that there are no such attributes (but each of the given two may have varieties and qualities without limit).

Physical cosmology

physical cosmology The cosmology of our cosmos has often been equated in ancient and modern times to the cosmology of the universe. Today’s secular and scientific cosmology is physical cosmology for which there is consensus on the big bang origin and sequel but no consensus on its origin down to or before ‘time zero’ or on what lies outside empirical borders on large and small scales. The conceptual bases of cosmology—general relativity, quantum theory, and elementary particle theory—are not known to be complete with regard to the elements or their laws (in particular they do not extrapolate down to time zero where they predict a singularity in the form of an infinity).

Power

power Degree of limitlessness. There universe has absolute power—there are no limits to its power.

Individual

individual It is a consequence of the universal metaphysics that the power of the universe is conferred on the individual. The ‘task’ of the individual is to live well in two worlds—the immediate and the ultimate.

Journey in being

journey in being While in limited form realization is an endless journey that is ever fresh and limitless in variety.

Realization

realization Realizing of a possible outcome. Refers here to realization of the ultimate; and to the process of being along the way.

Elements

elements The elements of realization are those whose consideration is effective to realization.

Discipline

discipline A discipline is a received body of knowledge or transforming activity. There are no ultimate disciplines. However the disciplines are useful alongside the elements under a mechanics of realization.

Psyche

psyche Another term for mind that emphasizes its integration. Therefore while it includes the variety of mental phenomena, it emphasizes the self or person and is not separated from the unconscious or body. See mind.

Mechanics

mechanics The essential mechanics is of risk, reflection, and incremental consolidation.

Religion

religion An ideal—religion is use of all dimensions of being in the realization of all being—particularly in being on the way to ‘highest’ being. Actual religions are approximations and, as social institutions, have other characteristics. However it is a perhaps unrealistic ideal that the ideal should not involve economics and politics and perhaps the non-political front of religion (remember that realization is a material endeavor) is simply a façade to guile us. If religions are corrupt it is well to remember that all institutions need renewal and religion may be particularly susceptible to corruption on account of the façade it ‘must’ maintain.

Psychology, practical

psychology, practical A good psychology, formal or informal, is effective in living in the present and in realization. Practical psychology for this purpose in this narrative is guided by discussions of the meaning of the metaphysics, values, the concept of psychology, eclectic selection from psychologies from a range of cultures, reflection, and experiment with concepts and action.

Way

way Disciplined approach to transformation—the received integrated with the experimental (the mechanics).

Catalyst

catalyst Precipitant of real change. Often but not necessarily acute, shocking, and cathartic. If not integrative in itself integration may be the outcome of healing, ways, and the mechanics.

Path

path Particular journey and sequence on the way to realization. Experimental, reflective, and revisable.

Design

design Conceiving, planning, a path. Revision after experiment is part of most design. Principles are as always a mix of the foregoing (elements, disciplines, mechanics, ways, catalysts) and (to repeat even though it is implicit in the elements etc.) and reflection, imagination, criticism, experiment, and repetition with increment.

Sustaining

sustaining Be-ing; living in the present which is of course connected to the ultimate; daily activities; needs for life and living well; and design and planning.

Transformation

transformation Becoming via ideas and action. The emphases in my path are ideas, individual, civilization, and artifact.

Civilizing

civilizing Populating the universe so that it becomes a web of acutely experiential being. The web may be very thin population; a dense population is not necessary for significance and ‘thinness’ may well be most significant when there is some balance between preservation and communication. Civilization nurtures individuals, individuals foster civilization and realization. Civilization is not used in an exclusive sense that emphasizes development (agriculture and industry) over—or under—use and preservation (hunting and gathering). Civilizing is a shared activity that overlaps individual transformation.

World, this

world, this Ground of being and becoming—nature and civilization. “Not important in itself only in the way that the ultimate is not important in itself: the immediate and the ultimate are inseparable—without the horizon there is no sky.”

Artifact

artifact Artifactual transformation is change physical and body level; the means of artifact are called technology. Symbolic and experiment; adjunct to living well in this world and civilizing the universe.

Return

return Coming back to live in the world. Sharing in the world. Sharing the world and the outcome of the journey.

Pure being

pure being Now as eternal. In process if to be more than an ideal. Criteria for being—enjoyment of the world and usefulness toward shared goals.

Reckoning with death

reckoning with death Living in awareness, not avoidance. Living in awareness of finitude as an opportunity to real accomplishment in this world and toward the ultimate. Living in awareness death as a real end to what we have loved but also as gate to the ultimate.

bibliography, sources, readings

../resources/main influences for the way.docm (html) mitw—source

writers (html)—source

the bibliographies (html)—source

reading.html—source

resources*

these are the essential resources

refer to the site home page

index*

and essential glossary*

the author

a distinct part of the text

could be on the back or dust cover

avoid excess duplication with cover material

brief biography*

source—../resources/journey%20in%20being.docm #author (html)

convey excitement (implicitly), convey authority as intrinsic to the experience and ideas rather than tailored experience and qualifications

My father was Bengali, my mother British. I was born and grew up in India. I spent two years as a child in Britain. I have lived in the United States (Delaware, New York, Texas, and California) since 1970. I have traveled in India and Britain, and—extensively in the wild places and cultures—of the United States of America and Mexico. I have had interests and careers in many and varied fields. I value my multi-cultural heritage and range of experience.

My parents were quite different—to me my father, a professor of naval architecture, was a serious and stern disciplinarian; my mother loved literature and the arts and encouraged enjoyment and liberal thought. Who I am now initially developed against this background.

One of my earliest recollections is a visit with my parents to hot springs in Bihar. I thrilled to the primitive setting of the pool and its surrounding of distant hills. For me, nature has been and remains ground and inspiration.

In school my interests and abilities emerged in literature, history, evolutionary biology, mathematics, physics and chemistry. I went to university in India and the United States where I got a PhD in engineering. I maintained technical proficiency but my interests were in physics, mathematics, and the main branches of philosophy. I developed the habit of independent thought even though its early expression is not memorable.

My careers (university research and teaching, restaurant business, mental health) spanned thirty one years till 2009 when independent income made work no longer necessary.

I now live in Northwest California. My home is a mile from the Pacific Ocean. I have lived here for thirty years. I might move inland to be nearer to the mountains.

I began my present mode of thought and writing in 1985. In 2002 I entered my present constructive—imaginative and critical—phase. My ideas dictate that they are essentially incomplete without being continued in action. This is the juncture at which I am today.

My hope is to make explicit progress in realization (over what is already implicit in living—even living well).

In youth we often feel infinite. This may be encouraged by wonder and made possible by the distance of the reality of death. Somewhere around sixty I became finite. That is a good thing because it channeled my effort. Death is real. The thought of death has been a focusing influence. But death is also a gateway. In being engaged in my work and through its discoveries I have regained a new sense of infinitude—an aware one that recognizes death.

My desire to live can be expressed as a criterion. I should have at least the prospect of being useful or of enjoying my life. But I should say more. My enjoyment should not have a negative impact. And mere usefulness is empty for consider a situation where everyone is ‘useful’ but no one has any enjoyment. Two approaches to the ‘problem’ of mere usefulness are (1) How I live my life now, and (2) Mutual action toward a greater being—i.e., being on the way.

I would like end with an invitation. Psyche and sharing (community) are both essential to my journey—to realization. I wish to share—but my wish is more than functional: I desire to share. My invitation to others is to share the journey of realization. I would like to share my endeavor with those who, regardless of their views, would contribute positively, significantly, and supportively to the journey.

Saturday, August 06, 2022

where I am now

physical*

ideas

relevant experience and qualifications

photograph*

possible final material

post-text items are (i) in addition to came before—the themes… (ii) unless there is reason or need, not to be included in the way of being.docm (html) (what was essential is already there)

postscript to the narrative

looking back and forward

could have the postscript, themes, and epilogue as one section

the universe

knowledge, metaphysics, cosmology

realization

prospect

life, death, and beyond

afterword

author speaking as author to readers—appreciation, sharing, the road ahead

appreciation

sharing

the road ahead

back or dust cover

or both

convey excitement (implicitly)

about

recommendations

the author (if not in the book… or a very brief note)

price

contact

art