The Way of Being
Anil Mitra © 2002—2023
Updated September 9, 2023
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Encapsulation | About consistency
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Summary | Essay: The Way of Being
Encapsulation
The
universe has identity; the universe and its identity are without limit in
duration, extension, and variety of being; all beings realize the
limitlessness of the universe; it is a fundamental value for beings to
realize this limitlessness effectively, intelligently, and enjoyably.
All
this is (i) consistent with experience and reason and (ii) shown in The
Way of Being, ways to the ultimate are developed, and the problems of
pleasure and pain, and limits vs limitlessness are addressed. The issue of
consistency is further discussed just below
and in effective attitudes
toward the metaphysics in the main narrative.
While
limitlessness may suggest absence of pain and limits, that is not the case.
Particularly, limits of birth, death, and mental and physical abilities are
real. However, they are not absolute, for (i) we do not know our precise
limits in our present form (ii) those that are limits of our form are
transcended in transcending our form—either in the immediate or beyond
birth, death, and our apparent form.
The
main aim of The Way is to see and realize the ultimate in, from, and
for the world—natural, social, and beyond.
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About consistency
It
may seem inconsistent in that our cosmos does not realize all
possibilities. However, our cosmos is one possibility and therefore ought
not to realize all possibility. But then it would seem that not all
possibilities are realized, after all. That is not the case, for
limitlessness implies the realization of all possible cosmoses, all
ultimately in relation with one another and the void.
Another
inconsistency seems to arise in the main narrative in proving limitlessness
which depends, here, on the apparent contradiction that the void exists and
does not exist. It is not a contradiction, for ‘contradiction’ has two
senses—‘contra-diction’ or opposing claims and ‘contradiction’ or opposing
reality. The principle of non-contradiction is a statement that truly
opposing reality is impossible but not that true opposing claims are
impossible.
Though
contra-diction may imply contradiction, in the case of the void, it does
not—for since the void contains no being its existence and nonexistence are
not contradictory.
It
may seem that for contra-diction to imply contradiction is the rule and for
the implication to fail as the exception. However, the ‘rule’ has purchase
in standard worldviews in which the universe and beings are limited, while
the ‘exception’ has extensive purchase in a view of the universe as
limitless. For example, in the standard view, death is real and absolute
but in the supra-standard view (universe as limitless), death has reality,
but is not absolute—i.e., death is not (absolutely) real. Again, on the
standard view, you, I, and the universe are distinct but on the
supra-standard view, we are both distinct and one. That is, we are distinct
on scales for which classical reality is dominant, but one on sufficiently
great scales.
Regarding
classical logic in which true contradiction leads to explosion (all
statements would be true) it needs to be recognized that every logic has a
‘universe’ of expressions to which it applies and that that universe is not
‘the universe’ of expressions.
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Brief Listing of Contents
Summary
Preface
The way in
Being
Metaphysics
Cosmology
Realization
Return
Appendixes
Preface
A central
aim of The Way of Being is to see and realize the ultimate in, from, and for
the immediate world.
Grounded in
traditions, The Way develops ways to see and pathways to realize the
ultimate.
The Way
of Being goes beyond its sources in human thought and is offered as a
contribution in metaphysics, reason, and ways of life.
This
document currently and temporarily serves as the 2023 home page for the way
of being. It has (i) a summary of the main ideas, which may serve as a
booklet (ii) an outline for a book of the way.
The way in
Our endeavor
as human and as of the universe seeks to integrate living in the immediate
with attempting to go beyond—it seeks to balance living with the given and
seeking.
It will be
shown that (i) the universe phases in and out of ultimate or peak being in
which all beings merge (ii) there are effective and efficient paths to the
ultimate, weaving together feeling (especially pleasure and pain),
intelligent cognition, and agency.
Let us
repeat—In The Way of Being, it is shown that the universe has
limitless identity. The Way develops pathways to realize this
ultimate. The basis of this knowledge and endeavor is and will be shown to be
in received and emerging experience, intuition, and reason. The aim of The
Way of Being is to see and realize the ultimate in, from, and for the
immediate world.
Formal
development of the way begins with being.
Being
A
referential concept is one that is capable of intentional reference. In the
following paragraph, ‘referential concept’ is abbreviated to ‘concept’.
A being is
that which can be a valid reference of a concept; that is, a being is an
existent in the most inclusive sense of ‘to exist’. Being is the property of
beings-as-beings. Though this is more inclusive and less specific than many
other uses of ‘being’, (i) it empowers understanding by avoiding reference to
special kinds such as matter, mind, or humanness but (ii) empowers real
understanding of such kinds to emerge via experience and reason, rather than
via even partial pre-commitment.
The use of
being as conceived here empowers understanding and knowing the world as
ultimate or limitless.
Metaphysics
The views of
metaphysics and knowledge here are related to the received conceptions of
metaphysics. However, they are neither claimed nor intended to be identical
to the received.
Metaphysics—prelude
on knowledge – what it is and what its functions are
There are
views of knowledge that it is ideal in some senses such as certainty,
reality, and universality and whatever does not meet these criteria is not
knowledge, regardless of its claims made about it. It is widely held that
such ideals are far from achieved.
Though we do
not reject ideal views of knowledge such as the one above as useful, to hold
fast to such ideals may limit the effectiveness of knowledge and the ends to
which it may be put.
Let us
therefore look at knowledge in action. Most life forms do not have the human
capacity for what, in received terms, we call knowledge. Yet their very form
is a kind of knowledge, for as an adaptation, it represents the world in some
at least crude sense. Yet it is a sense in which that kind of representation
is functional for the organism.
Perhaps,
then, it might be desirable for us to relinquish our pure notions of
knowledge as the only kinds that deserve to be called knowledge. In fact,
perhaps we ought not to use the terms ‘this is knowledge’ and ‘that is not
knowledge’. Perhaps we ought to think in terms of kinds of knowledge and
grades of reliability (this is not foreign—pragmatism is an implementation of
the idea).
When some
movements began to replace dogma by reason, the idea that the outcome of
reason ought to be perfect in some received sense was still an inherited
dogma. It was a kind of morality. In reason, criteria and morality are not
irrelevant, but they ought to emerge together.
What we do
below is to keep the pure or ideal notions but also to entertain doubt and an
attitude that enhances the functionality of what is developed that encourages
its use without being shut down by doubt. Reason, criteria, and morality do
emerge together. It will be pointed out what is pure and what is not and how
the join is a dynamic unity and more empowering than the mere sum of the pure
and the ideal.
Metaphysics—what
we take it to be, and an ideal metaphysics
As limits on
the universe and beings are manifest, the nonmanifest (the void) has no
limits; therefore, the nonmanifest and all beings, particularly the universe
and beings with agency, are limitless.
Let us
consider metaphysics to be knowledge of the real. This immediately raises the
question of what knowledge is and how we know that claims of knowledge are
true. That is, epistemology—the study of knowledge, inclusive of its nature
and criteria—must be part of metaphysics if metaphysics is to be dependable.
That epistemology is part of metaphysics can be seen from the fact that
knowledge and its criteria are in the world (the real). But now a problem of
circularity arises—how can we know what metaphysics and epistemology truly
are or ought to be, until the study has arrived at sufficient completeness?
That is—generally, we ought not to define our subject until we have arrived
at sufficient completeness. Particularly, we ought to be critical of any definition
of metaphysics presented at its beginning—including the one at the beginning
of this paragraph.
Why, then,
was the definition presented in advance? Validity of the advance presentation
is possible because this writing comes after sufficient completion of study.
The study further shows that uniformity of the nature and criteria for
knowledge across its entire range are neither necessary nor appropriate. What
emerges is, as noted earlier, an ideal and ultimate framework and a pragmatic
core of detail. The framework is ultimate in (a) being certain and true in a
correspondence sense and (b) revealing the universe as ultimate in what is in
it—in that it ‘contains’ all possible beings in the most inclusive sense of
‘possibility’. The pragmatic core is neither perfect, nor certain, nor
complete but this is acceptable as it is the best available instrument in
knowing and realizing the ultimate in full. That is, value emerges as an
essential part of metaphysics (over and above the fact that value is in the
world and therefore a ‘topic’ in metaphysics).
The above
conception may be criticized (i) because it is not clear that it is possible
(ii) it does not align with received conceptions of metaphysics. However, we
have just seen that it is possible in some ideal and pragmatic cases; in the
ideal case, it is the lack of detail that permits precision regarding the
distinction between the manifest and nonmanifest and it is this abstraction
that permits precise metaphysics. Let us name the metaphysics that stems from
limitlessness the abstract metaphysics or the ideal metaphysics (the
terms ‘abstract’ and ‘ideal’ do not connote ‘not real’—in fact, this
metaphysics is very real – more so than the sciences taken as standing
independently).
Regarding
this conception of metaphysics, when enhanced to the real metaphysics, below,
it may be seen to cover much the same ground as the received conception, and
it is effective in its address of many traditional and modern topics and
problems of metaphysics (see https://www.horizons-2000.org/manual.html).
There is a
particular criticism, as follows. That beings emerge from the void seems
paradoxical, for if the void causes the emergence, it would not be the void,
which would be a contradiction. However, there is no paradox—the void does
not cause the emergence, but being void, it does not limit it. Further, our
laws (physics) cannot prevent it because they neither apply nor obtain in the
void—and it is clear from the above developments that our cosmos and its laws
are special – a limitlessly small fraction of the universe of cosmoses and
laws.
Metaphysics—consequences
for the way of being
The universe
has identity. The universe and its identity are limitless in variety, measure
(extension and duration), and peak and dissolution of being. All beings merge
as one in the peaks.
From the
perspective of eternity or beyond measure, we are already limitless, and it
remains but to see and experience it. As limitless, we merge not only in peak
being but are already merged in one another even though we may not recognize
it.
There are
intelligent and effective pathways to the ultimate in and from the immediate.
Given the
history of the term, is there a meaningful, significant, and realistic use of
the word ‘God’? One such use is the peaking-dissolving process of the
universe—a process of which all beings are a part.
Therefore,
if enjoyment as appreciation of all elements of cognition and feeling is a
core value, it is an imperative to be on a path to the ultimate—in, for, and
from our world.
The
remaining sections for metaphysics are essential to full understanding and
development of the metaphysics. However, they may be omitted on first reading
and by those interested primarily in using the way as a means of realization.
Metaphysics—basis
of the metaphysics in experience and reason
The core of
this section, shown in its details, is that the basis of The Way of Being
is in experience and reason, that the essential base in experience is that
there is experience, and that the basis in reason is in the abstracted and
precise representation of the concept of the universe as the union of the
manifest and the nonmanifest.
Metaphysics—basis
in detailed knowledge
The abstract
metaphysics shows what will be realized but gives little guidance on how. In
this section, it is shown that if pragmatic knowledge, e.g., science, is
joined to the abstract or ideal metaphysics, the join has perfection relative
to the ideal of realization. This join is named the real metaphysics,
abbreviated the metaphysics. The ideal illuminates and guides the
pragmatic and the pragmatic illustrates and is instrumental toward the ideal.
The ideal frames the pragmatic—thus, open issues of science may be addressed.
For example, physics describes the origin of our cosmos in a cosmic
singularity. But it says nothing about why the singularity occurred or
what—if anything—came before, nor any real sense of how these issues may be
addressed. However, the ideal metaphysics does not talk in terms of physical
origins; it shows the universe to be eternal and unbounded and the manifest
and the nonmanifest to be equivalent. The real metaphysics is not just a
juxtaposition of the ideal and the pragmatic; it is a synthetic whole.
Metaphysics—closed
and open
The
essential content of this section is that the metaphysics shows the universe
and knowledge of it to be closed in the direction of depth or foundation but
open and limitless in variety. As far as this is not recognized, knowledge
falls behind the real and its understanding of both openness and closure are
limited, vague, and likely confused. Thus, with its recognition, we see that
knowledge matches the real in foundation and essence (such as there is) but
does not match up with the real in variety. However, there is clarity in this
regard, and it is seen that where knowledge falls behind being it is an
occasion for optimism as an opportunity for adventure; and it is not an
eternal or absolute limit, for limitlessness lies at the end of adventure.
Metaphysics—on
doubt and doubts about the metaphysics
We now
contemplate doubt about and implications for attitudes toward the
metaphysics, for it is clearly not beyond doubt and ought not to be
regarded as beyond doubt, and so, regardless of outcome, doubting will be
productive.
Doubt is generally
useful in finding and justifying truth in its proper degree of certainty. It
encourages both the imagination necessary to see what is possible and the
criticism to see what is necessary.
It is
natural and necessary to doubt the metaphysics as its demonstration is
rational in nature and, so, only indirectly empirical. Further, the
possibility—the likelihood—of paradox in the argument, and the magnitude of
the conclusions makes doubt imperative.
Metaphysics—effective
attitudes toward the metaphysics
Despite
doubt, the metaphysics is consistent with experience and reason; that this is
true is inherent in the conceptions of ‘possibility’ and ‘greatest
possibility’; it is crucial to see this.
Therefore,
the following attitudes to the metaphysics—alternative to proof and
certainty—are appropriate (i) limitlessness of the universe and all beings as
a powerful postulate (ii) the limitlessness as an existential
principle of thought and action—which is interactively functional in
improving the quality of meaning (‘of life’) and in that we ought not to wait
for perfection in knowledge to act on what is reasonable (iii) as a conceptual
and instrumental framework toward understanding the universe and realization
of ultimate being. Note that though doubt was a motive to consider these
attitudes, they have value in themselves, and are significant, even if we are
certain about the truth of the metaphysics.
Cosmology
We are
experiential beings in the universe which is a field of experiential being;
that is—the means of realization are experiential and instrumental, i.e., of
mind and matter, i.e., meditative and material in their most general senses.
Realization
The aim,
means, pathways for realization, and information on their design, are placed
in path templates.
The
templates will have (a) generic but adaptable pathways for everyday and
universal action (b) affirmation and dedication and (c) specific programs of
action.
Affirmation
and dedication
Dedication—We
dedicate our being to all being (to living in the immediate and ultimate
as one), to its shared discovery and realization (in the pure dimension of
being as experiential form and formation as the world with real but not
absolute limits, on the way to the transparent and limitless ultimate, and
the pragmatic dimensions of experience as nature, society, and the
universal), to shedding the bonds of limited self (so that we can see the way
so clearly that even in darkness, life is flow over force), and to realizing
the ultimate in this life and beyond (the process version of the transcendent
‘living in the immediate and ultimate as one’).
Affirmation—the
immediate and ultimate are one; finally, our being is ultimate being.
Formal
development of the way is now complete.
Return
We now see
the world with a new vision. We live in the present for our being
in-the-world and as ground-to-the-ultimate.
Appendixes
Appendix I.
Vocabulary (resources)
The
vocabulary is one of a number of planned resources. The aim is to provide a
language for metaphysics.
Appendix II.
Categories of being
Though the
categories are important to metaphysics and its use, this material on the
categories is currently in an appendix as it is not necessary to basic
understanding of The Way of Being.
Appendix III.
Plan
The document
shall be reviewed for completeness, minimality, essence, material, and
resources, most of which will be placed in secondary documents and linked.
Is the
encapsulation a good idea – as written or even at all?
The
essentials vs details vs topics sections may have separation.
The details
ought to be comprehensive with regard to para- and meta- issues.
Have a
simple and direct version of the document – and a comprehensive one. As
simple as reasonable. Direct relative to living and realizing. Comprehensive
– beginning with the details of this document and as a repository for a
version that is a full metaphysics, which entails metametaphysics,
epistemology (‘multivalued’), theory of value including ethics and
aesthetics, logic in its most inclusive sense, metanarrative, theory of
agency and its working out (living in the immediate and ultimate as one.
The Way of Being
Black text is
used for the main points; other items are shaded light blue-grey.
Formal development begins with the section
on being. The preface and the
way in are informal and some terms in these parts are used
informally.
Essential content
A central aim of The Way of Being is to see and realize
the ultimate in, from, and for the immediate world.
Grounded in traditions, The Way develops ways to
see and pathways to realize the ultimate.
The Way of Being goes
beyond its sources in human thought and is offered as a contribution in
metaphysics, reason, and ways of life.
This document currently and temporarily serves as the
2023 home page for the way of being. It has (i) a summary of the main ideas, which may serve
as a booklet (ii) an outline for a book of the way.
The document is a template for The Way
of Being (2023). In the standard plan, sections have two subsections—essential
content and topics. Some sections deviate from this scheme.
Topics
The first main section, the way in, motivates and has an overview of The
Way of Being. The narrative stands as a whole and interconnections are
emphasized. Sections being through realization develop the main ideas. The epilogue looks inward at what has been
accomplishes and outward toward the world.
Appendix
I. Vocabulary (resources) lists important concepts and their
interconnections. Appendix II.
Categories of being is conceptually important to metaphysics and realization but because it is
somewhat theoretical, it is currently placed in an appendix. The categories
may be placed in a separate article. Appendix
III. Plan is a temporary section maintained while drafting the
article.
Essential content
Our endeavor as human and as of the universe seeks to
integrate living in the immediate with attempting to go beyond—it seeks to
balance living with the given and seeking.
In a quest for realization, we will find
received worldviews and lifeways to have local but not final truth. We will
find the universe and its beings to be limitless—that what we experience as limits
are real but not absolute. The following defines the essence of this view.
It will be shown that (i) the universe phases in and out
of ultimate or peak being in which all beings merge (ii) there are effective
and efficient paths to the ultimate, weaving together feeling (especially
pleasure and pain), intelligent cognition, and agency.
Let us repeat—In The
Way of Being, it is shown that the universe has limitless identity. The
Way develops pathways to realize this ultimate. The basis of this
knowledge and endeavor is and will be shown to be in received and emerging
experience, intuition, and reason. The aim of The Way of Being is to see and
realize the ultimate in, from, and for the immediate world.
Topics
Preliminary, on human motivation—what
people want—survival, contentment, seeking, meaning (existential)
Preview—what The Way of Being
is, the universe as the greatest possible
Overview—with strategy and
worldviews (secular and transsecular), consistency, truth, and implications
for a picture of the universe, limits – real but not absolute, reflexivity –
method and content are one, transparency – no myth of the deep, the mystery
is the world
Sources and origins—received
views, history, experience, retreat, meaning and meanings
Metacontent—logic of the
structure, reading the narrative; metanarrative, writing and developing the
narrative, see Appendix III. Plan.
Formal development of the way begins with being.
Essential content
A referential concept is one that is capable of
intentional reference. In the following paragraph, ‘referential concept’ is
abbreviated to ‘concept’.
A being is that which can be a valid reference of a
concept; that is, a being is an existent in the most inclusive sense of ‘to
exist’. Being is the property of beings-as-beings. Though this is more
inclusive and less specific than many other uses of ‘being’, (i) it empowers
understanding by avoiding reference to special kinds such as matter, mind, or
humanness but (ii) empowers real understanding of such kinds to emerge via
experience and reason, rather than via even partial pre-commitment.
Though the concept of being is critical
to The Way, its summary is not essential to basic understanding. Any
valid reference of the verb to be (e.g., ‘is’), in all its inclusive and
specific senses, is a being; and being is the characteristic of
beings as beings. When we assign the contents of the world kinds of being
such as mind or matter, it assists understanding. On the other hand, it also
hinders understanding as far as mind or matter are not truly real or not perfectly
understood. This hindrance is not serious in day-to-day matters. However, for
true understanding, which is essential in moving beyond the immediate, the
hindrance is serious. It is here that the neutrality and inclusivity of being
are essential. As conceived above, being is just ‘what there is’ and will
therefore not lead to error as mind and matter do.
In the history of understanding, ‘being’
has been used in other senses—e.g., in referring to the essence or richness
of the world or of beings that are capable of understanding and meaning. A
potential problem with the elementary conception of being used here is that
while understanding will be true it will be flat. This is not necessarily a
problem for the present use of being provides a precise framework that may be
filled in with essence or richness as it may emerge.
In fact, it will be found that—
The use of being as conceived here empowers understanding
and knowing the world as ultimate or limitless.
And that the understanding itself is
ultimate in depth or foundation; and while it is not ultimate in breadth or
variety of being for beings while limited in form, it is (i) ultimate in for
limited beings in showing that the variety is limitless (ii) it has
perfection according to criteria that emerge with development of The Way of
Being.
Topics
Being (primary and secondary use—the
primary use is in the sense of bare existence, which is a container for
secondary uses of ‘being’ as what is essential to the nature and richness of
the universe, and how the division into primary and secondary uses empowers
precision and richness), meaning (existential, i.e., of being, ‘of life’),
beings, be-ing as being and becoming, abstraction (and how, with sufficient
abstraction, the abstracted concepts are precise), the universe (its
existence is given), the void (its existence is shown later), laws (that laws
exist in the same sense as existence of beings), the void has no laws
Metaphysics
Essential content
The views of metaphysics and knowledge here are related
to the received conceptions of metaphysics. However, they are neither claimed
nor intended to be identical to the received.
Metaphysics—prelude on knowledge – what it is and what
its functions are
There are views of knowledge that it is ideal in some
senses such as certainty, reality, and universality and whatever does not
meet these criteria is not knowledge, regardless of its claims made about it.
It is widely held that such ideals are far from achieved.
Though we do not reject ideal views of knowledge such as
the one above as useful, to hold fast to such ideals may limit the
effectiveness of knowledge and the ends to which it may be put.
Let us therefore look at knowledge in action. Most life
forms do not have the human capacity for what, in received terms, we call
knowledge. Yet their very form is a kind of knowledge, for as an adaptation,
it represents the world in some at least crude sense. Yet it is a sense in
which that kind of representation is functional for the organism.
Perhaps, then, it might be desirable for us to relinquish
our pure notions of knowledge as the only kinds that deserve to be called
knowledge. In fact, perhaps we ought not to use the terms ‘this is knowledge’
and ‘that is not knowledge’. Perhaps we ought to think in terms of kinds of
knowledge and grades of reliability (this is not foreign—pragmatism is an
implementation of the idea).
When some movements began to replace dogma by reason, the
idea that the outcome of reason ought to be perfect in some received sense
was still an inherited dogma. It was a kind of morality. In reason, criteria
and morality are not irrelevant, but they ought to emerge together.
What we do below is to keep the pure or ideal notions but
also to entertain doubt and an attitude that enhances the functionality of
what is developed that encourages its use without being shut down by doubt.
Reason, criteria, and morality do emerge together. It will be pointed out
what is pure and what is not and how the join is a dynamic unity and more
empowering than the mere sum of the pure and the ideal.
Metaphysics—what we take it to be, and an ideal
metaphysics
As limits on the universe and beings are manifest, the
nonmanifest (the void) has no limits; therefore, the nonmanifest and all
beings, particularly the universe and beings with agency, are limitless.
The mere infinite is not limitless—the
former is without limit in some directions, the latter is unconditional.
Received thought often holds us to be finite, where we experience limits in
some directions; therefore, this received thought is without foundation. We
might equate limitlessness to what has been called the absolute infinite,
except that the latter suggests a state of being, whereas the former is
neutral to the state – relation – process vocabulary and the implied
distinctions.
Let us consider metaphysics to be knowledge of the real.
This immediately raises the question of what knowledge is and how we know
that claims of knowledge are true. That is, epistemology—the study of
knowledge, inclusive of its nature and criteria—must be part of metaphysics
if metaphysics is to be dependable. That epistemology is part of metaphysics
can be seen from the fact that knowledge and its criteria are in the world
(the real). But now a problem of circularity arises—how can we know what
metaphysics and epistemology truly are or ought to be, until the study has
arrived at sufficient completeness? That is—generally, we ought not to define
our subject until we have arrived at sufficient completeness. Particularly,
we ought to be critical of any definition of metaphysics presented at its
beginning—including the one at the beginning of this paragraph.
Why, then, was the definition presented in advance?
Validity of the advance presentation is possible because this writing comes
after sufficient completion of study. The study further shows that uniformity
of the nature and criteria for knowledge across its entire range are neither
necessary nor appropriate. What emerges is, as noted earlier, an ideal and
ultimate framework and a pragmatic core of detail. The framework is ultimate
in (a) being certain and true in a correspondence sense and (b) revealing the
universe as ultimate in what is in it—in that it ‘contains’ all possible
beings in the most inclusive sense of ‘possibility’. The pragmatic core is
neither perfect, nor certain, nor complete but this is acceptable as it is
the best available instrument in knowing and realizing the ultimate in full.
That is, value emerges as an essential part of metaphysics (over and above
the fact that value is in the world and therefore a ‘topic’ in metaphysics).
The above conception may be criticized (i) because it is
not clear that it is possible (ii) it does not align with received
conceptions of metaphysics. However, we have just seen that it is possible in
some ideal and pragmatic cases; in the ideal case, it is the lack of detail
that permits precision regarding the distinction between the manifest and
nonmanifest and it is this abstraction that permits precise metaphysics. Let
us name the metaphysics that stems from limitlessness the abstract
metaphysics or the ideal metaphysics (the terms ‘abstract’ and
‘ideal’ do not connote ‘not real’—in fact, this metaphysics is very real –
more so than the sciences taken as standing independently).
Regarding this conception of metaphysics, when enhanced
to the real
metaphysics, below, it may be seen to cover
much the same ground as the received conception, and it is effective in its
address of many traditional and modern topics and problems of metaphysics
(see https://www.horizons-2000.org/manual.html).
There is a particular criticism, as follows. That beings
emerge from the void seems paradoxical, for if the void causes the emergence,
it would not be the void, which would be a contradiction. However, there is
no paradox—the void does not cause the emergence, but being void, it does not
limit it. Further, our laws (physics) cannot prevent it because they neither
apply nor obtain in the void—and it is clear from the above developments that
our cosmos and its laws are special – a limitlessly small fraction of the
universe of cosmoses and laws.
Metaphysics—consequences for the way of being
The universe has identity. The universe and its identity
are limitless in variety, measure (extension and duration), and peak and
dissolution of being. All beings merge as one in the peaks.
The trajectory of individuals across the
universe is not a mere recycling of limited identities.
Ours is one of limitlessly many cosmoses
of limitless variety in form, particularly physical law; the end of our
cosmos and the beginning of the rest of the universe is arbitrary but may be
regarded as defined by limits of our observation; all cosmoses are in contact
with one another and the void (the nonmanifest).
Every cosmos is an atom and every atom a
cosmos.
From the perspective of eternity or beyond measure, we
are already limitless, and it remains but to see and experience it. As
limitless, we merge not only in peak being but are already merged in one
another even though we may not recognize it.
No element of agency—aware experience,
intelligence, feeling, pleasure, pain and more—is avoidable.
There are intelligent and effective pathways to the
ultimate in and from the immediate.
But if we do not transcend limits,
including those of birth and death, in this life, limits will be transcended
outside the measure of our present being—including in travel across the
cosmoses.
Given the history of the
term, is there a meaningful, significant, and realistic use of the word
‘God’? One such use is the peaking-dissolving process of the universe—a
process of which all beings are a part.
In the ways, pleasure is to be primarily
sought in the path, pain addressed by therapy integrated into the path and by
commitment to the world and to realization.
Therefore, if enjoyment as appreciation of all elements
of cognition and feeling is a core value, it is an imperative to be on a path
to the ultimate—in, for, and from our world.
The remaining sections for metaphysics are essential to
full understanding and development of the metaphysics. However, they may be
omitted on first reading and by those interested primarily in using the way
as a means of realization.
Metaphysics—basis of the metaphysics in experience and
reason
The core of this section, shown in its details, is that
the basis of The Way of Being is in experience and reason, that the
essential base in experience is that there is experience, and that the basis
in reason is in the abstracted and precise representation of the concept of
the universe as the union of the manifest and the nonmanifest.
It was earlier said that the basis of the
way is in experience and reason. How is this the case? The response is in principle
and in detail.
In principle (as in received
thought)—sources of knowledge can be classed as direct and indirect.
Direct knowledge is via contact with the world—via experience (it is of
course an error to think that knowledge and experience are not in the world).
Indirect knowledge is via its transformations in thought—via reason
(especially inference; and given that experience, knowledge,
and—especially—reason itself are in the world, they too are subject to direct
and indirect view, which implies that these means of knowledge must be
regarded as open until shown closed).
Comment—in much received western
thought the distinction between direct or empirical sources and indirect or
rational sources seems to be presumed absolute. As far as we are a special
kind of being—being with distinct organs of sense and of thought, the distinction
holds. And we are a special kind of being. But we are not special in that we
are also universal and peak, in which perception and thought merge. That we
are and are not special is not a contradiction for the full case is that we
are special in our particular moment and place but universal in measure
(e.g., where and when) without restriction.
In detail—The essential and
unstated premise above is that the nonmanifest—the void—exists, which we now
show. Regard the universe as all that there is (the use of ‘is’ is
inclusive—it is neutral to space, time, and particular regions of the
real)—then the universe clearly exists, i.e., it ‘is’; this is experiential
in that given any experience whatsoever, the universe exists, even if all
experience is illusory. That is, the manifest exists. Let us now follow a
process of reason to determine the existence of the nonmanifest, i.e., the
void, which is nothingness. That there are occasions that the universe is the
void is (a) false or (b) true. If false, the universe is eternal, therefore
necessary without premise, and so by symmetry, it must enter all states
rather than just the particular state in which we find it, which contradicts
falsity. Therefore, on occasion, the universe is the void.
Metaphysics—basis in detailed
knowledge
The abstract metaphysics shows what will be realized but
gives little guidance on how. In this section, it is shown that if pragmatic
knowledge, e.g., science, is joined to the abstract or ideal metaphysics, the
join has perfection relative to the ideal of realization. This join is named the
real metaphysics, abbreviated the metaphysics. The ideal
illuminates and guides the pragmatic and the pragmatic illustrates and is
instrumental toward the ideal. The ideal frames the pragmatic—thus, open
issues of science may be addressed. For example, physics describes the origin
of our cosmos in a cosmic singularity. But it says nothing about why the
singularity occurred or what—if anything—came before, nor any real sense of
how these issues may be addressed. However, the ideal metaphysics does not
talk in terms of physical origins; it shows the universe to be eternal and
unbounded and the manifest and the nonmanifest to be equivalent. The real
metaphysics is not just a juxtaposition of the ideal and the pragmatic; it is
a synthetic whole.
The basis so far is for an
abstract—ideal—metaphysics. It is perfect in that its representation of the
universe is precise. It shows that there is an ultimate and that the ultimate
is given. However, since it does not address the concrete details of the world,
it gives us limited guidance on how to live in a way that addresses the
issues of the world and of realization.
Therefore, there is a need for a
complement to the ideal metaphysics. We choose our pragmatic system of
knowledge. Since (i) the ideal of realization is given and (ii) the
imprecision of the pragmatic system is the best we have (iii) therefore the
imprecision is the best we have relative to the ideal. The real
metaphysics is perfect relative to the ideal. The basis of the real
metaphysics is our best experience and reason so far. This illuminates the
pragmatic endeavor and places it in context and affirms rather than negates
our efforts to improve it.
This affirms rather than negates our
valuation of and efforts to improve our pragmatic endeavor. It also places it
in a universal context which gives it a grounding that is otherwise missing.
Our valuations of the pragmatic endeavor range from nihilism and unbounded
optimism; the grounding denies the extremes and provides a view that has
optimism, provided that we accept that the way of being involves pain and
pleasure, endeavor and retreat, and a sense of both success and failure.
Metaphysics—closed and open
The essential content of this section is that the
metaphysics shows the universe and knowledge of it to be closed in the
direction of depth or foundation but open and limitless in variety. As far as
this is not recognized, knowledge falls behind the real and its understanding
of both openness and closure are limited, vague, and likely confused. Thus,
with its recognition, we see that knowledge matches the real in foundation
and essence (such as there is) but does not match up with the real in
variety. However, there is clarity in this regard, and it is seen that where
knowledge falls behind being it is an occasion for optimism as an opportunity
for adventure; and it is not an eternal or absolute limit, for limitlessness
lies at the end of adventure.
The metaphysics shows knowledge closed in
the direction of ultimate foundation—(a) the void or any being (particularly,
the universe itself) may be seen either as generating the universe in a
material-causal sense or necessitating it in a logical sense (at root, the
material and logical are identical; it is in a locale, e.g., a cosmos, that
they are different) (b) we have perfect knowledge item a.
On the other hand, limited being is not
and does not know the entire universe and its variety; which is not the case
for ultimate or peak being.
The metaphysics is closed in the
direction of depth or foundation—this negates the myth of the deep—but ever
open regarding breadth (for limited being).
As far as received thought has not
recognized and does not recognize the closure above it remains not just open,
but open in a confused and vague manner for (i) it does not see the clarity
that results from the ultimate foundation and (ii) it does not recognize the
magnitude of the openness in the open direction. This could be called the
myth of the open or, perhaps, the confusion of the open.
Metaphysics—on doubt and doubts about the metaphysics
We now contemplate doubt about and implications for attitudes toward the metaphysics, for it is
clearly not beyond doubt and ought not to be regarded as beyond doubt, and
so, regardless of outcome, doubting will be productive.
Doubt is generally useful in finding and
justifying truth in its proper degree of certainty. It encourages both the
imagination necessary to see what is possible and the criticism to see what
is necessary.
It is natural and necessary to doubt the metaphysics as its demonstration is rational in nature and, so, only
indirectly empirical. Further, the possibility—the likelihood—of paradox in
the argument, and the magnitude of the conclusions makes doubt imperative.
Metaphysics—effective
attitudes toward the metaphysics
Despite doubt, the metaphysics is consistent with
experience and reason; that this is true is inherent in the conceptions of
‘possibility’ and ‘greatest possibility’; it is crucial to see this.
Therefore, the following attitudes to the
metaphysics—alternative to proof and certainty—are appropriate (i)
limitlessness of the universe and all beings as a powerful postulate
(ii) the limitlessness as an existential principle of thought and
action—which is interactively functional in improving the quality of meaning
(‘of life’) and in that we ought not to wait for perfection in knowledge to
act on what is reasonable (iii) as a conceptual and instrumental framework
toward understanding the universe and realization of ultimate being. Note
that though doubt was a motive to consider these attitudes, they have value
in themselves, and are significant, even if we are certain about the truth of
the metaphysics.
Let us comment on the thought from the
previous paragraph that “we ought not to wait for perfection to act on what
is reasonable”. We are of the background universe, from which we are formed.
In the form that we are, there is ‘thought’ and this discrete and symbolic
thing, ‘language’. Now, reason in language, because of its discreteness, is
capable of some precision—as we have seen. Some of its forms, the logical
calculi are possessed of precision and certainty. The thing we call ‘science’
is not as precise, but it is perhaps the closest we have to precise in
detailed knowledge of the world. There then arises a view, often tacit, that
these endeavors define and limit what we ought to do. But language is an
instrument of negotiation of the world (and of communication). In the tacit
view, we have taken a transitional instrument, and made it ultimate. From the
metaphysics, we see that the instrument is essential to our endeavor, but we
also see that to make it ultimate in itself is limiting. Therefore “we ought not
to wait”.
There is of course some risk in acting
and there are choices to be made, for there are many reasonable calls to
action. Regarding this, we can say (i) we ought to distribute our time and
other resources among immediate and ultimate endeavor (so that neither is
ignored for the other) (ii) we have resources enough to allocate resources to
both (iii) even if a realistic and quantitative analysis of expected value
and choice is possible, we can begin with the qualitative observation that
the outcome of acting toward the ultimate is of such high value that some
resources ought to be allocated toward it.
Topics
Metaphysics as understood
here—knowledge of the real, strength of the concept and relation to received
conceptions. A fundamental issue is whether anything can be known or said
about the real, let alone whether a true and complete account can be given.
This skepticism, characteristic of philosophy since Kant, is dominant today
(but there are realist schemes of metaphysics in the literature); doubt (and
reflexive doubt of doubt). The response here is (i) in many fundamental
problems of our pictures of the world and of knowledge, a tacit metaphysics
is presumed and therefore there is value to developing explicit systems
(especially when this is not done the tacit and open metaphysics is vague and
leads to vagueness and uncertainty of answers) (ii) we can and do develop a
precise ultimate metaphysical framework which is filled in with pragmatic
knowledge and though the pragmatic is imperfect by two common received
criteria of universality and precision, it has perfection according to
emergent criteria of being instrumental toward effective realization of the
ultimate.
Existence of the void (implied by
a true dialetheia or paradox), alternate proofs, limitlessness of all beings
from the void to the universe. Properties of the void—the void exists
(alongside all beings); the number of voids has no significance (perhaps even
no void at all is equivalent to any number of voids); the void contains no
beings; the void contains no laws; the void is the object of all
contradictory propositions
Essential elementary consequences for
beings, peak being, and cosmology—the universe and its identity; variety,
extension, duration, and peak of being; cosmological systems, background
Possibility; conceptual and real
possibility, logic and logical possibility, the greatest possibility; all
beings – void to universe – merge in peak being
The abstract metaphysics; limits
are real but not absolute; the immediate and the ultimate
The real metaphysics (or just the
metaphysics); dynamic join of the abstract metaphysics and pragmatic
knowledge; perfection in terms of emergent criteria; doubt, alternative
attitudes; proof under the real metaphysics; metaphysics (and
metametaphysics), epistemology, theory of value, logic in its most general
sense, narrative and metanarrative, and action as one
Metaphysics as the overarching
discipline—the academic disciplines as a whole do not cover the whole as
whole; let us call a discipline that does that ‘philosophy’ or ‘metaphysic’
Value—ethics and
aesthetics—ultimate and proximate; proof, doubt, and value; the ultimate
value of realizing peak or ultimate being in, from, and for the immediate is
a framework for local value
Developments in metaphysics—what
metaphysics is and its inclusivity, what a problem of metaphysics is, what the
essential problems of metaphysics are (historical and current), and
implications of the real metaphysics for these issues; solution schemas for
the problems with and without the metaphysics
How to do metaphysics and philosophy—how
to build a metaphysics
In this template for the way, the section
on cosmology is shorter than the one on metaphysics because the former
emphasizes content, but the latter emphasizes detail.
Just below, the meaning of ‘experience’
is different from its earlier use. Here, experience is understood as ‘experience
of’ – ‘relation’ – ‘the experienced’; earlier, it was just
‘experience of’.
Essential content
Experience is understood as conscious
awareness in all its forms; the form of experience is mind (experience
of, or concept) – meaning (the experiencing relationship, the
concept-object) – matter (the experienced, or object) in dynamic
change (here ‘mind’ and ‘matter’ are labels, not substances); from the
limitlessness of the world, the very root of being is (primitively)
experiential in kind (its level of experience may be zero in fact but not null
in kind).
We are experiential beings in the universe which is a
field of experiential being; that is—the means of realization are
experiential and instrumental, i.e., of mind and matter, i.e., meditative and
material in their most general senses.
…which are two sides of agency for which
we use the suggestive label ‘yoga’.
I repeat—‘mind’ and ‘matter’ are labels,
not substances; in particular, mind has experience of mind and thus presents with
mind- and matter-like sides; and what we label matter has, as it was seen,
mind—i.e., matter has experientiality that may be zero in magnitude but is
not null in experiential kind; and so, matter, too, presents with both mind-
and matter-like sides.
Topics
Metaphysics vs cosmology—while
metaphysics emphasizes principles, cosmology is about content—i.e., the shape
of being and the universe. However, the distinction is porous and metaphysics
merges with cosmology.
Experience (immediate and extended
meanings); significance and the place of being; concept, relationship, object
(intrinsic and instrumental aspects of being / beings); no further kind in
the object, experience series; meaning (conceptual, linguistic), and
knowledge (emphasizes knowledge that, i.e., factual, but also acknowledges
know how)
Issue of foundation—the template
development is founded in ‘being’, regarding which ‘experience of’ is tacitly
present. The foundation could be in terms of experience since it is a given
for us and (i) as an explicit given for beings with significance, it might be
a better foundation (ii) abstraction would be essential for the details of
the experienced would not be suitable foundation (iii) the template could be
restructured to have foundation in experience, but (iv) here, in the interest
of efficiency, we do not do so. Regarding details of experience and thus of
the world, the issue of illusion—e.g., non-reality, distortion,
hallucination, delusion and so on—arises – are ‘experiences of’ true or
illusory (some may be true, others illusory and so it is not one or the
other). That is, we interpret our experiences as real or not, and there may
be multiple interpretations and so the issue may be seen as one of
interpretation
Interpretations and their reality
(or otherwise); logically equivalent interpretations, all self-consistent
stories and interpretations obtain in the universe; robust interpretations
and their greater significance—numerical, effective, and existential
Agents of knowledge, value, appreciation,
for our world in itself and on the way to the ultimate
We are experiential beings in the universe
as a field of experiential being
Categories—pure and pragmatic dimensions
and paradigms of being; see Appendix I
Formal cosmology—general;
cosmology of form and formation, and of cause as a contingent aspect of form;
identity, situation, spacetimebeing (no further markers of situation),
properties – issue of; physical cosmology and cosmologies
System of knowledge and action—a
system based in and including the real metaphysics, and in the seamlessness
and reflexivity of be-ing; the meanings of discipline and activity names such
as ‘philosophy’ are not to be discussed in received or empirical terms alone
but also in terms of rationality, meaning, and as full a metaphysics and
cosmology as is at hand
Beings and their realizations;
ways—mechanism, design, chance, spontaneity, and necessity
Pathways to the ultimate, in and
from the immediate
Realization
Essential content
The aim, means, pathways for realization, and information
on their design, are placed in path
templates.
The templates will have (a) generic but adaptable
pathways for everyday and universal action (b) affirmation and dedication and
(c) specific programs of action.
Template address—https://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/narratives/templates%20and%20dedication.pdf.
Affirmation and dedication
Dedication—We
dedicate our being to all being (to living in the immediate and ultimate
as one), to its shared discovery and realization (in the pure dimension of
being as experiential form and formation as the world with real but not
absolute limits, on the way to the transparent and limitless ultimate, and
the pragmatic dimensions of experience as nature, society, and the
universal), to shedding the bonds of limited self (so that we can see the way
so clearly that even in darkness, life is flow over force), and to realizing
the ultimate in this life and beyond (the process version of the transcendent
‘living in the immediate and ultimate as one’).
Affirmation—the
immediate and ultimate are one; finally, our being is ultimate being.
Topics
Aim, dedication, and affirmation
Means—instruments of realization—intrinsic
and instrumental
Pathways, programs (in the categories
of being), and templates
Therapy—integrates explicit therapeutic
modalities with the way-as-therapeutic
Resources—the
resources include a vocabulary, pathway
templates, lessons
for and from development of the way, and more
Sources—see below
Formal development of the
way is now complete.
Sources
Sources—see influences
on the way and reading
(2021); though it has extensive sources in western and eastern thought, The
Way of Being is offered as a contribution in metaphysics, reason, and
ways of life.
Return
An alternative title for this section is
‘Epilogue’.
Essential content
We now see the world with a new vision. We live in the
present for our being in-the-world and as ground-to-the-ultimate.
Our written story is a cumulative venture
whose essence ought to be captured and refreshed—so that we will be freed
rather than weighed down by our history of thought and exploration.
Topics
Return—being in the world,
immediate and ultimate; immersion; sharing ideas and realization; publishing
A universal story—the real
metaphysics is a framework; the essential narrative
Appendixes
Appendix I. Vocabulary (resources)
The vocabulary is one of a number of planned resources. The aim is
to provide a language
for metaphysics.
Introduction
The vocabulary or glossary is a system of
concepts for The Way of Being, especially its metaphysics and
pathways.
The concepts are classed, roughly rather
than precisely, as (i) existential (for direct use and living) vs
foundational (for how we know what we assert and associated degree of
certainty) (ii) basic (core, categorial) vs supporting (supporting,
illustrative, lower level).
The treatment of each concept will be (a)
what it is—definition and explanation, alternate and related meanings,
reasons for the present choice (‘what it is’ is reflexive, for meaning itself
is among the concepts) (b) the significance of the concept—what its
importance is (c) how it relates to other concepts—vertically or horizontally
or both, and how it fits into the total meaning, i.e., the meaning of the
system of concepts and truth.
The vocabulary
In the initial system below, terms in
small capitals are both core and existential.
Source—meaning
(existential, of being, of life), purpose, human motivation, worldviews—secular
vs transsecular and transcendent but inclusive, limitlessness—limits
as real but not absolute, seamlessness or oneness of being
(being – relating – becoming, manifest – nonmanifest, knowing – being, method
– content…).
Being—being (primary and secondary
use), abstraction, beings, be-ing, the universe,
the void
(the nonmanifest), laws.
Metaphysics—metaphysics, paradox, limitlessness,
doubt, identity, peak
being, cosmological system(s), background.
Possibility—possibility,
conceptual vs real possibility, logical possibility, the greatest
possibility.
The real metaphysics—perfect
abstract metaphysics; pragmatic metaphysics; the real metaphysics as their dynamic
join, perfection in terms of emergent criteria.
Value—ultimate and proximate,
ethics and aesthetics.
Systematic metaphysics—metaphysics,
its nature, problems, and solution schemas.
Cosmology—experience,
significance, concept, relation, object; experiential beings; meaning
(conceptual, linguistic), language(including ‘grammar of being’ etc.) and
knowledge; interpretation (and the real); logically equivalent
interpretations, all self-consistent stories and interpretations obtain,
robust interpretations and their greater significance—numerical, effective,
and existential; agency; field of experiential being;
categories; formal cosmology, cosmologies; realization, ways; pathways
(to the ultimate).
Realization—aim of being,
means—intrinsic and instrumental; pathways, programs, and templates;
therapy;
sources.
Epilogue—return,
being-in-the-world
(universe); universal
story (narrative).
Appendix II.
Categories of being
Though the categories are important to metaphysics and
its use, this material on the categories is currently in an appendix as it is
not necessary to basic understanding of The Way of Being.
Historical perspective
The historical conception of the
categories is that they are “a complete list of the highest kinds of being” (see
categories
from the Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy). That is, the historical categories are kinds just under
being itself.
A system of categories will not be ad
hoc—it will derive from and may define a metaphysical system. However, the
systems of metaphysics are not unique. As far as choice of system is ad hoc,
the categories will also be ad hoc, at least to some degree. Further, it is
not just that there is a variety of systems, but the nature of metaphysics
has also been in question. Thus, Aristotle’s categories were intended to
reflect reality. On the other hand, skepticism about true knowledge of the
real, led Kant to develop metaphysics as a phenomenal scheme, and his system
of categories was conceptual in which the concepts reflected phenomena,
rather than ‘the thing in itself’.
In recent thought, skepticism over the
possibility of any complete, unique, or well-founded ontological or
conceptual scheme of categories (see the link above),
has led to a more modest metaphysical role for categories. The main modern
emphasis is on drawing categorial distinctions that “diagnose and avoid
various philosophical problems and confusions”.
As understood here, the categories of
being are kinds and aspects of being that are instrumental in understanding
and negotiating ways through the world. The motivation for this conception
and how it relates and encompasses the traditional one is explained in the
details of this section.
Perspective from the real metaphysics
It is implicit that systems of categories
are not mere systems of classification but would have some of the following: (i)
they would be derived from principles such as adequacy to describe the
universe, i.e., metaphysical, conceptual, or linguistic kinds (which have
overlap) (ii) the systems would be reflexive in that knowledge itself is a
kind and in that kinds of kinds would be at least entertained (iii) going
beyond the descriptive, the systems would recognize patterns that make
description efficient or that enable efficient negotiation of the world.
Metaphysics and categories are and ought
to be co-emergent. Here, we extract a system of categories from the real
metaphysics. Its rationality derives from the rationality of the metaphysics.
Further, as the metaphysics is an instrument of cognition, so are the
categories. Given the abilities and limits of human form, the metaphysics is
complete with regard to depth (knowledge of limitlessness) but not breadth
(knowledge of variety—but note that we do know that the variety is
limitless). The categories inherit the same limitlessness and limits. The
intent here is not just that the categories should be a system of
classification, but that shall also be instruments of cognition and
exploration of being and the universe.
If one were to be successful in
developing a complete and precise systematic metaphysics, it would have a
categorial system, which would be co-emergent with the metaphysics itself.
Skepticism about the possibility of a categorial system is skepticism about
the possibility of systematic metaphysics.
The real metaphysics is not a complete
and systematic metaphysics. Rather, it has two parts (a) an ideal-abstract
but perfectly real, precise, and systematic framework at the highest level,
which specifies the nature of the universe in outline (it is an ultimate
specification of an ultimate universe); this part may be regarded as
complete-in-principle; the framework is accessible to all beings with what we
regard as ordinary human intellect and imagination, provided there is a
sufficiently critical attitude toward the critical canon (b) for limited
beings, the framework is filled in by their pragmatic knowledge, which is
imperfect by received criteria; further, as far as the pragmatic knowledge is
not universal or necessary, this part has an ad hoc character. However, the entire
system has perfection by the emergent criterion of an efficient and effective
means of realization of the ultimate. Thus, the real metaphysics is
positioned to define a system of categories, the best we can do relative to
the emergent criterion above, with its precise and pragmatic levels.
How shall we define a system, which is
emergent from the real metaphysics?
First, for completeness, whereas the
received categories are the highest, it will also recognize the pragmatic—the
emerging system will have categories at two levels Thus a first principle of
classification will be (i) the abstract or real vs the pragmatic (it is not
that the pragmatic is not real but rather that its conception is neutral to
reality status). The table below divides the abstract level into being itself
and the remainder of the abstract level. Thus, in the table there are three
levels—being itself, the abstract level just under being, and the pragmatic
level, our received human knowledge of our world as a concrete variety. This
is one—a first—categorial distinction that an emergent system will encode.
Second, in addition to level of being,
from the point of view of usefulness in understanding negotiating the world,
we will recognize four kinds of category—kind of being, kind of necessity of
existence, kind of formation, and kind of form or patterning. At the level of
being itself and the abstract, formation and patterning merge as one; at the
level of the pragmatic, i.e., of our world, they have distinction.
What further principles would define a
system of categories? We are concerned (ii) not just with what exists but the
form and means of knowledge (iii) simplifying schemes or patterns that encode
data as patterns and which make the system useful in negotiating the world—that
is we are concerned, not just with description, but also with theories even
though they may be just local.
Here is a tentative system (later the
material from the small
print version and related documents will be imported).
Table
1 A system of categories
A
system of categories, co‑emergent with the real metaphysics
|
Level
of being
|
Being
itself
|
Abstractly
and precisely known, real
|
Pragmatically
and concretely known, instrumental
|
Categorial
kind
|
Kind
of being
|
No
kind, but harbors the nonmanifest-manifest, part-pattern-whole,
extension-identity-duration
|
Experiential
field, from zero but not null to agency to the completion of peak being;
agency is intrinsic (‘self’) and instrumental (‘object’), which are a
seamless whole
|
Items
on the left, and concrete-abstract distinction; not binary, for there are
degrees of abstraction (not the same knowledge or concept
abstraction)—discrete and / or more connected
|
Necessity
of be-ing
|
Absolute
|
Necessary,
possible, and impossible
|
Items
on the left, contingent, probabilistic
|
Form
and formation
|
No
intrinsic mechanism, but harbors items on the right
|
General
logic, items above, and absolute determinism-indeterminism
|
Items
on the left, incremental formation with indeterminism
|
Patterning
|
Items
on the left, natural science, mechanism, residual indeterminism
|
Appendix III. Plan
The document shall be reviewed for completeness,
minimality, essence, material, and resources, most of which will be placed in
secondary documents and linked.
Is the encapsulation a good idea – as written or even at
all?
The essentials vs details vs topics sections may have
separation.
The details ought to be comprehensive with regard to
para- and meta- issues.
Have a simple and direct version of the document – and a
comprehensive one. As simple as reasonable. Direct relative to living and
realizing. Comprehensive – beginning with the details of this document and as
a repository for a version that is a full metaphysics, which entails
metametaphysics, epistemology (‘multivalued’), theory of value including
ethics and aesthetics, logic in its most inclusive sense, metanarrative,
theory of agency and its working out (living in the immediate and ultimate as
one.
|