The way of being
(a bare edition)

About the bare edition

there is no introduction; motive and explanation are in the text,
especially in the fundamental principle, p. 4, through metaphysics, p. 6

development is informal, imaginative, and original; for foundation, see reason, p. 9;
for rigor, origins, ground in history of thought, elaboration, application, and consequences, follow resources, p. 11

Contents

being and beings	3

reasons	4

the universe and the void	4

the fundamental principle	4

the ultimate	5

experience and meaning	5

pathways	5

paths	5

ways	6

metaphysics	6

introduction	6

metaphysics	7

the real metaphysics	7

consistency	7

doubt and attitudes	7

universe as field of being	7

dimensions of being	8

reason	9

introduction	9

the meaning of reason	9

developing reason for the way	10

what the foundation in reason says	10

path templates	11

design	11

everyday template	11

universal template	11

resources	12

The way of being
(a bare version)

being and beings

being is existence; a being is that which has being (plural—‘beings’)

this raises concerns (i) significance of ‘being’ (ii) what existence is (iii) whether existence and being are identical (iii) whether ‘existence’ is elusive (they are difficult when seen as detached from knowing beings—but more, whether detached foundation is possible at all); for such considerations all concepts of the narrative, follow the resources, p. 11

if what a concept refers to is effective in change of the world (which includes maintaining the world as it is), it refers to (‘is’) a being

the following is a detailed list of examples of beings (so far as not illusory), and may be passed over on casual reading

reasons (see below, p. 4), power (p. 4); facts (including fact of existence or being), states of affairs or being, events, objects, processes, interactions (i.e. cases of power; relations); laws (and patterns as defined below)—i.e., laws of nature; abstractions (p. 9) from beings (by removal of aspects of the concept), being itself, objects anywhere on a concrete-abstract continua, beings known perfectly or pragmatically; ideas, concepts including linguistic concepts, signs, letters of alphabets, parts of speech, clauses, sentences and other linguistic constructs, universals (e.g., redness, which is universal to all red existents), particulars (e.g., a red ball), tropes (e.g., the redness of a red ball); as defined through the universe and the void, p. 4—the universe, creators, the void, and a cosmos

a possible being is one whose concept alone does not rule out its existence

a pattern for a being obtains when the data to specify the being is less than the raw data

a law of nature is a pattern that is identified as important, e.g., for a cosmos (an informal concept—defined, e.g., by coherent form and characterized by a system of laws of nature)

a law does not rule out existence of a possible being, for the being could exist in another cosmos

that which rules out possibility altogether is named necessary or deductive logic

as defined above, possibility is logical possibility; it is the greatest or least restrictive real possibility

reasons

a reason is an explanation

examples of reasons—reasons for existence of a being, e.g., or any of the examples of beings above

kinds of reasons have a categorization—possible, likely, and necessary; power—i.e., material cause-effect, including self-cause—is a kind of reason (the concept of a reason is a generalization of the concept of power)

the universe and the void

the universe is all being

a creator for a being is the cause of its existence

the universe cannot have a creator but may have a reason for its existence—and since it is clearly possible and probable, the only reason worth consideration is a necessary reason

the void is the absence of being

given a being, the void is there with the being, therefore the void exists

the void contains no beings; particularly, it contains no laws; therefore—

if from the void, there is a possible being that does not emerge, that would be a law of nature

all possible beings emerge from the void

the fundamental principle

the universe is the realization of (the greatest) possibility (i.e., of logical possibility)

the assertion above is named the fundamental principle of metaphysics (abbreviated fp)

equivalently, the universe is limitless; which refers to more than limitlessness in space and time, but also to kinds of extension (e.g., space and time), and ‘things’—i.e., if a being is possible, i.e., if its concept does not violate logic, the being exists in the universe at least once (and as many times and places as not ruled out by possibility)

the manifest existence of the universe is necessary; the universe necessarily phases between manifest and void being

that we do not see all possibility in our cosmos is not a contradiction, for our cosmos is not the universe

the ultimate

identity is sense of sameness of self or object

the universe has identity; the universe and its identity are limitless; e.g., there are beings and cosmoses with variety in kind and physical law, without limit; there are peak beings without limit and the ultimate is the greatest of these—whether a state or process; all beings, particularly individuals (beings with sapience), inherit or realize this power of the universe (the contrary would be a limit on the universe); realization occurs by transformation from the limited forms of beings; it occurs necessarily; death is real but not absolute; all these are in transaction with the void

experience and meaning

experience, in its first meaning, is conscious awareness in all its kinds (e.g., cognition, emotion) and modes (e.g., of experience itself and interaction with the world which includes the individual); experience is the place though not the only source of meaning (e.g., of life) and without experience the individual is effectively non-existent; all real transformation of an individual and their continuation beyond death must effectively occur in experience

effectively, experience is the place of our being

with the later expansion of the scope experience, occurrences of the term ‘effectively’ in this division may be omitted

pathways

paths

intelligence is that which makes negotiation in and for the world effective; enjoyment is appreciation of all elements of experience, especially those of pleasure, pain, and intelligence; if enjoyment is a value (desirable), it is valuable (imperative) to pursue realization of the ultimate; there are ‘intelligent’ paths to the ultimate; to be on a path is not just to follow others or prescribed paths, which may be useful, but also to negotiate and develop pathways—and, especially, share and support others in the process

this suggests that a way to the ultimate is through the experiential self; regard meditation as the place of self and its transformation (i) by expansion of extent and scope (ii) by reflexive action upon the powers of meditation; it would then seem that meditation is the way to the ultimate

however, the experiential self has a ‘physical’ side and so the idea of meditation ought to be enhanced to include it; there seems to be no western term that corresponds to this idea but the eastern term ‘yoga’ (in the eastern sense) comes near to it; regard yoga as the place of the individual and its transformation (see resources, p. 11, for a yoga reference) (i) by expansion of extent and scope (ii) by reflexive action upon the physical and experiential powers of individual; then yoga is the way to the ultimate; yoga can learn from the eastern systems but it must be essentially experimental and experiential; and it will include and emphasize meditation; if it is to have universal purchase it will be synthesized with metaphysics, p. 6, and reason, p. 9

how and when is the ultimate attained? it may be achieved in or from ‘this life’ but this seems rare; more commonly this life is preparation for the individual and by sharing for the community; and in realization of the ultimate, the peak of peaks in dynamic and experiential unity—the peak individual sees and incorporates all beings—individuals and civilizations moving among the universe’s epochs of peak and dissolution, e.g., from cosmos to cosmos

ways

ways are traditional formulations, e.g., secular humanism, the religions, speculative and prescriptive metaphysical systems; they may have useful elements but are often touched by mere speculation, dogma, and limited viewpoints

metaphysics

introduction

the fundamental principle shows the peak of possibility; details and paths are left open (i) to imagination, action, criticism—rational and ethical, and correction and (ii) tradition, interpreted as cumulative human culture from ancient times to the present moment (it carries with it its own meanings and applications of ‘value’ and ‘validity’)

metaphysics

metaphysics shall be understood as knowledge of the real; the real may be understood as the valid referents of ideas (of some being)—i.e., to what is definitely knowable

the real metaphysics

the real metaphysics is a system comprised of ideal knowledge derived from the fundamental principle, and pragmatic knowledge of traditions; the ideal illuminates and guides the pragmatic; the pragmatic illustrates the ideal, for which it is instrumental; the criteria of this system appear to be dual—‘perfect’ for the ideal and ‘good enough but incomplete and perhaps possessed of some error’ (which may be accommodated on the way from the immediate to the ultimate); but the criterion is one as it derives from the (or an) ultimate value of enjoyment of paths in the present and to the ultimate

consistency

the real metaphysics is consistent with rationality, experience, and science because all these must be modified by the descriptor ‘so far’ and do not necessarily project to the universe; note—it is not claimed that this consistency is proof of truth, but proof was given earlier

doubt and attitudes

yet it is good to doubt the proof; and, allowing for both doubt and consistency, and regarding the proof as heuristic, suggests alternate attitudes to the real metaphysics (i) as a metaphysical hypothesis in a scientific metaphysics (ii) as an existential principle of action

let us now look at some consequences of the real metaphysics

universe as field of being

an interpretation of experience is a picture of the world (or part of the world) that is consistent with experience and may be suggested by it

the common interpretation of the world of experience is that of selves that are experiential and others, in an environment that is not necessarily categorially non-experiential but possessed of experientiality that is low or numerically zero (just as in physics a force of zero magnitude may be seen as a zero force or no force; for beings for which experientiality it is zero and without significance, the fundamental principle implies that it may acquire experientiality); this interpretation is a weak form of materialism; as used here, the first meaning of experience, p. 5, has been extended to the root of being.

a second interpretation is that there is nothing but the experience (of an experiential whose existence would by hypothetical—all that is acknowledged is the experience); this interpretation is called (philosophical) solipsism; the fundamental principle permits and requires the existence of solipsist cosmoses; the difficulty in seeing our world as solipsist arises in relation to the common interpretation in which the individual is seen as limited in experiential scope relative to the world

a third interpretation is the same as the second—but rather than limited, the ‘individual’ is peak being; under this interpretation, experientiality extends down to the root of being in muted quality and magnitude (as the material ‘side’ of the world); and the universe is a field of being (or just field, or field of experiential being)

the common and field interpretations are adequate descriptions of the universe; but then, there seems to be conflict between them—they seem to compete as descriptions of the real; but there is no conflict—both are valid; the common interpretation is suited to living in our cosmos; the universal is suited to living in our cosmos but seeing and moving beyond to the ultimate

under the field interpretation, we can see god as ultimate peak being but not as distinct from persons or the world—in that the name ‘god’ has meaningful application (in view of its uses), persons, the world, are rising up from their primitive states, by evolution and saltational and other processes, pointing toward the ultimate, being there, and dissolution; the process is repeated eternally

the universe has phases of being an ultimate field of being

dimensions of being

the dimensions of being are variables whose values define kinds of being

experience necessarily has form, which necessitates extension (space); and change, which necessitates duration (time); difference with sameness of identity measures duration; with change of identity it measures extension; therefore there are no measures of such change beyond extension and duration (spacetime); but there may be other changes within identity (quality, property); the pure dimensions of being are experiential form and formation as the world; pragmatic dimensions are chosen from tradition; an example follows

a system of pragmatic dimensions of being is nature (roughly, the world as found—simple or physical, complex or living, and experiential or of what we call ‘mind’), society and culture (a part of the world constructed by beings, defined in the tradition of a culture, and which includes knowledge or representation of itself and other pragmatic and pure dimensions—see the resources, p. 11, for a knowledge reference; some elements of knowledge are the pure and abstract sciences, art, technology, history, religion, and the humanities; some elements of society are politics, economics, exploration, building civilization, and pursuit of meaning and realization), and the ultimate or universal (the universe as beings become it via yoga, p. 6, which includes metaphysics, p. 6, and reason, p. 9)

reason

introduction

this section is about justification of the development; readers who are not concerned with justification text may pass over this division

though there is concern with validity in other divisions, developing the ideas has taken priority over validity; this section briefly addresses that lack; the concern is addressed via discussion of ‘reason’ (the meaning of reason in this division is quite different from its meaning in reasons, p. 4); see the resources, p. 11, for further sources on reason

in the western tradition, understanding commonly refers to direct knowledge and its criteria, and reason refers to reasoning or inference from understanding (and criteria of reasoning)

the meaning of reason

here, reason shall refer to the join of understanding and reason as conceived above (and because the conceptions include criteria, reason shall also be empirical or experimental—i.e., it shall extend to action—and reflexive, i.e., critical of itself and imaginative with regard to itself; an abstraction from a concept or abstract concept is one from which all distortable detail is removed (conceptually), leaving a perfectly known referent of the concept; used in this sense, an abstract or abstracted referent is not remote or abstruse but is more concrete in its certain knowability and reality than those existents we think of as concrete but whose knowledge is subject to distortion

with sufficient abstraction, being is a being

developing reason for the way

the main concepts of the ideal treatment are being (and experience), beings, the universe, the void, natural law, possibility, and logic; these concepts lend themselves to perfection (by abstraction) and completeness, as far as possible, by inclusion of being, universe, the void, and logic

the essential supplements regarding reason here are (i) the ideal account of being, beings (including, e.g., the universe and the void), is perfect because all that is employed in the account is an abstraction of those concepts—this leads to the certainty of the ideal side of the pure metaphysics (ii) the logic of the ideal account is so primitive—as immanent in the elementary grammar of the abstracted fundamental concepts—that no further foundation is necessary (iii) the pragmatic side fits together with the ideal as described in the real metaphysics, p. 7, (iv) the result, the real metaphysics, is a priori not only to experience of the world but all experience including thought, and in this sense, the a priori would refer to a system of knowledge or metaphysics that is self-founding (v) the system is not just a system of knowledge but, as seen, incorporates value (e.g., ethics and aesthetics); it is thus holist, but this holism does not deny that the parts may often be treated independently—in fact or of necessity

are the cosmological consequences of this work speculative? recall that ‘every possibility’ is realized means that concepts that do not violate logic are realized somewhere in the universe (thus imagination is a fertile source of the variety, extent, and duration of being); all logically possible concepts must be realized as many times as do not constitute a violation of logic; if a concept is such that it can be realized only once without contradiction, there is no speculation in asserting its realization (but there may be speculation in asserting its significance); if the concept can be realized only once, but in more ways than one (e.g. by adaptive increment or by saltation), it would be speculative to suggest how frequent the ways are, but speculation may perhaps be improved upon by employing tradition and its paradigms

what the foundation in reason says

in terms of the criteria above, it says that the foundation is perfect and complete with regard to depth—there is no need for another layer; with regard to ‘breadth’, i.e., the variety of being, the foundation is perfect but complete only for limitless being—for limited beings, though knowledge and realization of the variety is given, it is given only as a process (a good thing, for discovery and realization is an eternal adventure)

the foundation does not eliminate the need for modern studies in metaphysics (in the present and other senses of the term), epistemology, ethics, or philosophy of science; the foundation places those studies in context and (i) limits their significance relative to the value revealed (realization of the ultimate in and from the present) (ii) shows that final foundation of knowledge of our world and local ethics in its detail is not possible and therefore cannot be desirable (if it were possible it would not be desirable relative to the revealed ultimate value)

though only a hint of the case is given here, it reveals logic and the abstract and concrete sciences as empirical and rational in nature and as constituting a unity (with internal diversity); and it reveals that if the various logics concern modes of expression, then the range of developed logics must be enormously incomplete

path templates

the templates, even where prescriptive, are derived from principle, and are presented as skeletal so as to be adaptable to a range of personal orientations and cultures

design

the design of the templates is based on reason, p. 9, and the real metaphysics, p. 7, particularly the dimensions of being, p. 8

everyday template

activities of a day are (i) rise, dedication, affirmation of the way (ii) contemplative review of priorities and plans (iii) realization—work, relationships, ‘chores’, yoga—practice – action – sharing, engagement in the world (iv) supplement with physical activity and exploration (v) evening—rest, renewal, preparation and review for the next day, options of realization, networking, and community engagement

universal template

for engagement in the world (i) pure being, community, and retreat (ii) ideas, intellect, and yoga (iii) choice of options for engagement in nature, society and its culture, technology, and exploration (all the foregoing in themselves and as vehicle and path to the real), and the universal (iv) being in the universe, realizing peak being (‘Brahman’ in Vedanta philosophy), in this life or beyond

resources

a general resource is the way of being website, http://www.horizons-2000.org

a knowledge resource is a system of knowledge (supplement), http://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/resources/system of human knowledge, reason, practice, and action.html

an everyday template, http://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/narratives/everyday template.pdf (as alternative to ‘pdf’, also available in ‘html’ and ‘docm’ versions)

a universal template, http://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/narratives/universal template.pdf (‘html’ and ‘docm’ available)

dedication and affirmation, http://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/resources/dedication-affirmation.pdf (‘html’ and ‘docm’ available)

yoga and meditation, http://www.horizons-2000.org/2021/topic essays/meditation.html