Concepts

For the Way of Being | Detailed Version for Reduction

To the brief essential version

ANIL MITRA © JANUARY 2018—February 2022

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Contents

Plan

Introduction to The Way

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The way and its aim

Resources

Metaconcepts for the database

Terms that are Capitalized

The way of Being: Ideas

Prologue—The Endeavor of Being

Main concepts

Secondary concepts

Being and experience

Experience

Being, experience, and naturalism

Language and meaning; introduction to reason

Reason

On method

The universe

Metaphysics

Perfect elements of Being

The fundamental principle

Perfect metaphysics

Elements of Being—perfect and pragmatic

Criticism

Cosmology

Life

Psychology and agency

Civilization and society

The Way of Being: Becoming

Summary of key terms

The aim of Being

The Way of Being

Practical dynamics of agency

Miscellaneous sections (1) Attitude (2) Ways, catalysts, and paths (3) Living The Way (4) Sharing and Sangha

Art, Being and Becoming

Principles

Templates

The path

Epilogue—The Immediate and The Real

Resources for The Way

Influences and sources for the essays

General resources for the way

Concepts for The Way of Being

Plan

This is now a source for the main concepts.html.

Introduction to The Way

ADVERTISEMENT, AIM, RESOURCES

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STANDARD WORLDVIEW, SECULAR, NONSECULAR, TRANSSECULAR, RADICAL METAPHYSICS, KNOWLEDGE, ENDEAVOR, DESTINY, RECEIVED KNOWLEDGE, CULTURE, TRADITION, REALIZATION, LOGICAL POSSIBILITY, FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF METAPHYSICS, PERFECT METAPHYSICS, UNIVERSE, VARIETY, PEAK OF BEING, INDIVIDUAL, MERGING

UNDERSTANDING, REVISION OF METAPHYSICAL FRAMEWORK, REEDUCATION OF INTUITION

The way and its aim

THE AIM OF BEING, LIVING WELL, SHARING, THIS WORLD, THE IMMEDIATE, THIS LIFE AND BEYOND, THE ULTIMATE, KNOWLEDGE, ACTION, REALIZATION

Resources

RESOURCES

Metaconcepts for the database

A meta-discipline is about the discipline

TEXT, TEMPLATE, DEDICATED DATABASE, GENERAL PURPOSE DATABASE, RESOURCE DOCUMENT, WEBSITE, THOUGHT, IDEAS, WRITING, ACTION

Terms that are Capitalized

Being, being, Civilization, civilization, Concept, concept, Law, law, Logic, logic

BEING—existence; to have Being is to exist

A BEING—a generalized object, something that exists or has existence or Being, a part of the universe

BEINGS—plural of a being

CIVILIZATION—a particular civilization, human civilization, or civilization in general

CIVILIZATION—universal civilization

CONCEPT—general mental content

CONCEPT—free concept (not bound to an object), higher concept, contrasts to percept or bound content

LAW—natural law, a reading of a pattern in nature

LAW—the pattern itself

LOGIC—usually refers to deductive logic; requirement for conceptual consistency

LOGIC—requirement for (total) consistency, i.e. logic appended by factual or empirical consistency; the universal law

The way of Being: Ideas

the REAL, GIVEN(s), DEFINITION, OSTENSIVE DEFINITION (NAMING givens), CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION (in terms of givens), SYSTEM OF IDEAS, REASON

Prologue—The Endeavor of Being

Main concepts

INDIVIDUAL ENDEAVOR, VIEW, WORLDVIEW, PARADIGM OF THE REAL, RADICAL EVOLUTION, AIM, DIVERSITY OF AIM, HUMAN BEING, HUMAN CIVILIZATIONS, UNDERSTANDING, UNIVERSAL ENDEAVOR, BEING, CIVILIZATION, TRADITION, METAPHYSICS, METAPHYSICAL SYSTEM, REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD, THOUGHT, IDEAS, WRITING, ACTION

Secondary concepts

From the prologue to conceptual outline-essential.html

AIM of THE WAY OF BEING, living well, best possible life, greatest achievable life, universe of all being, active endeavor, meaningful lifeway, WORLDVIEW, SECULAR WORLDVIEW, TRANSSECULAR WORLDVIEW, SUPRASECULAR WORLDVIEW, ULTIMATE WORLDVIEW, STANDARD WORLDVIEW, REEDUCATION OF INTUITION, REFORMULATION OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, this world, highest discovery, HIGHEST REALIZATION, MEANS, IDEAS, PRACTICE, ACTION, ideas-practice-action, INDIVIDUAL, VEHICLE, civilization, METAPHYSICAL LANGUAGE, definition, INTUITION, intuition includes SYMBOLIC PRECISION

Being and experience

Experience

The concept of experience

EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENTIAL MODES of: SENSING, PERCEPTION, KNOWLEDGE, FEELING, REFLECTING, WILLING, ACTING and REASON

Experience—phenomenal awareness, experience-of, experience as interaction, extension to Being: because experience is always experience-of, it is interaction and so the interiority of Being in Being-in-interaction interprets and generalizes experience and vitiates a priori need for substance, which may be labeled ‘naturalism’

Terms at least near equivalent to experience—SUBJECTIVE AWARENESS, CONSCIOUSNESS

Reasons to prefer ‘experience’

REAL WORLD (WORLD), metaphorical EXTERNAL WORLD, DOUBT, SUBJECT, EXPERIENCER, OBJECT, EXPERIENCED

uses of ‘experience’ that are not formally employed here—CUMULATIVE EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE OF AN EXTERNAL WORLD

STRICT MATERIALISM (untenability of), EPIPHENOMENALISM

MATERIALISM, MONISM, STRICT MATERIALISM, CAUSE, EFFECT, AFFECT, DUALISM, SUBSTANCE DUALISM

NAMED GIVEN, EXPERIENCE OF EXPERIENCE—experience is (can be) REFLEXIVE

the CORE OF BEING

EFFECTIVE EXISTENCE

SOLIPSISM, STRICT SOLIPSISM (untenability of)

FIELD OF EXPERIENCE (WORLD as), logical possibility for the field, METAPHYSICAL POSSIBILITY, STANDARD VIEW OF EXPERIENCE and world

the INDIVIDUAL, the REAL WORLD, OTHER MINDS

FREE WILL (fact of, question of necessity of)—ability of seeing, CREATIVITY, and CHOICE of ACTION toward ENDS, and to modify all these in process; the SUBCONSCIOUS, the UNCONSCIOUS, EXISTENTIAL MEANING; FREE WILL SENSE—the sense of having free will—as just as effective as free will

DETERMINISM, INDETERMINISM, creation (CREATIVITY at the boundary of determinism and indeterminism, e.g. as in the classical mean path of a quantum system), PARADIGM OF CREATION, creativity, and origins—non MECHANISTIC but non TELEOLOGICAL

Necessity, question of, regarding experience and free will

On psychology and its possibility

General terms

PSYCHOLOGY, GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIENTIAL PSYCHOLOGY (as study of experience)

Abstraction and perfection for psychology

the CONCRETE—experience as it presents, ABSTRACTION—selection of the GIVEN of and in experience resulting in the ABSTRACT; INCLUSIVE CONTINUUM of the concrete and the abstract; perfect knowledge (of experience as experience, and the PERFECT DUAL ABSTRACT-CONCRETE metaphysics-epistemology), science of experiential psychology

Modes

ELEMENTARY PSYCHOLOGY (document—also see html), PERSON, ‘MIND’ (MANAS, CITTA, VIJÑANA), PURE EXPERIENCE—includes experience of experience or REFLEXIVE EXPERIENCE, ATTITUDE (as aspect of experience), ACTION (also as aspect of experience), INTERNAL ATTITUDE and INTERNAL ACTION, EXTERNAL ATTITUDE, EXTERNAL ACTION—no further MODES OF PSYCHE, experience-of

Elements of psychology

EXPERIENCE-OF, INNER, SELF, OUTER, HOLIST, PSYCHE, BODY, CONCEPT (general MENTAL CONTENT), OBJECT, BOUND CONTENT (SENSE, FEELING, PERCEPT, PERCEPT-FEELING), RECALL (MEMORY), FREE CONTENT (CONCEPT or HIGHER CONCEPT, EMOTION or CONCEPT-FEELING), ICONIC (experience), SYMBOLIC, LINGUISTIC (symbolic-iconic), REFERENTIAL LINGUISTIC MEANING, FORM, QUALITY, FORM-QUALITY, FOCAL, BACKGROUND, INTENSE, NEUTRAL, IMPERATIVE, FUNCTION, COGNITION (perception, conception, language), EMOTIONS (FEAR, JOY), PAIN, PERSONALITY

Identity, spacetime, and agency

AGENCY, TRIAD OF OBJECT-INTERACTION-PROCESS (concepts for foundation of follow), SAMENESS, DIFFERENCE, IDENTITY, PROXIMITY, EXTENSION (apparent bimodality), DURATION (temporal extension), SPATIAL EXTENSION, SPACETIME (unimodal), DYNAMIC of identity, ATTRIBUTE (the SINGLE WORLD ATTRIBUTE is experience in which psyche and object find a place as one—in contrast to my previous two-attribute conception and the infinity of Spinozan attributes)

Naturalism

NATURALISM

Universe of experience

CORE OF BEING—the essence and the real.

ATMAN—essence of individual being.

BRAHMAN—essence of universal being.

WORLD—the immediate to ultimate reality of beings.

Being, experience, and naturalism

Being (its open and non-prejudicial character), experience (and their essential identity), givenness (of Being), FALLACY OF SEPARABILITY, NECESSITY OF BEING (question of—to be answered affirmatively), QUESTION OF BEING (what has Being?)

Language and meaning; introduction to reason

Coordinate with language, meaning, and metaphysics.doc (html)

Language and meaning

LANGUAGE, DISCRETE LANGUAGE, ANALOG LANGUAGE, COMMON LANGUAGE, FORMAL LANGUAGE, METAPHYSICAL LANGUAGE

SIGN, SYMBOL, CONCEPT-PERCEPT, WORD, COMPOUND SYMBOL, OBJECT

REFERENTIAL MEANING (CONCEPT MEANING: concept-object and necessity and efficiency of concept-object formulation), ATOMIC CONCEPT(s), MEANING DETERMINER, CORRESPONDENCE CRITERIA (determiner), LINGUISTIC REFERENTIAL MEANING (symbol-concept-object), COMPOUND MEANING, COHERENCE CRITERIA (determiner), USE

Language and meaning: related concepts

METAPHYSICAL MEANING, EXISTENTIAL MEANING, SIGNIFICANT MEANING, MEANING OF BEING

Elements of language

Complete the following elements, coordinate with language, meaning, and metaphysics.doc (html)

Some elements

SIGN, CONCEPT, SYMBOL, LETTER, PHONEME, WORD, METAPHYSICS, COMPOUND SYMBOL, GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, SENTENCE, USE

FORM, LITERATURE, INFORMAL USE, ABBREVIATING LANGUAGE, ANALYTIC USE, FORMALIZATION, ORDINARY LANGUAGE and LANGUAGES, SPECIAL LANGUAGE—for LOGIC, MATHEMATICS, and SCIENCE

NOUN, PRONOUN, NAME, SINGULAR TERM, VERB, ADJECTIVE, ADVERB, CONJUNCTION, PARTICLE

TENSE, PLACE…

Definition

DEFINITION, PERCEPTUAL DEFINITION (NAMING, GIVEN—naming a given), CONCEPTUAL DEFINITION (WORD-CONCEPT DEFINITION)

On use and meaning

DEFINITION and USE interact; symbols may be OVERLOADED; symbols may have shades of meaning which may depend on world and language CONTEXT

Use and meaning at the edge of understanding

Meaning is in a process of transition from less to more definite, it is never complete in the absence of a FINAL METAPHYSICS

So far as reasonable, DEFINITION should attempt to adhere closely to RECEIVED MEANING; the SYSTEM OF DEFINITION, general or special as in a METAPHYSICAL SYSTEM, should have EMPIRICAL CONSISTENCY and CONCEPTUAL COHERENCE AND CONSISTENCY; and, as far as possible, COMPLETENESS relative to the application, general or special—e.g. a system of metaphysics

For understanding, GIVEN MEANING(s) should be adhered to. INHERITED MEANING may enrich but should not be imposed

Degrees of definiteness and specificity

At the EDGE OF MEANING and knowledge, distinctions blur—there may be but one tense, i.e. TENSELESSNESS; ENTITY-INTERACTION-PROCESS merge, CONCRETION may give way to ABSTRACTION, and indefiniteness to definiteness

The verb to be is an example

In abstraction, the correspondence imperfections of language give way to perfection, the pragmatic is revealed as perfect in itself, and the combination may exhibit DUAL PERFECTION

And within that context, we may enjoy greater specificity—kinds of noun and so on

Language, meaning, and reason

In common notions, meaning and language are closely connected but not meaning and reason.

However, from referential meaning as concept-object, meaning and reason are essentially connected.

Reason

There is a host of associated terms reason, logic, argument, science, practice, imagination and concept formation, heuristics, metaphorical representation, exploration—inner and outer—and many more—we (I) like to see them as a whole. I shall use two names for the whole—reason and method.

Introduction to reason

FACT, ATOMIC FACT, COMPOUND FACT, KNOWLEDGE, KNOWLEDGE-ACTION (partial separability), CUMULATIVE EXPERIENCE

TRUTH, CORRESPONDENCE, CORRESPONDENCE CRITERIA, COHERENCE, PRAGMATIC, and MIXED CRITERIA

REASON, RATIONALITY, ESTABLISHMENT OF FACT, INFORMAL REASON, DIRECT ESTABLISHMENT of fact, ARGUMENT (FORMAL ESTABLISHMENT of fact), PREMISE, INFERENCE, CONCLUSION, ABSTRACT REASON (identity of fact and inference)

CERTAIN FACT, CERTAIN INFERENCE (VALIDITY), CERTAIN ARGUMENT (SOUNDNESS)

PROBABLE FACT, LIKELY INFERENCE and LIKELY ARGUMENT (STRONG, WEAK)

Foundation of reason

BEGIN IN THE PRESENT with RECEIVED FACT and METHOD, work toward FOUNDATION and APPLICATION, via REFLEXIVITY—IMAGINATION, CONCEPT FORMATION, CRITICISM (including METHODOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM), VARIED CUMULATIVE EXPERIENCE, and ACTION

A PRIORI, A POSTERIORI; ANALYTIC, SYNTHETIC; NECESSARY, CONTINGENT; CERTAIN, PROBABLE; POSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE; ABSTRACT, CONCRETE

Elements of reason

DIRECT ESTABLISHMENT OF FACT (OBSERVATION), CERTAIN ESTABLISHMENT (ABSTRACTION of experience or from observation), PROBABLE ESTABLISHMENT of fact (by MEASUREMENT, CORROBORATION, REPEATABILITY), NECESSARY FACT and NECESSARY TRUTH (EXHAUSTION OF ALTERNATIVES)

NECESSARY INFERENCE, DEDUCTION (small clear steps, conclusion at least implicit in premise, TAUTOLOGY), DEDUCTIVE LOGIC

LIKELY INFERENCE (GENERALIZATION-INDUCTION, conclusion more inclusive than premises, INDUCTIVE INFERENCE, ABDUCTION-SCIENCE and HYPOTHESIS-PROJECTION vs COMPOUND FACT-LOCAL PROBABILISTIC, EXPLANATION, UNDERSTANDING, OCKHAM’S PRINCIPLE, AESTHETIC CRITERIA, CONSENSUS and INTERCULTURAL ADAPTATION, ENVIRONMENTAL ADAPTATION—of which all may apply to simple andor compound facts), STRONG INFERENCE vs WEAK INFERENCE, LAW, THEORY

CONDUCTIVE ARGUMENT (informal WEIGHTING OF FACTORS of influence, sometimes sequential)

Reason in the abstract vs concrete sciences

Relative roles of IMAGINATION and CRITICISM, INDUCTION and DEDUCTION

On method

The concept

METHOD is ‘HOW TO’, often pertaining to knowledge, choice, DECISION making, and action; and often connotes definite or perfect method.

However, it need not have these restrictions and indeed, in many important situations, especially philosophy, science, institutional and ordinary decision making, guaranteed method is the exception, method itself is a topic of interest, informal method and imagination or concept formation are important.

IMAGINATION and CRITICISM are important. An element of these is a decision how much of a RESOURCE to devote to these aspects of method.

Generally, all aspects of mind and experience are part of ‘method’ as is action—in itself and as observation and experiment.

Method vs content

Though content and method can be distinguished, method is content where the object of the content is thought, knowledge, how to, etc.

Method and content emerge together.

Reason

Reason is the ability to be critically imaginative in relation to thought and action. Though distinctions are made logic, argument and many concepts above fall under it. Action and experiment too may be seen as part of or closely allied with reason.

A critical point here is that while fine distinctions are important, seeing the various components of reason as a family is also important.

In this narrative

It is natural that method should be distributed.

It has been introduced in association with language, meaning, and use (application); which includes logic, MATHEMATICS, and SCIENCE.

It is seen again, particularly in relation to METAPHYSICS and argument in metaphysics; COSMOLOGY; PSYCHOLOGY and AGENCY; and ART, BEING and BECOMING (REALIZATION).

The universe

Metaphysics

Some concepts for metaphysics

Some general concepts from section Summary of key terms for metaphysics from conceptual outline-essential.html

EXISTENCE OF THE VOID, FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF METAPHYSICS, GREATEST POSSIBLE UNIVERSE AND IDENTITY, realization of most inclusive possibility, IDENTITY-SPACETIME-ABSENCE, VOID AS RESERVOIR OF ALL IDENTITY AND BEING, DISPOSITION, the RECEPTACLE, non-existence of CLASSICAL SUBSTANCE, LIMITLESS VARIETY, extension-duration-absence-peaking-dissolution-of-identity

PURE METAPHYSICS, intuition, CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING, PROOF, HEURISTICS, DOUBT, ACTION PRINCIPLE

PRAGMATIC METAPHYSICS (of the concrete)

dual interactive PERFECT METAPHYSICS, dual PERFECT EPISTEMOLOGY

agency, DYNAMICS OF AGENCY, SENTIENT FORM exceeds any given form, the way, CATALYST

the AIM OF BEING, PATH

Some special concepts from section What is metaphysics? from conceptual outline-essential.html

SPECIAL METAPHYSICS, RATIONAL SPECULATION, rational-in-the-sense-of-citta, DEFAULT WORLDVIEW, SCIENCE as essentially complete vs essentially incomplete, true knowledge of being, metaphysics, the veil

The study of metaphysics has already begun and so metaphysics is clearly possible

The concept of Being is sufficiently abstracted that it perfectly represents its object.

With sufficient abstraction this is true for related concepts.

We will define metaphysics as knowledge of the real. Therefore metaphysics has already begun.

However, it is effective to take up metaphysics afresh.

What is metaphysics?

METAPHYSICS is knowledge and study of Being—of the REAL

Given the common but perhaps metaphorical notion of a VEIL between knower and known, metaphysics can be seen as LIFTING THE VEIL.

Metaphysics may be seen as NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE and TRUTH, especially on an extended account of knowledge.

That metaphysics as knowledge of the real is questionable is standard and explicit epistemology, at least since Kant

On the possibility of metaphysics

However, it is not quite as commonly acknowledged that the epistemic critique of metaphysics due to the concept not being the object, also calls into question the nature of knowledge.

Is knowledge something received, a priori to the known? How can that be if knowledge is part of the world?

Perhaps we should have a correspondence notion for the pure abstract and a correspondence-coherence-pragmatic for the concrete—this is seen to satisfy a criterion of the best possible knowledge in light of the revelation of the perfect ultimate metaphysics.

The universal metaphysics will show the perfect adequacy of this in the local-universal without negating the need for the historical more careful local analyses.

That was an example of an anti-either/or.

Ethically, too, the above generalized conception of knowledge may be indicated.

PURE METAPHYSICS (truth by abstraction, already begun above, and is therefore possible and actual), perfect metaphysics (the ultimate metaphysics of the way, dual of the pure and pragmatic, the pragmatic being perfect in pursuit of truth revealed in the pure, will be found possible and actual), dual perfect epistemology (as explained)

ELEMENTS OF BEING (CATEGORIES of or aspects of Being, typically at the level of Being in perfection and generality or just below)

Metaphysics in this document: to build an ultimate metaphysics

Method in metaphysics

Metaphysics and argument are closely allied. Thus language and the various elements noted in Being and experience and its sub-sections are relevant. Not only can we deploy these elements we can also subject them to conceptual revision and analysis. Our ordinary and everyday experience and reflection become powerful instruments. Of course, in saying this we do not think of science as esoteric.

ABSTRACTION is important

Immanuel Kant’s idea of a TRANSCENDENTAL METHOD is an inversion of the ‘usual’ order of inference. In reasoning about reason, perhaps the first approach will be to proceed from world to knowledge. For example the world may be seen as having elements to which we have corresponding ideas.

On the other hand, Kant reasoned that the reason we can know the world is because the form of ideas and the world correspond and therefore the form of our ideas define the real. Of course not all ideas are thus but the categorial ideas are. It is a deep thought even though the actual categories selected by Kant appear deficient. Plato’s forms may be seen as transcendental.

On elements or categories of Being

Perfect elements of Being

Sufficiently abstract for perfect correspondence; have concrete-pragmatic interpretations.

The following is second of two treatments of Being

The main elements

WHAT IS THERE, DIFFERENCE, SAMENESS

verb TO BE, ‘IS’ (makes a single distinction—that of existence; neutrality with regard to EXTENSION, PROCESS-INTERACTION-ENTITY, TENSE, PLACE, NUMBER, ENTITY, INTERACTION, RELATION, CHANGE, QUALITY, PROPERTY, GENDER, MATTER, MIND, ABSTRACTION, INCLUSIVITY, CORRESPONDENCE, CONCRETION, LOCAL-GLOBAL

BEING or EXISTENCE—property in virtue of which saying ‘it is’ is valid; thus ‘X has Being’ is equivalent to ‘It is valid to say that X is’. The QUALITY of being somewhere in the universe-as-defined-shortly.

Being is best thought of as BEING-EXPERIENCE; in the present use it is not a standard part of speech but is on the border between entity and quality; it is of necessity KNOWABLE and by the universal metaphysics to be developed to all knowers; here, the meaning of ‘knowable’, tacit or explicit, must be immanent rather than imposed.

In concrete cases where being-experience is interwoven, we may regard ‘being-experience’ as the object or the being as a PRAGMATIC OBJECT. These brief thoughts are elaborated later.

PATTERN(s), NATURAL LAW(s), and, as to be seen, SAMENESS, DIFFERENCE, and SPACETIME, all have IMMANENCE in the Being of the world—and therefore all have Being. A pattern or natural law is a being (as defined below)

A significance of pattern or law is that they obtain when the information to specify the system is less, is slight or great proportion, than the raw information.

EFFECTIVE BEING, EFFECTIVE EXISTENT (that which affects experience directly or indirectly; later it is seen that existence and effective existence are the same)

ALL, PART, NULL

UNIVERSE—all Being or all there is—i.e. over all sameness and difference and their absence; the universe can have no OTHER—it may be realization of all possibility, limitlessly greater than our cosmos: in the metaphysics developed here, the universe is seen to be limitlessly greater than our empirical cosmos or multiverse.

ALL BEING or ALL THERE IS, is crucial; omission leads to vagueness, confusion, and contradiction—e.g. if an original power is defined as distinct from the real universe

Uses to be avoided or at least distinguished in meaning—COSMOS, ours and others, EMPIRICAL COSMOS, PHYSICAL UNIVERSE or PHYSICAL COSMOS, PARALLEL UNIVERSE, and MULTIVERSE; note that ‘physical universe’ should be regarded as a simple term

sometimes, especially in theology when God is defined as distinct from the physical universe, to contradiction

Sub-universe—defined below, after ‘epoch’

A BEING—whatever has Being; things, interactions, processes, qualities, TROPE(s), abstracta, concreta, natural laws…

BEINGS—plural of a being

The term will do double duty or be overloaded in referring to HUMAN BEING and any other special kinds or ‘the kind’ such as the greatest being in fact or in process—but it is essential that the use of being itself is supremely simple and without kind

In its general meaning above, a being is a REGION or part of the universe—the region may be one of immanent extension, but other regions are contemplated, e.g. a REGION OF PRECISION, or a REGION OF ENERGY OF INTERACTION; and regions need be neither SIMPLE nor CONNECTED

POWER—the ability to interact, i.e. to affect and be affected, to have and receive an EFFECT, to be part of CAUSATION but not necessarily MECHANISTIC or CONTIGUOUS CAUSATION (the question of temporality is open). Experience—it was seen—and so KNOWING are special cases of power. KNOWLEDGE is knowing-at-hand and information retrievable as knowing. On the material side MATERIAL CAUSATION and EFFECT, and FORCE are cases of power

An object that has no power at all is unknowable and effectively does not exist. In the metaphysics to be developed all objects have power in relation to all others. An EPOCH is a CAUSAL DOMAIN that is temporarily causally ISOLATED from the rest of the universe. If two causal domains are temporally isolated from one another each is a RELATIVE EPOCH, or RELATIVE UNIVERSE. and do not have RELATIVE POWER.

POTENTIAL BEING is the potential for Being, which in a causal domain has Being but which is not logically necessary. If a being is not manifest but was or will be, it is in a state of NONBEING; here the relation of concept and object is crucial.

SUB-UNIVERSE—a permanently isolated ‘epoch’. The term is not used in relation to parallel universes or histories, or the domains of a ‘multiverse’. Are sub-universes possible?

Existentially and materially, a sub-universe or ‘universe’ that does not interact with ours has no significance to us (we can conceive of it but we do not conceive it; and the conception of course may have significance).

In the metaphysics to be developed, there is exactly one universe—dynamically and not just nominally, and all epochs and multiple ‘universes’ do and must interact.

THE VOID—absence of abstract and concrete beings; as absence of beings but not Being, the void may exist; a first proof of existence of the void is that for it, existence is indistinguishable from non-existence

Possibility, feasibility and logic

A being is identified by a concept and POSSIBILITY for that being is consistency with the concept or definition—or reality—of the being. Thus possibility lies in the CONCEPT-OBJECT.

The ACTUAL is possible.

LOGICAL POSSIBILITY—constraints on concepts for realism—the logically impossible cannot exist in any world

The LOGIC in question, strictly, must be deductive; however, a pragmatic case of logical possibility may consider induction in the senses of probability or hypothesis. Possibility may be factual-conceptual and so LOGIC (capitalized) in the present sense includes factual (empirical) and conceptual consistency.

REAL POSSIBILITY—constraints due to the object or kind of object; e.g. UNIVERSAL POSSIBILITY, NATURAL POSSIBILITY, and SENTIENT POSSIBILITY

METAPHYSICAL POSSIBILITY—a device used to analyze situations for realism in the absence of full information; may range from the physical to the logical but is usually in between and incorporates some aspects of realism; may also be used in reference to various systems or conceptions of metaphysic but this is not prominent here

FEASIBILITY—practical or pragmatic realizability, e.g. subject to resource and time constraints; a primary use is for systems of knowledge that are not as definite in their objects and laws as nature and natural law; may substitute ‘possibility’ for feasibility’, e.g. TECHNOLOGICAL POSSIBILITY, IMMEDIATE HUMAN POSSIBILITY, ARTISTIC POSSIBILITY

HIERARCHIES OF POSSIBILITY, THEISM, MONOTHEISM, IDEALISM, IDEALIST COSMOLOGY, UNIVERSAL NATURAL POSSIBILITY, LOCAL NATURAL POSSIBILITY

Possibility, feasibility and logic—summary

possibility, actuality, universal possibility, natural law, natural possibility, conceptual possibility, logical possibility, logic

Reason—continued

Combine?

REASON—an example of a word that should be defined carefully, e.g. with regard to intension, but should also be left open, say with regard to extension. Reason as the optimum use of mind and body in relation to freedom of will… and so entailing all aspects of PSYCHE, arriving at knowledge and decisions, enjoyment (combine with other elaborations)…

Argument—continued, inference, deductive logic, inductive logic, fact

Combine?

LOGIC—DEDUCTIVE LOGIC but interpreted generally, may be: FACT, or factual consistency, inference, deductive logic, ARGUMENT, INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT and SCIENCE, and the absence of an ULTIMATE A PRIORI, and even REASON and RATIONALITY.

The fundamental principle

The principle

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE OF METAPHYSICS (FP)—the only constraint on Being is logical possibility

Related concepts

ABSOLUTE INDETERMINISM, ABSOLUTE DETERMINISM

LIMITED METAPHYSICS OF FACT, PRINCIPLE OF PLENITUDE, MODAL REALISM, POSSIBLE WORLDS, RELATIVE METAPHYSICS, NON RELATIVE METAPHYSICS, ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT, HEURISTIC ARGUMENT

Perfect metaphysics

Sources—perfect metaphysics and epistemology.doc, perfect metaphysics and epistemology.html

Immanuel Kant

Tradition

ELEMENTS OF BEING—PERFECT and PRAGMATIC, UNIVERSAL IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY is universal identity, KARMA, PEAK, LIMITLESSNESS, INFINITE (the infinite), limitless ARRAYS OF COSMOSES, TRANSIENT BACKGROUND, sentient being, GOD, ZERMELO FRAENKEL AXIOMS for set theory

Some details that may be repetition

The metaphysics

THE PURE METAPHYSICS, PURE KNOWLEDGE, COHERENCE CRITERIA, GOOD ENOUGH CRITERION, PRAGMATIC KNOWLEDGE, PRAGMATICS, PERFECT METAPHYSICS, THE UNIVERSAL METAPHYSICS, THE METAPHYSICS, PERFECT DUAL EPISTEMOLOGY, PRAGMATIC CRITERIA, ULTIMATE CRITERIA

ABSTRACT-CONCRETE CONTINUUM, RELIGION, MATHEMATICS

Tradition

DESTINY, AIM OF BEING, AIMS OF CIVILIZATION

PRIMAL, SECULAR, SCIENCE, TRANSSECULAR, RELIGION, SUPRASECULAR, INTUITION, DOGMA, OPENNESS

PHILOSOPHY, METAPHYSICS, VALUE THEORY, HUMANITIES, HISTORY, REASON, IMAGINATION, DOUBT, METHODOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM, KNOWLEDGE ITSELF

CONCRETE SCIENCES, SYMBOLIC SCIENCES (ABSTRACT SCIENCES), ART, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, DESIGN

Elements of Being—perfect and pragmatic

Coordinate with—elements of being.doc, elements of being.html

ELEMENT (constituent of the perfect metaphysics), CATEGORY, SUB CATEGORY, ABSTRACT-CONCRETE CONTINUUM, NESTING, ABSTRACT INTERPRETATION of the concrete, CONCRETE INSTANCE of the abstract

POTENCY OF BEING (the concept), FOUNDATION, PERFECT CATEGORY

The abstract and the concrete

REALISM, LOGICAL REALISM, MATHEMATICAL REALISM, SCIENTIFIC REALISM, DEATH, RECEPTACLE, DISPOSITION

Form and formation

Need—see cosmology

Identity, interaction, dynamics, and extension

Need—see elsewhere

MIND—there seems to be no uncontroversial word that covers experience, attitude, action, sense, perception, conception, thought, imagination, will

Study: words from Indian Philosophy (citta, manas…), and Greek and Latin (PSYCHE…)

‘Mind’: occurs in multiple places in the document; here it appears as one of the pragmatic elements of Being; I will coordinate and may combine these separate occurrences and refer to it from the other locations

Being, experience, and attributes

Need—see elsewhere

Criticism

Source for further criticism and response—section Objections and responses to the universal metaphysics criticisms of the metaphysics.doc (html)

CONSISTENCY, SELF CONSISTENCY (CONCEPTUAL CONSISTENCY, INTERNAL CONSISTENCY), EXTERNAL CONSISTENCY (EMPIRICAL CONSISTENCY, THEORETICAL CONSISTENCY with other thought), NORMAL BEHAVIOR, NORMAL LAW

Cosmology

Source—cosmology.doc, cosmology.html

The border between metaphysics and cosmology

COSMOLOGY is continuation of metaphysics

The border is not at all sharp but one that is somewhat of convention.

As a guiding principle the necessarily porous border between metaphysics and cosmology shall be the border between the abstract and the concrete, the necessary and the contingent, the general and the real, and the eternal and the temporal.

The abstract sciences tend to metaphysics, the concrete to cosmology.

What cosmology is

COSMOLOGY may be seen as knowledge of the variety and extension of Being in the universe.

COSMOLOGY OF SENTIENCE, KIND OF BEING, VARIETY OF BEING, EXTENSION OF BEING, SPATIAL EXTENSION, DURATION, GENERAL COSMOLOGY, FORM, COSMOLOGY OF FORM, PHYSICAL COSMOLOGY

Methods

REASON, METHOD, METAPHYSICS, and SCIENCE.

Metaphysics provides a framework for form and formation.

The abstraction of metaphysics is a powerful container for thought but it gives little concrete knowledge. Rather it is an envelope of the concrete.

The sciences give us ‘methods’ on a number of fronts. The laws and details of science are important in themselves but it is critical to see that our science does not necessarily project any where near to the entire universe and that the empirical boundary is no more than an empirical boundary.

The laws and concepts also give us PARADIGM(s) of LAW, CAUSE, MECHANISM, DETERMINISM WITH INDETERMINISM, the CREATION beyond ordinary mechanism as in the VARIATION-SELECTION of evolutionary biology which may also model ordinary CREATIVITY as well as COSMOLOGICAL CREATION and other kinds of EMERGENCE. The latter is an approach to understanding the emergence of near perfect and near stable form and of dynamics.

General cosmology

GENERAL COSMOLOGY is cosmology without restriction to special epochs.

From section General cosmology from conceptual outline-essential.html

FIELD OF BEING, FIELD OF SENTIENCE, choice, CONSCIOUS CHOICE, free will, SIGNIFICANCE, pain, SUFFERING, BLOOD, joy, BLISS, YOGA, MEDITATION-VISION QUEST, UNIVERSAL CAUSATION, AETERNITAS, PERFECT BUDDHA

Details of cosmology that may be repetitive

General terms

general principle of cosmology, categories of being and reason, particular principles of special and general cosmology, identity, time, space, relation (as interaction), dynamics

Agency and general terms

agency, instrumental means, intrinsic means, element, elements of being, dynamics of being, dynamics of agency

Elements of identity

elements of identity, dimensions of growth, nature, place of be-ing, psyche, universal

Elements of interaction

elements of interaction, intelligent and passionate commitment, one and many, foresight

Elements of process

elements of process, local civilization, population, ways, disciplines, practices, technology, economics, politics, heart, catalysts, immersive economics, immersive politics, ultimate and immediate, brahman, atman, universal civilization, peaking, dissolution

Cosmology of formation

Coordinate with—paradigms of formation and dynamics.doc, paradigms of formation and dynamics.html

General vs efficient formation

The ADAPTIVE PRINCIPLE of formation and maintenance, and perhaps of dissolution, is essential to at least a preliminary understanding of the origin of form and structure. It is a ‘DARWINIAN PARADIGM’ applied to cosmological systems.

From section Cosmology and origins of form from conceptual outline-essential.html

theory of BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION, model for NORMAL FORMATION, VARIATION, ADAPTIVE SELECTION, NECESSARY INSTANCE, UNIVERSAL WAY of origin of form, INDETERMINISM, NOVELTY, DETERMINISM, SINGLE STEP ORIGINS, ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS, ROBUST FORM, robustness via adaptation, robust systems, SIGNIFICANTLY ROBUST, SINGULAR EVENT, GOD OF MONOTHEISM, Abrahamic monotheistic God, Indian philosophy, PANTHEISTIC GOD, PANENTHEISTIC GOD, DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY

Local and physical cosmology—physical law and the empirical cosmos

Local cosmology is concerned with the form, STRUCTURE, LAWS, and FORMATION-MAINTENANCE-DISSOLUTION of local cosmological systems including ours.

Life

Need. A part of cosmology

Coordinate with—life and its origins and evolution.doc, life and its origins and evolution.html

Psychology and agency

Is this needed? See practical agency in ‘becoming’.

Coordinate with—psychology as science-experience through agency.doc, psychology as science-experience through agency.html

On psychology and agency

Further development of the nature of Being and beings

Topics shared with on psychology and its possibility—will have (a) essentials for the earlier discussion: outline and principles of psychology derived from discussion of experience, (b) dynamics of identity, and (b) details of psychology and agency.

Realization and its dynamics

Deploying the way of being and on psychology and agency for realization

Resources—world and experience.doc, world and experience.html; conceptual outline-essential.doc, conceptual outline-essential.html

From section Attitude from conceptual outline-essential.html

EXISTENTIAL ATTITUDE

Civilization and society

Need

Sources—civilization and society.doc, civilization and society.html

The Way of Being: Becoming

Summary of key terms

YOGA, CITTA, CITTA-PSYCHE, SPIRITUALITY, BEYUL, MEDITATION, SHAMATHA, VIPASANA, METAPHYSICAL MEDITATION, REVIEW, MEDITATION-IN-ACTION, EXPERIMENTAL YOGA-MEDITATION

PATH, PLACE, EXPLORATION, NATURE, beyul, SHARING, SANGHA, CULTURE, CIVILIZATION, IDEAS, RATIONAL METAPHYSICS, REALIZATION, INTRINSIC, IMMERSIVE, INSTRUMENTAL, ECONOMICS, POLITICS, TECHNOLOGY, TEMPLATE, EVERYDAY TEMPLATE, UNIVERSAL TEMPLATE

The aim of Being

AIM OF BEING, ETHICS

The Way of Being

Practical dynamics of agency

Essence

DYNAMICS OF AGENCY, EFFICIENT MEANS, TEMPLATES FOR THE WAY, INNER TRANSFORMATION, INSTRUMENTAL TRANSFORMATION, INDIVIDUAL-CIVILIZATION, METAPHYSICS OF KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION, SYSTEM OF KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE

A system for the dynamics

INNER DYNAMICS OF THE PSYCHE, PLACE OF THE REAL, OPTIMAL FORCE AND FLOW, THE MANIFEST AND THE HIDDEN, THE DYNAMICS OF THE INSTRUMENTAL, POWERS OF NATURE, TECHNOLOGY-IN-THE-SERVICE-OF-POPULATING-THE-UNIVERSE, ART AS TRANSFORMING, IMMERSION-SCIENCE, IMMERSION POLITICS-AND-ECONOMY, DYNAMICS OF THE UNIVERSAL

A system for the dynamics: tradition

DESTINY, AIMS OF BEING, AIMS OF CIVILIZATION

PRIMAL, SECULAR, SCIENCE, TRANSSECULAR, RELIGION, SUPRASECULAR, INTUITION, DOGMA, OPENNESS

PHILOSOPHY, METAPHYSICS, VALUE THEORY, HUMANITIES, HISTORY, REASON, IMAGINATION, DOUBT, METHODOLOGICAL SKEPTICISM, KNOWLEDGE ITSELF

CONCRETE SCIENCES, SYMBOLIC SCIENCES, ABSTRACT SCIENCES, ART, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, DESIGN

Miscellaneous sections
(1) Attitude
(2) Ways, catalysts, and paths
(3) Living The Way
(4) Sharing and Sangha

WAYS OF BEING, CATALYTIC STATE AND PROCESS, WHOLENESS OF BEING, SANGHA, IDEATION-PRACTICE-ACTION, ACTION-EVEN-IN-INSECURITY, MEANING OF BEING, SPIRITUALITY, LIVING THE TRUTH, SEEING-DISCOVERING-CREATING-SHARING-PRACTICING-LIVING-BECOMING-THE-TRUTH, WAY OF CIVILIZATION, COMMUNICATION, WRITING, SPEAKING, PERSUASION, MAKING THE TRUTH TRANSPARENT

Art, Being and Becoming

Sources—art, being, and becoming.doc, art, being, and becoming.html

Principles

See the way of being and on psychology and agency

Templates

Templates—universal, local (everyday)

Sources—dedication-affirmation.doc, dedication-affirmation.html; priorities for the way.doc, priorities for the way.html

STORIES—e.g. art showing a way of life.

The path

THE PATH, DESTINY, RENEWAL

Epilogue—The Immediate and The Real

INDIVIDUAL JOURNEY, JOURNEY OF BEING, ETERNAL PROCESS, IMMEDIATE WORLD, ORDINARY INSTRUMENT, PERFECT ABSTRACT KNOWLEDGE OF THE ULTIMATE, PRAGMATIC MEANS, IDEAL INSTRUMENT, REALIZATION OF THE ULTIMATE

ULTIMATE REAL, REALIZATION BY UNIVERSAL AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY, MERGING, PEAKS OF BEING, LIMITLESS MAGNITUDE, VARIETY AND EXTENSION

Resources for The Way

Research older documents for all resources

Influences and sources for the essays

CONCEPT, TOPIC, INFLUENCES, THINKER, SCHOOL, ACTOR

General resources for the way

DOCUMENT, LIBRARY, DISCIPLINE, WORK, BIOGRAPHY, AUTOBIOGRAPHY