Being and the Absolute

And Development of the Idea of Being

AREA 1 THE IDEA OF BEING

The idea of being starts with that which is most fundamental, most full, and most complete. Other considerations are what is most grounded, most centered in our living. This is especially in relation to the intricacies of analysis and what sometimes appears to be the straining of idealism and consciousness as fundamental and what looms as the emptiness of materialism. In development of the idea of being there will be occasion to reflect on and perhaps to modify it

Criteria to decide “what is being?”

Is it observed or “seen”...and is therefore directly known rather than by inference alone

Extent or pervasiveness...to what extent does it pervade, underlie or constitute the existent and the real - in terms of spatial and temporal extension or spatio-temporal extension [one could say being-process] and modality

Quality or variety, richness, self-sufficiency, self awareness, completeness

Criteria to guide selection candidates for consideration

The criteria to decide “what is being?”

Common¹⁴ observation and experience, the elements of culture such as science, myth and religion

Sources

It is barely necessary to list the following sources - they are so obvious and general

Experience and reason¹⁵

The tradition...including the literature. It is important for me to remember that the tradition is not one dimensional - even the “Western Tradition” is pluralistic. The histories of the traditions are important in that they add to understanding and in that they provide “trajectories¹⁶.”

Four Candidate Concepts

I choose to consider matter, idea, human being - or, rather, the sentient form of being in which human being participates, and God as creator and supreme power

I could include consideration of a pantheistic idea of God - in some senses the opposite of God as creator and supreme power. However, that is so general that it would not be much of a hypothesis...and is consistent with just about everything. In any case my final conclusions seem to be rather pantheistic as must be any monism¹⁷ that equates God with ultimate power

Analysis

Matter: Matter appears to be most pervasive¹⁸ and, in the material paradigm, it underlies all creation. Both of these characterizations are inferential and have a hypothetical character. Matter is, therefore, at least initially ruled out

Idea: There are alternative cosmologies in which the idea plays the role that matter has in the material paradigm. The objections to idea as being are the same as the objections to matter

God: God as creator and supreme power - the qualities are inferences and not observed. God - or the idea of God - is supreme with regard to extent and quality but is ruled out because it is not seen. It is the superlative characterization of that makes “God” unsuitable as the fundamental form of being. We want being to be more elemental...this gives more power, more capability for explanation, understanding, prediction, placement¹⁹ to being which is, after all, the most fundamental..

The [sentient] form of Being in which human being participates: Despite metaphysics, human being - and this includes animal being with and without “language” - is the form of being that most clearly exists. It exists by observation so direct that one may question whether it observed to exist or whether its being specifies, defines, models, prototypes, or generates existence and the conditions of existence. Also as a matter of direct observation the quality of this form equals or exceeds that of both matter and idea - since matter and idea are part of the form. Since the form includes idea, matter...indeed the elements of any metaphysics or cosmology...it pervades all being and time. This form satisfies the criteria whereas the other candidates do not

An objection to the use of human being or the [sentient] form in which human being participates is the specific nature of human being and its isolation to a small corner of the known physical universe. A response to this objection is as follows. Reference to human, animal or sentient being is not meant in an exclusive sense. Exclusive thinking dominates our common view of ourselves. Human being in human society appears, to human beings, to be a very specialized development. It is probably intrinsic to biology to be perceptually sensitive to differences among individuals, species, living and non-living forms of matter. Additionally, the sense of separateness is enhanced by language, culture and science. I do not wish to argue against this perception - as perception or as fact. However exclusivity that originates in a focus on differences does not exclude from our understanding the common ground that may be normally taken as the invisible background. This background is the common ground in which all being participates. Seen in this sense human being is not at all specialized: it participates in the common ground and it has its own special character. Thus human being can be seen as being less the common ground or as the special character of human being joined to the common ground. The former is the usual or normal biologically and culturally based view. The latter is the very real view adopted here; however the need for a study of being arises from the limitations of the normal²⁰ biological and cultural perception

Conclusion

Practically and since we know it most directly we may take human being as the initial form of being. This is not meant to imply superiority of humans to other animals or to make any comparison at all in the present concern. Nor is it to say that humans as individuals or as species are - or are not - infinite. Nor does this conclusion rule out the alternate candidates - matter, idea, God - as further analysis may show them to be identical to being. Indeed, in Consciousness, Mind and the World, it is shown - after suitable generalization of consciousness as a concept that consciousness is the world. The approach to the world through consciousness or the idea emphasizes concepts in its formulation...and experience - and observation and experiment - in its development. In the approach through being the roles of concept and experience are interchanged

What lies ahead!

The final objective is a determination of the character of being...at least of significant motion in that direction. We may ask, what is the nature of human being and the being in which human being participates? An objective is to remove the confusions that may surround the question due to the ongoing cultural burden²¹ that includes religion and philosophy...to make clear and direct statements...without removing the mystery of being

First, of course, I need to work through my own questions of being

A first step toward these goals is to lay out a framework