JOURNEY IN BEING
DISCOVERY AND
REALIZATION OF
THE UNIVERSE

ANIL MITRA

Journey in Being

Formatted April 26, 2013

amitra@horizons-2000.org

http://www.horizons-2000.org

Contents

Introduction 3

Prologue 5

The Idea of a Worldview or Cosmology 5

The Standard Cosmologies 5

Journey in Being 7

Experience and Foundation 7

Existence 9

Being 10

Universe 10

Laws 10

The Void 11

The Universal Metaphysics 11

Meaning of the Metaphysics 12

Cosmology 14

Individual and Identity 15

A Perfect, Unique, and Ultimate Metaphysics 17

Civilization and Realization 18

A Way of Realization 20

Transience and Arrival 22

Index 13

Information on the author 24

Page 2

Journey in Being

Introduction

This very brief account is of a journey—a quest—for
Discovery, revelation, and realization of the Universe
In its greatest form—the greatest destiny of Being—
And the place of human being in the process.

The narrative endeavors to show in simple form
What is essential to discovery and realization
But not to suppress essential challenge.

The Journey in Being
Site, http://www.horizons-2000.org,
Links to narratives with greater detail.

The Précis Edition will be useful in pursuing
Further acquaintance with the ideas of this text.
The Complete Edition is an instrument of action
And has material of academic interest.

In the text these are referred to as ‘other narratives’.

…

Page 3

Ideas recounted in the text often came as flow outside my
Volition. The experience has been as if stepping without
Expectation into an alien continent of great beauty. It is
Thus that I sometimes think of the ideas as received.

…

Meaning is sometimes seen as fixed
But has no final determination outside process.
New experience and established use balance fluidity
And fixity in determining meaning.

Many ideas and ways of this narrative are new.
The new builds on the old—on familiar themes—
But readers may be unfamiliar with what is new.

Understanding will be best when it is appreciated that
The new meanings are often carried by familiar terms
And that the ideas form a connected system with meaning
That is greater than the collection of individual meanings.

To specify meaning where it may lack adequate definition
Is important to clear communication. To help address issues
Stated above, I have been especially careful in specifying
Meanings of significant terms employed.

The text will use non standard capitalization, e.g. Being, Logic,
And Universe, to refer to specific and / or variant meanings.

Page 4

Prologue

The Idea of a Worldview or Cosmology

To know and appreciate greatest being requires faithful
Depiction of the Universe and our relations to it.
Metaphysics, cosmology, and worldview
Are common terms for such depictions.

The Standard Cosmologies

The common ‘standard’ cosmologies are secular and trans-
Secular. Secular cosmologies appeal to common experience,
Especially science. The trans-secular posit worlds ‘beyond’;
The mythic and religious are among its standard kinds.

The philosopher David Hume pointed out the absence of
Necessity to science as defining or fitting the entire universe.
Agreement on a limited region or data set does not of
Necessity extend to the whole—i.e., the Universe.

Secularism sees science reach far into all known niches and
Typically concludes: probably, science nearly captures the
Universe. This does not allow for undiscovered niches.

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Hume’s argument disproves the necessity of fit. The niche
Argument disproves its likelihood—this conclusion is well
Illustrated by the history of scientific revolutions. However,
History also reveals a tendency to forget this lesson.

Since Newton’s synthesis science has uncovered many niches
Of significance. The micro or quantum and the relativistic
Space-time-gravity macro realms are especially telling for their
Kinds were generally unimagined before their discovery.

Therefore, from necessity and probability, science allows
Wide open metaphysics in the region beyond the domain of
Validity for science. This ‘beyond’ will be later found
Limitless in a sense that will emerge with the narrative.

Mythic trans-secular cosmologies so conflict realism and
One another that they have no purchase on metaphysics
Except a goal of metaphysics to insist on openness where
We may have been shut down by positivist secular dogma.

Any metaphysics that agrees with standard cosmologies—
And their principles of reasoning—in their domains of
Validity is allowed by those cosmologies and principles.

One aspect of secular thought is significant—all valid
Metaphysics must be founded in experience.

Page 6

Journey in Being

A ‘universe’ of narrative would have no definite beginning
Or end. A discrete text, however, has a nominal beginning.
It is effective to begin the core of this text with experience
Which is the place of our relation to the Universe.

Experience and Foundation

Experience—awareness—is the place of knowledge of
Things—the core and theater of our being.
Its forms are pure, receptive, and active. These combine
As ideas—pure and creative—and action.

Experience is the rock of knowledge of things—
Knowledge that something ‘is there’, for even if all is
Illusion, there is illusion—which is experience.
It is thus shown that there is experience.

Is there more than experience? There are temptations to
Respond ‘of course’ and ‘the issue has no real pragmatic
Interest’. However, to show that there is more will yield
Significant benefit as explained immediately below.

There will be displacement of excesses of doubt and confidence
In reliability of the world. Common experience will go beyond its
Current borders with what certainty may emerge. Analytic skill
In foundation—e.g. of the world in the given—will be sharpened.

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Demonstration follows. If there is only experience then it is as
If either of the whole world or limited. The latter claim would
Contradict itself; the former claim would relabel the world.
Therefore, there is experience which is part of the real world.

Such foundation is no guarantee we will find the world to be
As we expect. We may find it to be far greater—or far
Less. In either case we will have found truth. In fact, this
Preliminary care in foundation will have immense return.

This illustrates a general value to care in foundation. A further
Value: seeing one experience as object for another grounds a
Powerful concept-object interpretation of linguistic meaning
Drawn out in ‘other narratives’ (see the introduction, page 3).

The process is not single step. Here the foundation has been
Revised incrementally and repeatedly in interaction with
Development and use of a metaphysics. Incremental
Revision is typical in development of foundations.

Though often small, there are also major ‘increments’.
Examples here are the insights to conceive and focus on
The main concepts, especially experience, Being, Universe
Laws, the Void, and Realism.

Page 8

Existence

The word ‘exists’ refers to ‘what is there’. To exist is
To be. The reflections above show that existence is not an
Empty concept and that it has a robust and discriminating
Foundation in experience.

‘Exists’ shall denote any mix of ‘existed’, ‘exists’, and ‘will
Exist’ and more according as time and space are but two
Local measures or coordinates of difference associated,
Respectively, with same and distinct identity.

Being

Being is that which exists. The power of the idea of
Being is its neutrality to hypothetical kinds and kinds
Commonly thought of as real. Examples are space, time,
Matter, mind, state, force, process, spirit, soul, and Word.

Mention of these special kinds is not essential
To the core of the present development. Whatever is real—
Named and unnamed—is already in Being.

Page 9

Universe

The Universe is All Being.
There is one and only one Universe.

Whatever has Being is in the Universe.
The hypothetical being that is not in the Universe
Does not exist—it is no more than a hypothesis.

‘Being’ discriminates only existence from non-existence.
It does not distinguish kinds of Being.
Whatever is real exists in the one Universe. There is no other
Universe—e.g., of fact or of kind such as idea or form.

The Universe contains all creation
But is not created.
Any creator is part of the Universe—
The Universe has and can have no external creator.

Laws

Knowledge of the natural world is
Coded in laws and natural histories.
Natural history may be written as law,
Legend, myth, or ancient cosmology.

The laws of natural science are familiar
Modern examples of natural law.

Page 10

A law is a reading of a pattern;
The pattern itself is the immanent Law.
All Laws have Being.
The Universe contains all Laws.

This ‘realism’ of natural law may be extended. Morality,
Civil law, and judgment of value have immanent forms we
May name Ethics, Justice, and Value. The Universe
Contains all Ethics, Justice, and Value.

The Void

The Void is the absence of Being. Therefore the Void
Contains no Law. As complement to the Universe—or
Any element of Being relative to itself—
The Void exists.

The Void which is the absence of Being exists and
Contains no Law. The Void may be regarded to be
Part of every element of Being.

The Universal Metaphysics

All states emerge from the Void
For the contrary would be a Law of the Void.
It is thus shown that the Void—and, so,
Being and the Universe—have no limits.

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If power is degree of limitlessness, the Universe is ultimate
Power. Every state of being, including the Void has this power.
Ultimate power is implicit in the present. Those forms are
Limited for which ultimate realization is only in endless process.

The Universe has no limits.
This demonstrated assertion
Is named the ‘fundamental principle of metaphysics’.

The worldview that results is called
The universal metaphysics
Or, simply, the metaphysics.

It is crucial to use of the metaphysics that its meaning shall
Be understood. Let us now further develop this requisite,
First taking up explicit meaning.

Meaning of the Metaphysics

In this section ‘concept’ will refer to referential concepts—
I.e., concepts that purport to have objects. Free concept
Formation is immensely useful in the progress of knowledge.

While useful, this freedom allows formation of concepts that
Are inconsistent with fact or with one another—that is, it
Allows concepts for which it is impossible to have objects.

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From the limitlessness of the Universe the only concepts
That do not have objects are the impossible concepts.
This constraint on concepts for realism is
Not a limit on the Universe.

This minimal Realism constitutes
An explicit meaning of the metaphysics:
Given Realism, concepts have objects.

Another term for Realism is Logic: the Universe is the object
Of Logic (thus related to Logos). In this form, which includes
Agreement with fact (science), Logic is not a limit—but the
Constraint of realism on the freedom of concept formation.

The object of Logic is the Universe. All valid science and
Systems of logic lie within Logic.

Agreement with fact includes agreement with the knowledge
Claims of human culture, e.g. science, religion, and lore in their
Valid domains. Consistency among concepts includes agreement
With systems of logic where they are valid.

The vastness and Forms of Logic await discovery—The
Known logics are but forms of and within Logic.
And while the forms may be rough and seen as
Constraining, Logic is the true and most liberal realism.

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This account of explicit meaning should be complemented
By discussion of implicit meaning which lies in implications,
Which are the focus of sections beginning with Cosmology.

Cosmology

The universal metaphysics implies what follows.
It is especially the implications
That bring out its implicit meaning.

Natural science and experience have domains of validity
But the Universe—the object of the metaphysics—is
Greater without limit than those domains.
The Universe is limitlessly greater than our cosmos.

The Universe has neither beginning nor end.
The Universe is.

This is not a limit for Logic does not require that extension
And duration envelope Being. For every cosmos to be finite
Would be a limit. For every cosmos to be infinite would be a
Constraint over and above Logic and therefore a limit.

Every state or element of Being is equivalent to every other.
That something must come from nothing is a trivial corollary.
At the deepest and most general level the question of
Foundation of Being is forever resolved and closed.

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However breadth is ever open—the extension, duration, variety,
Summit, and dissolution of manifest Being have no limit.
Subject to Realism, systems of physical law are without limit.

Every Law, every cosmos is repeated without limit.
‘Ghost’ systems are ever passing through our cosmos.
In comparison to the limitlessness, our cosmos is a
Speck—infinitesimal in quantity and variety.

Every atom is a cosmos, every cosmos an atom.

The Universe has and must have manifestation and Identity
In acute, diffuse and absent or non-manifest phases.

Individual and Identity

These powers of the Universe are conferred on individuals
For the contrary would entail a limit on the Universe.
Individuals realize the Universe—All Being: its Identity,
Extension, duration, variety, summits, and dissolutions.

Though individual identity may seem a concrete unity
‘Individual’ and ‘group’ are relative terms, for
Every atom is a cosmos, every cosmos an atom.
However, the individual-group distinction is not relative.

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Apparent limits are part of the constitution
Of the forms of Being—
Though temporary, limits are of the form of beings,
Normally a result of origin and adaptation.

Such, too, is the nature of human limits
And experience of limits.

The givenness of realization does not negate
The value and challenge of endeavor
Or the facts of pain and death
But gives meaning to pain, death, and challenge.

While in limited form realization is endless process—
And ever freshness in variety—A Journey in Being.
For limited Being the forms of knowledge and Being
Are ever open—an eternal challenge.

The oneness, connection, and continuity
Of these forms lie in Identity—
In experience, idea and action.

In unlimited form realization is Aeternitas—
Eternity in a moment—
To which life and death—and pain and joy—are gateways.

That realization for limited form is endless
Requires that the empirical and symbolic sciences

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For such forms remain ever in process and
Be complemented by immersion for their full expression.

A Perfect, Unique, and Ultimate Metaphysics

The meaning of the metaphysics has been given clarity;
Its power has received illustration. An effective summation
And characterization of the metaphysics may now be given.

In foundation in experience and Being the metaphysics
Is perfect. From expression as Logic it is unique—as container
Of all special metaphysics; and ultimate—in complete but
Partially implicit capture of the variety of Being.

The universal metaphysics resolves foundation of Being but
Shows the variety of experience and Being to be ever open:
While in limited form the variety of realization is
Unbounded, experience is limitless and eternal.

Though Logic is ultimate, its forms continue to emerge. Except
In dreams of certainty, security, and control, there can be no
Final foundation of Logic, Ethics or Value outside context. For
Limited form logic, ethics, and value remain in process.

Being and experience—roughly, world and knowledge—
Are both known in experience. Variety of Being and fields
Of knowing—their distinctions, connections, and unities—
Are seen to merge in experience.

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Civilization and Realization

Our civilization is the web of human culture
Over time and continents.
Greater Civilization is the matrix of civilizations
Across the Universe.

The metaphysics reveals a limitless Universe open to
Individual and civilization. It is appropriate and now possible
To address negotiation of the normal limits of our world.
The practical address of this concern is now taken up.

Individuals foster Civilization;
Civilization nurtures the individual.
Civilization is the hearth of realization;
The individual is the manifestation of realization.

Civilization provides ways of ideation and action—
Disciplines of thought, discovery, and transformation.

The standard forms of the disciplines—
Secular and trans-secular—
Are marked by incompleteness and error
But their core constitutes ground on which to build.

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Our apparent limits are Laws or
Expressions of Law
Which also constitute initial ground on which to
Transcend limits on the way to universal realization.

The apparently stable initial ground
Is transient and incomplete,
But knowing and living its transient incompleteness
Is on the way to the ultimate.

Ultimate realization for all beings is given
By the metaphysics. However, efficiency and enjoyment
Are immensely enhanced in occurrence and quality
By commitment and engagement.

Sacred scriptures talk of divine magnificence. An example:
The Bhagavad-Gita compares the splendor of Being
To the radiance of a thousand suns. Yet the means of
Realization of the Gita are squarely in the present.

The Universe and the place of individuals in it are limitlessly
Greater than in common secular and trans-secular cosmologies.
Especially on this knowledge, realization for limited forms
Begins in the present, touched and illuminated by the ultimate.

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A Way of Realization

What now flows from the ideas so far is basis for a Program
Of realization that is further founded and outlined in
‘Other narratives’ (see the introduction, page 3).

Action is distinguished from material process in having
Ideas as partial guide. Thus the modes of realization are
Ideas and action. Realization begins with ideas;
Transformation requires action.

Since the range of the ultimate is not immanent in limited
Forms, realization is indeterministic. Its way must lie in risk—
In small and large steps—and selective consolidation. This is
The core of a mechanics of realization.

The development of the ideas of this text has been in break
Down, creation, and rebuilding. The way of realization lies
In break down, imagination and experiential rebuilding of ideas
And Being, which includes thought, experiment, and correction.

This process is appropriately named
Analysis and Synthesis of Ideas and Being.

At the front of realization the final resource is to take the next
Step of thought or action—thus there can be no perfect masters
Of realization. However, to share learning is effective—there may
Be teachers and ways but no Perfect Master or Final Discipline.

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The vehicles of realization are individual and group—
Being and Civilization and their transformations are
Among the dimensions of realization.

The places of realization are the Ground—nature—and
Fabric—society and culture—of Being and Civilization
Which link the immediate to the ultimate.

Transformation of Being has been seen to be via ideas and action.
Transformation of Civilization is intrinsic—via transformation of
Being; and extensive, i.e. inhabitation and population of the
Universe via exploration and instrument or technology.

Experience suggests restraint in thought of such population.
The metaphysics however shows its inevitability. ‘Now’
Is a good time for insight and developing mechanics
Of inner and instrumental transformation.

Realization derives inspiration from the disciplines in
Interaction with the powers of Being and thought
Revealed above. It derives effectuality
From the interaction.

The disciplines offer catalysts of mind and body change, e.g.,
Yogas, meditation, shamanic way, and hypnosis. Transient
Change in being, disciplines, and ways is stabilized by reason
In experience and recollection—in memory, culture, and artifact.

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Disciplines vary among cultures. Psychologies, East and West,
May each have use in transformation. However, even eclectic
Commitment would be premature. Understanding of human
Being should continue to emerge in interaction with experience.

Transience and Arrival

Realization begins in the present, perhaps with the disciplines,
But requires risk—experiment, splitting, and rebuilding—and
Increment is secured in reason, recollection, and artifact.

Living in transience, its joy and anxiety, is on the way—is
Essential to realization, ever a flux of transience and arrival.
While in limited form realization is endless process
And ever freshness in variety—A Journey in Being.

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Index

Action, 3, 7, 16, 18, 20, 21

Aeternitas, 16

Analysis and Synthesis of ideas and Being, 20

Being, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22

Certainty, 7, 17

Civilization, 18, 21

Civilization (lower case), 18

Concept, 8, 9, 12, 13

Cosmology, 5, 6, 10, 14, 19

Creation, 10, 20

Death, 16

Definition, 4

Destiny, 3

Discipline, 18, 20, 21, 22

Doubt, 7

Duration, 14, 15

Existence, 9, 10, 11

Experience, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14, 16, 17, 21, 22

Extension, 14, 15

Force, 9

Form, 10

Limited, 16, 17, 19, 22

Unlimited, 16

Fundamental principle of metaphysics, 12

Human being, 3

Hypnosis, 21

Idea, 9, 10, 16, 18

Identity, 9, 15, 16

Illusion, 7

Journey in Being, 3, 16, 22

Law, 8, 11, 15, 18

Law (lower case), 10, 11, 15

Life, 16

Limit, 13, 14, 15

Logic, 4, 13, 14, 17

Logos, 13

Matter, 9

Meaning, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17

Meditation, 21

Metaphysics, 5, 6, 8, 17

The metaphysics, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21

Universal, 12, 14, 17

Method. See Analysis and Synthesis

Mind, 9, 21

Normal, 18

Object, 8, 13, 14

Pain, 16

Path of realization, 22, Also see Way of realization

Power, 9, 12, 17

Process, 9

Realism, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15

Science, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14

Secular, 5, 6, 18, 19

Shamanic way, 21

Soul, 9

Space, 6, 9

Spirit, 9

State, 9

Time, 6, 9, 18, 21

Transience, 19

Trans-secular, 5, 6, 18, 19

Universe, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21

Vehicle of realization, 21

Void, 8, 11, 12

Way of realization, 20, Also see Path of realization

Word, 9

Word as world. Related to index entry Logos, See Word

Yoga, 21

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Information on the author

My interests in ideas fall under ‘the universe and our place in it’. My approach is from experience with support from metaphysical thought (as understood in philosophy), science, and tradition. The metaphysics of the narrative shows itself to be most complete when continued in action.

I think of my life—the growth of my person and thought—as a journey. I have found inspiration in ‘wild’ places. That we have origins in nature (the wild) suggests that it should be one gate to the reality found in the text.

These are some of the sources of the idea of a journey that is personal and universal.

I owe a debt to the history of ideas. I enjoy ideas and thought but do not think of myself as an intellectual. My main aspiration includes the journey suggested in the text. Ideas are an element of this endeavor. I want to live a good life—of course—and the journey is a part of that life.

My post high school education is in engineering and mathematics. I have taught and researched at a number of universities in the United States. I have worked in mental health and briefly as creator of a small eatery.

I live on the Pacific Coast in Northern California. As part of the ‘journey’ project I hope to travel and spend time in nature.

Friday, April 26, 2013

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