Modes and levels of being

MODES AND LEVELS OF BEING

ANIL MITRA, © MAY 2014—June 2014

CONTENTS

Modes and levels of being

This discussion in ‘western’ terms is basis for an account of the universe starting with the section in journey in being-detail on nature. It is preliminary to, so far as may be possible, a version in neutral terms (which will likely draw from experience, reason, and other cultures).

Modes of being

Psyche—experience—is taken as reference because it is the place of the beginning and end of knowing and not because it is (or is not) ontologically fundamental.

Universe

This is the background. The only constraint on the universe is possibility, of which there is a vast Unknown.

Nature

The base, in our world, of and primitive to our being. Includes matter, life, and—on the western hierarchy of modes—psyche.

Psyche

Place of our significant being and realization (becoming).

In our world psyche is invariably found in association with matter (bodies).

Society—and civilization

Place of cooperative endeavor and realization, especially of human beings.

Civilization nurtures the individual, the individual fosters civilization.

Support to individual realization (instrumental aspect). Place of convergence of individual identity in large scale identity (intrinsic aspect).

Levels of being

The significance of the levels for realization is that while there is cross transformation (action at one level affecting another) it is essential to address all levels.

The primitive

The void is primitive to nature.

Overview

Thus some very general levels are: the void, the normal, and the apex of the universal.

Normal

In secular thought: nature (including psyche) and civilization.

Trans-secular thought also recognizes the primitive and higher and apex forms and identity.

Psyche

The following levels are from ‘high’ to ‘low’:

In trans-secular accounts—spirit as an aspect of essence, transcendent or higher being, and soul as persistence of being and identity.
Free concept formation—intuition and thought (thinking or higher cognition; higher in the sense of easy though not necessarily deep malleability); connection to perception and emotion.
Separation of free concept formation and feeling and perception (below) would be artificial.
Potent cognition (creativity) is invariably associated with intuition (for efficiency) and feeling (for relevance).
Unbound feeling in interaction with cognition—‘emotion’ and ‘intuition’.
Perception (normally bound cognition) and (normally) bound feeling.
Neural and endocrine system and paths and intensities (typically associated with mind).
Deep body.

Apex

Religion and spirituality talk of higher levels—especially spirit and god.

Science and common material experience seem to find no spirit and god but from their incompleteness they do not rule these out; it is only the thought that ‘what we have seen is what there is’ that makes us think that science rules out being beyond its domain.

The metaphysics asserts that there must be spirit and gods and, perhaps above these, soul understood as that which bridges divides normally considered absolute—e.g. death and unmanifest phases of the universe. However, the metaphysics is not explicit as to their nature; in fact it is wide open on the issue—it allows an immense range. Can we say more?

Some philosophies find the idea of ‘god’ to refer to a process. Scholastic and some modern theology regard god as substance (divine simplicity with no parts) but the metaphysics shows this conception of substance and therefore of god as untenable. In Samuel Alexander’s thought divinity for any level is the next higher level of being; prior levels, however, do not conceive their divinity even though they have it; ours is the first level at which divinity is conceived. Without espousing Alexander’s view, we can use it as a source of insight.

From the metaphysics, there are always greater levels even though attributes and modes of extensivity are both set at two.
Being in this process is on the way to the ultimate.
However, not only is their no ultimate level for a limited form, there is no ultimate process or destination. Every peak dissolves.
Thus the apex is eternal process. We may experience inner realization in ‘this life’; outer realization in some future transformation; these may be wonderful; but we remain at the beginning of process; the freshness of variety is ever open.

Therefore if we do retain the terms ‘god’ and ‘divinity’ we must remember that while the terms are significant, their particular meanings and forms in actual religions religion may be immensely limited and misleading.

The concept of religion is not and should not be defined in terms of the received religions.
We may think of god as the dual of the transient god and the universe as one (this is of course not a dualism).