Journey in being


	Cosmology
	The concept of cosmology
	•Cosmology is the study the variety of being
	Variety includes particular entities which includes thing, relationship, process, origins and ends of manifest being; and abstract objects including the mathematical and logical objects as well as the ethical such as value and justice. Truth straddles the ethical and the actual
	Variety
	The earlier discussion of variety in Metaphysics is adequate
	Process
	Mechanism
	Origin of non-ephemeral or quasi-stable system whose stability is a function of ‘near’ symmetry by incremental variation and selection is a reasonable ‘mechanism’
	Incremental process may occur, as in life on this earth, by selection in already quasi-stable populations. It may also occur as in a hypothetical cosmological case as the occasional near stable cosmos from among ephemeral ones. In this case the increment is over states rather than populations
	Local dynamics may emerge in the same processes
	By the fundamental principle incremental variation and selection it is a necessary mechanism in that it must occur in some cases
	By the fundamental principle, ‘saltation’ or single step origins must also occur
	The incremental variation and selection described above is at most Normal or (highly) probable
	In general, origins may include the saltation as well as the incremental
	It is often thought that indeterminism cannot result in structure. However, absolute indeterminism must result in structure—this is contained in the concept of absolute indeterminism (no inaccessible states as required by the fundamental principle.) The ‘mechanisms’ of emergence are as above—incremental andor saltational
	Causation
	Causation is an aspect of dynamics and therefore not universal—unless, of course, causation is given an interpretation other than the one in which the caused is a strong function of the cause. In such an alternative interpretation, it may be said that the Void ‘causes’ the manifest universe
	Space, time and being
	Even though we intuit only space and time, there may perhaps be non-intuitive modes of displacement other than space and time
	However, it appears intuitively that being is not further analyzable with regard to displacement. Further we have found no necessity of further modes thus far. This suggests that there are no further modes of displacement. Alternatively, it reveals the limits of our intuition / variety of our cosmological system
	Manifest being appears to be characterized by extension and duration. However, the measures of extension and duration may be patchy and (as in quantum gravitation) ‘foamy’
	There appears to be no logical preference for any dimensionality of space. However, non-logical considerations, e.g., of complexity, stability, and emergence of sentience may select for certain dimensionalities
	In this cosmos, time appears to be locally ‘universal.’ This is perhaps the result of selection. More generally, in a weakly correlated system there may be more than one time. Multiple times could be localized or strongly correlated within a weak correlation. Dimensionality of time appears be to fundamentally different than dimensionality of space
	The foregoing suggests an explanation for the meaning and possibility of origins of time and space—i.e., of more or less coherent space-times
	As noted earlier, any universal time and space are immanent and therefore relative. There is nothing that excludes this logically relative character to occasionally manifest as absolute. Further, there may be absolute space and time in limited domains
	Local / physical cosmology
	There are clear mutual implications among the Universal metaphysics and the study of the physics of the local cosmological system including the study of the fundamental forces, force—gravitation-matter-space-time, and the quantum vacuum and quantum theory
	Such studies have not yet been taken up but may be an aspect of the ‘experiments’
	The present development has considered implications for the extent of the Universe, the origin of the laws of this cosmos and their non-universal character, the non-origination and non-ending of the Universe, recurrence, annihilation, the relative character of any space-time for the entire Universe, the necessity of both relative and absolute space-times for local systems, the possibility but general improbability of entirely saltational origins of local cosmological systems, an incomplete loss of information in transitions through the Void state, universal interaction, the origins—and possibility and meaning of origins—of Laws and of space-time, and the non-universal character of the speed of propagation of the fundamental forces
	When light is regarded as an isolated phenomenon the fundamental character of its speed in this cosmos may seem puzzling. However the ‘speed of light’ is the speed of propagation of all fundamental forces of this cosmos and is therefore bound into the very constitution of the elements of this cosmos
	Mind
	•Experience is the first characteristic of mind
	The question is not ‘what is mind?’ There is no question. Asking this question reflects misunderstanding of the nature of mind. Experience has been seen to be at the center of our ‘personal’ universes—the being of those slightly metaphorical universes. An explanation of experience is not to be sought in something else for experience is at the center. Attitude and action which have been regarded as definitive of mind along with experience may be seen as experience together with secondary modes. Below, the character of experience will be extended and Experience will be seen to extend to the root of being
	In a local cosmological system, mind may emerge in the following ways. (1) Spontaneously, (2) Emergence from material elements, and (3) Import from another part of the Universe
	The second case is, on first reflection, perhaps most likely and stable; it is perhaps the Normal case. In this case, mind must already extend to the ‘material’ elements; however, higher mind will emerge by organization and layering. Human (animal) consciousness will be layered, reflexive, multiple, with degrees of focus; thus there may be apparent awareness without consciousness but this is awareness without central consciousness; thus, consciousness may be appear to be on-off but it is the aspect of reflexivity / focus that is on-off. However, human (animal) consciousness will not be categorially distinct from, e.g., the internal adjustment of one fundamental particle to another
	In cases, (1) and (3) mind may be locally dual to the already established material elements. Due to such elements superposed on the Normal case, Normal mind may reach down to the elements of being and the duality may merge into a local monism. Even in the Normal case, true creativity requires indeterministic elements (by the definition of ‘new’) or, more likely, the interaction of the indeterministic and the structured. The ‘creativity’ of indeterministic process and the necessity of such process as part of creativity are discussed above in Mechanism
	In the Universe, case (3), above is logically excluded. However, since (1) may play a role similar to (3), the Universal case is not fundamentally different from the local case in its possibilities for mind
	Phenomena as object binding—how and why the shape, color and so on of an entity are perceived as one, object constancy—how an entity appears to be the same entity from different angles and distances and under some different lighting, and ‘unity of consciousness’ are explanatory problems from the point of view of neurobiology and the idea that the perceptual object is the sum of the perceptual parts. However, entities come first in a sense and the entities or objects of our world are those in terms of which we adapt. Therefore, unity of consciousness and so on require no explanation; such ‘phenomena’ have an intuitively primary character
	These thoughts are not against explanation or its uses but show the relative character of its necessity to understanding
	Principles of thought and action
	Treated in Method, these are principles of construction—creation—of fruitful ideas, concepts and theories. They are somewhat distinct from ‘method’ but have application to method, and in criticism. They are especially applicable to cosmology