Greetings, Joe --
Essence or existence, which is the variable? IMO Existence is layered in an evolutionary order, and essence follows existence. Essence is only known in existential layers. Hence the value of words and experience!
You have a right to your opinion, of course. It's the ontology of existentialism (Hegel and Sartre) who postulated that "Existence precedes Essence". It's also the position of Pirsig's hated logical positivists and SOMists who believe that man is totally an evolutionary product of nature. MoQ's author posited Quality as his primary "essence", but since quality or value presupposes a sensible agent to appreciate it, it can't be primary to existence.
What is Evolution? How can I write about the undefined? I can¹t! I can only twist the meaning of words into "analogies" or "metaphors" or "gestures" to have any chance of being intelligible. I suspect mathematics has difficulties with analogies, metaphors and gestures although ³quantum² seems to cross some line. Yikes! "Evolution" is an "order" in existence?
I think you are exaggerating the difficulty. We can't describe the ineffable source, because attributes and parameters assume finite differentiation whereas Essence is absolute and undifferentiated. Yet, we can logically conceive of a principle that represents the coincidence of all difference. This is what Cusanus did to come up with his theory of the 'Not-other'. A century earlier, the Christian gnostic Eckhart had said: "The divine One is a negation of negations. Every creature contains a negation: one denies that it is the other. [Even] an angel denies that it is any other creature; but God contains the denial of denials: He is the One who denies of every other that he is anything except himself."
If we consider finitude as the otherness that manifests the Whole, then the Whole represents the Source of existence minus our valuistic sensibility of it. And if we apply the principle that nothingness divides and value unites, we might even realize the moral purpose of a free agent who brings value into existence as being.
"Evolution" is a blast! "Order" and "manifestation" are different. IMO "Order" resides in undefined consciousness. DQ points at undefined consciousness for order. "Manifestations" reside in defined consciousness. SQ points at "defined" consciousness for "manifestations" and "defined words" used in definitions. Order/Manifestation.
(It's a shame you use so many quoted words and have no functional quotation marks to cite them.) But for me, dividing order from manifestation is just another way to compartmentalize existence which is itself an ordered manifestation. Since everything in existence is differentiated, what's the point of categorizing it into meaningless levels and patterns? The philosophical questions are: Where does it begin, what supports it, and why are we here? In the absence of a primary source, those questions remain unresolved.
Your musical scale analogy is one kind of relational scheme, but its significance still escapes me. And since I'm not especially interested in culture or evolution, I'll stop here. But thanks for giving me the benefit of your opinions, Joe.
Essentially yours, Ham ------------------------------------------------ Orders of manifestations are a tongue twister DQ/SQ. Evolution is a metaphor for an order in ³existence²? ³Evolution² is DQ/SQ. The whole thought of levels of existence is metaphorical. An analogy for seven levels in existence is the musical scale of sound, DO, Re, Mi__Fa, Sol, La, Ti__DO. The vibrations are doubled, in a new octave, for greater variety. Seven individual levels of existence which can become many more in doubling in an individual for variety, keeping the same relationships? Existence is a metaphor? ³³Culture² hands me a set of glassesSS². Culture is not an ³undefined² in my consciousness. Culture is defined in words. How is it then that sometimes: What I do is not what I wish to do? My actions can have a dual motivation from evolution (undefined) and from culture (defined). Culture, mechanical, steals my conscious individuality from cosmic evolution by words and actions. Historically personal responsibility is accountable to a changing morality! The Ten Commandments are of recent vintage. Individual manifestation follows a law of three e.g. the three aspects of ³a word²! Culture manifests in physics, consciousness manifests in metaphysics, evolution. Evolution is described in historical or cosmological events. Order is, ascending or descending DQ, consciousness? Culture is a manifestation, SQ. Evolution is an order in existence? IMO Joe Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
