Philosophy

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Ontological argument for essence preceding exsistence.

Reality is the ultimate mystery. For we are fundamentally a part of it yet have no conception of our own relationship with its essence. We perceive things which are reality, but cannot understand their true nature. There is a disconnect of epic proportions. No man nor woman could ever analyze their surroundings to such an extent that they come to the realization of Truth. Throughout our normal waking state our psyche lives in a world of mystery and yet, we LIVE in it. This is the essence of the question, this is where the fundamental mystery of reality stems from, it stems from the unknown reality, and the perceived illusion. Our ability to exist in a space so completely yet know nothing about its essence or meaning. We cannot even assume there is meaning, which adds a further layer of complication to the issue. For all the ages philosophers and laymen alike have asked the question “WHAT is the truth?” Rather than the path of “WHY is that the truth”. We should start our inquiry into reality not by examining if or if not there is a fundamental principle underlying everything, for that has gotten us nowhere. Instead we should plug in meaning and ask why there would be that truth at all, and ultimately why there would be truth in a universe which presents us with cold neutrality from our birth and to our deaths. No human is born without the ability to contemplate about “the truth” ; it has been said many times that humans are naturally inclined to think and come to their own personal and culturally generated notions of the truth. This is true. It is, I would say, a fundamental principle to being human. This ability for humans to create meaning and contemplate truth across all the human condition gives us a starting point in which to jump into the oblivion of the unknown essence with faith that we as humans were meant to take this dangerous leap. For is it not our search for truth which has created ideologies of danger and hatred? Hasn’t human nature been plagued by the thoughts of “truth spewing”madmen such as Hitler? our search for truth does not always remain pure, in many cases it leads to corrupted notions of reality based on personal wants and extremist views bred by their immediate environment. Deep inquiries such as religion become co-opted by the state and social hierarchies over time and eventually are shrouded in practical value rather than fulfilling esoteric value. The problem with the truth seeking mechanism within humans is not our DESIRE to see value where “there is none” but rather our corruption of the path that we take to achieve that truth. Humans are always without exception surrounded by objectivity or existence. For we can with certainty say there is existence in this world and we are a part of it. I do not seek to try to prove this existence of ourselves and our surroundings, but prove the meaning and truth behind them, and why that truth is so important to strive for in a pure way. If it is true that essence and truth (which we shall use interchangeably to refer to the meaning of the nature of reality), exist and they are the causes of existence, than how are we to know there nature? It is easy for humans to assume that we can understand things we are apart of, we do it all the time most often not even thinking about our innate understanding of complex things, such as language and culture and self identity. Most humans understand their minds and have a personal relationship with themselves, yet something as intimate as being a part of existence seems to be the most alien notion to find meaning in. Just as knowing your own mind, (which you cannot shut off no matter how hard you try) you also cannot not exist until your awareness of existence is turned off once biological mechanisms fail. Even once your awareness of existing is gone in a way you still exist, just without self perpetuating knowledge that you exist. If you were to die in your sleep, and a family member sees your body and assumes you are simply asleep, they would for at least a little bit think you still exist. It is not until they poke you enough times and realize your personal awareness has ceased to exist That you are declared dead. But is it fair to say that you no longer exist? At your funeral you have an open casket, family members crowd around you to say their final goodbyes. Do these mourners consider you to have completely ceased to exist? One may say that your physical body is still mostly there, and that you can be recognized by those who knew you while alive. And yet although you may be recognized and talked about as if you exist “you” have ceased to exist the minute you were declared dead. This is the problem with existing without the ability to know anything other than existing! For there is no way of comprehending a person, place or thing which has never existed. Even in the imagination which produces a host of wild combinations impossible to replicate in reality, the mental image and thought exists in a place of its own, separate from the reality which is governed by strict materialism. Things which CAN be perceived and are perceived in whatever medium it may be, do exist. They, however, can not become reality unless the essence of the material world allows for them to exist. Consider what happens to a man's body after death, his consciousness gone and only his physical components remain. If a highly intelligent computer program were to track the exact position and composition of every single atom and molecule which the man was made of moments before his death what would we find? The dispersion and subsequent change of his atomic structure into a million different things would start to happen relatively soon. But does this change preclude him from being considered a part of existence? Or does “ he” now exist in a state relative to his state of previous existence? This line of questioning is fundamental in helping us understand if we may even be able to grasp the implications of existence! How is man supposed to comprehend what he always is? It is possible that no one ever ceases to exist, they simply cease to be aware that they exist and this is where the sickle of death strikes. If we speak in terms of strict materialism the man who has died has not completely ceased to exist but an attribute of his existence has been extinguished. An important attribute, but not the whole. His body remains, and physically he is, until decay sets in Physically whole. To define human existence only by whether an individual can recognize they exist and omit the rest of existence we paint a false picture of what it means to exist. Existence encompasses much more than simply knowing you exist, in fact it is substantiated on the fact that anything exists. “Your” body still exists after you lose awareness of it, and for a time people can recognize “ you” not only can you exist physically after death the projection of your self awareness which others call legacy may exist for as long as another individual chooses to remember you. anything which knows it exists has existed prior in one form or another. This is the beauty of existence, is that it is dependent on the whole and not the individual level of experience. Humans inhabit but one perception of a multitude of lenses, which all exist equally and none are less real than the next. As humans, we are surrounded by the plurality of forms, their different shapes and their different attributes. Each object which we can distinguish from another can be given attributes through the medium of language, this is important in understanding what the human lens of perception is, and how it relates to what may be the true nature of reality. As far as we can tell, impermanence is the best way at describing our universe and the objects within it. All objects can be given the attribute of impermanence. Even the most stable and durable objects in the universe such as stars have a due date. Impermanence can be considered at least one law of the universe which will not fail us in continuing its job for as long as there are distinguishable objects with attributes which must be destroyed or changed. We as humans however, may be perceiving impermanence wrong all together! Humans tend to view impermanence as the state of an object only lasting for a limited span of time. Within this time (which may be on a micro or macro scale) the object retains certain attributes and is recognizable as being the object it was in the past. Once enough attributes of the object have changed, so too does our ability to recognize and associate the object with what it was in the past. This leads to a distinction of one object into many and here arises plurality. Take again, for example, the human corpse. An hour after death it can be recognized by family as still being the body of a loved one, but within a year the body shall be unrecognizable to those who knew him when living, their body will be in many bits and their bones shall be spread and bleached. Yet when a DNA sample is gathered it can be proven to still be the body of the loved one, simply in a decomposed state! This is a helpful metaphor for how humans perceive truth and reality. Reality exists in a state of one, all things being a part of the whole without exception. At one time it would have been easy to perceive this “oneness” in the early days of the universe when all matter and energy was in a super dense state. This state of complete unity between all things still exists even today, but the primal essence of truth burst into the temporal plane and was than subjected to the effects of impermanence which turned the monistic state of reality into a perceived plural state, which now has awareness of its own self through distinguished objects. This state of reality is what we call illusory perception, for it is not the accurate description of what the essence is. Before the essence existed, it occupied a state free from temporality. And Although essence has always been THE truth, it has not always existed. Existence of objects deriving their nature from the eternal essence are subject to the state of the temporal realm. That is what true existence is, and why all which we can perceive ultimately is impermanent. Yet the underlying reality remains untouched by this temporal chaos. It shall always remain the same. One of the great mysteries which haunts the search for truth using this reductionist method is why essence would descend or produce a realm with temporal conditions which splits the one into plural forms. If we take for granted the contrasting attributes of both a unified essence contained within itself, and the splintering of essence into shards of emergent objective forms arising from natural laws which derive from the supreme natural law which IS nature, then we can see two opposing qualities. One is a closed system and is perceived as such, while the latter is split into plurality through the medium of time.