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φιλοσοφία
the philosophy of IAO131
*φιλοσοφία*
METAPHYSICS
Matter is energy (e=mc2). All things are matter-energy of varying degrees, qualities and quantities, but no matter or energy can ever be created or destroyed - only transformed/changed (1st law of thermodynamics). Various laws apparently govern this matter-energy (such as the aforementioned e=mc2 as well as λ=h/p, p=mv, Newton's laws of motion, the laws of thermodynamics, etc.). The body of human beings and the psyche derived therefrom are composed of matter-energy. What we understand as "perception" or "awareness" or "the universe as we know it" is because of the interactions of a complex accretion of matter-energy that we know as the body, especially the nervous system, and the psyche. The mind is perceived to be "in the head" because of the sense of vision being discerned by eyeballs placed thereon, a mouth to taste, a nose to smell, and ears to ear - essentially the head is the sensory center but not necessarily the center of the mind; similarly, emotions are felt to be in the "heart" or gut because of the physiological sensation that accompanies many emotions. The "perception" of events in space and time, and also of thoughts occurring, requires the interactions of our nervous system around our spinal cord and in the brain. Because of our inaccurate and incomplete senses, perception, and rational interpretation, we may discern certain formulae to practically describe relationships.
The subject and object of both language and perception do not truly exist as distinct entities. Both the mind and its various products, including language and knowledge, work by dualities... by relations between two or more things. We must use duality as a means, for practical purposes like language, logic, and knowledge, but we must also know that it has its limits. The complex accretion of matter-energy (insofar as this is what every man and every woman is, they are no different than stars or any other accretion except in complex, unique combination and equally complex and unique circumstances) has particular structures called senses and the various systems like the nervous system that connect the physical senses with their perception by the spine and brain. This interaction produces what we know as "awareness." All things are interdependent (anicca). All things are continually changing and transforming (panta rei). There is no such thing as a truly independent agent or identity (anatta) except all things considered as a whole, as one substance-process (deus sive natura). This matter-energy, although ultimately a unity (with its infinitely varied titles* ) insofar as the parts are interdependent and inseparable, appears to our perception (that is, to itself in the specific matter-energy accretion of the human organism) always in terms of two or more (dialectical monism), for unity must always be expressed as multiplicity by the nature of our perceptual (thought) and explanatory/communicatory (language) framework.
* Titles which include things like "Nature," "God," "Universe," "Cosmos," "Horus," "Krishna," "Father," "Child," "All," "One," "Naught," Heraclitus' "Logos," Spinoza's "one substance," Nietzsche's "will-to-power," the Hebrew "Ain Soph" ("No limit") and/or "Ain" ("Nothing"), the Mahayana Buddhist "Adi-Buddha/Vajrasattva/Buddha-dhattu/Tathagatagarbha/Vairocana," etc., the Hindu "Brahman," the Sikh "Ek Onkar," the Far Eastern "Tao," "Ultimate Nameless," etc.
There appear to be various "laws" governing the universe. Since our bodies and our psyches which arise therefrom are governed by the laws of matter & energy, they are essentially deterministic (classical, relativistic, and most interpretations of quantum mechanics are deterministic whereas certain interpretations of quantum mechanics, most notably the Copenhagen Interpretation, retain probabilistic views). Free will is essentially a misperception, but what we perceive as free will must be accepted to an extent for practical purposes. Humanity's "purpose" and the "purpose" of the individual do not exist except in formations of the mind. There is no essential purpose in the accretion of matter-energy in a particular part of space-time (i.e. your life-span as a human body and psyche). There are various "laws" that guide the various actions of things perceptibly (conscious) and imperceptibly (unconscious). Essentially: "art for art's sake," or "life for life's sake" or "growth for growth's sake" or "anything for anything's sake," and each moment is its own purpose.
The exoteric notion of divine judgment held by Judeo-Christian-Islamics is ridiculous, physically imbecilic, and psychologically crippling. Everything is continually changing including the body and the psyche (including the persona) - skin cells renew themselves entirely every month and bone cells do so every three months approximately - in this sense we are continually dying, or more clearer understood: continually transforming. There is a psychological event that is the equivalent of the divine judgment of Judeo-Christian-Islamic people - the symbolic, esoteric interpretation - which essentially refers to the destruction of the ego (sense of "I" as separate from environment, from "not-I"). The ego comes to realize it had no right to the claim of "I" and it may relinquish its identity first to the totality of psychic contents (including all unconscious contents) and then further to the totality of all matter-energy, of all things, of the Universe, etc. Further, as mentioned above, "all things are continually changing and transforming (panta rei)," and "there is no such thing as a truly independent agent or identity (anatta)..." In this sense we are continually transforming - not each day or each hour, but each moment is a death, a rebirth, a purpose and end in itself.
Morality as an absolute standard does not exist. There is no morality, and there is no immorality. Nietzsche summarized this saying, "There is no such thing as moral phenomena, only moral interpretations of phenomena." Values are useless & detrimental except insofar as imperfect, ever-changing, ever-refined guides for a particular psyche for optimal functioning and growth (actualization of the most possible potential) of the organism. Further, if humans are entirely composed of matter-energy, and the laws that guide matter-energy are determined, there is no room for what is normally called "free will;" from this perspective, judging actions as absolutely right or wrong becomes meaningless. A code for practical conduct must compromise with various half-truths (or rather, perceptual compromises) for the convenience of the organism in question - for example, although the reality is that a brick wall is mostly empty space occupied by atoms and those very atoms are also mostly empty space themselves and so is more empty space than it is solid, we must realize that it is 'solid' for all practical purposes to the physical organism and running into it will still generate pain.
All knowledge is based on relation. All knowledge is confined to our perceptive (body & mind of a human being) and explanatory (conditions of the mind, including space & time, subject & object, etc.) conditions. Theories are effective insofar as they are the most accurate map to date of the territory we encounter. Neither reason nor sense can ever have absolute certainty about anything - theories, maps, and systems are therefore convenient, disposable means and methods for furthering the organism's (human body & psyche) growth/actualization of potential.
Beauty is subjective. Aesthetic impulses (such as toward certain balances and away from certain sound and color combinations) are our unconscious psyche reacting to environmental stimuli. It is possible to conceive of any thing as beautiful if contemplated correctly. All facets of one's life can (and to much benefit, could) be treated as art. There is a more sensual beauty as of a woman (an evolutionarily effective impulse) and there is a more mental beauty which consists in things like contemplating an ideal including a particular phenomenon's place in the whole (each thing is an imperfect microcosm and symbol of the one substance), the diversity-in-unity & unity-in-diversity, an equation's simplicity, an idea's poignance, etc. Art as we know it consists in the creative (that is, the novel) creation and/or re-arrangement of elements within an arbitrary framework (e.g., acrylic paints and a canvas, the vibrations of piano keys and ten fingers of both hands, capturing of a photograph with a particularly focused and positioned camera, etc.)