The Reality of Being:


The Numinous Way posits that (1) there are two types of being, differentiated by whether or not they possess, or manifest, what is termed acausal energy, and (2) that we can only correctly know a manifestation of acausal energy, an acausal being, through the faculty of empathy.

Reality, for The Numinous Way, is postulated to be the Cosmos, with this Cosmos existing in both causal space-time, and in acausal space-time. Causal space-time has three causal spatial dimensions and one causal Time dimension, and acausal space-time has n number (a currently undefined number) of acausal dimensions (which are not spatial) and an acausal Time dimension. Causal space-time can thus be considered to the phenomenal, physical, universe we are aware of through our senses, and this universe is governed by physical laws and contains physical, causal, matter/energy.

There is thus a distinction between the knowing, the perception, of causal being(s) and the knowing, the perception, of acausal being(s) - with living beings (existing or being in the causal physical universe) understood as a presencing of acausal being (or energy) by the fact that they are alive. That is, because such beings are such a presencing of acausal energy (or acausal being) it is incorrect to apply lifeless, causal, abstractions (and a causal denoting) to them. One of the fundamental errors of former philosophies and of philosophers - the fundamental philosophical error behind abstractionism - is to apply causal perception and a causal denoting to living being(s). This error results in a covering-up of the essence of such beings.

According to The Numinous Way, the faculty of empathy - which is part of our consciousness, albeit often an undeveloped part at present - is a means whereby we human beings can discover and thus come to know the presencing of acausal being and acausal beings as those manifestations of Life are, in themselves. In essence, The Numinous Way understands empathy as a manifestation, an awareness, of our relation to acausality, and in particular as an awareness of the related and dependant nature of those beings which express or manifest or which presence acausal energy and which are thus described, in a causal way, as possessing life. This dependant nature, of such acausal beings or presencings, arises from the nature of the acausal itself, which is not bound by that separation which is inherent in causal Space and causal Time. Empathy often manifests itself, to us as human beings, through and in a rational and sympathetic understanding of, or feeling for, other living beings, and thus gives rise to compassion, which is a practical manifestation of empathy.

Thus, The Numinous Way adds empathy to the faculties by which we can perceive, know, and understand the Cosmos, and thus the Life of the Cosmos. For The Numinous Way, empathy is an essential means to knowing and understanding Life, which Life includes human beings, the other life we share this planet with (and which we have already observed/discovered) and the other life which most probably exists in the Cosmos, which we have yet not physically observed or discovered.

Ethics and the Dependant Nature of Being:

The faculty of empathy - and the conscious understanding of the nature of Reality - leads to a knowing, an understanding, of suffering. Part of suffering is that covering-up which occurs when a causal denoting is applied to living beings, and especially to human beings, which denoting implies a judgement (a pre-judgement) of such life according to some abstract construct or abstract value, so that the "worth" or "value" of a living-being is often incorrectly judged by such abstract constructs or abstract values.

For The Numinous Way, truth begins with a knowing of the reality of being and Being - part of which is a knowing of the dependant nature of living beings. Thus, for human beings, part of truth is empathy and thus compassion - a knowing of the suffering, the causes of suffering, and a knowing of the means to alleviate suffering.  Hence, the value of living-beings resides in their being a part of the matrix of Life which is part of Being - in their dependency, as parts of, as manifestations of, that Unity, that wholeness, which is the Cosmos, which itself, as causal and acausal, is Being, which exists independent of our causal being (our physical body) and our acausal energy (the life that animates our causal being).

Thus, the ethics of The Numinous Way derive from empathy and from that Cosmic perspective which empathy provides us with. Compassion is thus a central part of these ethics, as is the understanding that we, because we are thinking beings, have the ability - the faculty - to change ourselves. That is, we can consciously decide to develope empathy and consciously decide to alleviate suffering; we can act upon empathy, or we can ignore empathy.

Honour is a practical manifestation of empathy - of how we can act in accord with empathy. That is, honour provides us with a set of practical guidelines for our own behaviour. Part of honour is having "good manners" - that, striving to relate to other human beings in a dignified, rational, polite way, and thus as we ourselves would wish to be treated.  Another part of honour is striving not to judge individuals until we have personal, direct, knowledge of them and can thus inter-act with them, one living being to another - that is, part of honour is refraining from a pre-judgement based upon some abstraction, or based upon the judgement of some other individual or individuals, whether personally known to us or not.

What is good is thus what manifests or increases empathy, and honour - and that which alleviates suffering or contributes to the cessation of suffering. What is bad is thus what covers-up, or undermines, or destroys, empathy and honour - and that which causes suffering to living-beings, whether intentional or un-intentional.


The Cosmic Being:

According to The Numinous Way, Reality - and Being, itself - are manifest in what is termed The Cosmic Being, which Being is regarded as the Cosmos in evolution, with Nature representing one manifestation, one incarnation, of the Cosmic Being on our planet, Earth. We, as living, human, beings, are another incarnation of, a nexion to, the Life of this Being, as are the other living beings with whom we share this planet, Earth. Thus, in a quite profound way, we are this Being - or rather, we are the incipient consciousness of this Cosmic Being, who, or which, is The Unity, composed of the matrix of causal and acausal connexions - the matrix of nexions - which are the living-beings of the Cosmos, both causal and acausal.

That is, the Cosmic Being is manifest in us, because we are a nexion. Furthermore, we can aid this Being - contribute to its increase in consciousness, its awareness, its evolution - or we can in some ways harm this Being, for this Being is not perfect, or complete, or omnipotent. It is us - all life, everywhere in the Cosmos - existing, changing, being, evolving. We aid this Being when we access acausal energies through such things as honour, compassion, empathy - and especially when we change ourselves, when we become more self-aware, when we develope our understanding, our own consciousness, our reason. We harm this Being - and the evolution of the Cosmos, and the aspects of this Being presenced as individuals, as Nature, as other living-beings - when we contribute to suffering, or cause suffering, or do what is unethical and dishonourable, for such things remove acausal energy from us, or distance us from acausal energy.

Thus, there is an interaction here - an on-going creation and evolution, of which we all are a part, although many of us do not see or understand this, such is our lack of empathy with other living-beings, our lack of empathy with Nature, and our lack of empathy with the Cosmos itself. For the Cosmos is alive, just as much as Nature is alive, here on this planet which we call Earth.

However, the Cosmic Being - as mentioned in the chapter An Overview of The Numinous Way  - is not perfect, nor omniscient, not God, not any human-manufactured abstraction. That is, it is instead a new kind of apprehension of Being: a Cosmic one, based upon empathy, and an apprehension which takes us far beyond conventional theology and ontology.

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