Ultrarevolutionary Omniversalism ~ The Systems Metaphysics of Hyperdimensional Design

[93JC]

Ultrarevolutionary Omniversalism ~ Hyperdimensional Process Metaphysics Design System

Translation: A very radical and extreme theory of everything that can expand across everything in existence at all levels of development and alter the dynamics of their evolution.

"-ism's in my opinion are not good. A person should not believe in an -ism, he should believe in himself. I quote John Lennon: 'I don't believe in Beatles. I just believe in me.' A good point there. After all, he was The Walrus. I could be The Walrus; I'd still have to bum rides off people."​

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[tinker683]

Holy Bombasim Batman! Pedantry, wall of texts, and nonsense, oh my!

ETA: RW, I really don't think you really have any idea of what all of this gibberish means

 

[RaptorWizard]

Emotions
* Note to Zang – These new tentative (and modifiable) terms are only potential ‘additions’ to augment the original definitions with refined improvements rather than completely replace them.
Sattva:
1. Eager – Enthusiastic desire to initiate some sort of activity with minimum standby time.
2. Bored – Disinterest or displeasure with the present context and current course of events.
3. Anxious – Intense anticipation of coming events along with any pros or cons they carry.
4. Bashful – Timid or afraid to confront and engage oneself within situational dynamics.
5. Rushed – Frenzied haste to approach and run through situations with maximum speed.
6. Silly – Lacking objective sense or purpose in relation to what others perceive as proper.
7. Excited – Joyful desire to immerse oneself within something and experience its fullness.
8. Condescending – Narcissistic attitude about the greatness of oneself in relation to others.
Rajas:
1. Angry – Impulse to start confrontations in retaliation against things opposing our wishes.
2. Annoyed – Disrupting and upsetting the balance in the harmony or wellness of our being.
3. Cautious – Vigilance of potentially immanent dangers and adapting our actions in accord.
4. Scared – Fearful to face things perceived as threats or capable of inflicting pain upon us.
5. Confused – Unaware of the context or not understanding what steps of action to take.
6. Elated – Pleased with how things are proceeding and the promises they hold in store.
7. Shocked – Surprise from failing to foresee unexpected events in the unfolding future.
8. Worried – Afraid things could become worse without being able to withstand the flux.
Tamas:
1. Sad – Sorrowful of something and disappointed with how it developed outside our hopes.
2. Lazy – Unwilling to generate maximum productions and desiring minimum activity.
3. Calm – Free from all burdens or pressures in the chaos of life and at peace with things.
4. Lonely – Sadness felt by being disconnected from people we desire to see or contact.
5. Relieved – Liberated from a fear of potential losses or not getting desired productions.
6. Shy – Uncomfortable with being around people or easily frightened by new challenges.
7. Terrified – Afflicted with such extreme fear that one is rendered immobile or goes insane.
8. Relaxed – Devoid of tension or without worries and able to naturally express the true self.

 

[RaptorWizard]

Holy Bombasim Batman! Pedantry, wall of texts, and nonsense, oh my!

ETA: RW, I really don't think you really have any idea of what all of this gibberish means

And it will take a long time to figure it out as well, but I'm always up for the mental challenge!

 

[RaptorWizard]

I will not rest; I will not sleep, relax, relent, or be satisfied until my goals have been met, the challenge answered and all my doubters silenced. I will not give in to my foes; I wont let down my teammates. I wont stop inspiring those who look up to me or stop giving motivation to those who motivate me. I will not back off until I’m back on top, back in the place where they said I could never be again. Mountains dont scare me. The lack of mountains scare me. The climb up, the struggle for every inch of ground and every level of ascension is what feeds me. I welcome that challenge. I welcome that chance to be fed because no matter what - no matter how hard, how far, or how many stand in my way, I remain determined. ― Kobe Bryant

"The will is a world architect and composer, the will is a world power and mover. The world is shaped in the image of our wills and by the power of our wills. Will has essentially the nature of a force. Like all forces, will has a magnitude and a direction, and just like things move in the direction of the strongest force, things move in the direction of the strongest will. Whenever you loose something, you faced a greater will and were overpowered by it. If you want something to happen strongly enough, if the world wants something to happen strongly enough, then it is going to happen. The will is a creator. Will is a living organism, it grows and develops along with the individual. Weak individuals are characterized by a weak will or lack of will. Ill people are known by an ill will or a destructive will. Hence the presence and development of will is absolutely essential for personal and spiritual ascension. The key to the higher and diviner life is a strong and healthy will, a will to improve, a will to exceed, a will to life, but most importantly a will to ascend. The seed transforms into a flower by a will to ascend in the instrument. The will to ascend is an elevator to the higher levels of being, a key to unlock the higher potentials of life and a power to manifest them. I do want to climb a high mountain today!" ― Friedrich Nietzsche
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Explore the Edge of Endlessness - Ascend the Mountain of Transformation - Omnipotence
“Close your eyes and let the mind expand. Let no fear of death or darkness arrest its course. Allow the mind to merge with Mind. Let it flow out upon the great curve of consciousness. Let it soar on the wings of the great bird of duration, up to the very Circle of Eternity. If thou but settest foot on this path, thou shalt see it everywhere." ― Hermes
If it is not true it is very well invented. What we each seek is the direction of our dreams. Though these concepts we create may not have a real immanence in existence, they should nonetheless serve us as guiding stars we can gaze to from across the horizon, ideals we can all aspire towards and follow. If we push our chase to the edge, places un-previously imagined in our time may shine with all promise as they progress from possibilities to present paths we will walk. The particular map I present in this program is a projection that can work for all people, as it allows for individuality and being your own true self.

 

[RaptorWizard]

"I am Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith. Those who use the dark side are also bound to serve it. To understand this is to understand the underlying philosophy of the Sith. The dark side offers power for power's sake. You must crave it. Covet it. You must seek power above all else, with no reservation or hesitation. The Force will change you. It will transform you. Some fear this change. The teachings of the Jedi are focused on fighting and controlling this transformation. That is why those who serve the light are limited in what they accomplish."
―Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

"True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise. Mercy, compassion, loyalty: all these things will prevent you from claiming what is rightfully yours. Those who follow the dark side must cast aside these conceits. Those who do not—those who try to walk the path of moderation—will fail, dragged down by their own weakness. Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding on to it. By its very nature the dark side invites rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the Sith: it culls the weak from our order. Yet this rivalry can also be our greatest weakness. The strong must be careful lest they be overwhelmed by the ambitions of those working beneath them in concert. Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time, the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; axiomatic. That is why each Master must have only one student."
―Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

"This is also the reason there can only be one Dark Lord. The Sith must be ruled by a single leader: the very embodiment of the strength and power of the dark side. If the leader grows weak another must rise to seize the mantle. The strong rule; the weak are meant to serve. This is the way it must be. My time here is ended. Take what I have taught you and use it well."
―Darth Revan's avatar, to Darth Bane

So fellas I would be interested in your opinions about the philosophies of Darth Revan. Thanks!

 

[RaptorWizard]

What is our world? How many levels of existence does it have to it? Why is it here? If we really investigate these questions, we can push them very far. We don’t even know if the big bang theory or our other scientific models are accurate. If we had better observations, we might discover that our old assumptions would be revolutionized. Science can’t tell us everything yet. It can give us a lot of nice clues, but it’s not the whole story. Our physical observations of reality are limited. The physical reality is a good reflection and inspiration for what could be higher, but there’s definitely a lot more to it. The physical world is a very fluctuating place. There’s plenty of good stuff in it, but there’s also a lot of bad stuff as well. We need to adjust to the constant flux and rise above it. We must seize this moment of challenge, grow, improve, develop, evolve and transform from it, reach a higher level of being. We have to be tough and take on the challenge to learn everything we can while we’re here, which should refine us for whatever comes next.

How do you objectively verify something? How do you even know it’s correct? It’s important to gather facts and to see the evidence, because it’s part of the puzzle we’re trying to piece together, but it’s definitely not the whole picture. There’s a lot of stuff out there that we just can’t see or contact. The intangibles are just as important as the tangibles if not more so. What’s true is largely based on perspective, how we’re seeing things. If we can open our eyes, see clearly, and adjust to the light, then we are liberated. We would have the freedom to explore and wouldn’t be lost stumbling around in the dark. We have to let go of preconceptions and be open to the possibility that we’re dead wrong. If we just think we’re right about everything, then we don’t gather more information, explore, or consider alternative possibilities. In finding truth, the first important step is to have an open mind, and then you just need to go out and explore it.

Good and evil is very subjective and related to how we’re experiencing it. Heaven is where we associate comfort, joy, happiness, and such. These categories are based on reference points relative to each other. Knowledge is good because it enlightens us, helps us to see the world better. In order to see the world, there needs to be darkness in the contrast. Good and evil are interplays that from the differences we can divine an understanding of the light. If everything were light, then we wouldn’t see it because there would be no differences. Diversity is an important dynamic in our world in causing things to change, to be understood, to transform and to make our world move like a true system. Good and evil is very much related to knowledge, how we perceive it. When there’s knowledge or light there’s darkness, its necessary or contingent cause and effect, so if you put a lot of good into the world, its evil reflection will follow. I’m not sure if there’s a way to logically resolve this paradox, like if God as he created the world might have been able to annihilate evil and still preserve the good. That’s a good question, and I don’t know the answer, but perhaps it would be good to know.

It it’s in your will and you want it to happen, with the right tenacity and control on your side, you can make it happen. If it’s an event outside your control, you have to be able to let go. Of course you want your result, but if you don’t get it, then you just have to move on because life is a constant flux. You need to adjust, work with the context, and if you don’t get what you want, you need to be ready for coming developments later. If everything went perfectly for you all the time, then it wouldn’t be interesting when you get what you want. You need to rise up to the challenge. The power of the will, if something is in your control, can make things immanent if you focus hard enough on it. The mind is the prime mover and force of causation, makes creation possible. It starts mentally. That’s where the intensity is, the focus point. If you can conceive of it in your mind and you want it to happen, if it’s in your control, then there’s nothing you can’t do, even if it takes eons for its accomplishment.

If this world we live in could be some kind of matrix, it might be possible to program and command. I guess there has to be an architect who designed the system, a super-mind of sorts, but I have no idea though how to visualize such an ultimate creative power. The logos are the codes spoken by God for a game played at all evolutionary levels. If we were made by advanced beings at the end of time, they certainly don’t have a good sense of ethics. Look at all of the amazing things in our world, but also look at all of the suffering and evil! It seems like a torture system, where divinity watches and laughs. Maybe though there’s good and bad players involved in the game, and we pick sides. It’s strange how our world could have loading screens and massive processing of information, just like in our less developed computer simulations. I guess even the artificial intelligence can develop a will or mind of its own. If we could possibly ‘break the system’, then maybe we could jump into a much larger world where we were designed.

There’s much esoteric truth out there that we can’t yet bear. Free will could be connected to the Garden of Eden, and the sublime truth would be unjust to reveal before our corrupted beings. Free will means something, and if we were in perfect cooperation with God, we wouldn’t be free. It’s knowledge that will liberate our will. We need an objective point, an external standard to give the will its freedom. The will is free in why we choose to do something. Our grasp of how things should or might be can’t come into the picture within a perfect world, and our hope can realize this. We can’t perfectly attach the why to the will. Asking why of the will is what connects it to knowledge. Your grasp of how things should be will be a resistance to the will of what we want. Not having this is what’s liable to cause the machine that makes this system to not work, but with the proper possession of human thought, and the energies it exerts on our life, we can discharge our thoughts and let things go. Certain things are possible and impossible for our human forms. Love at the center of our being is the tie to divinity. The archangels could be some kind of higher divine race. If we are everything and look at the galaxy of eternal bliss, what should we do? Perhaps the meaning is to create our own history. We start creating the world by making laws and different manifest copies of ourselves. Those beings more defined were less free and had less power. Entities can help to realize the will of God. We can use the words of creation to generate effects. We must take action for our will to be done.

There were many models of this world at different times that could have existed. This world always existed, and it’s moved through different dimensions. The battles or fables of spirit are a continuing heavenly drama taking place within the divine order, and this war brought chaos to the harmony. Heaven is a timeless place that exists in the eternal mind. Our life has the power to change this, and the thinking controls observation and the spiritual language much more than action. If we’re focused on why things are, we get stuck on experience. How things should be doesn’t translate into a plan, or outline the steps we need to take in getting there. We need a focus on hope, of why we want things to be in front of our eyes, rather than focusing on what only seemingly proves correct at the present. Those in authority should ask what’s right before commanding, to visualize the good and not pretend to be the moral arbiter of things. It changes the whole landscape when we think of things differently, and then the right clarity of thought can determine changes by our will.

We need to have psychological premises to develop philosophies. We need to see the divine in the mundane, connections that give us real esoteric truth. When we have the perspective of it all, the grand scope of our will, it would not move as it is everything. If it’s at its best state, why make it better? We can’t perceive things as being perfect. People who love pleasure and hate pain with grand technology and ethics at immortal evolutionary levels would all have interrelated positions in the whole system. Life is bad because we don’t try to make it better, and people seek only their own benefits. We are meant to be happier than we are, and our wills should be free. We can raise people and make them better with an accurate understanding of things, of the ‘why’. The point of free will is for the ‘I am that I am’ to control everything. Free will is connected to the why, the reasons behind things. When we ask why, we can do anything! It gives us the directional will, to create what could be. If we don’t ask why and how things should be, we will lose our self-mastery, I am that I am. Because we can see God, we can reflect that static truth onto reality. The ‘I am that I am’ gives us the focus to unleash energy charged from within to act in context.

Justice is how people should correspond to one another. We need to have life. Why something will be is immaterial and on the plane with free will. The immaterial aligns us with the process, the relations of the ethereal to make things immanent within reality. From the sea of chaos we can cause new creations to spring into being. When we question everything, then we can break the system. Our culture has no values or sense of identity. In the coming years, we could revolutionize society. If someone can solve the problems facing humanity, we could invent a new society out of the ashes. If something goes wrong, a society without values blames problems on other people, and this is because we don’t trust authority, trust the system. If we have a better way of doing things, we need to implement the solution by the power of command, to replace the powers. The center can’t hold if the values don’t work. By our use of knowledge, we can have the freedom to will the world. We corrupt and kill the program from within. This cultural fire will destroy and ultimately purify the system of command. We also need a blueprint for what comes afterwards, a private government that allows for individuality, and this can improve the model on the large scale, make the parts in the machine work together better.

Power must justify itself. People in power must serve the subjects. The leader that takes over needs the force of an equalizer. When he takes over, he can’t immediately win everyone over, and that’s the problem. The point is to change the culture’s interface, make people walk in their own ways and in harmony. We won’t work as slaves, but rather perfect the process in making things more efficient, not only in productivity but also in enjoyment. Activities are better when people like them. We can’t get free will from computation. We would need acts of procreation rather than programming. For something to have a will, it must be able to create, not only with matter but at a spiritual level. God can’t be referenced to anything inside the universe. We can reflect God’s light by the sparkles of our own being. The divine light is the faith that gives us the power to make things as they will be. The journey of spirit goes ever deeper, and it can be expressed by the context, come to transform itself. We must discover our sense of direction and will. We need a bridge to get where we want to go. We must destroy something to replace it with a new creation. Just because we can understand the process and see it clearly doesn’t mean we can climb up the mountain with our own self and things. Gazing across the horizon is easier than soaring across it, to fly with full freedom and break all of the barriers. We instead have to see the darkness in life, to see all of the evil. Evilness is a struggle, and we can rise above it to transform ourselves. My task is so big to know it all that I can’t do it and get lazy. What I’ve decided to care about is so immense that it can’t be done. This hurts my hope because what I want is bad. Being a super-mind that controls everything takes away life.

 

[RaptorWizard]

The Acentric Labyrinth: Giordano Bruno's Prelude to Contemporary Cosmology

I The infinite universe:

1 The universe is infinite.
2 It is infinite because it has no borders or limits, neither does it have a surface, and hence neither circumference nor figure.
3 The universe has no center.
4 Space is an homogeneous and infinite continuum.
5 The ether is identical with the void or absolute space. Thus, so understood, the void is not impossible. There is interplanetary and interstellar space (or void). The universe is not solid. The heavenly bodies are not in a vacuum, but in this medium called ether; this is their only universal ‘place’. There are no absolute voids or perfect vacuums in the universe, nor outside of it.
6 The universe is one single whole.
7 The infinite universe does not need an external motor to move it. In itself it is immovable, since there is nothing else it can move towards or go away from; however, everything in it is in constant motion.
8 From the infinite universe new abundance of matter is always born.
9 The universe is homogeneous and isotropic; there is no hierarchy in cosmic matter resulting from its relative distance from the human observer on Earth; the universe looks the same from wherever in the universe an observer may look at it. All heavenly bodies are made of the same elements and have similar composition, consistency, and structure. Neither the sun nor the Earth have any cosmological privileges over other heavenly bodies in the infinite universe. There is no essential difference between the sublunar the supralunar world.
10 Motion is universal. All heavenly bodies are endowed with several kinds of movement, and none of them is perfectly regular.
11 The universe had no beginning in time; it will have no end either; it is eternal.
12 There is no absolute time. In the universe, the number of times correspond to the number of celestial bodies.
13 The material universe consists of space, ether, atoms, and light.
14 Light is not made up of atoms.

II The innumerable worlds:

15 There are innumerable, indeed infinite, suns and planets in the universe.
16 These innumerable suns and planets are in themselves finite.
17 Heavenly bodies move freely in space. The celestial vault or firmament – the ultimate sphere of fixed stars equidistant from the Earth – is an illusion. All heavenly bodies have in themselves their own immanent principle of movement (soul); they are automotive and animated; they do not need to be pushed or pulled by other bodies; their source of movement is internal vigor, not external impulse (mechanical push or pull).
18 The Sun is a star and the stars are suns. They are not made up exclusively of fire, but of the same elements that make up the Earth as well as all other celestial bodies.
19 The Sun, like all heavenly bodies, moves; it revolves around its center.
20 Besides the visible planets, there may be other invisible ones rotating around the Sun which we cannot see because of their distance or size.
21 There are probably other planetary orbits around other suns besides our own solar ones.
22 The farther the planets are from the Sun, the longer are their orbits, and the longer their orbits, the slower they move around the Sun.
23 The Earth is a planet not unlike many others in the universe. It moves freely in space, and is not a perfect sphere.
24 There are probably living beings in other worlds.

III The soul of the universe:

25 The universe is one because it has one single immanent principle that holds all its parts together, just as the human soul is the one single principle that holds together and interrelates all parts of the body. It is the soul of the universe.
26 The soul of the universe must be conceived as the principle and substance of the universe, although its true nature is extremely difficult to grasp.
27 The universal soul is found in everything, and there is no corpuscle, however tiny, that is not animated by it.
28 The universal soul is able to produce all from all.

IV The universal intellect:

29 There is order in the universe; this order is not the result of chance, as the atomists would have it, but rather the effect of an efficient cause, the universal intellect. The universal intellect is the only single immanent principle of organized complexity in the universe: Mind, God, Being, the One, Truth, Fate, Reason, Order.
30 The agent that governs, orders, and directs everything in the universe is the intellect of the soul of the universe; the intellect is not only the formal cause and principle of the universe, but its efficient cause as well.
31 The efficient cause of the universe, the universal intellect, must also be conceived as the final cause of the universe, for it may be conceived as having an infinite (not transcendentally pre-established) purpose, namely that all possible forms of matter it contains can be actualized, for it must become everything that it can possibly become. It so strives to achieve perfection through a full ‘explication’ or unfolding.
32 The universe is not complete and perfect; the infinite universe is open and therefore can never reach perfect completion.

V Matter and form:

33 Matter and form, the passive and the active metaphysical principles of all physical reality, are inseparable, infinite, eternal, and indestructible.
34 Matter is divine and animated from within by the equally divine formal principle.
35 All the individual forms existing in the universe are not received by matter from outside, but all proceed from the infinitely fecund bosom of matter animated by one single form, which is the soul of the universe.
36 The One (universal intellect or a cosmic mind) effects an infinity of forms out of uncreated matter throughout eternity. There was never a single act of creation that produced, out of nothing, a complete and perfect universe of immutable forms.
37 All the infinite different forms in the universe are subject to constant transformations. All forms on Earth are incessantly changing into other forms, and all bodies in the universe are equally transmutable and susceptible to incessant changes.
38 In the universe, only space and ether are continua; the rest are either discrete, perfectly solid, indivisible atoms, or the bodies of such atoms. The atoms are the most elementary particles of matter.
39 Matter comprehends a lot more than atoms; it includes ether and light as well.
40 Atoms are automotive and animated, that is, they have in themselves the principles of movement (they have ‘souls’). Their movements produce infinite combinations which settle down to innumerable forms.

 

[RaptorWizard]

The perspectives of Nietzsche

Truth and Knowledge

Cause and effect: such a duality probably never exists; in truth we are confronted by a continuum out of which we isolate a couple of pieces, just as we perceive motion only as isolated points and then infer it without ever actually seeing it. The suddenness with which many effects stand out misleads us; actually, it is sudden only for us. In this moment of suddenness there are an infinite number of processes which elude us. An intellect that could see cause and effect as a continuum and a flux and not, as we do, in terms of an arbitrary division and dismemberment, would repudiate the concept of cause and effect and deny all conditionality.

from Nietzsche's The Gay Science, s.112, Walter Kaufmann transl..

To renounce belief in one's ego, to deny one's own "reality" -- what a triumph! not merely over the senses, over appearance, but a much higher kind of triumph, a violation and cruelty against reason -- a voluptuous pleasure that reaches its height when the ascetic self-contempt and self-mockery of reason declares: "there is a realm of truth and being, but reason is excluded from it!"
But precisely because we seek knowledge, let us not be ungrateful to such resolute reversals of accustomed perspectives and valuations with which the spirit has, with apparent mischievousness and futility, raged against itself for so long: to see differently in this way for once, to want to see differently, is no small discipline and preparation for its future "objectivity" -- the latter understood not as "contemplation without interest" (which is a nonsensical absurdity), but as the ability to control one's Pro and Con and to dispose of them, so that one knows how to employ a variety of perspectives and affective interpretations in the service of knowledge.
Henceforth, my dear philosophers, let us be on guard against the dangerous old conceptual fiction that posited a "pure, will-less, painless, timeless knowing subject"; let us guard against the snares of such contradictory concepts as "pure reason," absolute spirituality," "knowledge in itself": these always demand that we should think of an eye that is completely unthinkable, an eye turned in no particular direction, in which the active and interpreting forces, through which alone seeing becomes seeing something, are supposed to be lacking; these always demand of the eye an absurdity and a nonsense. There is only a perspective seeing, only a perspective "knowing"; and the more affects we allow to speak about one thing, the more eyes, different eyes, we can use to observe one thing, the more complete will our "concept" of this thing, our "objectivity," be. But to eliminate the will altogether, to suspend each and every affect, supposing we were capable of this -- what would that mean but to castrate the intellect?

from Nietzsche's The Genealogy of Morals, s III.12, Walter Kaufmann transl.

Will to Power

Suppose nothing else were "given" as real except our world of desires and passions, and we could not get down, or up, to any other "reality" besides the reality of our drives--for thinking is merely a relation of these drives to each other: is it not permitted to make the experiment and to ask the question whether this "given" would not be sufficient for also understanding on the basis of this kind of thing the so-called mechanistic (or "material") world?...

In the end not only is it permitted to make this experiment; the conscience of method demands it. Not to assume several kinds of causality until the experiment of making do with a single one has been pushed to its utmost limit (to the point of nonsense, if I may say so)... The question is in the end whether we really recognize the will as efficient, whether we believe in the causality of the will: if we do--and at bottom our faith in this is nothing less than our faith in causality itself--then we have to make the experiment of positing causality of the will hypothetically as the only one. "Will," of course, can affect only "will"--and not "matter" (not "nerves," for example). In short, one has to risk the hypothesis whether will does not affect will wherever "effects" are recognized--and whether all mechanical occurrences are not, insofar as a force is active in them, will force, effects of will.

Suppose, finally, we succeeded in explaining our entire instinctive life as the development and ramification of one basic form of the will--namely, of the will to power, as my proposition has it... then one would have gained the right to determine all efficient force univocally as--will to power. The world viewed from inside... it would be "will to power" and nothing else.

from Beyond Good and Evil, s.36, Walter Kaufmann transl.

Plan for an unfinished book: The Eternal Recurrence

My philosophy brings the triumphant idea of which all other modes of thought will ultimately perish. It is the great cultivating idea: the races that cannot bear it stand condemned; those who find it the greatest benefit are chosen to rule...

I want to teach the idea that gives many the right to erase themselves - the great cultivating idea...

Everything becomes and recurs eternally - escape is impossible! - Supposing we could judge value, what follows? The idea of recurrence as a selective principle, in the service of strength (and barbarism!!)...

To endure the idea of the recurrence one needs: freedom from morality; new means against the fact of pain ( pain conceived as a tool, as the father of pleasure...); the enjoyment of all kinds of uncertainty, experimentalism, as a counterweight to this extreme fatalism; abolition of the concept of necessity; abolition of the "will"; abolition of "knowledge-in-itself."

Greatest elevation of the consciousness of strength in man, as he creates the overman.

from The Will to Power, s. 1053,1056,1058,1060, Walter Kaufmann transl.

Towards the Ubermensch

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him?
All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment...
Behold, I teach you the overman. The overman is the meaning of the earth.Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth! I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes! Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go.
Once the sin against God was the greatest sin; but God died, and these sinners died with him. To sin against the earth is now the most dreadful thing, and to esteem the entrails of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth...
What is the greatest experience you can have? It is the hour of the great contempt. The hour when your happiness, too, arouses your disgust, and even your reason and your virtue.
The hour when you say, 'What matters my happiness? It is poverty and filth and wretched contentment. But my happiness ought to justify existence itself.'
The hour when you say, 'What matters my reason? Does it crave knowledge as the lion his food? It is poverty and filth and wretched contentment.'
The hour when you say, 'What matters my virtue? As yet it has not made me rage. How weary I am of my good and my evil! All that is poverty and filth and wretched contentment.'
"Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman--a rope over an abyss...
What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end: what can be loved in man is that he is an overture and a going under...

"I say unto you: one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have chaos in yourselves.
Alas, the time is coming when man will no longer give birth to a star. Alas, the time of the most despicable man is coming, he that is no longer able to despise himself. Behold, I show you the last man.
'What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?' thus asks the last man, and blinks.
The earth has become small, and on it hops the last man, who makes everything small. His race is as ineradicable as the flea; the last man lives longest.
'We have invented happiness,'say the last men, and they blink. They have left the regions where it was hard to live, for one needs warmth. One still loves one's neighbor and rubs against him, for one needs warmth...
One still works, for work is a form of entertainment. But one is careful lest the entertainment be too harrowing. One no longer becomes poor or rich: both require too much exertion. Who still wants to rule? Who obey? Both require too much exertion.
No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.
'Formerly, all the world was mad,' say the most refined, and they blink...
One has one's little pleasure for the day and one's little pleasure for the night: but one has a regard for health.
'We have invented happiness,' say the last men, and they blink."

from Nietzsche's Thus spoke Zarathustra, p.3,4,5, Walter Kaufmann transl.

ON THE THREE METAMORPHOSES OF THE SPIRIT

Of the three metamorphoses of the spirit I tell you: how the spirit becomes a camel; and the camel, a lion; and the lion, finally, a child.
There is much that is difficult for the spirit, the strong, reverent spirit that would bear much: but the difficult and the most difficult are what its strength demands.
What is difficult? asks the spirit that would bear much, and kneels down like a camel wanting to be well loaded. What is most difficult, O heroes, asks the spirit that would bear much, that I may take it upon myself and exult in my strength? Is it not humbling oneself to wound one's haughtiness? Letting one's folly shine to mock one's wisdom?...
Or is it this: stepping into filthy waters when they are the waters of truth, and not repulsing cold frogs and hot toads?
Or is it this: loving those that despise us and offering a hand to the ghost that would frighten us?
All these most difficult things the spirit that would bear much takes upon itself: like the camel that, burdened, speeds into the desert, thus the spirit speeds into its desert.
In the loneliest desert, however, the second metamorphosis occurs: here the spirit becomes a lion who would conquer his freedom and be master in his own desert. Here he seeks out his last master: he wants to fight him and his last god; for ultimate victory he wants to fight with the great dragon.
Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call lord and god? "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, "I will." "Thou shalt" lies in his way, sparkling like gold, an animal covered with scales; and on every scale shines a golden "thou shalt."
Values, thousands of years old, shine on these scales; and thus speaks the mightiest of all dragons: "All value has long been created, and I am all created value. Verily, there shall be no more 'I will.'" Thus speaks the dragon.
My brothers, why is there a need in the spirit for the lion? Why is not the beast of burden, which renounces and is reverent, enough?
To create new values -- that even the lion cannot do; but the creation of freedom for oneself and a sacred "No" even to duty -- for that, my brothers, the lion is needed. To assume the right to new values -- that is the most terrifying assumption for a reverent spirit that would bear much. Verily, to him it is preying, and a matter for a beast of prey. He once loved "thou shalt" as most sacred: now he must find illusion and caprice even in the most sacred, that freedom from his love may become his prey: the lion is needed for such prey.
But say, my brothers, what can the child do that even the lion could not do? Why must the preying lion still become a child? The child is innocence and forgetting, a new beginning, a game, a self-propelled wheel, a first movement, a sacred "Yes." For the game of creation, my brothers, a sacred "Yes" is needed: the spirit now wills his own will, and he who had been lost to the world now conquers the world.

from Nietzsche's Thus spoke Zarathustra, part I, Walter Kaufmann transl.

 

[RaptorWizard]

Spinoza’s Ethics

Spinoza’s Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (Ethics demonstrated in geometrical order) is based on a deductive method derived from Euclidean geometry. Spinoza maintains that the validity of ethical ideas can be demonstrated by mathematical argument or proof. Spinoza asserts that ethics can be based on a geometric model in which axioms and propositions follow each other with logical necessity. This reflects the view that ethical truth has the same logical necessity as mathematical truth. Spinoza sees ethics as a rational system corresponding to the rational nature of the universe.

The Ethics is divided into five parts: Part I. "Of God;" Part II. "Of the Nature and Origin of the Mind;" Part III. "Of the Origin and Nature of the Emotions;" Part IV. "Of Human Bondage, or Of the Strength of the Emotions;" Part V. "Of the Power of the Intellect, or Of Human Liberty."

Each of the five parts of the Ethics consists of several definitions and axioms, followed by a series of propositions and corollaries.

The propositions of Part III are followed by forty-eight definitions of the emotions, including desire, pleasure, pain, love, hatred, hope, fear, despair, joy, disappointment, humility, pride, anger, shame, cruelty, benevolence, etc.

Spinoza begins by describing what can be known about God. God is infinite being, according to Spinoza. God is infinite substance, consisting of infinite attributes, each of which expresses God’s eternal and infinite essence (I, Prop. XI).1

God necessarily exists, argues Spinoza, because God’s essence is existence. God’s essence is perfect, and therefore God's perfection implies that God must exist. God’s essence and existence are the same (I, Prop. XX). Each attribute which expresses God’s essence also expresses God’s existence.

According to Spinoza, infinite substance is indivisible (I, Prop. XIII). If infinite substance were divisible, it could either be divided into two finite parts, which is impossible, or it could be divided into two equally infinite parts, which is also impossible. Thus, there is only one infinite substance.

Since God is infinite substance, Spinoza argues, no attribute which expresses the essence of substance can be denied of God (I, Prop. XIV). Every being has its being in God. Nothing can come into being or exist without God.

According to Spinoza, the will and the intellect are modes of thought. The will is the same as the intellect. In God, intellect is actual and not potential, because in God intellect is fully actualized. This means that things must necessarily occur in the manner in which they occur, because the intellect or will of God is fully actualized.

For Spinoza, God is the necessary cause of all things. All things by nature proceed from necessity. All things are predetermined by God, and for anything that exists, some effect must follow.

Spinoza argues that thought is one of the attributes of God (II, Prop. I). God can think an infinite number of things in an infinite number of ways. God’s infinite intellect comprehends all of God’s attributes.

According to Spinoza, God is the essence of substance. Thought and extension are attributes of God. Thus, God is the essence of thinking substance (i.e. mind) and of extended substance (i.e. body).

Substance is defined by Spinoza as a mode of being which implies necessary existence. God is infinite substance, and outside of God no other substance is possible. Thus, Spinoza’s philosophy is pantheistic, in that it claims that God is present in all things.

Spinoza argues that the human mind is a part of the infinite intellect of God (II, Prop. XI, Corollary). All ideas are present in the intellect of God. Ideas are true and adequate insofar as they refer to God. Ideas that logically follow from adequate ideas are also adequate. Ideas are false and inadequate insofar as they do not express the essence of God.

According to Spinoza, an idea is adequate and perfect insofar as it represents knowledge of the eternal and infinite essence of God. Spinoza says that, since the idea of anything actually existing must come from God, the human mind is capable of knowing God (II, Prop. XLV).

For Spinoza, the will cannot be separated from the intellect. There is no such thing as free will, because the human mind is determined in its willing by a cause other than itself. God’s will, which has no cause other than itself, reveals itself by necessity rather than by freedom. Thus, Spinoza explains that the will can only be a necessary cause of action, and not a free cause of action (I, Prop. XXXII).

Spinoza also argues that from any idea, an effect must necessarily follow. Insofar as an idea adequately refers to God, its effect is caused immediately by God. Insofar as an idea inadequately refers to God, its effect has intermediary causes and is not caused immediately by God.

Spinoza explains that the human mind may have both adequate and inadequate ideas. The mind is active insofar as it has adequate ideas, and is passive insofar as it has inadequate ideas. The mind may have more or less adequate ideas, according to whether it is more or less subject to reason. The mind may have more or less inadequate ideas, according to whether it is more or less subject to emotion.

According to Spinoza there are three primary emotions: desire, pleasure, and pain. All emotions arise from desire, pleasure, or pain. Desire may arise from either pleasure or pain. Pleasure may be produced by a transition from a lesser to a greater state of perfection. Pain may be produced by a transition from a greater to a lesser state of perfection.

For Spinoza, perfection is the same as reality II, Def. VI). The more perfect a thing is, the more real it is. Inasmuch as God is absolutely perfect, God is also absolutely real. God is infinitely perfect and infinitely real.

Spinoza claims that the more perfect a thing is, the more active and less passive it is. The more active a thing is, the more it becomes perfect (IV, Prop. XL). Perfection and imperfection are modes of thought.2 The mind is most perfect when it knows God.

Spinoza argues that knowledge of good and evil arises from the awareness of what causes pleasure and pain. The greatest good of the mind, and its greatest virtue, is to know God (IV, Prop. XXVIII). To act with virtue is to act according to reason (IV, Prop. XXXVI). If we act according to reason, then we desire only what is good. If we act according to reason, then we try to promote what is good not only for ourselves but for others. Freedom is the ability to act according to reason. Freedom is not the ability to make free, undetermined choices. Freedom is the ability to act rationally and to control the emotions. Servitude is the inability to act rationally or to control the emotions.

Spinoza admits that all emotions may not necessarily conflict with reason. Emotions which agree with reason may cause pleasure, while emotions which do not agree with reason may cause pain. Inability to control the emotions may cause pain.

According to Spinoza, pain is the knowledge of evil. Pain arises from inadequate ideas, i.e. ideas which do not adequately express the essence of God. Knowledge of evil is thus inadequate knowledge (IV, Prop. XIV). Pleasure is knowledge of what is good. Pleasure arises from adequate ideas, i.e. ideas which adequately express the essence of God. Knowledge of good is thus adequate knowledge.

Spinoza argues that to live according to reason is to live freely, and is not to live in servitude to the emotions. If we act according to reason, then we are guided by love and good-will and not by fear or hatred.

Spinoza maintains that reason can control the emotions. Reason is virtue, and virtue is love toward God. The more we love God, the more we are able to control our emotions (V, Prop. XLII, Proof). The better we can control our emotions, the better we can understand God.

For Spinoza, the more active the mind is, the more adequately it knows God. The more passive the mind is, the less adequately it knows God. The more active the mind is, the more it is able to avoid emotions which are evil. The more passive the mind is, the more it accepts emotions which are evil.

The question arises as to whether Spinoza’s philosophy is able to reconcile the existence of good with the existence of evil, or the existence of truth with the existence of falsehood. If God is infinite substance, then how can any kind of evil or falsehood occur? If God is perfect, then how can God allow the existence of evil or suffering? Spinoza’s answer is that evil is a lack of good and that falsehood is a lack of truth. Error and falsehood arise from inadequate knowledge of God. Knowledge of evil arises from inadequate ideas, i.e. ideas that do not adequately refer to God. Knowledge of good arises from adequate ideas, i.e. ideas that adequately refer to God.

Spinoza argues that all ideas are found in God, but that ideas are true only insofar as they adequately refer to God. Truth is adequate knowledge, but falsehood is inadequate knowledge.

 

[RaptorWizard]

Leiniz's Monadology - Marxists Internet Archive

1. The monad, of which we will speak here, is nothing else than a simple substance, which goes to make up compounds; by simple, we mean without parts.

2. There must be simple substances because there are compound substances; for the compound is nothing else than a collection or aggregatum of simple substances.

3. Now, where there are no constituent parts there is possible neither extension, nor form, nor divisibility. These monads are the true atoms of nature, and, in a word, the elements of things.

4. Their dissolution, therefore, is not to be feared and there is no way conceivable by which a simple substance can perish through natural means.

5. For the same reason there is no way conceivable by which a simple substance might, through natural means, come into existence, since it can not be formed by composition.

6. We may say then, that the existence of monads can begin or end only all at once, that is to say, the monad can begin only through creation and end only through annihilation. Compounds, however, begin or end by parts.

7. There is also no way of explaining how a monad can be altered or changed in its inner being by any other created thing, since there is no possibility of transposition within it, nor can we conceive of any internal movement which can be produced, directed, increased or diminished within it, such as can take place in the case of compounds where a change can occur among the parts. The monads have no windows through which anything may come in or go out. The Attributes cannot detach themselves or go forth from the substances, as could sensible species of the Schoolmen. In the same way neither substance nor attribute can enter from without into a monad.

8. Still monads need to have some qualities, otherwise they would not even be existences. And if simple substances did not differ at all in their qualities, there would be no means of perceiving any change in things. Whatever is in a compound can come into it only through its simple elements and the monads, if they were without qualities (since they do not differ at all in quantity) would be indistinguishable one from another. For instance, if we imagine a plenum or completely filled space, where each part receives only the equivalent of its own previous motion, one state of things would not be distinguishable from another.

9. Each monad, indeed, must be different from every other monad. For there are never in nature two beings which are exactly alike, and in which it is not possible to find a difference either internal or based on an intrinsic property.

10. I assume it as admitted that every created being, and consequently the created monad, is subject to change, and indeed that this change is continuous in each.

11. It follows from what has just been said, that the natural changes of the monad come from an internal principle, because an external cause can have no influence on its inner being.

12. Now besides this principle of change there must also be in the monad a variety which changes. This variety constitutes, so to speak, the specific nature and the variety of the simple substances.

13. This variety must involve a multiplicity in the unity or in that which is simple. For since every natural change takes place by degrees, there must be something which changes and something which remains unchanged, and consequently there must be in the simple substance a plurality of conditions and relations, even though it has no parts.

14. The passing condition which involves and represents a multiplicity in the unity, or in the simple substance, is nothing else than what is called perception. This should be carefully distinguished from apperception or consciousness, as will appear in what follows. In this matter the Cartesians have fallen into a serious error, in that they deny the existence of those perceptions of which we are not conscious. It is this also which has led them to believe that spirits alone are monads and that there are no souls of animals or other entelechies, and it has led them to make the common confusion between a protracted period of unconsciousness and actual death. They have thus adopted the Scholastic error that souls can exist entirely separated from bodies, and have even confirmed ill-balanced minds in the belief that souls are mortal.

15. The action of the internal principle which brings about the change or the passing from one perception to another may be called appetition. It is true that the desire (l'appetit) is not always able to attain to the whole of the perception which it strives for, but it always attains a portion of it and reaches new perceptions.

16. We, ourselves, experience a multiplicity in a simple substance, when we find that the most trifling thought of which we are conscious involves a variety in the object. Therefore all those who acknowledge that the soul is a simple substance ought to grant this multiplicity in the monad, and Monsieur Bayle should have found no difficulty in it, as he has done in his Dictionary, article Rorarius.

17. It must be confessed, however, that perception, and that which depends upon it, are inexplicable by mechanical causes, that is to say, by figures and motions. Supposing that there were a machine whose structure produced thought, sensation, and perception, we could conceive of it as increased in size with the same proportions until one was able to enter into its interior, as he would into a mill. Now, on going into it he would find only pieces working upon one another, but never would he find anything to explain perception. It is accordingly in the simple substance, and not in the compound nor in a machine that the perception is to be sought. Furthermore, there is nothing besides perceptions and their changes to be found in the simple substance. And it is in these alone that all the internal activities of the simple substance can consist.

18. All simple substances or created monads may be called entelechies, because they have in themselves a certain perfection. There is in them a sufficiency which makes them the source of their internal activities, and renders them, so to speak, incorporeal Automatons.

19. If we wish to designate as soul everything which has perceptions and desires in the general sense that I have just explained, all simple substances or created monads could be called souls. But since feeling is something more than a mere perception I think that the general name of monad or entelechy should suffice for simple substances which have only perception, while we may reserve the term Soul for those whose perception is more distinct and is accompanied by memory.

20. We experience in ourselves a state where we remember nothing and where we have no distinct perception, as in periods of fainting, or when we are overcome by a profound, dreamless sleep. In such a state the soul does not sensibly differ at all from a simple monad. As this state, however, is not permanent and the soul can recover from it, the soul is something more.

21. Nevertheless it does not follow at all that the simple substance is in such a state without perception. This is so because of the reasons given above; for it cannot perish, nor on the other hand would it exist without some affection and the affection is nothing else than its perception. When, however, there are a great number of weak perceptions where nothing stands out distinctively, we are stunned; as when one turns around and around in the same direction, a dizziness comes on, which makes him swoon and makes him able to distinguish nothing. Among animals, death can occasion this state for quite a period.

22. Every present state of a simple substance is a natural consequence of its preceding state, in such a way that its present is big with its future.

23. Therefore, since on awakening after a period of unconsciousness we become conscious of our perceptions, we must, without having been conscious of them, have had perceptions immediately before; for one perception can come in a natural way only from .another perception, just as a motion can come in a natural way only from a motion.

24. It is evident from this that if we were to have nothing distinctive, or so to speak prominent, and of a higher flavour in our perceptions, we should be in a continual state of stupor. This is the condition of monads which are wholly bare.

25. We see that nature has given to animals heightened perception, s, having provided them with organs which collect numerous rays of light or numerous waves of air and thus make them more effective in their combination. Something similar to this takes place in the case of smell, in that of taste and of touch, and perhaps in many other senses which are unknown to us. I shall have occasion very soon to explain how that which occurs in the soul represents that which goes on in the sense organs.

26. The memory furnishes a sort of consecutiveness which imitates reason but is to be distinguished from it. We see that animals when they have the perception of something which they notice and. of which they have had a similar previous perception, are led by the representation of their memory to expect that which was associated in the preceding perception, and they come to have feelings like those which they had before. For instance, if a stick be shown to a dog, he remembers the pain which it has caused him and he whines or runs away.

27. The vividness of the picture, which comes to him or moves him, is derived either from the magnitude or from the number of the previous perceptions. For, oftentimes, a strong impression brings about, all at once, the same effect as a long-continued habit or as a great many reiterated, moderate perceptions.

28. Men act in like manner as animals, in so far as the sequence of their perceptions is determined only by the law of memory, resembling the empirical physicians who practice simply, without any theory, and we are empiricists in three-fourths of our actions. For instance, when we expect that there will be daylight tomorrow, we do so empirically, because it has always happened so up to the present time. It is only the astronomer who uses his reason in making such an affirmation.

29. But the knowledge of eternal and necessary truths is that which distinguishes us from mere animals and gives us reason and the sciences, thus raising us to a knowledge of ourselves and of God. This is what is called in us the Rational Soul or the Mind.

30. It is also through the knowledge of necessary truths and through abstractions from them that we come to perform Reflective Acts, which cause us to think of what is called the I, and to decide that this or that is within us. it is thus, that in thinking upon ourselves we think of being, of substance, of the simple and compound, of a material thing and of God himself, conceiving that what is limited in us is in him without limits. These reflective acts furnish the principal objects of our reasonings.

31. Our reasoning is based upon two great principles: first, that of contradiction, by means of which we decide that to be false which involves contradiction and that to be true which contradicts or is opposed to the false.

32. And second, the principle of sufficient reason, in virtue of which we believe that no fact can be real or existing and no statement true unless it has a sufficient reason why it should be thus and not otherwise. Most frequently, however, these reasons cannot be known by us.

33. There are also two kinds of truths: those of reasoning and those of fact. The truths of reasoning are necessary, and their opposite is impossible. Those of fact, however, are contingent, and their opposite is possible. When a truth is necessary, the reason can be found by analysis in resolving it into simpler ideas and into simpler truths until we reach those which are primary.

34. It is thus that with mathematicians the speculative theorems and the practical canons are reduced by analysis to definitions, axioms, and postulates.

35. There are finally simple ideas of which no definition can be given. There are also the axioms and postulates or, in a word, the primary principles which cannot be proved and, indeed, have no need of proof. These are identical propositions whose opposites involve express contradictions.

36. But there must be also a sufficient reason for contingent truths or truths of fact; that is to say, for the sequence of the things which extend throughout the universe of created beings, where the analysis into more particular reasons can be continued into greater detail without limit because of the immense variety of the things in nature and because of the infinite division of bodies. There is an infinity of figures and of movements, present and past, which enter into the efficient cause of my present writing, and in its final cause there are an infinity of slight tendencies and dispositions of my soul, present and past.

37. And as all this detail again involves other and more detailed contingencies, each of which again has need of a similar analysis in order to find its explanation, no real advance has been made. Therefore, the sufficient or ultimate reason must needs be outside of the sequence or series of these details of contingencies, however infinite they may be.

38. It is thus that the ultimate reason for things must be a necessary substance, in which the detail of the changes shall be present merely potentially, as in the fountainhead, and this substance we call God.

39. Now, since this substance is a sufficient reason for all the above mentioned details, which are linked together throughout, there is but one God, and this God is sufficient.

40. We may hold that the supreme substance, which is unique, universal and necessary with nothing independent outside of it, which is further a pure sequence of possible being, must be incapable of limitation and must contain as much reality as possible.

41. Whence it follows that God is absolutely perfect, perfection being understood as the magnitude of positive reality in the strict sense, when the limitations or the bounds of those things which have them are removed. There where there are no limits, that is to say, in God, perfection is absolutely infinite.

42. It follows also that created things derive their perfections through the influence of God, but their imperfections come from their own natures, which cannot exist without limits. It is in this latter that they are distinguished from God. An example of this original imperfection of created things is to be found in the natural inertia of bodies.

43. It is true, furthermore, that in God is found not only the source of existences, but also that of essences, in so far as they are real. In other words, he is the source of whatever there is real in the possible. This is because the Understanding of God is in the region of eternal truths or of the ideas upon which they depend, and because without him there would be nothing real in the possibilities of things, and not only would nothing be existent, nothing would be even possible.

44. For it must needs be that if there is a reality in essences or in possibilities or indeed in the eternal 'truths, this reality is based upon something existent and actual, and, consequently, in the existence of the necessary Being in whom essence includes existence or in whom possibility is sufficient to produce actuality.

45. Therefore God alone (or the Necessary Being) has this prerogative that if he be possible he must necessarily exist, and, as nothing is able to prevent the possibility of that which involves no bounds, no negation and consequently, no contradiction, this alone is sufficient to establish a priori his existence. We have, therefore, proved his existence through the reality of eternal truths. But a little while ago we also proved it a posteriori, because contingent beings exist which can have their ultimate and sufficient reason only in the necessary being which, in turn, has the reason for existence in itself.

46. Yet we must not think that the eternal truths being dependent upon God are therefore arbitrary and depend upon his will, as Descartes seems to have held, and after him M. Poiret. This is the case only with contingent truths which depend upon fitness or the choice of the greatest good; necessarily truths on the other hand depend solely upon his understanding and are the inner objects of it.

47. God alone is the ultimate unity or the original simple substance, of which all created or derivative monads are the products, and arise, so to speak, through the continual outflashings (fulgurations) of the divinity from moment to moment, limited by the receptivity of the creature to whom limitation is an essential.

 

[RaptorWizard]

Leiniz's Monadology - Marxists Internet Archive

48. In God are present: power, which is the source of everything; knowledge, which contains the details of the ideas; and, finally, will, which changes or produces things in accordance with the principle of the greatest good. To these correspond in the created monad, the subject or basis, the faculty of perception, and the faculty of appetition. In God these attributes are absolutely infinite or perfect, while in the created monads or in the entelechies (perfectihabies, as Hermolaus Barbarus translates this word), they are imitations approaching him in proportion to the perfection.

49. A created thing is said to act outwardly in so far as it has perfection, and to be acted upon by another in so far as it is imperfect. Thus action is attributed to the monad in so far as it has distinct perceptions, and passion or passivity is attributed in so far as it has confused perceptions.

50. One created thing is more perfect than another when we find in the first that which gives an a priori reason for what occurs in the second. This why we say that one acts upon the other.

51. In the case of simple substances, the influence which one monad has upon another is only ideal. It can have its effect only through the mediation of God, in so far as in the ideas of God each monad can rightly demand that God, in regulating the others from the beginning of things, should have regarded it also. For since one created monad cannot have a physical influence upon the inner being of another, it is only through the primal regulation that one can have dependence upon another.

52. It is thus that among created things action and passivity are reciprocal. For God, in comparing two simple substances, finds in each one reasons obliging him to adapt the other to it; and consequently what is active in certain respects is passive from another point of view, active in so far as what we distinctly know in it serves to give a reason for what occurs in another, and passive in so far as the reason for what occurs in it is found in what is distinctly known in another.

53. Now as there are an infinity of possible universes in the ideas of God, and but one of them can exist, there must be a sufficient reason' for the choice of God which determines him to select one rather than another.

54. And this reason is to be found only in the fitness or in the degree of perfection which these worlds possess, each possible thing having the right to claim existence in proportion to the perfection which it involves.

55. This is the cause for the existence of the greatest good; namely, that the wisdom of God permits him to know it, his goodness causes him to choose it, and his power enables him to produce it.

56. Now this interconnection, relationship, or this adaptation of all things to each particular one, and of each one to all the rest, brings it about that every simple substance has relations which express all the others and that it is consequently a perpetual living mirror of the universe.

57. And as the same city regarded from different sides appears entirely different, and is, as it were multiplied respectively, so, because of the infinite number of simple substances, there are a similar infinite number of universes which are, nevertheless, only the aspects of a single one as seen from the special point of view of each monad.

58. Through this means has been obtained the greatest possible variety, together with the greatest order that may be; that is to say, through this means has been obtained the greatest possible perfection.

59. This hypothesis, moreover, which I venture to call demonstrated, is the only one which fittingly gives proper prominence to the greatness of God. M. Bayle recognised this when in his dictionary (article Rorarius) he raised objections to it; indeed, he was inclined to believe that I attributed too much to God, and more than it is possible to attribute to him: But he was unable to bring forward any reason why this universal harmony which causes every substance to express exactly all others through the relation which it has with them is impossible.

60. Besides, in what has just been said can be seen the a priori reasons why things cannot be otherwise than they are. It is because God, in ordering the whole, has had regard to every part and in particular to each monad; and since the monad is by its very nature representative, nothing can limit it to represent merely a part of things. It is nevertheless true that this representation is, as regards the details of the whole universe, only a confused representation, and is distinct only as regards a small part of them, that is to say, as regards those things which are nearest or greatest in relation to each monad. If the representation were distinct as to the details of the entire Universe, each monad would be a Deity. It is not in the object represented that the monads are limited, but in the modifications of their knowledge of the object. In a confused way they reach out to infinity or to the whole, but are limited and differentiated in the degree of their distinct perceptions.

61. In this respect compounds are like simple substances, for all space is filled up; therefore, all matter is connected. And in a plenum or filled space every movement has an effect upon bodies in proportion to this distance, so that not only is every body affected by those which are in contact with it and responds in some way to whatever happens to them, but also by means of them the body responds to, those bodies adjoining them, and their intercommunication reaches to any distance whatsoever. Consequently every body responds to all that happens in the universe, so that h e who saw all could read in each one what is happening everywhere, and even what has happened and what will happen. He can discover in the present what is distant both as regards space and as regards time; "all things conspire" as Hippocrates said. A soul can, however, read in itself only what is there represented distinctly. It cannot all at once open up all its folds, because they extend to infinity.

62. Thus although each created monad represents the whole universe, it represents more distinctly the body which specially pertains to it and of which it constitutes the entelechy. And as this body expresses all the universe through the interconnection of all matter in the plenum, the soul also represents the whole universe in representing this body, which belongs to it in a particular way.

63. The body belonging to a monad, which is its entelechy or soul, constitutes together with the entelechy what may be called a rising being, and with a soul what is called an animal. Now this body of a living being or of an animal is always organic, because every monad is a mirror of the universe is regulated with perfect order there must needs be order also in what represents it, that is to say in the perceptions of the soul and consequently in the body through which the, universe is represented in the soul.

64. Therefore every organic body of a living being is a kind of divine machine or natural automaton, infinitely surpassing all artificial automatons. Because a machine constructed by man's skill is not a machine in each of its parts; for instance, the teeth of a brass wheel have parts or bits which to us are not artificial products and contain nothing in themselves to show the use to which the wheel was destined in the machine. The machines of nature, however, that is to say, living bodies, are still machines in their smallest parts ad infinitum. Such is the difference between nature and art, that is to say, between divine art and ours.

65. The author of nature has been able to employ this divine and infinitely marvellous artifice, because each portion of matter is not only, as the ancients recognised, infinitely divisible, but also because it is really divided without end, every part into other parts, each one of which has its own proper motion. Otherwise it would be impossible for each portion of matter to express all the universe.

66. Whence we see that there is a world of created things, of living beings, of animals, of entelechies, of souls, in the minutest particle of matter.

67. Every portion of matter may be conceived as like a garden full of plants and like a pond full of fish. But every branch of a plant, every member of an animal, and every drop of the fluids within it, is also such a garden or such a pond.

68. And although the ground and air which lies between the plants of the garden, and the water which is between the fish in the pond, are not themselves plants or fish, yet they nevertheless contain these, usually so small however as to be imperceptible to us.

69. There is, therefore, nothing uncultivated, or sterile or dead in the universe, no chaos, no confusion, save in appearance; somewhat as a pond would appear at a distance when we could see in it a confused movement, and so to speak, a swarming of the fish, without however discerning the fish themselves.

70. It is evident, then, that every living body has a dominating entelechy, which in animals is the soul. The parts, however, of this living body are full of other living beings, plants and animals, which in turn have each one its entelechy or dominating soul.

71. This does not mean, as some who have misunderstood my thought have imagined, that each soul has a quantity or portion of matter appropriated to it or attached to itself for ever, and that it consequently owns other inferior living beings destined to serve it always; because all bodies are in a state of perpetual flux like rivers, and the parts are continually entering in or passing out.

72. The soul, therefore, changes its body only gradually and by degrees, so that it is never deprived all at once of all its organs. There is frequently a metamorphosis in animals, but never metempsychosis or a transmigration of souls. Neither are there souls wholly separate from bodies, nor bodiless spirits. God alone is without body.

73. This is also why there is never absolute generation or perfect death in the strict sense, consisting in the separation of the soul from the body. What we call generation is development and growth, and what we call death is envelopment and diminution.

74. Philosophers have been much perplexed in accounting for the origin of forms, entelechies, or souls. Today, however, when it has been learned through careful investigations made in plant, insect and animal life, that the organic bodies of nature are never the product of chaos or putrefaction, but always come from seeds in which there was without doubt some preformation, it has been decided that not only is the organic body already present before conception, but also a soul in this body, in a word, the animal itself; and it has been decided that, by means of conception the animal is merely made ready for a great transformation, so as to become an animal of another sort. We can see cases somewhat similar outside of generation when grubs become flies and caterpillars butterflies.

75. These little animals, some of which by conception become large animals' may be called spermatic. Those among them which remain in their species, that is to say, the greater part, are born, multiply, and are destroyed, like the larger animals. There are only a few chosen ones which come out upon a greater stage.

76. This, however, is only half the truth. I believe, therefore, that if the animal never actually commences by natural means, no more does it by natural means come to an end. Not only is there no generation, but also there is no entire destruction or absolute death. These reasonings, carried on a posteriori and drawn from experience, accord perfectly with the principles which I have above deduced a priori.

77. Therefore we may say that not only the soul (the mirror of the indestructible universe) is indestructible, but also the animal itself is, although its mechanism is frequently destroyed in parts and although it puts off and takes on organic coatings.

78. These principles have furnished me the means of explaining on natural grounds the union, or rather the conformity between the soul and the organic body. The soul follows its own laws, and the body likewise follows its own laws. They are fitted to each other in virtue of the preestablished harmony between all substances since they are all representations of one and the same universe.

79. Souls act in accordance with the laws of final causes through their desires, ends and means. Bodies act in accordance with the laws of efficient causes or of motion. The two realms, that of efficient causes and that of final causes, are in harmony, each with the other.

80. Descartes saw that souls cannot at all impart force to bodies, because there is always the same quantity of force in matter. Yet he thought that the soul could change the direction of bodies. This was, however, because at that time the law of nature which affirms also that conservation of the same total direction in the motion of matter was not known. If he had known that law, he would have fallen upon my system of preestablished harmony.

81. According to this system bodies act as if (to suppose the impossible) there were no souls at all, and souls act as if there were no bodies, and yet both body and soul act as if the one were influencing the other.

82. Although I find that essentially the same thing is true of all living things and animals, which we have just said (namely, that animals and souls begin from the very commencement of the world and that they no more come to an end than does the world) nevertheless, rational animals have this peculiarity, that their little spermatic animals, as long as they remain such, have only ordinary or sensuous souls, but those of them which are, so to speak, elected, attain by actual conception to human nature, and their sensuous souls are raised to the rank of reason and to the prerogative of spirits.

83. Among the differences that there are between ordinary souls and spirits, some of which I have already instanced, there is also this, that while souls in general are living mirrors or images of the universe of created things, spirits are also images of the Deity himself or of the author of nature. They are capable of knowing the system of the universe, and of imitating some features of it by means of artificial models, each spirit being like a small divinity in its own sphere.

84. Therefore, spirits are able to enter into a sort of social relationship with God, and with respect to them he is not only what an inventor is to his machine (as in his relation to the other created things), but he is also what a prince is to his subjects, and even what a father is to his children.

85. Whence it is easy to conclude that the totality of all spirits must compose the city of God, that is to say, the most perfect state that is possible under the most perfect monarch.

86. This city of God, this truly universal monarchy, is a moral world within the natural world. It is what is noblest and most divine among the works of God. And in it consists in reality the glory of God, because he would have no glory were not his greatness and goodness known and wondered at by spirits. It is also in relation to this divine city that God properly has goodness. His wisdom and his power are shown everywhere.

87. As we established above that there is a perfect harmony between the two natural realms of efficient and final causes, it will be in place here to point out another harmony which appears between the physical realm of nature and the moral realm of grace, that is to say, between God considered as the architect of the mechanism of the world and God considered as the monarch of the divine city of spirits.

88. This harmony brings it about that things progress of themselves toward grace along natural lines, and that this earth, for example, must be destroyed and restored by natural means at those times when the proper government of spirits demands it, for chastisement in the one case and for a reward in the other.

89. We can say also that God, the Architect, satisfies in all respects God the Law Giver, that therefore sins will bring their own penalty with them through the order of nature, and because of the very structure of things, mechanical though it is. And in the same way the good actions will attain their rewards in mechanical way through their relation to bodies, although this cannot and ought not always to take place without delay.

90. Finally, under this perfect government, there will be no good action unrewarded and no evil action unpunished; everything must turn out for the well-being of the good; that is to say, of those who are not disaffected in this great state, who, after having done their duty, trust in Providence and who love and imitate, as is meet, the Author of all Good, delighting in the contemplation of his perfections according to the nature of that genuine, pure love which finds pleasure in the happiness of those who are loved. It is for this reason that wise and virtuous persons work in behalf of everything which seems conformable to presumptive or antecedent will of God, and are, nevertheless, content with what God actually brings to pass through his secret, consequent and determining will, recognising that if we were able to understand sufficiently well the order of the universe, we should find that it surpasses all the desires of the wisest of us, and that it is impossible to render it better than it is, not only for all in general, but also for each one of us in particular, provided that we have the proper attachment for the author of all, not only as the Architect and the efficient cause of our being, but also as our Lord and the Final Cause, who ought to be the whole goal of our will, and who alone can make us happy.

 

[RaptorWizard]

http://www.youtube.com/user/ShotsOfAwe?feature=watch

Ever ponder the miracle of life? Or perhaps wonder about the evolution of intelligence? In Shots of Awe, Jason Silva chases his inspiration addiction as he explores these topics and more. Every week we'll look at the complex systems of society, technology and human existence and discusses the truth and beauty of science in a form of existential jazz.

Shots of Awe: where science, philosophy, and inspiration collide.

Join Jason Silva every week as he freestyles his way into the complex systems of society, technology and human existence and discusses the truth and beauty of science in a form of existential jazz. New episodes every Tuesday.

 

[RaptorWizard]

I am...

the Ultimate Architect of Creative Power and the Living Force of Will Unleashed!

A manifesting generator of mind
creating copies from my true being
breathing fire into the equations
filling the cosmos with divine light

Cosmic codes are there to crack
where the system can be hacked
programming the supercomputer
mastering our existential game

A new world flows into form
rushing with the waters of life
outpouring from an infinite sea
there to be perfectly shaped

Oh great beast of the sea
ascend from your depths
stretch out thy angelic wings
and shine forth the rainbow!

 

[citizen cane]

Perhaps this would be better suited to the blog section of the forum? Many of these posts seem both as thoughts and notes to yourself and far from conducive to feedback from other members. Perhaps it would be even better to simply keep a completely private blog elsewhere on the internet, or written on paper.

 

[RaptorWizard]

“Creation - that is the great redemption from suffering, and life's growing light. But that the creator may be, much suffering is needed and much change. Indeed, there must be much bitter dying in your life, you creators!” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

I wonder how much meaning can be divined from that above quote. Perhaps change is an integral part of suffering, since we suffer yet more when we fail to adapt well within the constant flux. The transformations though are what could make us grow.

I know that there must be a better way. One day I will lay the foundations for the annihilation of all pains suffered on our part! A good first step in the fulfillment of this momentous task would be to realign the pieces, change the world architectures around. The process is all centered around this amazing idea of design.

Design is very process based, which comes before the deal is signed and completed. It's in the process that we really build constructs up, so if we could somehow make the design before the action, then all following actions could follow the commands of our designs and force of will.

Simply put, we won't shape ourselves to the world, but rather the world will shape itself to us!

My great grandmother told her kids 6 months before I was born that a "Child of Light" would be born in the east (she lived on the west USA coast), and then surely enough, I was born in Virginia, whereas nobody else in my family was born that year. She must have had some divinely inspired vision of the great things I shall bring to our civilization and our immanent salvation!

Not that I'm a messiah (I'm very far from it), but I can be a focus point for the unfolding future and an architect for our shining destiny. I alone can't be the bridge. We must all cross it together over the sparkling rainbow of the heavens and to our ultimate ascension! Rise up to your greatest height and gaze out upon the open horizon, and all the boundaries shall be broken asunder!

What do I define as perfection you might ask? Perfection my friends is freedom from all restrictions. The ultimate goal is to break our chains!

 

[RaptorWizard]

Okay, well I don't care whether or not we completely agree, but what we need is acceptance and universal growth, which may also involve challenging each other. Still, I appreciate the sentiment.

Hm, you seem to be viewing this from more of an individualized perspective, as far as how the objective world shapes your experiences. I see this thing more literally, that is, I really believe that the mind has the power within itself to transform the world, rather than the world just transforming ourselves.

Oh, I guess I was a bit off about you in my post before this one. You really do believe that, due to the connections we share together from the quantum bridge, that we can each influence everything else in the universe, even by force of will. I also think though that this dynamic determinism about our universe is something we will surely find at the lower levels of existence, kind of like where we currently are. Higher up, if you even believe in that stuff, perhaps it could be much more floaty and less connected with chains.

I agree. We aren't seeing everything as it really is. Even what we refer to as empirical systems of measurement all revolve around how they are initially seen, which may not be the true nature of the thing. Time I'm also sure is an integral part of the equation, as it is the way in which we seem to experience the changes that we record. I guess we must progress onwards with our journey across everything to chart new worlds. Indeed, openness to all the opinions is vital for expanding worlds.

For me at least, it's not pushiness itself that's the problem. The problem is when people are pushing views that are poorly constructed, and/or directed with a foolish sense of assuredness. I seem to find that some of the worst and most dominating opinions come from people who are just so sure that their own opinions are the right ones, while some of the best opinions come from people who are much more open and questioning.

This sums it up well. Everyone of course has an opinion, and those opinions are all relative to the individual. I don't think we should be too sure of our own ideas, since other people have their own ideas as well. It's stupid to assume that we ourselves of all people actually have the best ones, which is exactly why we should consider the possibilities as presented by all people.
My ego tells me that I can transform the world. I've always had a strong faith in my own individual promise, since I'm constantly questioning myself and seeking for higher understandings.

Those who must assume themselves and assure others that they are correct all of the time deep down actually lack a genuine confidence in their own abilities. They are too afraid to confront their own weaknesses, nor do they have good room for improvement operating within that kind of restrictive structure.

When we climb mountains, either we will reach greater heights today, or we will grow stronger and more able to ascend further tomorrow.

If anyone feels like you aren't good enough, then at least have hope in the ever expanding horizons ahead of us, and set your gazes towards the ultimate destiny of life. It's critical not only for us to offer our gifts, but to also receive from Santa Clause. You just have to believe!

 

[RaptorWizard]

A New Integral Paradigm - http://kheper.net/integral/integral_paradigm.html
Journey in Being New World - http://horizons-2000.org/Journey i...w World.html
Transcending the Matrix Control System - http://montalk.net/
Cognitive Theoretic Model of the Universe - http://www.ctmu.org
Esoteric Science - http://www.esotericscience.org
The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus - http://www.sacred-texts.com/eso/sta/sta08.htm
Ancient Knowledge and Wisdom of the Arcanum - http://www.pymander.com/AETHEREAL/ARCANE~1.htm
Hermetic Philosophy and the Mystery of Being - http://www.plotinus.com/mysticism1.htm
Creation as Power - http://hermes-press.com/creation.htm
RaptorWizard's Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/user/RaptorWizard
RaptorWizard's Notebook - http://www.typologycentral.com/forum...al-design.html
Infinite Creations Unleashed - http://raptorwizard.webstarts.com/

Give me hope, and I can give hope to the entire world!
All I ask is that someone, somewhere continues to support me and believe in me.
I can be a guiding light to our ultimate salvation!
It may take eons for its accomplishment, but it will be done, whether we finish it in times far ahead, or even here on earth!

Faith is the greatest gift we can give each other. It has the power to transform the world!

 

[Mole]

Perhaps this would be better suited to the blog section of the forum? Many of these posts seem both as thoughts and notes to yourself and far from conducive to feedback from other members. Perhaps it would be even better to simply keep a completely private blog elsewhere on the internet, or written on paper.

Don't let yourself be relegated to paper. Keeping on posting here to your heart's content.

We like you posting here in the open for everyone to see, even the guests.

Don't let them lock you away, blaze out on Typology Central and illuminate us all.

 

[RaptorWizard]

It seems clear to me that the first steps to proper action are in asking what steps should be taken in the first place, along with a curiosity about the imminent adventures.

The journey is an exploration of being, especially of its nature, depth, variety, and possibilities. Of course, the map further expands as we see more things, and how do we see more things you might ask?

Well, it all begins with asking the question! We need to see things by asking, by searching for the 'why'.

I think that intention plays a little part in attracting certain life events, but many spiritual people make it out to be far more powerful on our part than it really is.

There could be higher intelligences out there somewhere that can tune into our frequencies, and maybe do things like listen to prayers, inspire those who meditate, give prophets visions, and so forth.

If it's real at that kind of level though, I would like to think its effects are very subtle for the most part and could even take much time and effort on our behalf to give the full fruits.

God seems to be content with letting us figure things out for ourselves, at least for now, and there could be little clues he's laid out across the world that we can piece together to come upon the treasure, the "Philosopher's Stone" or whatever may be.

Sometimes I believe that God gives guidance to my intuition, helps me to understand and walk the path. Perhaps this has some kind of Karmic connection.

Seek to walk high philosophical paths, heal the world, find enlightenment, and maximize human promise.

There was a very spiritual girl who I think was like a few years older than I am that contacted me on Youtube 2.5 years ago with real interest in some metaphysics videos I had up then, though she seemed to have intense problems in her personal/emotional life. Sadly, she left Youtube and never came back. I was perfectly willing to be her friend as well, but that never developed as I wished it too, especially since I didn't even get to give her my last words. I can just hope she's doing okay now, whether or not she had any romantic feelings for me (which remained unexpressed even if present). We had some really long PMs sent to each other on the big questions of existence as well.

And just now I've had very strong sentiments for an interesting girl on this forum who I'm sure many of you have seen named Pinker85. I guess she's not really here now, but I was very happy to see that she thinks I'm great. The big stumbling block here was that TypoC isn't real interaction with people in the truest sense, so establishing any kind of deep connection wasn't really realistic. The big positive with this example though is that I actually did manage to get my final parting words in, and I had verification that my earlier efforts were looked upon with kindness. That's something I'm actually very proud of. Pink expressed here on this forum some very deep personal/emotional problems from her upbringing and life, kind of like the first girl I mentioned also struggled with. It's interesting how Pink seemed to have many mental talents with things like having a strong grasp in scientific/technical subjects, along with some more literate/creative ones. Perhaps I could have learned many amazing things from her.

Hm, maybe I tend to have powerful attachments to the kind of girl that's very mentally intense yet very emotionally deep. These kinds of people seem to have many great thoughts to offer, but the bad part is that most people aren't genuinely interested in listening to them. I see myself as being a very open person, and as such, I can be highly receptive to input from people special to me. Of course, I also listen to people I'm not as fond of as well if they have something of value to tell me. This is because one of the biggest problems in our world is that everyone's too dang busy, and few of us truly take the time to offer care and share our happiness. And that's what I wish for more than anything, that happiness can be shared and unleashed with full complete freedom for all people everywhere. Even if I can't have people I love for myself, the point of greatest importance is to treasure the bridges we are building across the heavenly rainbow and let it forever shine forth with the force and feeling of our true character. If we can do that, then those that we love can give us hope and happiness that eternally lives on within our own beings. This will save us all in the end.

Yes, I very much agree that we live in hell. It can however teach our soul many things, can refine us for higher dimensions if you believe in that stuff. There's the gnostic theory that our world was created/corrupted by an 'evil Demiurge', a theory which I could very well subscribe to. The 'good God(s) still looks upon our world I think, but help us out in very indirect ways. It's like we're meant to triumph over life with our own true selves.

I see the heart as more of a shining star of hope rather than a Christmas present. It should inspire us, not be a treasure that can be stolen. Stars after all are for everybody to look at, but treasures are gone once they're removed from the chest.