Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Harmonizing Evolutionary Convergence

Glossary Menus

Absolute

In Panosophy, Absolute denotes what is ineffably experienced in union with the Divine, where the experiencer, as an apparently separate being, dissolves into the Formless—as the union of Nonduality and the relativistic, dual world of form.

As a concept, Absolute is formed by Integral Relational Logic in exactly the same way as all others: by paying careful attention to the similar differences and different similarities in the attributes of data patterns, as we experience them emerging from the Origin of the Universe.

However, there is one difference from all other concepts. There is only one Absolute, for if there were more than one, they would be relative to each other, and we could compare them. So the Absolute, and only the Absolute, is beyond compare.

Nevertheless, the fundamental law of the Universe still applies to the Absolute, requiring us to look at it in two pairs of inseparable ways: experientially and cognitively, and as a unity and an aggregate, a two-dimensional example of the Cross of Duality. This approach is essential to establish the Absolute as a rational, scientific concept.

Viewing the Absolute conceptually as a unity, we can see that it differs from all its parts, for all these parts are limited in some way. In contrast, the Absolute cannot be defined, for to do so would be to give it boundaries, to say what it is and what it is not. This is obvious from the word define, which etymologically means ‘to limit’. The Absolute is thus indefinable and unanalysable, qualities that are Transcendent with respect to a knowing being.

On the other hand, when we view the Absolute as the Totality of Existence, we can see that the structure of all its parts is exactly the same as the structure of any of its parts, for by viewing the Universe as holographic fractal, with the property of self-similarity, we can see that it has an underlying, unified structure, independent of and prior to interpretation by a knowing being.

The relationships that form this web of life lie within everything there is; they are the glue that holds the entire Cosmos together, as an ordered whole. From this perspective, we can say that the Absolute possesses the property of Immanence with respect to all beings in the relativistic world of form, with meaningful relationships being the motive power of the Universe.

If we now feel into the Absolute experientially, through various spiritual practices, like insight meditation and integral tantric yoga, we discover that the Essence of the Universe is Stillness or Emptiness, resulting in the exquisite sense of Nondual Love and Peace, which has no opposite. We are now in union with the Divine, in Oneness, in a state of Unity Consciousness. From this perspective, the Divine is Immanent.

Conversely, if we feel into the Cosmos as an aggregate of all its parts, we can experience the Universe simply as a web of relationships. Then, as we sink ever deeper into ourselves, even these relationships disappear, and we are left with the magnificent feeling of translucent Wholeness, Fullness, or Cosmic Consciousness, which is the Transcendent with respect to any knowing being.

In summary, there are two pairs of dual ways in which we can understand and experience the Absolute, given in this table, thus establishing God as a scientific concept.

  Oneness Wholeness
Conceptual Transcendent Immanent
Experiential Immanent Transcendent

However, we are here looking at the Divine from an anthropocentric perspective. But this is too narrow a viewpoint. For even though God’s eye and our own are one and the same—both called Self-reflective Intelligence, as the eyesight of the radiant Light of Consciousness—if we are to truly see ourselves within the overall scheme of things, we need to stand outside ourselves, like some people experience an out-of-body, near-death experience.

Etymology

About 1380, ‘unrestricted, free from limitation; complete, perfect, free from imperfection’, later ‘not relative to something else’, from Latin absolūtus ‘unrestricted, perfect, complete’, past participle of absolvere ‘to set free, acquit’, from ab- ‘away from’, and solvere ‘to loosen’, from PIE base *leu- ‘to loosen, divide, cut apart’, also root of analysis and solve.

Common ancestor(s):