Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Alliance for Mystical Pragmatics

Harmonizing Evolutionary Convergence

Glossary Menus

Transcending the categories

Clearly, if we are to maintain the egalitarianism and consistency of our thought processes, we need to form the concept of the Formless Absolute in exactly the same way as all other concepts—by looking at the similarities and differences in the data patterns of experience, arising from the Datum of the Universe.

To do this, in conformity with the Principle of Unity, we look at the Absolute in terms of two pairs of opposites: conceptually and experientially and as both a unity and an aggregate. For even when we look at the Supreme Being with our analytical, conceptualizing minds, we cannot avoid duals.

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 Datum 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 comes from the Latin dēfīnīre ‘to limit’ or ‘to end’. 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 assembled structure of all its parts is exactly the same as the structure of any of its parts, for the Universe 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 Universe together. 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 synergistic power of the Universe.

If we now feel into the Absolute experientially, through meditation and self-inquiry, 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, whose nodes consist of meaningful relationships between forms. Then, as we sink ever deeper into ourselves, passing through multiple levels of structure, we approach the Infinite as all these nodes become singularities between relationships. As we then dissolve even further in an involutionary process, even these relationships disappear, and we are left with the magnificent feeling of translucent Wholeness, Fullness, or Cosmic Consciousness, which is 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 rational and hence scientific concept.

  Oneness Wholeness
Conceptual Transcendent Immanent
Experiential Immanent Transcendent

By unifying God and the Universe, the contextual concepts for religion and science, respectively, all the holy wars—wars about the Whole, which have afflicted human affairs for thousand of years—come to an end and we can live in Love and Peace, having healed our fragmented, split minds.