Post 33 – The Structure of Being: The Necessity of What Is

The foundation of everything discussed in this blog was laid in the introduction and early posts. Readers who begin with later entries, without that groundwork, may find it difficult to grasp the frequently mentioned Structure of Being and its implications. While the explanation here is necessarily brief, I remind the reader that this blog is not intended to be a comprehensive or academically rigorous philosophical treatise—there are abundant sources available for that. From the outset, the goal has been to explore and present these profound ideas in plain language, making them as accessible as possible. With that in mind, here’s a refresher on what we mean when we speak of the Structure of Being.

The Question of Being

The question of Being is the most fundamental inquiry of philosophy. What does it mean for something to be? Is there a deeper truth to existence beyond the assumptions of change, becoming, and annihilation? While many traditions have grappled with these questions, it was Parmenides who first exposed the radical answer: what is, is, and cannot not be.

Despite the clarity of this insight, the trajectory of Western thought largely misunderstood or ignored the necessity of Being. From Plato onward, philosophy sought to reconcile Parmenides’ discovery with the apparent experience of change, giving rise to metaphysical systems that treated Being as something distant, while the world was framed as transient, shifting, or incomplete. This error—treating Being as subject to becoming—became the foundation of Western thought, leading to centuries of metaphysical, theological, and scientific interpretations rooted in the illusion that things come into existence and then disappear.

Parmenides and the Discovery of Necessity

Philosophy, in its truest form, begins with Parmenides, who recognized that Being is not subject to contradiction. His insight is deceptively simple yet profound:

• What is, is.
• What is not, is not—and cannot be.

This realization dismantles the notion of nothingness. If “nothing” were real, it would be something, which is absurd. From this follows the impossibility of becoming—the idea that something could arise from nothing or dissolve into nothing. If something is, it must always be.

Yet, despite its logical necessity, this truth was soon obscured. The assumption that things “come into being” and “pass away” became deeply embedded in philosophy, science, and everyday thought. It seemed self-evident that things change—that they begin and end. But this assumption, as Emanuele Severino later demonstrated, is the greatest misunderstanding of all.

Severino and the Return to the Truth of Being

Emanuele Severino exposed the contradiction at the heart of this long misinterpretation. If we truly follow Parmenides’ insight to its conclusion, we arrive at an unavoidable truth: everything that is, is eternal.

• Nothing comes into existence; it simply appears within the horizon of our experience.
• Nothing ceases to exist; it merely withdraws from appearing.
• Becoming—understood as something emerging from or vanishing into nothing—is an impossible contradiction.

This means that all things, from the smallest particle to the grandest experiences, are eternally necessary. The moment you are living now, the objects you see, the thoughts you think—they are not fleeting or doomed to disappear but have always been and will always be.

What we call time is not the movement of reality but the ordered appearing of the eternal. The future is not an empty void waiting to be filled, nor is the past something that has ceased to be. Every event, every being, every moment is part of the eternal tapestry of existence, appearing according to its necessity.

This realization corrects the fundamental mistake of both ancient and modern thought: the belief that nothingness plays any role in reality. Nothingness does not exist, has never existed, and will never exist. There is only Being, eternally unfolding in the necessity of its truth.

Implications of the Structure of Being

Understanding the necessity of Being transforms every aspect of thought.

• Science and Materialism: Scientific models, while useful, operate within the assumption of becoming—matter evolving, energy dissipating, things emerging and disappearing. However, if Being is necessary, then even the apparent flux of nature is an appearing of the eternal, not a process of coming into or going out of existence.
• Religion and Eschatology: Many religious frameworks interpret life as a journey toward an “afterlife,” assuming that the soul moves from one state to another. But if Being is eternal, then there is no transition—only the appearing and disappearing of truth within experience. This does not negate spirituality but deepens it, revealing that what is sought has never been absent.
• Life and Death: Death is commonly seen as the cessation of existence, but within the Structure of Being, nothing ceases to be. Death is not an end, nor a movement to another state, but simply the withdrawal of an experience from appearing. What is, remains.
• Ethics and Meaning: The anxiety of nihilism arises from the belief that things pass away, that existence is fleeting and ultimately void of meaning. However, the necessity of Being negates nihilism entirely—there is no annihilation, no lost moment, no fading into nothing. Everything has its eternal place within truth.

Conclusion: Recognizing the Eternal

The Structure of Being reveals that reality is not a process of change but an ordered necessity. What is, is—eternally. The illusion of becoming is the great misunderstanding that has shaped human thought, leading to countless philosophical and existential dilemmas.

Recognizing this truth does not remove the experience of time, relationships, or emotions, but it reframes them: they are not passing away, but eternally manifesting within the appearing of truth. Every moment, every experience, every thought is necessary and indestructible.

This realization does not require faith—it is the only logically coherent position. To assume otherwise is to contradict the necessity of Being itself.

In light of this, we do not need to search for permanence elsewhere, in a distant afterlife or a hidden reality. Being is already eternal, and everything within it is necessary.

By understanding this, we move beyond doubt, beyond fear, beyond the illusion of loss. What appears must appear, what is must be, and the eternal structure of Being remains the unshakable foundation of all that is.