Tag: Contingency
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Know Thyself – 1: The Crisis of Identity: Becoming, Nothingness, and the Modern Self
“Modern man believes he can be anything — because he no longer believes there is anything he truly is.” We begin in the midst of crisis. Not just political or cultural, but ontological. We no longer know who we are, and worse, we have come to believe that this unknowing is freedom. For centuries, the…
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The Unfolding of Truth – 9: Emanuele Severino – The Inevitable Resolution of the Contradiction
The Final Contradiction The journey of philosophy, from Parmenides to postmodernity, is marked by one recurring drama: the tension between Being and becoming. Parmenides declared: Being is; non-being is not. And yet, all of history, Platonic dualism, Christian creation, Buddhist emptiness, modern subjectivity, has wrestled with the appearance of change: These questions have driven metaphysics,…
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The Unfolding of Truth – 8: Modernity – From Substance to Subject and the Collapse of Metaphysics
The Turning Point: From the World to the Self With the collapse of the medieval synthesis, the philosophical gaze shifted dramatically. No longer anchored in substance metaphysics or a transcendent order, modernity turned inward, to the thinking subject as the new foundation. This was not merely a shift in emphasis. It marked the beginning of…
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The Unfolding of Truth – 7: Scholasticism and the Domestication of Metaphysics – The Final Attempt Before the Fall
The Afterglow of Revelation and the Return of Aristotle As the Middle Ages matured, a remarkable convergence took place: the truths of revelation were increasingly systematized through the lens of Greek metaphysics, particularly that of Aristotle. The fusion promised much: clarity, coherence, and the ability to defend faith through reason. Yet behind this synthesis lay…
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The Unfolding of Truth – 3: Plotinus – Emanation and the Return to Unity
If Plato glimpsed the realm of the eternal through the Forms, fixed, timeless, and shining with intelligible clarity, Plotinus deepens the vision. In the Enneads, he presents a metaphysical unfolding of reality from a single, ineffable source: the One. This One is beyond Being, beyond intellect, beyond any distinction. It is not a being among…
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Christianity and the Structure of Being – 2: The Infiltration of Platonism
How Greek Metaphysics Entered Christian Thought In its earliest centuries, Christianity encountered a world saturated with Greek philosophy. Among the many schools of thought that shaped late antiquity, none was more influential—or more seductive—than Platonism. Plato offered a majestic metaphysical vision: a realm of eternal, unchanging Forms—the true Being of which all sensible things were…
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Beyond Materialism & Idealism 4: The Implications of the Necessary—Reframing Thought and Existence
This series has exposed the contradictions at the core of two dominant worldviews: materialism and idealism. Both are entangled in the impossibility of becoming, whether through the assumption that matter arises and perishes or the belief that reality is dependent on thought. Both, in different ways, attempt to explain being through non-being—an assumption that collapses…
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Suffering & Joy 3: The Paradox of Suffering and Relief
Suffering, like all experiences, is an eternal appearing within Being. It is not an accident to be eliminated but a necessary expression of the structure of reality. Yet, within this structure, the alleviation of suffering also appears to be effective—one takes a painkiller, and the pain subsides. One develops technology, and previously unbearable conditions become…
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Mind & Heart – 2: The Mental Prison of Time and Change
The Unfolding of Temporal Illusion The sense of loss, anxiety, and regret that pervades human experience is deeply tied to the prevailing belief in the passage of time. Modern thought conceives the self as a transient entity, emerging and disappearing within a flow of moments, each slipping into nothingness. This assumption not only shapes personal…
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The Necessity of Contradiction: Understanding Suffering Through the Structure of Being
Introduction: The Question That Remains The series From Contradiction to Joy explored how the recognition of Being dissolves the illusion of suffering and reveals the necessity of joy and glory. Yet, one question still lingers: Why contradiction to begin with? Why does suffering, evil, war, and injustice appear in the unfolding of reality? This question…
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The Illusion of Control and the Groundless World
We often think of the current world crisis as something political or economic, something triggered by wars, shifting alliances, the collapse of trust in leadership. And while all this is visible on the surface, something deeper and more enduring lies beneath. What we’re witnessing is not merely a Western crisis, nor a contest between old…
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The Unveiling of Being – Article 9: The Final Convergence: The Inevitable Recognition of Being
Throughout this series, we have traced the many ways in which the eternal structure of Being reveals itself across various domains—philosophy, mathematics, physics, consciousness, ethics, theology, and identity. Each attempt to ground reality in contingency, becoming, or nihilism has ultimately collapsed under its own contradictions. The fragmentation of contemporary thought, rather than signaling the triumph…
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The Unveiling of Being – Article 8: Technology, AI, and the Limits of Artificial Thought
The modern world is increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, automation, and digital technologies that promise to revolutionize human existence. Some believe that AI and advanced computation will eventually match or even surpass human intelligence, fundamentally altering our understanding of consciousness, creativity, and thought. This belief rests on the assumption that intelligence is merely an advanced…
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The Unveiling of Being – Article 7: Religion, Theology, and the Movement Toward the Eternal
Religious thought has long sought to grasp the nature of ultimate reality, often articulating it through symbols, narratives, and doctrines that attempt to bridge the finite and the infinite. While diverse in form, religious traditions share an underlying impulse: the recognition of something beyond the transient, something absolute and indestructible. This movement, though often expressed…
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🗂️ Updated Glossary & Key Concepts
Understanding the Eternal Structure of Being in Light of Severino’s Thought This glossary introduces essential terms and distinctions for readers encountering the philosophy of Emanuele Severino and the paradigm of the eternal structure of Being. Each term is presented in accessible language, followed by clarifying analogies or diagrams where helpful. 1. Contraddizione C Definition: The…
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Post 60 – Sexuality, Gender, Marriage, and Family as Expressions of the Structure of Being
Building upon the understanding of human relationships as necessary expressions of the eternal structure of being, we now turn to specific aspects of this reality: sexuality, gender, marriage, and family. In contemporary discourse, these elements are often viewed as fluid constructs, shaped by personal choice and cultural influence. A key aspect of this perspective is…
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Post 59 – The Eternal Necessity of Human Relationships in the Structure of Being
Introduction: The Question of Human Relationships In the modern world, human relationships are often viewed as contingent, shaped by historical, cultural, and psychological factors. Friendships, romantic bonds, family ties, and even broader societal structures are frequently treated as mutable, open to individual or collective revision. However, from the perspective of the Structure of Being, relationships…
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Near Death Experiences 7:Death, and the Eternal Structure of Being
Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) are often interpreted as providing insight into what happens after death. Some take them as evidence of an afterlife, while others view them as the final hallucinations of a dying brain. Both perspectives assume that death marks a transition from one state to another, as if existence itself were subject to movement…
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Understanding the Structure of Being – 8
Religion and the Eternal: Creation, God, and Necessity Religion has long been the primary means through which humanity seeks to understand ultimate reality. It provides narratives that shape meaning, morality, and our place in the cosmos. Yet, within religious thought, there is a fundamental tension: the assumption that God or the divine is eternal and…
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Understanding the Structure of Being – 7
The Challenge of Language: How Words Reinforce Illusion Language is the medium through which we express, conceptualize, and communicate reality. Yet, it is also one of the greatest barriers to understanding the eternal structure of being. The very words we use are steeped in the assumption of becoming—of things arising, changing, and perishing. As it…
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Understanding the Structure of Being – 5
Free Will and the Necessity of Choice Few concepts feel as fundamental to human experience as free will. We live with the conviction that we are active agents, capable of making choices, shaping our lives, and determining our future. And yet, if everything that is must necessarily be—if reality unfolds as an eternal, immutable structure—where…
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Understanding the Structure of Being – 4
The Fear of Nihilism: Is an Eternal Reality Meaningless? One of the most common reactions to the idea of an eternal, unchanging reality is the fear of nihilism—the belief that if everything is necessary and immutable, then life, existence, and even our individual actions might lack meaning. How can a world without change or progress…
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Understanding the Structure of Being – 3
Causality and the Persistence of the Chain of Events In everyday experience, causality—the relationship between causes and their effects—feels like an undeniable truth. We assume that every event has a cause, and every action, a corresponding effect. The idea that one event follows another is so deeply ingrained in our understanding of the world that…
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It Is What It Is 