Part Three

The work of philosophy and metaphysics have been much neglected during the 20th century. Indeed, throughout the past century philosophy has been largely reduced to a propaganda organ for scientific materialism. But philosophy should, and today must, offer more than a meaningless, materialistic worldview of despair. It must throw new light on the path behind us and illumine the way to the future. It must provide us with new ways of seeing and understanding the universe and humanity, and it must offer us a meaningful place and function within Earth as a planetary organism.
      Metaphysics necessarily figure largely in a holistic, cyclocosmic philosophy, as it does in any meaningful worldview. But over the past century metaphysics has fared even worse than philosophy. As Huston Smith observes in Beyond the Post-Modern Mind, many influential modern thinkers seem to believe "attempts to locate man in his cosmic setting are compensations for intellectual or emotional weaknesses." Smith assure us that metaphysical thought will once again rise,

because part and whole are in dialogue from the start. And because this is so . . . philosopher[s] cannot ignore metaphysics even if they abandon the existential questions to psychologists and theologians forthwith. As long as they retain their interest in epistemology, questions of unrestricted scope (i.e., metaphysical questions) will inevitably intrude. . . . I suspect that as our own century draws towards its close, metaphysical interest will quicken to such an extent that rebirth will appear a not inapossite metaphor. (pp. 22-23).

      But one may well ask: What is metaphysics really? Is there more to it than old Greek ideas and the sort of superficial and sensational material found in the metaphysical and new age sections of bookstores?
      Since ancient times, metaphysics has been regarded as the study of first principles and the endeavor to formulate a coherent, consistent and orderly interpretation of the basic facts of experience and existence. Metaphysics and philosophy are then interdependent, and philosophy must in one way or another deal with metaphysics. There can be no understanding, no ethics and no values—in short, no philosophy—without metaphysics.
      As Blavatsky writes in The Secret Doctrine, "outside metaphysics no philosophy, no occultism is possible. It is like trying to explain the aspirations and affections, the love and hatred, the most private and sacred workings in the soul and mind of the living man, by an anatomical description of the chest and brain of his dead body." (I:170).
      Nevertheless, the repudiation of metaphysics has long been vogue among scientists, psychologists, educators and professional philosophers. Yet such an attitude constitutes its own metaphysics—a mechanistic, materialistic metaphysics of assumptions, a dark "ateleological" metaphysics of denial breeding egoism, despair and alienation. But because scientific materialism is founded in a metaphysics of denial which obscures Wholeness and artificially fragments any whole into mere isolated parts, it must fall as science itself affirms Wholeness, showing that "part and whole are in dialogue from the start."

The word "wholeness" is unfortunately often used interchangeably with "the One," "oneness" and "unity." From the approach taken here, "the One" is a Whole; regardless of its scope of inclusiveness, it is a finite manifestation of Wholeness. As we'll soon discuss, Unity is a principle which, with the principle of Multiplicity, inheres in Wholeness. Neither alone constitutes Wholeness. Oneness refers to a condition or experience of unity.
      The philosophy of Wholeness therefore uses the capitalized word Wholeness in the very strict sense outlined below.

Wholeness is the all-inclusive metacosmic principle. In esoteric and metaphysical traditions, and in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine, the metacosmic principle is often hidden beneath glamorous terms such as "the Absolute," "the Causeless Cause," "Ultimate Reality," "The Unknown Root" and "Parabrahman" (a Sanskrit word meaning "beyond Brahman" or "the metacosmic"). Space, Motion, Being, Activity, Consciousness, Relatedness, Compassion and Karma are implicit in Wholeness.

Wholeness is not a being, but Beness. Rudhyar writes: "Wholeness is the ultimate idea we can have of the meaning of being." But Wholeness is not a being, supreme or otherwise, because it encompasses all beings that are, were and ever will be.

Wholeness is indefinable, irreducible and transfinite. It is the "Omnipresent, Eternal, Boundless and Immutable Principle" of the first of the "Three Fundamental Propositions" of The Secret Doctrine.
      Wholeness is indefinable because it is insusceptible to intellectual fragmentation, analysis and definition, nor can it be visualized or imagined as a concrete thing, because it is a principle, not an object or a being. Wholeness is irreducible because it cannot be reduced to a mere aggregate of parts, nor can Wholeness be abstracted through the examination, observation and study of the behavior, nature, characteristics and interaction of parts (sub-wholes) comprising a particular whole. Wholeness is transfinite because it is only through wholes operating at a multiplicity of levels of Wholeness, yet all wholes are finite (bounded), otherwise they wouldn't be wholes. But Wholeness is neither finite nor infinite, it operates in and through all levels and modes of being, activity and consciousness. Regardless of the level at which a finite being experiences it, Wholeness is unquantifiable. Particular wholes may be more or less inclusive, but Wholeness is neither great nor small.

Wholeness is everpresent, operating always, everywhere. Wholeness is eternal because it operates through cycles (quanta of Duration, time-wholes). In their true sense, the words eon and eternal mean the "cycle" and "cyclic." Wholeness is Boundless because it is not a whole but Wholeness. And Wholeness is said to be immutable because while wholes change, Wholeness always is.

Wholeness is the all-inclusive, dynamic and ever-changing relatedness of all that is, was and ever can be. As Rudhyar writes, "Wholeness is relatedness considered as the supreme, all inclusive reality of being." In Wholeness all things that are, ever were and ever can be are interrelated and interdependent.

Wholeness simply is. It cannot be captured and delimited in language or human thought. Yet it can be experienced by finite wholes operating at particular levels of being. Wholeness is, and nothing more can be directly said of it. But it is human destiny to attempt to formulate evermore inclusive and meaningful interpretations of Wholeness in operation through the ceaseless movement of the great Cycle of Being—the eternal motion of the Great Breath of ancient traditions and Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine. Within the great Movement of Wholeness cosmos and anthropos are born and disappear, to be born again upon new cycles fuller and more perfect than their parent.
      Much more, then, can be said indirectly of Wholeness and its operation.

The perpetual oscillation of the principles of Unity and Multiplicity. The fundamental principles of Unity and Multiplicity and their perpetually oscillating interplay inheres in Wholeness and gives the eternal Movement of Wholeness (outlined in the next section), its cyclic and symmetric form. From an experiential and psychological point of view, Unity corresponds to subjectivity and inwardness; Multiplicity to objectivity and outwardness. Solidarity and oneness are experiences of Unity; individuality and separateness are experiences of Multiplicity. In terms of dynamic motion, Unity is centripetal and contractive, while Multiplicity is centrifugal and expansive. In a religious sense, the two correspond to spirit and matter respectively. Regardless of what we call the principles, they are two poles of the axis of being, activity and consciousness. But because Wholeness includes both, it is neither the principle of Unity nor the principle of Multiplicity, alone.
      The principles of Unity and Multiplicity, or any of the multitude of polar opposites rising out of them, can never be absolutely unified; instead they perpetually cooperate and their tension gives rise to the innumerable subjective and objective phases of the Cycle of Being, the cyclic world process. There are conditions of maximum Unity and maximum Multiplicity, but there can never be a condition of absolute Unity or absolute Multiplicity. Unity and Multiplicity instead ceaselessly and cyclically oscillate, producing alternating conditions of predominantly subjective and predominantly objective being.

Change and Order. Wholeness is dynamic and Motion, Duration, Order and Harmony are implicit in it. Ceaseless change is a universal experience. Motion always is, as the terms the Movement of Wholeness and the perpetual motion of the Great Breath suggests. Duration is indefinable, transcending concepts of a beginning and end of time. Cyclicity is the dynamic aspect of Wholeness and a cycle is a finite quantum of Duration. Harmony and Order are shown by the cyclic structure and symmetrical form assumed by the ever-oscillating principles of Unity and Multiplicity within the Cycle of Being.

Time and Wholes of Time. Time is the abstraction of change, and change acquires meaning when interpreted in terms of wholes of time—as cyclic processes answering fundamental needs. Cyclic processes order, integrate and structure the energies and activities of beings operating at various levels of organization.

Cyclicity. Everpresent cyclicity is the second fundamental propositions of The Secret Doctrine, which Blavatsky calls the universal law of periodicity, of flux and reflux, ebb and flow, which physical science has observed and recorded in all departments of nature. An alternation such as the Day and Night, and Life and Death, Sleeping and Waking, is a fact so common, so perfectly universal and without exception, that it is easy to comprehend that in it we see one of the absolutely fundamental Laws of the Universe. (I:17)

The redemption is cyclicity is vital and necessary if humanity is to emerge out our of current age of conflict and confusion.

Transfinite Potentiality. The Ocean of Potentiality, which we'll discuss in the next section, is both inseparable from and a product of the Movement of Wholeness. Yet it is not the Movement of Wholeness; it is the energy of the Movement of Wholeness "generated" by the dynamic relationship of the principles of Unity and Multiplicity. Metaphysically, the Ocean of Potentiality is Space or, more precisely, Spatially. The field of relatedness, "Space," HPB wrote, "is the container of all."
      In another sense, the Ocean of Potentiality can be indentified with Mûlaprakriti, a Sanskrit word often used in early theosophical literature meaning Primordial Undifferentiated Root-Substance. But the energy-substance comprising the Ocean of Potentiality and its many permutations should not be imagined as merely the type of energy-matter modern physicists attempt to measure, observe and describe. It is rather a transcendent or "pre-quantumized" force at the root of physical energy-matter.

Being, Activity and Consciousness. Everywhere, always Wholeness operates through being, activity and consciousness. Being oscillates between the two poles of Unity and Multiplicity. A being is a definite and limited system (or field) of activity organized around an essential Tone or Quality operating at a particular level of Wholeness.
      Consciousness is "generated" by the activity of a whole (a being) within its field of operation. In another way, as Blavatsky states in the first fundamental proposition, "consciousness is inconceivable to us apart from change, and motion best symbolized change, its essential characteristic." And consciousness, says Rudhyar, "is Wholeness in operation and the most basic expression of relatedness." In yet another sense, consciousness is the subjective aspect of activity, while activity is the objective aspect of consciousness.
      Unlike many metaphysical traditions and new age systems, the philosophy and metaphysics of Wholeness does not give consciousness precedence over being, activity and relatedness. Rather, being, activity, consciousness and relatedness inhere always, everywhere in Wholeness.
      Wholeness is not being or a being; it is the all-inclusive metacosmic principle. The beingness of a particular whole is a finite "manifestation" of Wholeness operating through a particular field of activity and consciousness at a particular level of being. The level of being, activity and consciousness experienced by a finite whole may be predominantly objective or predominantly subjective, depending on the moment occupied, so to speak, in the Cycle of Being and, in a larger and spiralic sense, within the Movement of Wholeness.

A whole is a finite quantum of Wholeness in operation. A whole is Wholeness in operation, dynamically realizing and experiencing its qualities and potentialities through cycles of transformation and through situations of relatedness with other wholes. Because Wholeness is all-inclusive, each whole is in one way or another related to and reflected in all other wholes that are, were and ever will be. Wholeness and relatedness is the basis of Compassion and karma. Compassion is the power of all-inclusiveness, the conscious instrument for the operation of Wholeness. Karma is the factor of compensation and adjustment operating through relatedness; it is the unconscious and compulsive instrument of operative Wholeness. Both figure largely in the worldview presented here. They operate to neutralize the failures of the past and to absorb discordant situations introduced into the Cycle of Being by the human capacity to exercise free will and to resist the direction of the Movement of Wholeness.

Holarchy—the holistic organizing principle. Wholes encompass smaller wholes (or sub-wholes) and participate in larger (more inclusive) wholes. The holarchical principle organizes the universe as a hierarchy of interrelated wholes within wholes within wholes. Because in a holarchical universe all wholes are horizontally and vertically interrelated with all other wholes, the Wholeness of a whole can resonate to the Wholeness of another whole. "But," Rudhyar writes, "the form (the mental consciousness) this resonance assumes in the resonator's mind is essentially a projection of what is already inherent in that mind—which is always a finite mind, since all wholes are finite."

The quantum of Wholeness operating through a particular whole is not limited to the life-cycle of a particular field of existence. Wholes of space are fields, wholes of time are cycles and cyclic processes. The two are integrated in beings (or cyclocosms) operating through a particular life-field and unfolding its potentialities through a particular life-cycle. Yet the beingness (the quantum of Beness or Wholeness) operating through a particular whole is not limited to the life-cycle of a particular field of existence. In other words, the beingness operating through a particular human being is not extinguished with the death of the body—it instead repeatedly seeks relationship with a series of bodies and personalities adequate to give existential form to its gradually differentiating spiritual Quality.

Wholeness always is, it can never "not be" or "unmanifest." Because Wholeness is what Rudhyar terms "the total affirmation of being," there is always being. But because being oscillates eternally and cyclically between the two poles of Unity and Multiplicity, subjectivity and objectivity, there is a multitude of phases and conditions of being, all of which may be characterized by a particular degree of subjectivity and objectivity.
      We'll explore the multileveled cyclic world process and its many phases of being in the next section, but for now it is important to realize that at whatever level a whole operates, it may experience Wholeness—according to that level of being.

The Inevitability of Success and Failure. Individualized mind and will gives human beings the choice of flowing with the evolutionary stream or resisting it. As individuals and societies we choose either to orient our being, activities and attitudes in the direction of our next evolutionary step ahead or to identify with and cling to the values, attitudes and patterns of living of a past step which are no longer appropriate and adequate for present and future needs.
      Evolutionary success requires attunement to the rhythmic flow of the eternal Movement of Wholeness and a conscious and consistent attempt to actualize the new values and qualities characterizing the next evolutionary step. Spiritual and evolutionary failure results when one's mind, ego, habits, and sense of fear and insecurity defeats one's ability to change and grow, preventing one from recognizing and accepting the transformative power of new values, ideals, attitudes and concepts.

Wholeness obstructed assumes a destructive mode of operation. When the flow of evolution is obstructed by discordant activity on the part of individual or collective humanity, the Movement of Wholeness assumes a destructive aspect.

Beyond Denial and Negation. Metaphysical and religious traditions often term predominantly subjective states of being "non-being," because to beings experiencing predominantly objective states of existence, their familiar condition differ so much from subjective states that the former are most easily described as negating the latter. But to term subjective states "non-being" shows a tendency to consider their nature and validity from a strictly objective viewpoint which prevents understanding subjective states in the positive light of their own place, function and purpose within the whole cycle of being.

A Multileved Affirmation of Being. From the approach of a multileveled total affirmation of being, subjective states are as real and valid as objective states. Subjective conditions are therefore viewed in a positive light and assigned terms of affirmation. Our approach replaces the terms "non-being" and "non-manifestation" with "predominantly subjective states of being," and "non-existence" with "inistence." Additionally, the philosophy of Wholeness does not follow the lead of pseudo-holistic Vedantic philosophies, which devalue or negate objective states as "unreal" while positing "the one and only changeless, ultimate Reality" beyond all relationship to the objective world.

Reality is the all-inclusive Movement of Wholeness. Reality is neither Unity nor Multiplicity, neither spirit nor matter, neither subjectivity nor objectivity—alone or separately. According to the philosophy of Wholeness, reality is the all-inclusive Movement of Wholeness and its Cycle of Being. Wholeness operates on a multiplicity of levels, and each of its innumerable phases (of which human evolution is but one) are regarded real, and each is implied in, related to and defined by every other phase of the cyclic process of being. But Wholeness is not any of these phases, nor is it merely the sum of all phases.

Values change with each new phase of collective and individual evolution. New values must meet new human needs. Rudhyar writes "New values are the answer to new human needs, and we always find these values condensed, exteriorized and formulated in terms of existential facts as new, or at least radically renovated and reactivated, symbols able to enkindle as well as focus the imagination" of human individuals.

The Path of Transformation. Being and becoming figure largely in western philosophies and has greatly influenced the human potential movement. The approach taken here, however, emphasizes being and its realization. The concept of becoming is therefore superseded by realization of a Quality of being. A Quality of being is realized existentially through an individual human being who has successfully experienced the long and arduous process known as "the Path" to its culmination through the exercise of self-devised, self-induced effort. In a broad sense, such a spiritual Quality (infused with a quantum of Wholeness) corresponds to the "monad" or "divine spark" of the 19th century formulation of theosophy.

Transpersonal Activity. In depicting the path of discipleship, theosophical literature and many spiritual traditions often speak of "getting rid of the personality." Such statements do not really mean the personality should be destroyed but that it should be purified and repolarized through the elimination of personalism and the sense of isolated egohood. As these and other transformations occur, the restructured mind, will and personality gradually reflect and gives existential form to the unique spiritual Quality it is the personality's dharma (truth of being or destiny) to actualize.
      The transcendent power and activity operating through a repolarized mind, will and personality is termed transpersonal. The philosophy of Wholeness assigns the term "transpersonal" a very specific place and meaning. The term, a neologism originated by Rudhyar in the 1920s, means beyond and especially through the person. It refers to a very specific condition in which the mind, will (being) and personality acts as a translucent lens bringing into existential focus a downflow of transcendental or transpersonal power and activity.

The Mind of Wholeness is the meeting place of an spiritual Quality and a transformed personality. It is an archetypal mind capable of encompassing the entire cyclic world process and understanding the interrelatedness of anything to everything else. The mind of wholeness is an eonic mind realized as an individual approaches illumination, the culmination of the path of transformation and human evolution.
      Yet every moment of the world process requires the operation of a particular type of mind to give form to the always changing relationship between the everpresent principles Unity and Multiplicity. Mind operates at all levels and its ceaseless operation is the activity of the principle of relatedness inherent in Wholeness. In one of its most inclusive operations, it is the cosmogenic Mind which ideates and sustains a great Cycle of Being, which is a pulse beat of the all-inclusive Movement of Wholeness.

The cyclic, holistic principles and seed ideas outlined above allow us to realize a new, more inclusive worldview capable of evoking in individual and collective humanity new images of cosmic and human evolution.

Read Part Four