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Old June 18th, 2006 #1
Rhadley
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Default FAQ About The Numinous Way

Frequently Asked Questions About The Numinous Way of Folk Culture

Version 1.0 June 2006 CE

Q: What is the Numinous Way?

A: The Numinous Way - or, more fully, The Numinous Way of Folk Culture - is a Way of Life: one answer to fundamental questions, such as "What is the Meaning of Our Life?" According to The Numinous Way, the meaning of our life is to live, in harmony with Nature and the Cosmos, so that we can evolve ourselves and, after our causal death, transcend to another type of existence, in the acausal. This evolution of ours is also an evolution of Nature and the Cosmos.

Thus, The Numinous Way conceives of an individual as a nexion - as one, causal, connexion between the life that exists in the causal and the life, the beings, the energy, that exist in the acausal.

The Numinous Way has its own ethics, which it calls Cosmic Ethics, and the basis for these ethics are personal honour, empathy and compassion.

Q: What are the causal and the acausal?

A: The Numinous Way conceives as the Cosmos as having two fundamental aspects - or two types of Time and Space. There is causal Time and causal Space, and acausal Time and acausal Space. The ordinary, non-living, matter/energy of the Cosmos exists in causal Space-Time. We also exist in causal Space-Time - but, because we are alive, we also have, within us, a certain type of acausal energy. That is, we are a nexion, a connexion, between causal Space-Time and acausal Space-Time. All life, because it is life, has a certain type of acausal energy - that is, it presences acausal energy, in the causal, in causal Space-Time. Acausal energy cannot be created, or destroyed - it just changes the manner of its presencing, or its "strength", its amount.

The acausal energy which we possess, as temporal, causal-living beings, as an individual, as a causal nexion, is just one type of acausal energy.

Q: What does the word numinous mean?

A: As used by The Numinous Way, the term numinous means a presencing of acausal energy, in the causal. In a more ordinary sense, what is numinous is what we might regard as "sacred"; as special. It thus contains, or manifests, presences, beauty, harmony. It reminds us that we are but a single nexion, among many. It reminds us of Nature, and the Cosmos, beyond us - it provides us with perspective. It presences the true meaning of life, the true meaning of our causal existence.

Q: What is a nexion?

A: A nexion is a region, in causal Space-Time, where acausal energy exists, or is manifest, of through and by which acausal energy can be manifest, or can be presenced, in the causal. We, as individuals, are individual nexions by virtue of being-alive, just as Nature is another, supra-personal, nexion - a connexion to the life, the acausality, the energy, of the living-Cosmos.

What needs to be understood is that the Cosmos is both causal and acausal. We are mostly aware of only the causal aspect - the material world around us; our planet; the stars; Galaxies, and so on. But the acausal exists within, and beyond, us - and the Cosmos is a Unity, a matrix of connexions, of causal and acausal. Thus, The Numinous Way conceives as all life - everything that lives, that exists, in the Cosmos - as connected, as part of The Unity, of which causal and acausal are a part. Being aware of this Unity, of how we are connected, of ourselves as one nexion, is the beginning of understanding the meaning, the purpose, of our own lives.

Q: What do you mean by the term presencing?

A: Presencing means the flow of acausal energy, or energies, from the acausal to the causal, or a manifestation of such energies, in the causal. Thus, a sublime piece of music may be said to presence the numinous, because it captures, it expresses, it manifests, some-thing beyond us, as individuals - something beautiful, numinous, sublime - and as such it may make us aware of The Unity, of the living-Cosmos, and be or become a nexion itself: a kind of "gateway" through which certain acausal energies may flow, or be presenced, which energies may change our consciousness, our being, our life, in certain ways, thus changing us, often in a positive, life-enhancing, way. That is, such a work of Art can access certain acausal energies.

We, as individual living beings, are one presencing of acausal energy, as is Nature, to which we are connected.

Q: What is this acausal energy?

A: Acausal energy is discussed in the article The Question of Time: Toward the New Acausal Science of Life and in the article Acausal Science: Life and The Nature of the Acausal which is based upon parts of the previous article, and an update of it. These articles also outline the nature of the acausal itself.

Basically, acausal energy is the type of energy (or "matter") that exists in acausal Space-Time, and some of this type of energy can be manifest, or presenced, in the causal. That is, the type of acausal energy which we know and experience - which gives beings life in the causal - is only one type of acausal energy.



Q: What is the Folk?

A: The Folk is regarded, by The Numinous Way, as a type of being: some-thing which has Life; a presencing of acausal energy here on this planet surrounding our star, the Sun, which star is one star among millions in one Galaxy among millions upon millions of Galaxies in the Cosmos. We, as individuals, are part of our own Folk - we are one, individual, manifestation of our Folk.

A folk arises over time, through living in a certain area - a homeland - through shared experiences, through a common heritage, history and so on. Over time, a specific culture arises, which represents that particular folk, and the folk of this homeland develop a certain character: a certain nature, which in general serves to distinguish them from the peoples of others cultures. This character may be manifest in their way of life, their religious outlook, their literature, their natural music (that is, their "folk music"). Thus, a folk is not an abstract, easily defined, static, "thing" like the concept of race. It is a living, changing, evolving, being - a unique type of life. What defines a folk is thus far more than a certain set of physical or physiological or genetic characteristics. A folk is a symbiotic being - in symbiosis with the being which is the homeland of that folk, with that community or that collection of folkish communities. All this makes the culture, the Way of Life, the ethos (or soul) of that folk living as well. And it is this living which is numinous, which presences the numinous. (The Concept of The Folk)


Q: Is the Folk important?

A: The Numinous Way considers each Folk - each creation of Nature, if you will - to be important, and considers that these living beings should be aided, and evolved, but only by ethical means consistent with the ethics of The Numinous Way. That is, through honour, empathy, compassion, reason, and tolerance. Thus, The Numinous Way considers that the diverse cultures - the different folkish cultures which have arisen on Earth - are worth caring about; worth nurturing, in an ethical, tolerant way. It does not wish to see this great diversity of culture destroyed by, for example, the levelling of urbanization, or by the materialism of consumer-capitalism, or by some political ideology.

Each individual is and should be, according to The Numinous Way, free to choose what to believe, what to uphold, where and how they live - this personal liberty, this respect for personal dignity, is an essential part of The Numinous Way which suggests that some individuals may choose to belong to, to identify with and to aid in an ethical way, their own ancestral culture, as some may choose to live in a small folk community where their culture is treasured in a rational and honourable manner.

Q: What is the nature of these living beings - such as Nature and the folk? Are they acausal beings?

A: They are manifestations of acausal energies in the causal, and as such can be said to be a type of acausal being. They are not purely "acausal beings", though. They presence acausal energy in causal Space-Time. As such, they live - they come-into-being in the causal; they change; they evolve; and their causal existence can end. That is, they, or rather their causal apprehension, their causal mode-of-being, can die - become extinct, in the causal.

Q: What about tolerance and racial prejudice?

A: Tolerance is an essential part of The Numinous Way. As explained in many essays, racial prejudice is dishonourable, and therefore against the ethics of The Numinous Way. It should be made quite clear that a Folk "is not an abstract, easily defined, static, "thing" like the concept of race. It is a living, changing, evolving, being - a unique type of life. What defines a folk is thus far more than a certain set of physical or physiological or genetic characteristics. A folk is a symbiotic being - in symbiosis with the being which is the homeland of that folk, with that community or that collection of folkish communities. All this makes the culture, the Way of Life, the ethos (or soul) of that folk living as well. And it is this living which is numinous, which presences the numinous."



Q: What are the ethics of the Numinous Way?

A: The ethics of The Numinous Way - often called Cosmic Ethics, or the Cosmic Ethic - are based upon the concepts of personal honour, compassion, and empathy. One aspect of personal honour is having manners: treating people with courtesy and respect. What is good is defined according to honour and compassion - that is, what is good is what is honourable and what does not cause or contribute to the suffering, or which alleviates the suffering, of other living beings. What is wrong, or bad, is what is dishonourable and causes suffering or which contributes to suffering.

For more details see the essays (1) Compassion, Empathy and Honour; (2) The Origin of the Good; (3) How Do We Know In Our Anguish?; (4) Cosmic Ethics and the Meaning of Life; (5) Being Human: A Learning from Aliens.

Q: What is The Cosmic Being?

A: The Cosmic Being is regarded as the Cosmos in evolution, with Nature representing one manifestation, one incarnation, of the Cosmic Being on our planet, Earth. In a quite profound way, we are this Being - or rather, we are the incipient consciousness of this Cosmic Being, who, or which, is The Unity, composed of the matrix of causal and acausal connexions - the matrix of nexions - which are the living-beings of the Cosmos, both causal and acausal.

That is, the Cosmic Being is manifest in us, because we are a nexion. Furthermore, we can aid this Being - contribute to its increase in consciousness, its awareness, its evolution - or we can in some ways harm this Being, for this Being is not perfect, or complete, or omnipotent. It is us - all life, everywhere in the Cosmos - existing, changing, being, evolving. We aid this Being when we access acausal energies through such things as honour, compassion, empathy - and especially when we change ourselves, when we become more self-aware, when we develope our understanding, our own consciousness, our reason, and when, at out causal death, we move-on, into the acausal, bringing with us the acausal energies we have "collected" during our causal existence. We harm this Being - and the evolution of the Cosmos, and the aspects of this Being presenced as individuals, as Nature, as other living-beings - when we contribute to suffering, or cause suffering, or do what is unethical and dishonourable, for such things remove acausal energy from us, or distance us from acausal energy.

Thus, there is an interaction here - an on-going creation and evolution, of which we all are a part, although many of us do not see or understand this, such is our lack of empathy with other living-beings, our lack of empathy with Nature, and our lack of empathy with the Cosmos itself. For the Cosmos is alive, just as much as Nature is alive, here on this planet which we call Earth.

Q: What about life after death?

A: The Numinous Way posits that the acausal energy which we, as an individual possess by virtue of being alive, by virtue of us existing, having-being, in the causal, is not destroyed when our physical bodies die. Instead, this acausal energy is returned to acausal Space-Time, since the physical nexion - our physical being, in causal Space-Time - no longer exists.

The Numinous Way understands this physical life of ours as a means - never to arise again - whereby "we" can evolve toward the acausal. We can do this by strengthening the acausal within us while we exist in causal Space-Time. This involves us in cultivating honour, compassion and empathy - in using our will to restrain ourselves, to do what is right, honourable, and compassionate. Why do these things do this? Because they do or can presence acausal energies, and so we can access certain acausal energies through them, and so change ourselves, so "evolve" thus acquiring for ourselves more acausal energy.

At present, we cannot express in words or even concepts the true nature of this next acausal existence, except to posit that it is and will be an evolution of our own self-consciousness: a returning to The Unity where our self expands to include the consciousness of The Unity, to be, in one sense, the consciousness, the awareness, of the Cosmos itself. This is so because of the nature of the causal and the nature of the acausal. The causal - where we exist, as physical beings - is bound by causal Space, and Causal, linear, Time. So there is birth, life, death: a beginning and an end, separated in both time and space; causal change and causal movement. The acausal, however, is not bound by causal Time nor by causal Space: it is, "everywhere at once" and "eternal" (when viewed via causal Time).

Q: Is there any relation between The Numinous Way and other religions, such as Buddhism?

A: Only in so far as both understand the nature of suffering and the causes of suffering. But they are distinct answers to the questions about life, and existence. It could be said that The Numinous Way is somewhat more rational, positing as it does concepts such as causal and acausal, and that The Numinous Way is aware of Nature, the folk, and the Cosmos itself as living beings, whereas Buddhism is not.

Q: What about Christianity and Islam?

A: The Numinous Way is quite different from both Islam and Christianity, and indeed somewhat incompatible with them. For more details, see the essay The Theology of The Numinous Way.

David Myatt
June 18, 2006 CE

http://www.dwmyatt.info/
 
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