Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

experiences of the world to ourselves, in the first instance. And hence there is something of a fixation with essence — for what, after all, is image about except trying to capture essence? Symbol — the communication of image — is therefore always a story of some sort, and trying to get a grasp of essence is the core of these stories.

When we form symbols to communicate with others — by way of describing in words ethical or aesthetic judgements, for instance — then this can have an effect on the ‘impulse’ that might be initiated via subsequent perceptions and sensations. Then we’d have a truly holistic view of the universe. It would be collapsed, I suggest, to just a broader perspective of what science, common sense and immediate experience all see as ‘normal reality’.

The universe started as one thing (Chaos, Formlessness, The One) and has generated — or continues to generate — the multiple things of which we are aware (Order, Form, Being, The Many). There is thus the idea that there is a holism that starts from the ultimate Oneness of the universe through to individual centres of consciousness. All of this, as explored throughout the book, could be conceived without the need for a religious or spiritual interpretation of the universe. Or could be conceived in ways that complement and do not contradict religious beliefs. This, if you like, is the view from the top, down.

Then we have explored emergence. There is a familiar and accepted view of emergence — what we might describe as ‘shallow emergence’.

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