1. What is ‘inside’ existence in and of itself
2. What is ‘outside’ existence in and of itself
3. Existence in and of itself

This vessel is composed of neither the corporeal/physical nor the incorporeal/abstract.

Existence thus begins as a point of potentiality for experience by an existence of being just as a point in geometry begins as a potentiality of space by an existence of location Existence ‘begins’ as potentiality. It is experience which explodes the potentiality of being into four ‘points’ (At the point of the development of this paper, we are speaking of four ‘points’ to existence. As our understanding of existence grows so to may our understanding of the ‘number’ of ‘points’ comprising ‘existence’ in and of itself.) just as space explodes the potentiality of location into four ‘points’ (Length, width, height, time, and according to mathematicians and physicists perhaps many more.)

The explosion of the existence’s potentiality created by experiencing ‘creates’ the four ‘elemental particles’ of existence, ‘creates’ the four ‘points’ of existence, causes existence to take on ‘the appearance’ of an equilateral pyramid where the base is the vertex labeled being, as in ‘the state of being’. A point, the vertex, thus becomes the base and an equilateral triangle forms the top. As such the pyramid takes on the ‘appearance’ of being inverted. (In fact there is no ‘correct’ orientation regarding the concept of existence in and of itself. The introduction of a specific orientation is done simply to facilitate our understanding of ‘filling’ existence with ‘experiencing’.) The ‘appearance’ of an inverted pyramid could be viewed as a form of ‘cup’ capable of ‘holding’ ‘something’. The three vertices of the equilateral triangle are then labeled as ‘being’, ‘Being’ and being, defined as shown in the diagram.

The point of potentiality of existence is often referred to as ‘a state of being’, but ‘a state of being’ of what? A state of being of nothing is the answer. Rather the point of potentiality - being - explodes into a form of ‘container’ with the first onset of experiencing. Experiencing within past debates regarding existence has been associated with awareness. The new debate, however, initiates a new concept: Experiencing can occur with awareness and without awareness. The concept of there being two forms of experiencing likewise initiates two forms of awareness, awareness with ‘knowing of one’s awareness’ and awareness without ‘knowing of one’s awareness’.

Regardless of the complexity beginning to emerge, one must not lose sight of the concept that it is experiencing which initiates the formation of the ‘vessel’ existence.

What then is the function of this ‘cup’? The cup is the ‘container’, which ‘holds’ experiencing, awareness, and knowing. In short, the vessel existence is much like a vessel formed by an electromagnetic field that is anticipated by physicists to be capable of containing a nuclear fusion process.

In the case of the physicist the nuclear fusion process is so hot no material substance would be capable of containing the process without a meltdown occurring.

In the case of the metaphysician, the concepts existence ‘contains’ are so ‘hot’ no corporeal and or incorporeal elements are capable of ‘holding’ the process together without a ‘meltdown’ occurring. The proof of such a perception lies in twenty-five hundred years of inconclusive debating on the part of the most intelligent academics of the times.

Understanding what the Vessel ‘Existence’ contains
Existence exists. Existence begins with a point of potentiality, which has no experience, no knowing, no knowledge, no consciousness, no… and moves into a ‘vessel’ of existence. The vessel of existence is a state of four ‘elemental particles’ in direct association one with the other. The four ‘elemental particles’ of existence – being, being, ‘being, and ‘Being’ - are neither corporeal nor incorporeal in nature. These four primal elements of existence exist as a ‘unit of one’, existence in and of itself, compressed by the lack of experiencing. One could say the four primal elements of existence are ‘released’ by the first waft of experiencing.

Existence ‘pops’ into being as a ‘vessel’ within which the experiencing is ‘contained’. Existence becomes the means by which experiencing ‘hangs’ together as a cohesive unit.

At this point in time we may not be able to analyze the purpose for the whole of existence but we certainly can analyze what the vessel of existence contains, where the vessel of existence is, how the vessel of existence forms, and why the vessels of existence defined by the boundaries of potentiality exist

The terms experiencing, awareness, knowing, the physical, and the abstractual now enter the discussion.

We are beginning to establish a need to clearly state what it is we mean by the terms we are about to use. This is where Wittgenstein’s comment:

‘The sole remaining task for philosophers is the analysis of language.’

begins to take on relevance. In a sense, Hawking’s belief that Wittgenstein’s comment is a ‘… comedown from the great tradition of philosophy from Aristotle to Kant!’ is missing the point of Wittgenstein’s comment for Wittgenstein is correct in that we cannot begin to understand each other unless we first come to a consensus regarding the words we use to communicate.

Before we delve into an elaboration of terms, however, a few items need addressing

First: To understand existence it will help us to understand the physical, the abstract, and how the two, the physical and the abstract, interact but to understand the physical and the abstract we must address the concept of experiencing..

Second: In terms of the unique form of knowing associated with this thing we call the human entity, experiencing becomes a matter of physical form interacting with abstractual form. Interestingly enough the concept of the human entity being unique does not imply life as we know it exists only on earth rather the concept of unique experiencing generated through the uniqueness of the human entity clearly suggests that experiencing potentially exists in infinite other entities within our universe, within other universes, and within the ‘location’ between universes.

Third: The human form of experiencing is twice removed from the vessel of ‘existence’. Existence is not what we experience. Existence simply is. Experiencing is neither the physical nor the non-physical. The physical and non-physical simple are. For the human form, experiencing is the interaction with the physical and/or non-physical. But interaction of what with the physical and/or non-physical becomes the question. Experiencing is the interaction of knowing with the physical and/or non-physical. So it is knowing becomes thrice removed from existence itself:’

Fourth: If we take a cross section the ‘vessel’ of existence filled with:

1. Experiencing associated with awareness but void the ‘knowing’, void the understanding, that one is aware of the experiencing. G. I. Gurdjieff refers to such a state as ‘sleeping’.

we obtain:

2. Experiencing associated with awareness accompanied with the ‘knowing’, understanding, that one is aware of experiencing. G. I. Gurdjieff refers to such a state as ‘wakefulness’.

1. Existence
2. The physical and/or-nonphysical
3. Experience
4. Knowing

Since the physical and/or non-physical, does not exist in and of itself rather the physical and/or non-physical are temporary existences which exist for experiencing purposes, the list becomes:

1. Existence
2. Experience
3. Knowing

In terms of the purity of Existence, one’s personal experience likewise becomes as limited a concept as the physical and/or non-physical. Thus in terms of pure innocence of the physical and/or non-physical the list in its purest form becomes:

1. Existence
2. Knowing

Existence thus becomes the vessel containing knowing. Now a universally pertinent question arises. The question that has long been haunting humanity is: Why? Meaning now enters the picture regarding the structure of ‘what is’. So it is the list expands once again but this time the list becomes:

1. Existence
2. Knowing
3. Meaning

To understand ‘meaning’, however, we must now retreat and reintroduce the concept of experiencing and the concepts the physical and/or the nonphysical. The list in an ordinal format becomes:

1. Existence
2. The physical and/or-nonphysical
3. Experience
4. Knowing
5. Meaning

Now we can begin to understand why we initiated this chapter with the discussion of ‘existence’. We defined existence in terms of its lack of tangible and intangible characteristics and developed a crude analogy regarding what existence is and how existence forms.

We initiated the discussion of existence with the understanding of existence because it is the understanding of existence in and of itself that is the fundamental base regarding ‘what is’: Existence is. Understanding existence in turn allows us to understand the complexity of the physical and the abstract, which then leads to understanding the eloquence of experiencing, which then leads to an understanding of the purity of knowing which finally leads to the understanding regarding the simplicity of meaning.

The significance regarding meaning and in particular the significance regarding the meaning of an individual’s existence goes to the heart of the question: Does the individual actually exist? In essence what we are actually asking is: Is the whole comprised of parts? Does singularity exist or does multiplicity exist, or is existence a combination of the two, singularity and multiplicity?

But how is it that the concepts ‘singularity’ and ‘multiplicity’ now enter the picture? Meaning takes on two aspects. Do the multiple units of individuality exist i.e. multiplicity? and do both the whole and the individual exist as distinct entities of singularity?

The question of singularity and multiplicity may be pertinent to the first four concepts of existence, the physical and/or non-physical, experiencing, and knowing but what of meaning? Singularity and multiplicity have no relevance to meaning. Meaning is a different type of issue. This is not to say meaning in and of itself has no meaning. Without meaning, philosophically the concept of existence existing becomes debatable i.e. if existence has no meaning does existence in actuality exist? If we, as individuals within the whole, as parts of existence, as components comprising multiplicity, have no meaning as individuals in and of ourselves and then the individual dies, did the individual really exist at all?

In essence ‘meaning’ becomes a qualitative aspect of the first four items in the list:

1. Existence
2. The physical and/or-nonphysical
3. Experience
4. Knowing
5. Meaning

while the first four items are not qualitative but quantitative in nature.

The understanding of ‘meaning’ has been broached throughout the course of Western thought to no avail. Eastern thought on the other hand has found harmony with the idea that one can find peace within one’s self without answering the philosophical question regarding ‘meaning’ as it pertains to the first four items on the list. So it is Eastern and Western thought may have different approaches to questions haunting humanity but both Eastern and Western thought, to date, end up with the same answers to the questions regarding essence since time began, namely: there appear to be no answers to the questions regarding:

1. Existence
2. The physical and/or-nonphysical
3. Experience
4. Knowing
5. Meaning

The point of this work, however, is to take a different tack regarding the understanding of items one through five and as such prove the naysayers wrong in their perceptions that understanding items one through five is ‘beyond’ human capabilities. The primary tool to be used is reason, the primary tool of philosophy itself. The means to developing the answers to questions emanating from the list of five concept is the introduction of a new initial question. The new initial question is: Does existence in and of itself exist and if existence exists, what is existence?

Sixth: The order of things:
At this point it is time to establish some order to what it is we have been discussing. In essence we have been discussing the vessel understood to be existence in and of itself

1. Existence is a point of potentiality
2. With experiencing, existence pops into a form of vessel which acts as a means by which experiencing is contained in its ordered form
3. Experiencing void awareness is where the concepts of nihilism emerge
4. Awareness of experiencing supercedes nihilism and acts as the means by which the vessel of existence and its contents become, in terms of longevity, permanent/unaffected by the limits of time and space – nihilism becomes irrelevant.
5. Knowing of awareness emerges

The result:

Turns into:

1. What is ‘inside’ existence
2. What is ‘outside’ existence
3. Existence in and of itself

If we take a cross section of existence we obtain various forms of understanding regarding the inner structure contained by existence: