Inspired by the 21st Century masterwork of a little-known British philosopher, this interactive helical flow-diagram illustrates the dynamics underlying any form of genesis: from child development, to the history of ideas, to cultural flowerings, natural processes and social movements. Each run of the Metaphysical Engine, applying its logic to a different genesis, is termed a ‘rev’. Its power is to reconcile opposing world views, or competing intellectual traditions, by positioning them as necessary stages in one originary, transcendental, and recursive continuum. First study the reference rev, ‘Emergence of the Intellect’, as an example. To view published revs, visit the LIBRARY.
RUN YOUR OWN REV
First, a new blank flow-diagram will display below. A pop-up form will appear for each piece of overlaid text, and guidance for filling it in will show here. Refer to our example rev, ‘Emergence of the Intellect’, as you progress with your own. Once you have filled-in all fourteen pieces of text, you can edit them in any order. When done, SAVE your rev (first log-in or register), give it a title, and select its subject area. To rev up the Metaphysical Engine, click START. To edit your existing revs, .
An engine converts energy into movement. Enter the title and brief description of the pre-existing, constant energy, force, tendency, compulsion or motivation which inexorably drives your developmental process forward.
Any genesis plays out in two broad phases, separated by a critical inflection point. The first phase is organic, spontaneous and holistic, but contains the potential for its own disintegration. Enter a label for the first phase.
Comprising the first phase are three stages of movement towards a crisis point. Stage one is whatever exists, everything all at once, mystical, chaotic and undifferentiated. Enter a title and brief description for stage one.
By the second stage of the first phase, the engine’s energy drives reflective differentiation, so that phenomena start to relate to themselves, but still in the context of the whole. Enter a title and brief description for stage two.
By the third stage of the first phase, accumulating energy overwhelms the origin’s holistic integrity, driving it towards reflective disintegration and thus a metaphysical crisis. Enter a title and brief description for stage three.
The inflection point is the moment when a permanent metaphysical split occurs, and the genesis takes off in a transcendental direction, leaving its organic, holistic origins behind. Enter a label for this moment of crisis.
The engine’s energy kicks in again and drives the genesis forward, transcending the originary phase and its crisis of unfeasible division. Enter a label that encompasses the scope of the second, transcendent phase of the genesis.
The second phase also comprises three stages. Stage one energises the split as a transcendental dichotomy, leaving behind its originary ground. Enter a title, and on two lines the higher and lower entities in this dynamic.
The very existence of the originary ground is hereby called into question. Is it destroyed, or irrelevant, or does it remain but is hidden? Enter a one-word label for stage three of the originary ground, now thrown into doubt.
In stage two of the second phase, the higher entity is itself energised to split, leaving behind the lower entity. Enter a title, and on two lines the higher and lower entities in this new, still-higher transcendental dynamic.
The very existence of the lower entity in stage one is hereby called into question. Is it destroyed, or irrelevant, or does it remain but is hidden? Enter as a one-word label the now-doubtful lower entity in the previous dichotomy.
In stage three of the second phase, the higher entity is again itself split, but this compounded transcendence is risky. Enter a title, and on two lines the higher and lower entities in this final, highest stage of transcendence.
The very existence of the lower entity in stage two is hereby called into question. Is it destroyed, or irrelevant, or does it remain but is hidden? Enter as a one-word label the now-doubtful lower entity in the previous dichotomy.
Taking an historic view of the genesis, it is clear what was lost through transcendence and could be regained by a recursive return to the originary, now on a higher plane. Enter a title and description for this movement of return.
