In philosophy, metaphysics, religion, spirituality, and other contexts, the Abso

lute is a term for the most real being. The Absolute is conceived as being itsel
f or perhaps the being that transcends and comprehends all other beings.
While there is agreement that there must be some fundamental reality, there is d
isagreement as to what exactly that might be. For example, some theist philosoph
ers argue that the most real being is a personal God.[3] Some pantheist philosop
hers argue that the most real being is an impersonal existence, such as reality
or awareness. Others (such as perennial philosophers) argue that various similar
terms and concepts designate to the same Absolute entity.[4][5] Atheist, agnost
ic, and scientific pantheist philosophers[6] might argue that some natural law s
uch as gravity or simply nature itself is the most real being.[7]
Contents
1 Three conceptions of the Absolute
1.1 Cross-cultural Conception of the Absolute
1.2 Interpreting the Absolute
2 Relation of humanity to the Absolute
2.1 Experiencing the Absolute
2.2 Representing the Absolute
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References
6 Sources
7 External links
Three conceptions of the Absolute
The Mesopotamian cuneiform ideogram An or Dingir, "Divine". It symbolises the Fo
untain of being as the Medium or Centre of irradiance of (a) reality.[note 2]
The basic concept of the Absolute is that it is the truest reality. However, the
re are three general ways of conceiving it. The Absolute might be (1) the first
and greatest being, (2) not a being at all but the "ground" of being, or (3) bot
h the ground of being and a being.
In conception (1) the Absolute is the most true and intelligible reality. It can
be spoken of and known. For example, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Absolute S
pirit is the most true reality. It is thinkable, speakable, and exists in object
ive world by comprehending everything, including people, states, and world histo
ry.
In (2) the Absolute might be conceived of as utterly outside of all other realit
y and hence unintelligible. It cannot be known or spoken about. Plato's Socrates
says that "The Form of the Good" is "beyond being",[10] implying that it is eve
n beyond thought, language, and normal categories of existence. St. John of the
Cross says:
He who truly arrives there
cuts free from himself;
all that he knew before
now seems worthless,
and his knowledge so soars
that he is left in unknowing
 transcending all knowledge.[11]
In (3) the Absolute might be conceived of as transcending duality and distinctio
n. This concept of a fundamental reality that transcends or includes all other r
eality is usually (but not always) associated with divinity. While this concepti
on initially seems contradictory, it has been highly influential. One way to und
erstand this third conception is to consider the Tao te Ching.
The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.("Tao te Ching," 1)
These opening lines distinguish between two Taos. One is the "eternal Tao" (whic
h cannot be named or explained) and the other "Tao" seems to exist in space and
time (and can be named and explained). The eternal Tao is beyond existence and c
annot be named or fully understood, while the other Tao exists and can be known.
The eternal Tao is infinite; the other is finite. The eternal Tao is formless;
the other is formed. The eternal Tao is transcendent; the other is immanent. The
other "Tao" is an attempt to describe the "eternal Tao" in human terms; but suc
h effort can never express the eternal Tao fully. He continues:
The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery.
In these lines, he further discusses the difference between the two Taos. The et
ernal Tao is "nameless" and is the origin of Heaven and Earth; this "origin" can
be understood as an underlying metaphysics that cannot be described fully. The
"named" Tao, on the other hand, is able to describe specific phenomenons that ex
ist in space and time, hence it is the mother of myriad of things; it also can b
e treated as the humanly conceived concepts in the effort to describe our physic
al world. Later, he points out that both the "named" and the "nameless" emerge t
ogether from the same eternal Tao. This seemingly self-contradictory unity, of c
ourse, is said to be the "mystery" to be understood.
Cross-cultural Conception of the Absolute
One or more of these three conceptions of the Absolute can be found in various o
ther religions or philosophies. The following is a list of concepts of divine or
absolute reality:[citation needed]
The Christian - God
The Islamic Allah ????
The Heraclitian - Logos
The Pythagorean - Apeiron
The Hesiodic - Chaos
The Parmenidean or Neoplatonic - One
The Platonic - Form of the Good
The Chinese - Tian, Tao and other names
The Jewish - Ein Sof
The Vedic - Rta
The Indian - Brahman or Parabrahman
The Buddhist - Dharma
The Japanese[nb 1] - Amenominakanushi
 The Korean - Haneullim
The Mesoamerican - Teotl or Hunab Ku
The North American - Great Spirit
The Sumerians - Anu or Dingir
The Egyptian[nb 2] - Amun
The Slavic - Rod
The early Indo-European - *Dyeus Phiter
The Roman - Deus Ignotus ("Unknowable God")
The Sufi - Al-Haqq
Spinozistic Nature
The Schopenhauerian - Will
Aldous Huxley's "Ground of Being"
F.H. Bradley's "Absolute"
Heideggerian - Being, Thing
Lacanian - Thing
Interpreting the Absolute
While these conceptions are superficially similar, they admit of multiple interp
retations. Some philosophers, especially perennialists and pantheist philosopher
s, find great significance in the similarities between these different words and
argue that various/all cultures past and present have an identical concept of t
he 'Absolute'.
Other philosophers, however, argue that these concepts are not the same,[12][13]
since the Logos is rational and formal whereas Brahman is formless and irration
al; and since Plato's Form of the Good is impersonal where the Christian God is
personal; since Bradley's Absolute is a conscious experience whereas Brand Blans
hard's Absolute is an unconscious, intelligible system.
Perennialist philosophers such as John Hick argue that even if the concepts vary
slightly, the reality of the Absolute reality behind the varying concepts is th
e same.[14]
Relation of humanity to the Absolute
Laozi taught that the Tao was not only the ultimate reality but the ideal of hum
an life. Another conceptual similarity between various conceptions is that the u
ltimate reality also somehow reveals to humans the way to live. For example, Pla
to taught that the Good was both the source of reality, the highest object of kn
owledge, and the ultimate end of desire.
Literature scholar C. S. Lewis explains the connection between the highest reali
ty and human action in this way:
In early Hinduism that conduct in men which can be called good consists in c
onformity to, or almost participation in, the Rta that great ritual or pattern of
nature and supernature which is revealed alike in the cosmic order, the moral vi
rtues, and the ceremonial of the temple. Righteousness, correctness, order, the
Rta, is constantly identified with satya or truth, correspondence to reality. As
Plato said that the Good was 'beyond existence' and Wordsworth that through vir
tue the stars were strong, so the Indian masters say that the gods themselves ar
e born of the Rta and obey it. The Chinese also speak of a great thing (the grea
test thing) called the Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates, the abyss t
hat was before the Creator Himself. It is Nature, it is the Way, the Road. It is
the Way in which the universe goes on, the Way in which things everlastingly em
erge, stilly and tranquilly, into space and time. It is also the Way which every
man should tread in imitation of that cosmic and supercosmic progression, confo
rming all activities to that great exemplar. 'In ritual', say the Analects, 'it
is harmony with Nature that is prized.' The ancient Jews likewise praise the Law
as being 'true'. This conception in all its forms, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoi
c, Christian, and Oriental alike, I shall henceforth refer to for brevity simply
as 'the Tao'.
Taimni says:
Because the Ultimate Reality which is denoted by the word 'Absolute' or 'Par
abrahman' (?) is the very core of our being as well as the cause and basis of th
e universe of which we are part, we can no more get away from it than our solar
system can get away from the sun round which it resolves and from which it recei
ves everything which keeps it alive and moving. Although the Absolute is sometim
es referred to by such epithets as the Void, Ever-Darkness etc. and is beyond in
tellectual comprehension, still, from the intellectual point of view it is the m
ost profound concept in the whole realm of philosophy. The fact that it is calle
d 'Unknowable' does not mean that it is beyond the range of philosophical or rel
igious thought and something on which thinking is impossible or undesirable. The
very fact that it is the heart and the basis of the universe should make it the
most intriguing object of enquiry within the realms of the intellect.
?I.K. Taimni, Man, God and the Universe, Chapter 1[15]
Aldous Huxley says:
"Only the transcendent, the completely other, can be immanent without being
modified by the becoming of that in which it dwells. The Perennial Philosophy te
aches that it is desirable and indeed necessary to know the spiritual Ground of
things, not only within the soul, but also outside in the world and, beyond worl
d and soul, in its transcendent otherness 'in heaven.' ... God within and God wi
thout; these are two abstract notions, which can be entertained by the understan
ding and expressed in words.
Similarly, the Hindu Taimni describes the Parabrahman as unknowable by the human
mind and unthinkable but the highest object of realization and the most profoun
d object of philosophical enquiry.[16]
Plotinus likewise taught that the goal of philosophy was to "contemplate the One
".[17]
Experiencing the Absolute
Philosophers and religious adherents who aim to pattern their life after the Abs
olute reality sometimes claim to have experienced the Absolute. They report myst
ical experiences, feelings of oneness, transcendence of their everyday personali
ty or of personhood altogether.
Representing the Absolute
The Absolute represented as Yggdrasill in Germanic religion.
The Absolute is conceptually defined as something inexpressible and perhaps unth
inkable. This concept creates special problems for expression in words, poetry,
mythology, and art. Writers, painters, storytellers, filmmakers[18] often use pa
radox or contradiction because of the "contradictory aspect of the ultimate real
ity".[19]
According to Mircea Eliade, the Absolute can be mediated or revealed through sym
bols.[20] For Eliade the "archaic" mind is constantly aware of the presence of t
he Sacred, and for this mind all symbols are religious (relinking to the Origin)
. Through symbols human beings can get an immediate "intuition" of certain featu
res of the inexhaustible Sacred. The mind makes use of images to grasp the ultim
ate reality of things because reality manifests itself in contradictory ways and
therefore can't be described in concepts. It is therefore the image as such, as
a whole bundle of meaning, that is "true" (faithful, trustworthy).[20] Eliade s
ays :[21]
 ...the sacred is equivalent to a power, and, in the last analysis, to realit
y. The sacred is saturated with being. Sacred power means reality, and at the sa
me time enduringness and efficacy. The polarity sacred-profane is often expresse
d as opposition between real and unreal or pseudoreal. [...] Thus is easy to und
erstand that religious man deeply desires to be, to participate in reality, to b
e saturated with Love.
Common symbols of the absolute include world trees, the tree of life, microcosm,
fire, children,[22] circles, mandalas, and the human body.