Welcome
This is a project about philosophy, science, reality and our relationship to it. The Magical Flower of Winter is the flower growing out of itself, symbolizing the self-upholding nature of reality, the corresponding holistic philosophy I attempt to outline, as well as the reciprocal relationship between us and reality that this philosophy represents. My view is meant as a declaration of philosophical and ecological resistance for this age of adversity, a seed for a philosophy for our future.
For the introduction to my project you should read my very first post:
The Magical Flower of Winter
What is reality? Is it what we see and sense, what we experience? Or is it what we think these experiences correspond to “out there”, beyond ourselves and our reach? Is there more to reality than what appears to us? Is there an ultimate reality holding the world of experience up? In this first article I will try to outline some of the topics this project is about. To me, this project is a continuous process of discovery and creation, a process which, paralleling the view of reality I attempt to outline, has no privileged starting point from which all else derives. Thus, many areas will be visited in due course, and due to the aspect of wholes precluding straightforward reduction, we will only be able to see the outline of the whole gradually, from the edge of the intersection each area provides a vantage from.
After that you can read my essays in any order you like, their title should very roughly indicate their topic. However, be aware that most of them build on each other. For instance, one essay might try to answer a question posed in an earlier essay, or a concept or term might be discussed or applied that has been defined or first discussed previously. All such occurrences should be properly referenced in the text or in the essay footnotes. As such, a “comprehensive” reading should be chronological.
However, if you would like to start at the “end”, here is the final essay in the first phase of the project, which attempts to provide a coda of sorts:
A View of Reality as a Whole
The first phase of this project draws to a close, and this essay will be an attempt to summarize the work so far, to give a tentative outline of a view of reality as a whole. As I have tried to show in several ways, there is a limit to what can be said, a point we need to be mindful of, as there can be no finite set of encapsulating statements. Furthermore, this project, the magical flower of winter, should itself be understood as a whole, each piece a part that stands against the background of the other pieces, and must be seen in the light thereof.
I hope you find this essay series enjoyable and/or thought-provoking. This is really one of the main aims of my work, to stimulate towards a fresh way of thinking. If you do find this to be the case, please do not hesitate to share or leave me a comment!
Some terms have been added to the “Terminology” tab, please let me know if there are more terms you would like to see added there.
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