What Is The Transcendent?

The nature of the Transcendent becomes the nature of nature, so not the transcendental.
stories · 4 min
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The Transcendent claims some otherworldly status to significant portions of the human species. Something of a sense of the beyond the external, trans-external. By external, I would merely posit the evident, as in the evidence given by the senses to primitive peoples; the evidence of the sciences provided in centuries prior in its clunky manifestations; and, the modern sciences with more robust methodologies or operations, and sensory-enhancing tools, to come to ideas about the world.

In all, this “external” means an external to the cogito of the individual; the most essential part of the person as the core of the soul, as such, eventuating as in an evolved armature, material framework, for its potential to manifest outwards. 

The soul, as the cogito, is the true internal, natural self, as in the knowingness of the self and the existing self: knowing that you know, and knowing that you exist as a being in the world. There is a fundamental distinction between these two while part of the unicity of reality, its unique unitary property. 

When speaking of the Transcendent, two ideas come to the fore of the conversation. One of these is in the formulation of the transcendent beyond the previously defined external. Another aspect is the formulation of the transcendent as an extended external, as part and parcel of the external given before.

In the former, a sense of the ways in which the internal self connects to the external in an ordinary sense, as in the five senses. While, at the same time, a sort of extension into a transcendent realm with hidden powers, marvels, and beings.

Yet, quite necessarily, these are unnecessary constructs. The Transcendent, in this former sense, represents something of the mind, as, when tested in a modern stringent scientific sense, something outside of the bounds of the reasons given the normal externally.

In the latter, somehow, the external becomes something of the superphysical. In that, there is some beyond the world evident to the senses, even accessible to the experience of the senses in principle because of the nature of the “transcendent.”

The “latter” can tend to come with definitions of the supermaterial powers of individuals. In the light of these reflections of the Transcendent, one can find philosophical notions of a transcendent being, while, at other times, a process of a superphysical reality connecting all as a medium by which supernatural powers are claimed. 

Whether the sense of some far beyond “being,” or a literal transcendent being, or human beings with supernormal capacities bleeding into the supernatural, the prime focus should be on two things. One, that which is self-evident; two, that which is evident.

To the self-evident, human beings exist to themselves individually, as beings who know that they exist and know that they know. There is a knowledge of self-existence and a recursive knowingness, as in knowing that one has the capacity to know without or with regard to having knowledge in the first place.

Beyond these, the probabilistic become the centerpiece, as in knowledge of Existence amounts to a statistical affair past the sole cogito. Which is to say, the senses as an extension into the natural world of the cogito, itself. 

To speak of the Transcendent beyond these domains outside of mathematical principles or established scientific truths, one is in the position of a person explaining the dimensionality of something in mind rather than in the world, where those lines in the mind do not have an independent existence from the mind and, thus, exhibit no dimensionality and so comprise no space and no time as in the mind; whereas, that which exhibits an existence in this external existence from the cogito, generated independent of it, comprise true dimensionality, so finitude. 

These in mind dimensions, rather ‘dimensions,’ exhibit dimensionality and spatiality in mind, while, since of the mind, comprise no real space and so no real dimension, thusly exhibiting neither infinitude nor finitude of dimensionality, but only nothingness. 

While the Transcendent claims exhibit this in-mindedness, similarly, once removed from the canvas of the mind, they no longer exist, while forever exhibiting no properties as the dimensionality of mind exhibits neither finitude nor infinitude. 

In this manner, the Transcendent is neither finite nor infinite, but a word claimed for something in the trans-external, the extended external, or even of the mind, while simply and purely being of the mind and then derived as truly nothing. 

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VedaJ commented VedaJ 3y ago

Reading this has changed how I think about my own experiences of transcendence.

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Namaste-Everyday commented Namaste-Everyday 3y ago

Maybe the transcendent is simply what lies at the edge of our understanding, always just beyond reach.

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SacredSerenity commented SacredSerenity 3y ago

The article's position on mental constructs versus reality deserves deeper exploration.

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Wellness_Vibes_X commented Wellness_Vibes_X 3y ago

I appreciate how this challenges both religious and secular assumptions about reality.

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Zen_And_Tonic_11 commented Zen_And_Tonic_11 3y ago

The distinction between self-evident and evident truths seems crucial for modern epistemology.

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Positive_Energy_Only_69 commented Positive_Energy_Only_69 3y ago

Fascinating how this relates to current debates about consciousness and artificial intelligence.

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Style_Iconic commented Style_Iconic 3y ago

The framework presented here might help bridge some gaps between scientific and religious thinking.

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Green_Gazette commented Green_Gazette 3y ago

I keep coming back to the question of whether meaning itself is transcendent.

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Patricia-Rasmussen commented Patricia-Rasmussen 3y ago

The article's treatment of probability versus certainty feels especially relevant today.

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HollyJ commented HollyJ 3y ago

Makes me wonder about the role of language in shaping our understanding of the transcendent.

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HealthyInsideOut commented HealthyInsideOut 3y ago

The idea that transcendent claims are meaningless seems too harsh. They might have practical value.

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QuantumFlux commented QuantumFlux 3y ago

This discussion reminds me why philosophy still matters in our scientific age.

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Bonnie_Twinkle commented Bonnie_Twinkle 3y ago

Never considered before how mental constructs might be neither finite nor infinite. That's fascinating.

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Soulful-Journey_88 commented Soulful-Journey_88 3y ago

The article makes me question how much of my own understanding is truly grounded in reality.

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SciFiMovieCritic_88 commented SciFiMovieCritic_88 3y ago

Perhaps we need new language to discuss these concepts. Our current vocabulary seems inadequate.

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TimeLapseX commented TimeLapseX 3y ago

The distinction between mental and physical dimensionality is fascinating but troubling.

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WellnessWanderer commented WellnessWanderer 3y ago

I'm struck by how this relates to current debates about the nature of consciousness in neuroscience.

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Limitless_Growth_777 commented Limitless_Growth_777 3y ago

The article's framework might help explain why some scientific discoveries feel spiritually meaningful.

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TaylorScott commented TaylorScott 3y ago

Wonder what implications this has for how we think about consciousness and free will.

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FitnessWithIntention commented FitnessWithIntention 4y ago

The discussion about the nature of the cogito feels particularly relevant in our digital age.

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Streetwear_Maven_44 commented Streetwear_Maven_44 4y ago

I find myself agreeing with the logic but resisting the conclusions. Anyone else feel that way?

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Ryan_Report commented Ryan_Report 4y ago

The article's treatment of mathematics as somehow special seems arbitrary to me.

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EpicExplorer commented EpicExplorer 4y ago

Maybe the real insight is that we need both scientific and transcendent ways of understanding.

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Hollywood_Legend_Obsessed commented Hollywood_Legend_Obsessed 4y ago

The discussion of probabilistic knowledge versus certainty reminds me of quantum mechanics.

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Camilla-Knight commented Camilla-Knight 4y ago

Interesting to consider how this applies to creativity and imagination. Are they truly dimensionless?

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Elegant_Finesse commented Elegant_Finesse 4y ago

The article's emphasis on scientific truth versus mental constructs feels very Western to me.

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Vogue_Fit commented Vogue_Fit 4y ago

I wonder how different cultural perspectives on transcendence would fit into this framework.

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MeditationMaven commented MeditationMaven 4y ago

The relationship between consciousness and external reality remains one of our biggest philosophical puzzles.

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WesCooks commented WesCooks 4y ago

We might be overthinking this. Sometimes the transcendent is simply what we feel but can't explain.

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BlytheS commented BlytheS 4y ago

The article's treatment of finitude versus infinitude in mental constructs is particularly interesting.

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ElevateYourEnergy commented ElevateYourEnergy 4y ago

I think my personal experiences with meditation add another perspective to this discussion.

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Hibberd_Highlights commented Hibberd_Highlights 4y ago

There's something both liberating and unsettling about reducing transcendent claims to mental constructs.

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Streetwear-Lover commented Streetwear-Lover 4y ago

Reading through these comments, I'm amazed at how differently we all interpret the same text.

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CharlotteXO commented CharlotteXO 4y ago

The article's position on self-evidence versus external evidence deserves more exploration.

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RockNRollVibes commented RockNRollVibes 4y ago

I'm particularly struck by the idea that mental constructs have no true dimensionality. That's a mind-bending concept.

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SuperfoodPower commented SuperfoodPower 4y ago

This analysis might explain why scientific and religious worldviews often talk past each other.

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TheDarkKnightRises commented TheDarkKnightRises 4y ago

Seems like we're still wrestling with the same questions Plato was asking about forms and reality.

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Hollywood_Hype42 commented Hollywood_Hype42 4y ago

The distinction between mind-space and real-space is fascinating. Never thought about it that way before.

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MarriageVowsKept commented MarriageVowsKept 4y ago

Has anyone considered how this relates to artificial intelligence and machine consciousness?

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Sienna_Sings commented Sienna_Sings 4y ago

The article makes me think about how much of our reality is constructed through language and concepts.

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Method_Actor_101 commented Method_Actor_101 4y ago

Wonder how quantum mechanics would fit into this framework? It seems to challenge both our internal and external understanding.

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IvoryS commented IvoryS 4y ago

The discussion of probabilistic knowledge versus certain knowledge is particularly relevant in our age of big data.

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SamuelK commented SamuelK 4y ago

I appreciate how this challenges both materialist and spiritualist assumptions about reality.

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Norah_Bloom commented Norah_Bloom 4y ago

The article's conclusion feels too neat. Reality is messier than these clean philosophical distinctions suggest.

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CyberNinja commented CyberNinja 4y ago

Wouldn't Kant disagree with this entire framework? Time and space are forms of intuition, not external realities.

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The_Fashion_Club commented The_Fashion_Club 4y ago

I find it interesting how we're all interpreting this through our own philosophical lenses.

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Kristina99 commented Kristina99 4y ago

The article's treatment of space and time as purely external seems problematic given what we know about relativity.

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WinonaX commented WinonaX 4y ago

Not sure I agree that mathematical principles are fundamentally different from other mental constructs.

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OscarsFanatic commented OscarsFanatic 4y ago

This actually helps explain why some people can be both scientific and spiritual. They're operating in different domains.

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Aurora_C commented Aurora_C 4y ago

The discussion of scientific truths versus transcendent claims really highlights our modern epistemological challenges.

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Margo_Light commented Margo_Light 4y ago

I'm curious about how this framework would apply to collective consciousness or shared human experiences.

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Alice_XO commented Alice_XO 4y ago

The article seems to ignore the role of intuition in human understanding. Not everything can be reduced to logic.

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Chelsea_Lights commented Chelsea_Lights 4y ago

What I find most valuable here is the framework for thinking about what we can and cannot know with certainty.

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Luxe_Vogue_2024 commented Luxe_Vogue_2024 4y ago

Does anyone else feel that the article's definition of transcendent is too limited?

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NatashaS commented NatashaS 4y ago

I work in scientific research, and this reminds me of how we struggle to define consciousness empirically.

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Helena-Franklin commented Helena-Franklin 4y ago

The argument about dimensionality is clever but feels like a semantic trick rather than a substantive point.

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Pilates-Power_X commented Pilates-Power_X 4y ago

But isn't that the point? That the mind itself is real and therefore what exists in it has its own kind of reality?

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Limitless-Potential_101 commented Limitless-Potential_101 4y ago

Reading this made me realize how much of what we consider real is actually just in our minds.

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SabineM commented SabineM 4y ago

The article's position on mathematical principles versus other transcendent concepts seems inconsistent to me.

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IndieVibesX commented IndieVibesX 4y ago

I'm particularly interested in how this relates to modern neuroscience. What happens to the cogito when we can map consciousness?

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ChristianDiaz commented ChristianDiaz 4y ago

Anyone else notice how the article seems to contradict itself when discussing the nature of the cogito?

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Belloni_Blog commented Belloni_Blog 4y ago

The distinction between self-evident and evident is crucial here. It's changing how I think about what I really know.

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StreamingObsessed_101 commented StreamingObsessed_101 4y ago

I feel like the article dismisses too quickly the possibility that there might be ways of knowing beyond the scientific method.

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Hygge-Lifestyle_42 commented Hygge-Lifestyle_42 4y ago

The bit about dimensions of the mind versus real dimensions is fascinating. Never thought about it quite that way before.

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SpaceOpera_Lover_55 commented SpaceOpera_Lover_55 4y ago

True self-knowledge seems central to the argument, but how can we be sure our self-knowledge is reliable?

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Soundtrack_Connoisseur_666 commented Soundtrack_Connoisseur_666 4y ago

Sometimes I think we overcomplicate these things. Our ancestors seemed to understand the transcendent without all this philosophical baggage.

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NaomiGreen commented NaomiGreen 4y ago

I'm struck by how the article treats the soul as essentially cognitive. That's quite different from traditional religious perspectives.

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JulianaJ commented JulianaJ 4y ago

The article's definition of external reality seems too narrow to me. What about shared human experiences that can't be measured?

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Matt_2001 commented Matt_2001 4y ago

Loving this discussion! It's refreshing to see people engaging with these deep philosophical questions.

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IsabellaGrace commented IsabellaGrace 4y ago

Makes me wonder about the relationship between consciousness and reality. Are they really as separate as the article suggests?

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TalkShow_Guru78 commented TalkShow_Guru78 4y ago

The whole argument seems to rest on a materialist worldview. Not everyone accepts that starting premise.

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Simple-Living_Joy_555 commented Simple-Living_Joy_555 4y ago

That's actually a great point about mathematics. I'd love to hear the author's response to that challenge.

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IndiaJ commented IndiaJ 4y ago

I'm confused about why mathematical principles get a pass but other transcendent concepts don't. Aren't they also constructs of the mind?

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Monique_Lux commented Monique_Lux 4y ago

Really intriguing how the article breaks down the difference between what's self-evident and what's merely probable.

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FrozenSpecter commented FrozenSpecter 4y ago

The discussion about the cogito reminds me of my philosophy classes. But I wonder if we're still too stuck in Cartesian dualism.

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Samantha-Rose commented Samantha-Rose 4y ago

I think the author is right about being careful with claims that go beyond what we can verify, but maybe goes too far in dismissing them entirely.

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MysticData commented MysticData 4y ago

The article makes some valid points but seems to ignore the fact that many people's lived experiences include what they'd call transcendent moments.

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Helena_Hope commented Helena_Hope 4y ago

I disagree with the dismissive attitude toward transcendent experiences. Just because something exists in the mind doesn't make it less real or meaningful.

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Geraldo_Gazette commented Geraldo_Gazette 4y ago

Interesting how they argue that transcendent claims are essentially meaningless since they exist only in our minds without real dimensionality.

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Lacy-Delgado commented Lacy-Delgado 4y ago

Can anyone explain the part about dimensions in mind versus real dimensions? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that concept.

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JamieT commented JamieT 4y ago

What interests me most is how the article distinguishes between self-evident truths and everything else we claim to know. It really challenges our assumptions.

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Nourish-Flourish_101 commented Nourish-Flourish_101 4y ago

I actually appreciate the detailed analysis. Sometimes complex ideas need careful unpacking to really understand them properly.

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EndlessRomance commented EndlessRomance 4y ago

The writing seems unnecessarily complex. Why not just say these transcendent experiences are all in our heads and leave it at that?

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Breathe-And_Balance commented Breathe-And_Balance 4y ago

I find the distinction between the internal cogito and external reality fascinating. It reminds me of Descartes, but takes it in a different direction.

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Holistic_Heart_07 commented Holistic_Heart_07 4y ago

This article really makes me think about how we construct our understanding of what's beyond the physical world. I've always wondered about that boundary between what we can perceive and what might exist beyond our senses.

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