Key Principle of Life, for Life No. 2 affirms that due to the inherent limitations of reasoning and the scientific method, there will remain a fullness (wholeness) to life that will not be entirely comprehended through rational thinking or be fully revealed by scientific inquiry.
The world around us exists with us, at-once. No science* or system of thought or philosophy can fully reveal or account for this "at-once" (nonlocal) nature of life.
In view of the inability to fully reveal this at-once nature, KPLL No. 2 requires that there will remain aspects of, and potentials within, everyday experience that cannot be entirely reduced to any knowable order (science, equation, academic discipline, physiology, profession, body of experience etc).
Recognising the at-once nature of parts and wholes (of individuals and communities) produces our second Key Principle of Life, for Life (KPLL No. 2):
Key Principle of Life, For Life No. 2:
All occurs at once1
Individuals and communities exist at-once.
‘Parts’ and ‘wholes’ have validity, reality and purpose
through an at-once interdependence of each other.
2Key Principle No. 2 affirms the interdependence of parts and wholes – a paradoxical independence within dependence.
For example, we may operate or live independently of our family or local community (say, as a hermit in the forest), but we remain dependent on the local ecosystem (an interdependent community of flora, fauna and materials). This key principle (No. 2) will apply in all circumstances, but its expression or outward manifestation will take differing forms.
KPLL No.2 affirms the inability to meaningfully analyse parts independent of their relationship to the whole. However, our sciences and the process of rational thinking have inherent limitations when analysing the at-once nature of wholes and relationships.
Generally speaking, thinking is a serial, sequential process; a process of having one thought after another.3 In other words, our usual thinking process does not furnish us with a full view of life, but merely step-by-step views and experiences, which in turn leads us to take either-or snapshots of life4.
We see evidence of this either-or process in everyday life, such as in politics, religion, science and personal relationships.
Either-or thinking in politics
Political parties reflect an either-or bias in the form of socialist, left-wing or capitalist, right-wing policies and laws. Right-wing views and ideologies are biased towards individualism (parts)5. Left-wing politics is biased towards community (the whole). This either-or thinking usually results in right-wing policies favouring individual rights at the expense of community cohesion and cooperation, while left-wing policies generally favour the community at the expense of individual freedoms and opportunities.6,7
As is more fully explained in our seminars8, left-wing and right-wing biases are not sustainable – favouring one side at the expense of the other ends up being at the expense of both, as required by KPLL 1 and 2.
