Quotes to Get Started
The Castle Rock at Edinburgh exists from moment to moment, and from century to century, by reason of the decision effected by its own historic route of antecedent occasions. And if, in some vast upheaval of nature, it were shattered into fragments, that convulsion would still be conditioned by the fact that it was the destruction of that rock. The point to be emphasized is the insistent particularity of things experienced and of the act of experiencing. Bradley's doctrine—Wolf-eating-Lamb as a universal qualifying the absolute—is a travesty of the evidence. That wolf eating that lamb at that spot at that time: the wolf knew it; the lamb knew it; and the carrion birds knew it.
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The ontological principle declares that every decision is referable to one or more actual entities, because in separation from actual entities there is nothing, merely nonentity—‘The rest is silence.’...But ‘decision’ cannot be construed as a casual adjunct of an actual entity. It constitutes the very meaning of actuality. An actual entity arises from decisions for it, and by its very existence provides decisions for other actual entities which supersede it. Thus the ontological principle is the first stage in constituting a theory embracing the notions of ‘actual entity,’ ‘givenness,’ and ‘process.’
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality.
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The ontological principle declares that every decision is referable to one or more actual entities, because in separation from actual entities there is nothing, merely nonentity—‘The rest is silence.’...But ‘decision’ cannot be construed as a casual adjunct of an actual entity. It constitutes the very meaning of actuality. An actual entity arises from decisions for it, and by its very existence provides decisions for other actual entities which supersede it. Thus the ontological principle is the first stage in constituting a theory embracing the notions of ‘actual entity,’ ‘givenness,’ and ‘process.’
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality.
Beyond the Safety of Systems
God & the Insistent Particularities of the World
Sometimes, people turn to metaphysics in order to feel safe. Having abstract principles in terms of which the contingent events of the world can be "understood" gives them a sense of control. It doesn't matter so much what happens in the world; nothing they encounter contradicts the principles; all are subsumed within them. They hide in their metaphysics, hoping their metaphysics will serve as a buffer from the contingencies of life. They say, "It's all part of the system."
Whitehead's particular metaphysics challenges this sense of security. It includes within it what he calls "the ontological principle." This is the principle that, when we look for the reasons why things happen as they do, we cannot appeal to abstract principles; we can only appeal to agency, the self-creative spontaneity of events themselves. So, nothing in the world "derives" from abstract ideas in his system. We cannot derive actuality from potentiality; potentials do not actualize themselves. Actuality comes from the spontaneity itself, from what Whitehead calls the "creativity" of the actual world. This creativity is neither good nor evil in itself. It unfolds as love and as violence, as peaceful co-existence and as war, as health and as disease, as life and as death.
Moreover, the self-creative spontaneity of events in the world is always specific. It always takes the form of this event, not that event, and thus of particularity. Whitehead himself was keen on particularity, on this-ness. Each actual entity is unique, different from all others. It includes within its constitution elements from all others, but the way it includes those elements is entirely unique to it. He writes: "The point to be emphasized is the insistent particularity of things experienced and of the act of experiencing."
In human life, this insistent particularity is what is "given" to experience, and it is how we respond to what is "given." It includes the circumstances we face and the ways we respond to them.
What is given may be pleasant, unpleasant, happy, sad, violent, peaceful, ugly, beautiful, attractive, repulsive, disgusting, or wonderful. In any case, it is "given." Our task is not to hide from it but rather to acknowledge it and, through our experience, make something good from it...if we can.
In Buddhism, the events of the world, as given, are sometimes called Dharma Gates. That is, they are gates we can enter, including challenging gates, and do our best to wake up as we enter them. We can learn from them.
In Whitehead's philosophy, many given circumstances are also, or can be, Dharma Gates. This doesn't mean that they are necessarily meant to be, but rather that all events can serve as contexts for growth in wisdom, compassion, and creativity. This is where, in Whitehead's philosophy, God comes into play. God is the spirit of creative transformation in the universe. God is not merely an abstract idea in our minds or a part of a rigid "system." Instead, God is that which assists us in turning "givens" into Dharma Gates and in walking through the gates, as best we can.
But here, too, we must be honest. There are many people in the world - think of children in war-torn areas of the world - who haven't the luxury of turning givens into Dharma Gates. The dropping bombs are givens, but there are no responses available to them for turning the givens into wisdom, compassion, and creativity. Even the spirit of creative transformation, is incapable resolving the issue. There is no silver lining.
Even God cannot be protected from the givens, the insistent particularities, of the world. God can only work with the givens and, so we hope, in time offer possibilities for healing, in a next life if not this one. God gains no solace from systems. God's solace lies in whatever tragic beauty can we woven from the circumstances of the world, saving what can be saved, and, if there is a continuing journey after death, helping others (the children) find a grace in the journey, not known in this life.