The Will's Harmonic Motion: Existence Riddle Solved Fifth Edition

By Fadel Sabry

This book is a revolution in philosophy. Based on Schopenhauer's philosophy, completed it, and took it to higher level.

Schopenhauer's concept of the will and morality form the basis for this book. Schopenhauer taught that our moral

character is inborn and unalterable, but provides no explanation being metaphysical.

This book p

• Language: English
• Publisher: Haystack Creatives
• Release date: Dec 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781953115294

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Series Title Page

Also by Fadel Sabry

The will’s Harmonic motion First Edition Copyright © 2011

The will’s Harmonic motion Second Edition Copyright © 2013

The will’s Harmonic motion Third Edition Copyright © 2018

The will’s Harmonic motion Fourth Edition Copyright © 2019

The Will’s Journey Copyright ©2015

The Will’s Harmonic Motion

Fifth Edition

Existence Riddle Solved

Fadel Sabry

Copyright © 2020 Fadel Sabry

Haystack Creatives

8270 Woodland Center Blvd

Tampa, Florida 33614

www.haystackcreatives.com

ISBN: 978-1-953115-31-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-953115-29-4 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

To the spirit of Arthur Schopenhauer

Contents

Preface to The Fifth Edition

Part I

Chapter 1. Metaphysics

Chapter 2. The Will in The Void

Chapter 3. The Will Outside The Void

Chapter 4. The Moral Curve of the Will

Chapter 5. Harmonic Motion in Nature

Chapter 6. The Theory of the Will’s Harmonic Motion

Chapter 7. Animals’ Moral Curve

Part II

Chapter 8. The Creative Power of the Will

Chapter 9. The Healing Power of the Will

Chapter 10. On Pleasure

Chapter 11. On Meditation and Enlightenment

Part III

Chapter 12. Metaphysical Actions

Chapter 13. Physical Actions

Chapter 14. On Death

Chapter 15. On God and Religion

Chapter 16. The Divine Comedy

Chapter 17. The Road to Salvation

Bibliography

About the Author

Preface to The Fifth Edition

I issued the first edition of this book 10 years ago. The main concept of the will’s harmonic motion remains the same, never changed, because it is the truth. The will is the heart of Schopenhauer’s philosophy. I developed it to higher levels, and a new system has emerged. My concept of the will’s harmonic motion is profound, very simple, and sheds light on many philosophical problems. My scientific background guided me to it. I remember that it came to me intuitively and naturally, that I didn’t think much of it then, because of its simplicity. Then I became obsessed with it and realized that I had discovered the Rosetta stone of philosophy. This concept solved the mystery of existence; everything became clear, simple, and self-evident. All parts of the puzzle fit together with no loose ends. It’s a natural extension of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, and follows logic and reason, with no mysticism, or unfounded assumptions. The riddle of existence has been solved.

After five editions, the theory of The Will’s Harmonic Motion is intact. I added few paragraphs in chapters 10, 11, 15, 17, and few lines here and there to better explain and elucidate the difficult concept of the will.

I also replaced the old chapter On Enlightenment with On Meditation and Enlightenment to share my own experience with meditation, which I think will help the reader rather than using accounts from other books. It is difficult not to think about philosophical topics all the time—new concepts create themselves. The fifth edition is my last; I said all what I have to say and I am proud of it.

The book is for the general public, philosophy lovers, and truth seekers from all walks of life. Its language is simple and uses terms set by Schopenhauer—simple language explaining deep thoughts.

The book introduces a new integrated system: a journey taken by the will starts in the void and concludes there, thus creating a closed circle. I recommend reading the book twice, first to have an overall perspective and again to know how all thoughts fit with all others to form a solid whole.

All the illustrations are mine, with my initials on them. I designed them and drew them by hand. I thought they added a personal touch and were more valuable than having them done digitally by a professional.

Introduction

My purpose for this book is to bring new ideas to philosophy. All philosophers start from previous ideas and build on or modify them; they use them as a foundation for new ideas or systems. Schopenhauer’s philosophy and system of metaphysics and morality form the basis for my system. I started with the idea of the will as the only essence of human beings and compassion as the only basis of morality. To this solid ground of Schopenhauer’s philosophy, I added a lot of my ideas that completed his and built a new system of metaphysics and solved the riddle of existence.

Since I am building on an existing foundation, I have first to explain Schopenhauer’s approach to metaphysics and the concept of the will. After I make sure readers understand the foundation, I add my ideas and combine them in an organic system. I recommend that readers read this book at least twice to tie together the many ideas that are difficult to grasp the first time. The following is an overview of this book’s main ideas and concepts.

Part I

The central idea of this part is the theory of the will’s harmonic motion. It explains how and why we acquire our intelligible character. The solution is based on scientific facts and personal observations and experience. In the first six chapters, I pave the way and then fully explain it.

In chapter 1, I give an overview of Schopenhauer’s treatment of metaphysics, the intellect and its forms, materialism, idealism, and how experience can lead to metaphysics.

In chapter 2, I explain what the void is, the thing in itself, emptiness and oneness. I explained the state of the will in the void, and the first cause as an event in itself.

In chapter 3, I explain the will’s goal after it left the void, matter, natural forces as physical objectification of the will. I show that morality is what drives the will and the main incentives for human characters. I explained the will in nature that led to the knowledge of the will.

In chapter 4, I explain the nature of morality and the difference between intelligible and empirical character. I classify moral characters into four types and list their incentives, maxims, and empirical characteristics, and conduct. I represent moral characters in a circle and sine curve. I examine the metaphysical basis of all four intelligible characters. I elucidate the link between moral characters and gender. I show that changing characters is a movement.

In chapter 5, I investigate movements in nature, especially harmonic motion, and review the scientific laws that govern it.

In chapter 6, I bring together everything discussed before. Based on the outer experience with the inner feeling and applying enough reflective power, science, and metaphysics, I prove and apply tangible evidence to my theory, which can be stated as follows: The will moves constantly by changing its moral characters. The will moves in harmonic motion.

In chapter 7, I extend the concepts of moral characters and curves to animals to prove that their wills or moral characters move not in harmonic motion but rather in a straight line; they don’t change and therefore do not participate in the divine comedy (explained later) and seek salvation.

Part II

In this middle section, I provide a few philosophical topics with my own interpretations and personal opinions. This part is like the middle section in a concerto, a slow movement between two fast and sophisticated ones. Based on my deep involvement with yoga, Sufism, and Zen Buddhism and my long practice of meditation, I share my personal experience in meditation as a guide for beginners.

In chapter 8, I explain one of the mysterious qualities of the will—the creative power. I argue that what we call creation is actually objectification. Consequently, everything is its own creation.

In chapter 9, I explain another mysterious quality of the will, which is the power to heal. This chapter is a natural extension of the previous one and shows that these qualities are two faces of the same coin. The will takes care of itself. After creation, it becomes healing, and after the death of the body, it reverses itself to creation again.

In chapter 10, I explain the topic of pleasure from a different angle and divide pleasures into physical, intellectual, and character categories. I give a short account of personality and psychology and how they relate to the four moral characters.

In chapter 11, I address meditation and enlightenment. I provide deep insight into its process and theory and what we can expect of it. I provide a short account of my own experience with concentration and insight practice. I provide a detailed account of oneness, emptiness, the heart of enlightenment. I prove that salvation, not enlightenment, is our final goal. I show that time is in us.

Part III

In this final part, I endeavor to solve the mystery of existence. Why are we here? What is the first cause? What is the prime mover of the universe? How do humans fit into all of that? What is life and death? What is God? What are the divine comedy and eternal justice? How did we get into the world, and what is the way out? Why is nonexistence preferable to existence? How can we achieve salvation?

I think I answer all these questions in a logical way and sometimes scientifically within the bounds of our intellects, using our brains, the only tool we have. I present only my ideas. All the concepts here are new; none is recycled.

In chapter 12, I show that metaphysical actions, immoral actions, are the main cause of existence. The first cause must be the immoral one. Metaphysical actions are the prime driver of the universe’s movement. As natural forces drive and balance the physical universe, metaphysical actions drive and balance the moral universe. The physical universe is governed by causality, and metaphysical actions conform to the same laws now called eternal justice.

In chapter 13, I show that physical actions have no immoral content and have a short causal chain and can be expiated in the present life of the individual. Physical action is not clear-cut but debatable, and I provide some examples with my opinions.

In chapter 14, I discuss death, the favorite subject of philosophy. I shed new light on it and prove that death is an illusion. Real death is when we achieve salvation.

In chapter 15, I discuss the concept of God and religion from two main points of view—centralized monotheistic religions and decentralized atheistic religions. I show that the universe, including its physical and metaphysical sides, is governed by the laws of causality. At the end of the chapter I stated my own point of view about religions in general.

In chapter 16, I show that the purpose of the universe is to perform the divine comedy and is the only way to gain salvation. There are only us, our deeds, and the infallible laws of cause and effect. I discuss the will, responsibility, eternal justice, fear, guilt, remorse, revenge, and how to perform in the divine comedy.

In chapter 17, I show that the universe is destined to go back to the primary calm state before the first cause. At the end of the last cycle and with the type 4 character, salvation is possible. First, we have to stop willing life at the turning point. The road to salvation starts with the turning point and ends in the void. Before the turning point is the expiation of deeds; after it, there is elimination of characters. At the end of the chapter I revealed the ultimate goal of the will and solved the riddle of existence.

Part I

Chapter 1

Metaphysics

The will is difficult to understand and cannot be presented in just a few pages. It requires a general knowledge of philosophy, science, psychology, morality, history, the humanities, and of course metaphysics. Schopenhauer established the concept of the will and showed it has two sides—physical and metaphysical. He stated that metaphysical knowledge of the will is possible and in fact immanent.

In the quest for metaphysical knowledge, philosophy has to start with the basics and should not assume or presuppose anything. Only philosophy can take us as far as the human intellect can reach since it uses the intellect to look outward and self-consciousness to look inward. Therefore, philosophy has to start from the basic function of our brains—how we perceive objects, the reality of those objects, the four forms of knowledge, the concepts of materialism and idealism, and the source of the knowledge that can lead us to the true essence of ourselves. How can we in our daily experiences transcend the physical to the metaphysical?

What Is Metaphysics?

Metaphysics is the knowledge about everything beyond the physical world, beyond the possibility of experience. Metaphysics is the knowledge of the unknowable; it starts from the particular, moves to the universal, and applies the universal to understand the particular.

Early humans started to worship nature as the ultimate power behind all phenomena; early primitive religions are proof of the awareness of and search for metaphysics. In daily life, humans see suffering, sickness, death, and the cruelty and wickedness of fellow humans and wonder what this is all about. These puzzling questions lead to philosophizing and eventually to metaphysics that will open the door to knowledge of our true essence, the will.

The Two Systems of Metaphysics

There are two systems of metaphysics: religion and philosophy. Religion is the earlier system; it grew from the human feeling of helplessness and insignificance in light of spectacular displays of nature’s powers. Humans have an irresistible tendency to submit to these powers, and in doing that, they feel secure and protected. Ancient humans worshipped anything powerful and useful to them thus gaining the favor of entities that could be called upon in time of need.

Then modern religions appeared. Rational, intellectual powers developed, and humans needed to worship something other than nature, something that would have knowledge and deliberation in its acts.

By its nature, religion is not rational or based on deliberate intellectual thinking. From its start in the Stone Age until now, it has been based on beliefs handed down from one generation to the next without the rational scrutiny of the intellect. It is implanted in children’s minds when their minds are developing and have no power to stand on their own feet. Children accept anything they receive without question.

Religion makes people feel powerful since it allows them to identify with the gods and promises guidance, protection, and forgiveness in this life and bliss and immortality after death. Religion comes from outside as a complete system of rules, duties, obligations, punishments, and rewards; it carries its verification and authentication in itself. Religion must make its message accessible to the masses through revelations, miracles, fables, similes, symbols, and mysteries. Religion is truth allegorically and mythically expressed and thus rendered accessible to and digestible by humankind.

Philosophy, the second system of metaphysics, is the rational method of reaching metaphysical knowledge. Science gives us all we need to know about phenomena but doesn’t say why it is this way and not otherwise. Philosophy starts with nothing, presupposes nothing, and taking nothing for granted. It has to question everything, even the forms of our perception and the process of representation, building mental pictures, and whether what we perceive actually exists.

It questions the relationship between a phenomenon and other phenomena and the principle of sufficient reason (as will be explained soon) that the sciences presuppose and take as their basis and limit. Science’s problem is what a phenomenon is; philosophy’s problem is why that phenomenon is as it is. Proofs are the basis of science but cannot be the foundation of metaphysics because metaphysics by nature is beyond phenomena and representation; it is not an object to be examined.

No principles can give new concepts. For example, the principle of contradiction establishes the agreement or disagreement of concepts but doesn’t give new ones. The principle of sufficient reason explains connections, relationships, and combinations of phenomena but not the phenomena themselves. Causality between objects doesn’t provide information about these objects. It is impossible for any philosophy to establish new principles to determine with certainty why the world exists. All it can explain is what exists and why it is that way and not otherwise.

We all know the world as representation, and this knowledge of perception is concrete. The endeavor of philosophy is to reproduce this concrete knowledge in distinct rational and abstract knowledge. It must be condensed, concise, and summarized in a few abstract concepts. Through these abstract concepts in which it fixes the nature of the world, all particulars and universals will be revealed as one.

As Plato put it, Philosophy is to know the one in many and the many in one. Unlike in religion, there is no room for beliefs in philosophy, and all concepts must first be subjected to the scrutiny and judgment of the intellect. Accordingly, philosophy is the grand total of universal judgments whose basis of knowledge is the world itself in its entirety.

Unlike religion, philosophy generates its verification and credentials in itself by using its powers of inferring, judging, abstracting, and making logical conclusions. It promises no reward or punishment, demands no duties or rituals, and offers no extra incentives in this life or the next; the quest for truth is its own reward. We feel an irresistible urge for metaphysics through religion or philosophy because our essence is the will, which is eager to discover, recognize, and get acquainted with itself. Philosophy sheds some light on the inner essence of things—the metaphysical—and then it must put everything in abstract concepts or words.

Before investigating the possibility of metaphysical knowledge, we need to discuss some concepts I will use repeatedly. These concepts will lead us to metaphysics and the question of whether there is any possibility for the human intellect to decipher its riddle. Schopenhauer answered that question in the affirmative.

Consciousness and Representation

To be conscious of the world around us and have knowledge about it, we must have brains, our only tool of knowledge. All the information coming from outside must enter our bodies through our senses and be transferred to the brain by our nervous systems. The brain converts this raw material into mental pictures in a process called representation. This mysterious activity transcends the physical constitution of the brain; it is called the intellect.

There are two types of consciousness. The first is external consciousness, which comes through the senses and nerves. The second is internal or self-consciousness, which puts us in touch with our feelings and our wills’ stirrings.

Object and Subject

The condition of all types of knowledge is the division into object and subject. To have a representation means to have a knowable object and a subject able to make a mental picture, a replica of this object in his or her knowing apparatus without having to put the object physically in his or her head. An object without a subject is unknown until it finds a subject to perceive it. For an object to exist, without a knowing subject, is impossible because to exist means to be known.

The subject on the other hand is just a knowing entity; it knows everything but is known by none. We are all knowing subjects and are conscious of that. A knowing subject without an object is also unthinkable because there would be no object to know, and the function of knowing would then be obsolete and the subject would cease to be a subject. The knowing subject cannot be an object for anything—even for itself.

The subject, the inner essence of any object, is the will and can’t be an object for anything. If I try to put my knowing subject under examination, that means I’m trying to make it an object and examine it with my intellect by turning my intellect inward, but I will run into darkness and soon realize that is impossible. All I can know is my body as a material object and my feelings, which are not physical but my will’s stirrings.

My feelings are a changing manifestation of my will, the moods and desires that change constantly by the hour. The manifestation and objectification of my will appearing as my body and feelings are objects for my subject, my intellect, to observe. My will on the other hand cannot be an object for my subject or any other subject to examine because it is metaphysical.

Self-consciousness gives me access to my feelings or the stirrings of my will. The knowing subject in every one of us is the will, our essence. The knowing subject is the I, the ego, which consists of two parts—the intellect and the will. The intellect is unknown, mysterious, and equipped with predetermined forms to facilitate our living in this world. The will does not know; it just blindly wills, and it creates the intellect to accompany it in the world. The will and the intellect merge to form a unity as the consciousness of an I, a knowing subject. Every one of us finds the I the most real of things, the most unique in the universe; it is where the real, the intellect, and the metaphysical, the will, merge, and it cannot be an object for any subject.

The condition of knowledge needs object and subject. Each is different from the other, but when combined, they produce knowledge. Existence and perceptibility are convertible terms. Object and subject are correlated. The object is posited at once with the subject. Otherwise, the word object has no meaning by itself and vice versa.

Therefore, it is immaterial whether we say objects have inherent qualities or the subject knows in such and such a way. It is also immaterial whether we say that objects are classified in various classes or that various cognitive faculties are peculiar to a subject.

When we die, we lose our brains and intellects. We are no longer able to perceive and make representations of the world we left behind, but our wills keep living. This world will disappear for us (the knowing subjects) forever, and we will become mere subjects or wills that know (represent) nothing but are still pure willing. We will have left our physical bodies and world and will have become metaphysical beings.

Intellect, Forms of Knowledge, and the Principle of Sufficient Reason

The intellect is a faculty that all animals and humans have; it converts raw sense data into mental pictures and representations. Our forms of knowledge are preset, predetermined, metaphysical tools. We are equipped with them prior to entering the world and before we have any experience to learn from—that is a priori, metaphysical. Plato said, It is necessary for everything that happens to happen through a cause; for how could it happen without this? The concept of necessity underlies the principle of sufficient reason in the way our intellect is built to have knowledge about the outer world and to let us know the cause and reason behind every change. Necessity is what follows from a given sufficient reason or ground; an effect necessarily follows a cause. If our perception didn’t follow any law, it would be different every time and no knowledge or mental picture would form.

The principle of sufficient reason is the law that objects must comply with to enter the subject’s consciousness and become knowable. All objects must have a reason, ground, or be accessible to one or more of our forms of knowledge to enter the intellect and be perceived by the knowing subject. For example, we can’t see an object that has no shape or boundary; we can’t hear or see objects traveling at high speed and fail to make impressions on our sense organs that cause us to know it and thus mentally picture it.

Transcendental knowledge is knowledge of the outer world conditioned by the subject, us, in two ways. First, it is conditioned as an object since an object’s existence is conceivable only in face of a subject and as a representation of the subject. Second, it must comply with the predetermined forms of our intellect—space, time, and causality. From this, we conclude that this principle expresses transcendental knowledge that determines and fixes prior to all experience everything possible in all experience.

Transcendent knowledge is knowledge beyond the world, experience, science, or physics. It bypasses the principal of sufficient reason since it aims at metaphysics. It is mysticism and its source in visions, dreams, revelations, and direct contact with deities.

The principle of sufficient reason cannot be proven. There is no reason to that which has no reason; it is a priori and the fixed form of our intellect. We know it by intuition prior to any experience: What is undone can be done, but what is done can never be undone. We know this because it is based on laws of causality that are built a priori in our brains. All objects can be classified according to one of the four principles of sufficient reason, and these four principles are as follows.

Becoming. The first class of the principle of sufficient reason appears as the law of causality, and as such, it is the principle of sufficient reason or ground for becoming. When every effect appears, it is a change, and just because it did not appear earlier, its infallibility indicates another change that preceded it. In reference to it, that change is called cause, but in reference to an earlier change again necessarily preceding it, that same change is called effect. That is the chain of causality. It is necessarily without beginning.

The laws of causality are known to us a priori and are therefore transcendental and valid for every possible experience. By combining the forms of space and time, we, the knowing subjects, perceive objects in space and moving in time. From raw sensations in the sense organs, the intellect can construct a mental picture, erase it, and draw the same picture after a short time (i.e., combining the form of space and time), thus making us aware of the movement of that object.

Becoming is the awareness of the outer world that exists and moves around us, thus forming our experience, and the outer world comes to existence in the brain.

All natural sciences are based on this principle. With the form of space alone, everything would be frozen, and with the form of time alone, everything would be fleeting, and in both cases, no knowledge would be possible.

Causality is the inherent ability to understand changes caused by space and time. With a given cause, a specific effect is expected. Causality is the ability of the brain to relate the effect on the sense organ to its cause from the external object (i.e., the tiny picture created on the retina projected outward by the brain) and lets us perceive the objects in front of us. This is done by the faculty of understanding.

Understanding is the subjective correlate for the first class of the principle of sufficient reason. Causality can be either external to us or internal in us. External causality is governed by the first principle, becoming, and internal causality is governed by willing and is the fourth class of reasons, motivation. Becoming is intuitive knowledge shared by animals and humans.

Knowing. This is the second class of the principle and the prerogative of human beings. It is the ability to survey all the intuitive mental pictures we have and sort, categorize, compare, and combine similar ones and exclude different ones as well as to survey the history of events and draw conclusions about how to act in the future.

The real source of all knowledge is the reflection or thinking that operates with the help of representations of intuitive perception since it goes back to the primary source, the foundation of all concepts. All this activity is done by the faculty of reason and judging.

Reason is the subjective correlate of the second class of the principle of sufficient reason. It is the ability to abstract and assign words to phenomena and thus the ability to use language to communicate and to convince and solicit the help of others for the well-being of all. This principle enables us to have abstract knowledge and know things outside of representations. If we are given the premises, we can draw the correct conclusion.

Being. This is the third class. All objects must be in space and time to have a physical reality, and our intellect is equipped a priori to build mental pictures in space and time. Space and time are so constituted that all their parts stand in mutual relationship, so every part is determined and conditioned by another. In space, this relationship is called position; in time, it is called succession. We a priori know all objects’ relationships—their relative standing or determination in space and time.

Sensibility (knowledge or awareness) is the subjective correlate of this third class. We know what is above, below, right, and left; the sum must be bigger than the parts. The a priori forms of space enable us to conclude that an equal-sided triangle must have equal angles and to deduce all the geometrical theorems without learning them beforehand.

The a priori forms of time enable us to know things successively and make counting possible. We can deduce all rules of arithmetic without prior learning because arithmetic is inherent in our intellect. We can’t perceive any object in space or time unless it fits and conforms to the rigid forms of our intellect.

Willing. The fourth and last class of objects for the faculty of representation for each individual comprises only one object—the immediate object of the inner sense, the subject of willing, which is the object for the knowing subject and indeed is given only to the inner sense. Hence, it appears only in time, not in space, and even in time only with limitations.

All knowledge presupposes a subject and an object. So even self-consciousness is not absolutely simple, but like our consciousness of other things (i.e., the faculty of intuitive perception), it is divided into known and knower.

The known appears absolutely and exclusively as the will. Accordingly, the subject knows itself only as the willer, not as a knower. The will, the thing in itself or the subject of knowing (the knower or the ego) is unknown because it is metaphysical and can’t be an object for any subject. The ego is the combination of the intellect and the will, and both are metaphysical thus never to be known. But the objectification of the will like my body, intellect, and feelings can be an object for me as a subject of knowing through self-consciousness.

Self-consciousness is individual and subdivided into the known and the knower. What is known is the manifestation of the will as stirrings and feelings. Here is the closest place we can come to the will, but still, it is always vague and incomplete because we have no access to the thing in itself.

The knowing subject that knows everything and is known by none is the thing in itself, the metaphysical basis of the ego, the will, because it never becomes an object or representation. The subject is pure willing without knowing. For the subject to know, it needs the help of the intellect. They combine in the ego, the I. Every one of us can say, I am the center of the universe, and that is true, and because there is an element of the knowing subject or the will in the ego, it becomes inexplicable and metaphysical.

The rules for knowing subjects no longer apply, and an actual identity of the knower with what is known as willing and hence of the subject with the object is immediately given. The subjective correlative to the fourth class is the inner sense, or generally self-consciousness.

The rules by which we can know objects in this fourth class are different from those for the other three, by which we know things outside us, but in this one, we know things inside us, our willing. In the other three classes, we always ask ourselves why, and because we have sufficient reasons or grounds of knowledge, we make judgments and draw conclusions that become the knowledge we gain from this experience.

In the first class, becoming, if we see a cause, we can predict the effect because we are a priori aware of the laws of causality. In the second class, knowing, if we are given the premises, we can judge it by the a priori faculty of reason. In the third class, being, we can create a mental picture because of the inherent faculty of representing in space and time. In the fourth class, willing, we have only the form of time, so we can think about only one thing at a time. We can’t use the space forms here, and we can’t make a mental picture of our feelings.

The only reason for our thoughts or actions is the law of motivation. This is exactly like the laws of causality, but it functions through the medium of the intellect. If our will wants us to do something, it presses the intellect to provide an adequate motive so it can act on it. The law of motivation is sufficient reason for action because the will is concerned only with action, not perception, knowing, reason, or representation; action is its essence.

Accordingly, we ask ourselves why with every resolution or decision we take. Because we assume that something must have previously occurred to cause this resolution, we call this something its reason or more accurately the motive of the action. Motives are causality seen from within, and this translates to external actions. This fourth class could be called the principle of sufficient reason for acting, and it is the counterpart of the first class. The fourth class, which brings us very close to our will through self-consciousness, is a key factor in knowing the will—the knowledge of metaphysics.

Science

All sciences presuppose matter as the only thing behind all forms because it is eternal; it can’t be created or destroyed. Science never deviates from the reality of the world and takes it as is. Science must verify the reality of the world and never accept anything unless it has been tested and has passed the scrutiny of reason and logic. The sciences rely on the senses and must prove by scientific means and methods, not by the senses.

Science relies on the principle of sufficient reason described above as the starting point for any problem it investigates. Thus for example, geometry has space as its problem and the ground of being in space as its root. Arithmetic has time as its problem and the ground of being in time as its root. Logic has combinations of concepts as its problem and the ground of knowledge as its root. History has the past deeds of humanity as its problem and the law of motivation as its root. Natural science has matter as its problem and the law of causality as its root.

By nature, the sciences examine the outer states of things and the changes in these states according to the laws of causality. They provide exact relations for the movements of bodies due to external, natural forces but can’t explain these forces themselves.

All natural science has materialism as its basis (i.e., the position that matter is the only real thing and the ultimate ground for all phenomena). By systematic knowledge under the guidance of the principle of sufficient reason, science can never reach a final goal or give an entirely satisfactory explanation for metaphysics. It never aims at the inner nature of things, never gets beyond the representation, and forever remains on the outside. It tells us nothing more than the representation and the relationship between one representation and another. The ultimate riddle of the world is beyond the reach of science and must be metaphysical. But the advance of science helps us see the mysterious workings of nature, which points out that the will is the substratum of the phenomenological world.

Materialism

Philosophy is divided into two branches, materialism and idealism. Materialism was the early dominant philosophy. It was very natural for human beings to think about, adopt, and believe in it. Also, abstract thinking developed slowly in philosophy; it started late and was the result of the correct view of the world in terms of idealism, which was pioneered by Descartes, enunciated by Berkeley, and established by Kant and Schopenhauer.

The starting point of materialism is the object. It regards matter and with it time and space as existing absolutely, and it passes over the relationship to the subject in which alone all this exists; a stone exists whether I see it or not. Also, it takes the law of causality as a self-existing order or eternal truth consequently passing over the subject in and for which alone causality is.

The ultimate goal for materialism is to prove that mere matter such as minerals, liquids, and gases with the help of natural forces such as gravity, heat, magnetism, electricity, and chemical affinities was enough to create life. It claims that everything was created starting from mere mechanisms to chemistry, to polarity, and to the vegetable, and it ended with the living being or the animal kingdom.

After the physical creation of the human being, the last link in the chain would be animal sensibility, that is to say knowledge, which would be a mere modification of matter due to causality. But this highest point, which is the creation of the animal intellect, or knowledge, was already presupposed as the indispensable condition at the start, as mere matter. But without the intellect to represent objects, there would be no matter.

Materialism’s fundamental error is that it considers the objective as the ultimate ground of explanation whether this be