The Foundation of Knowing: Wholeness, Convergence, and Emergence
January 07, 2025
Introduction
At the core of existence lies a fundamental truth: we know our own wholeness. This wholeness is the singular, unified experience of being—a conscious mind arising from countless interconnected parts. While I know my own wholeness, I cannot directly know the wholeness of another. Their subjective experience, their inner world, is forever beyond my reach.
This acknowledgment is not solipsistic; I have faith that others possess minds and experience their own wholeness. However, this faith is precisely that—a belief, not a certainty. What I can observe in others is their functional wholeness: the harmony of their parts as they act, think, and respond. Whether this functional wholeness reflects an inner experiential wholeness, as it does in me, remains an assumption based on faith.
This distinction between functional and experiential wholeness forms the foundation of my philosophy.
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Wholeness: What We Can and Cannot Know
Wholeness exists on multiple levels. On one hand, I experience my own experiential wholeness—the unified and private realm of subjective experience, often referred to as Qualia. This is the “what it feels like” to be me. On the other hand, I observe functional wholeness in the world around me. Functional wholeness is the observable behavior of systems that appear unified and purposeful.
For example:
A bird flying through the air demonstrates functional wholeness in its coordinated movements.
A human responding to a question shows functional wholeness in their thought, speech, and action.
But I cannot directly experience what it feels like to be the bird or the person. Their experiential wholeness, if it exists, is as inaccessible to me as my own is to them. This boundary is the starting point of understanding the limits of knowledge and the necessity of faith in others' minds.
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Convergence: How Parts Form Wholes
We can observe that parts come together to form wholes through a process of convergence. Convergence is the binding of parts into a cohesive system, and it is evident in countless examples:
Biology: Cells converge to form tissues, tissues form organs, and organs form functioning organisms.
Physics: Particles interact to create atoms, atoms form molecules, and molecules give rise to matter.
Human Systems: Individuals collaborate, forming communities, organizations, and cultures.
In each of these cases, the interaction and harmonization of parts create a system with new properties—a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
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Emergence: Wholeness Beyond the Parts
From convergence arises emergence: the appearance of new properties or characteristics in the whole that were absent in the parts. This phenomenon is observable across disciplines:
In Nature: A flock of birds moves as one, demonstrating emergent behavior that no single bird controls.
In Consciousness: Neural activity in the brain converges to create the unified experience of being—what we call Qualia.
Qualia, as the wholeness of subjective experience, is the clearest example of emergence in our lives. It is not reducible to the neurons firing in our brain, yet it depends on them.
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The Limits of Knowing and the Role of Faith
While we can observe convergence and emergence, the mechanisms behind them remain mysterious. Why do parts converge into a whole? Why does the whole acquire new properties? Why does Qualia—the wholeness of subjective experience—arise at all? These questions remain unanswered.
What is clear, however, is that experiential wholeness is inherently personal. I know my own wholeness, but I cannot know yours. This boundary shapes how I relate to others. While I cannot prove that others experience Qualia as I do, I choose to have faith that they do. This faith is not blind; it is grounded in the observable functional wholeness of others and my own understanding of what it means to be whole.
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Closing Thoughts
This philosophy begins with what is undeniable: I am a whole with parts, and I am part of a greater whole. Convergence and emergence are observable processes that shape reality, and while their mechanisms remain mysterious, their effects are undeniable.
By starting with the distinction between functional and experiential wholeness, I embrace both the limits of knowledge and the necessity of faith. This approach does not solve the great mysteries of existence but offers a grounded framework for exploring them—rooted in observation, guided by reason, and open to the unknown.
Reality is layered and interconnected, and each layer builds on the one before. From this foundation, I move forward—not toward certainty, but toward a deeper understanding of wholeness, parts, and the profound relationships that define existence.