So Much Gold

So Little Value

a

Treatise on Value

&

The Metaphysics of Economy

by

Thomas B. Wallace

Prologue: Definitions

            As one will guess from the title this work has to do with three fundamental ideas: Value, Metaphysics and Economy.

For the reader to fully appreciate the work it is necessary he or she understand what the author means by each of these terms. Whether or not the reader agrees with those definitions, or agrees with them in a strictly limited sense of their use within the work itself, will be largely irrelevant. What will be relevant is whether or not the principle thesis of the work holds together based on these definitions.

All knowledge, at its base, depends on agreement. The agreement upon which knowing anything depends is that of an understanding of reality in a clearly defined set of patterns. Without that agreement none of us can be said to know anything at all outside our own experience. In short we cannot share our experience without the will to agree on the patterns we can and do experience as other than our selves.

Reaching such an agreement is the purpose of setting forth this prologue to define the three principle concepts that underlie the work itself. The author therefore asks the reader to agree, in principle, to the definitions set forth in this prologue and to judge the treatise itself based on those definitions, rather than to bring her or his own preconceptions of the meanings to it.

The author understands that this is a difficult notion at best. Everyone, absolutely everyone, filters reality through a defined set of patterns that are, eventually, hardwired into our minds by both our physiology and our experience. To step outside those circuits is a difficult proposition at best and impossible for some. Still, to continue to grow and learn, stepping outside those patterns, being able to step back from the trees in order to see the forest is an absolute necessity for any being that wishes to remain free, and in control of its own destiny.

Value – defining value is a difficult task.

At its core is the fact that value is one of those ideas that is either a priori or it is not. This author understands value to be an a priori quality of being.

All being has value, but what exactly is value so that we can test the notion that all being has it? Herein lies our first radical departure from the commonly accepted notions of value.

It is commonly understood that value is a quantitative measure of the intrinsic worth of an object, idea, or concept. But, as the reader will notice, that sentence uses a synonym of the word value, i.e. worth, to define the quantitative aspect of value. This creates an elliptical understanding of the term that circles back on itself.

To properly define value we must first understand that it is not an objective thing but rather is a quality of things. In short, value is something a thing may have, but is not something a thing is.

Understanding value, if it is an a priori quality of being, therefore is to understand one of the fundamental principles of being itself. That principle is to understand that being moves, manipulates and organizes being.

The reader is at liberty to argue endlessly with whomever she pleases about how or why being does this, but what is inarguable is the fact itself. It can be said, by definition, that absolute being has this quality absolutely, while individuate being has the quality in varying quantitative and qualitative degrees of any of the three, movement, manipulation and organization.

For purposes of this definition, these three qualities are considered to be the only a priori qualities of being. All other qualities of being are themselves creations born of these three.

In this strictly limited sense then, all being has value, with absolute being having absolute value and individuate being having value based on their own specific qualities and quantitites of motion, manipulation and organization of the intrinsic and extrinsic reality within which they exist. Value therefore is a measure of the capacity of any being to move, manipulate and organize the internal and external reality within which they exist.

Each being has some control over the movement, manipulation and organization of their own being so long as that being is sustained by whatever is in their nature that sustains individuate being. It is not the purpose of this treatise to define what that might be, though a development of those concepts may at some point follow. The control spoken of above  is greatest intrinsically, i.e. within the individual.

Each being has some influence over the movement, manipulation and organization of the beings around it. The level of this influence increases with the increasing complexity of the being influencing and decreases with the complexity of the being influenced.

Value therefore is the quality of being able to move, manipulate and organize reality extrinsically, and the quality of being able to resist movement, manipulation and organization of intrinsic qualities of being from without.

As being increases in complexity of its own organization, therefore it increases in its ability to move, manipulate and organize the reality outside itself and therefore increases in its quality of value extrinsically. As being increases in complexity it increases its ability to control its own intrinsic movement, manipulation and organization and therefore increases the quantity of value intrinsically.

So how does one increase a quality if it is qualitative and not quantitative? The answer is simple, by refining it to its purest expression. The increases in the quality of value that comes from increases in the complexity of being are refinements in the purity of the expression of value that come from that being. Therefore, as our being grows and attains knowledge, experience, memory and wisdom, our sense of value is purified and refined and therefore increases in quality. Value is the quality of being able to move, manipulate and organize reality whether intrinsic or extrinsic to the being.

Metaphysical – In its strictest sense the word means “standing beside the physical” and, so, in order to avoid endless controversy over exactly what that means to spirit, soul and levels of being beyond what we can see, smell, touch, hear and taste, let us use that very strict definition and say that metaphysical means those qualities of being about which there is substantial experiential evidence but which do not have physical qualities that can be sensed by sight, odor, touch, hearing or taste.

Immediately of course leap to mind, the qualities of mind, such as will, intellect, thought, emotion, and, of course should you choose to do as I do, you may, (or may not) throw in spirit, soul, heart, and hyper-dimensional reality. For purposes of this discussion we will define metaphysical simply as those qualities of being that do not appear to have dimensionality or temporality and are therefore non-sensible within the four dimensions of being in which we exist, except through the very qualities of mind that define them.

In short, metaphysical qualities are qualities of being that appear to be intrinsic in certain physical realities without having the underlying qualities of dimensionality and temporality of those physical realities.  

They are there; we all know they are there, but we simply do not know how they are there or why. For the purposes of this discussion the how and the why simply do not matter. All that matters, for this discussion, is that certain of them are universally recognized by being, individuate and otherwise, as being of the same substantial reality as physical being. They are however of an order of being not fully understood. Mind or thought, will and emotion are four that this writer is prepared to advance as meeting that definition.

Economy – “ Managing an economy has at least an etymological justification. The word economy can be traced back to the Greek word oikonomos, “one who manages a household,” derived from oikos, “house,” and nemein, “to manage.” From oikonomos was derived oikonom , which had not only the sense “management of a houseold or family” but also senses such as “thrift,” “direction,” “administration,” “arrangement,” and “public revenue of a state.” The first recorded sense of our word economy, found in a work possibly composed in 1440, is “the management of economic affairs,” in this case, of a monastery. Economy is later recorded in other senses shared by oikonomi  in Greek, including “thrift” and “administration.” What is probably our most frequently used current sense, “the economic system of a country or an area,” seems not to have developed until the 19th or 20th century.” From the definition of “economy” as given at Dictionary.com.

In a sense, and for the purposes of this discussion, an economy can have two significant levels of understanding. First is the set of movements, manipulations and organizations intrinsic to individuate being. Next, of course, are that set of movements, manipulations and organizations extrinsic to individuate being.

Everything that is, therefore, belongs to one or the other or both of these economies.

So now, having defined our individual and fundamental terms the thesis of this treatise may now be set forward as follows: A Treatise on the quality of our ability to move, manipulate and organize reality, whether intrinsic or extrinsic; including those qualities that appear to be intrinsic in certain physical being without having qualities of dimensionality and temporality, as well as those that do; and to manage these sets of movements, manipulations and organizations intrinsic to individuate being, as well as  that set of movements, manipulations and organizations extrinsic to individuate being in a determinative, and organized fashion…

Aside from this statement being a bit of a mouthful, it is also a somewhat radical departure from the standard or even commonplace understandings people have of these things, if they have any understanding of them at all.

It assumes, among other things that individuate being can, in fact, exert such influence, that it can do it in an organized and determined fashion and that it can, given sufficient understanding of the extent and degree of the forces and realities of being involved, do it at will.

This alone is certainly a radical enough approach to the subject to at least whet the appetite of the reader to continue in this treatise to see whether or not the writer has any capacity to make sensible that thesis. So, climb aboard dear reader and strap yourself in, this ride may be thrilling...