5. The Eleatics – Q1: What is reality?
The Eleatics rejected the views of Heraclitus, and defended the stability and unity of the natural world. Parmenides, founder of the school of Eleaticism, stated that “what exists” cannot come into being, nor can it pass away, because it would have to either come out of nothing, or to become nothing – whereas nothing, by its very nature – does not exist. It follows that there can be no motion, for how can one object occupy the space of another? Our perception of change is thus an illusion. This idea – for its time – was revolutionary. For the first time, it introduced the idea that there are two forms of truth: the real and the perceived.
S: The paradox regarding the very existence of ‘nothingness’ and the functionality of such an existence is extremely important metaphysically and therefore the concept regarding the existence of nothingness and the functionality of nothingness is given its own tractate within this work: Tractate 10: The Error of Heidegger. In terms of the new metaphysical model espoused by this work, the Eleatics are correct but simultaneously the Eleatics are not correct. The Eleatics’ observations and their intuitive perceptions that nothingness does not exist are accepted as observationally correct and intuitively correct when examined from within the reality of the physical. (See Tractate 10 - see www.panentheism.com library - The War and Peace of a New Metaphysical Perception)
Within the reality of abstractual existence, however, nothingness is demonstrated to both exist and to exist with a purpose, to exist with a function, just as do all forms of existence found within the whole, found within singularity, found within God. (See Tractate 10) As we have found so often to be the case, the new metaphysical model does nothing to expunge our repositories of human knowledge but rather embraces the ideas of previous thinkers. The new model of reality acts as the mortar, which holds together the intuitive perceptual building blocks developed by humanity.
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The point: Nothingness may not exist within the ‘reach’ of our present day abilities defining scientific study. Nevertheless, nothingness does exist within the ‘reach’ of our present day abstractual abilities to reason, within abstraction, within Apeiron’s existence. With the existence of two ‘realities’comes the realization that their can be ‘… two forms of truth: the real and the perceived.’ and that each form of truth is in fact ‘truth’.