Philosophical Paganism Naturalizing Ancient Pagan Thought Eric Steinhart Version 0.51 28 May 2020 Draft 1 Table of Contents 0. Preface ....................................................................................................................................8 1. Concentrating.......................................................................................................................9 1. Philosophical Paganism............................................................................................................. 9 2. We Welcome Everybody ..........................................................................................................10 3. Concentrating Rituals...............................................................................................................12 4. The Progression of Elements .................................................................................................14 2. Water: The Zero is Non-Being...................................................................................... 15 1. Hesiod: The Theogony and its Theonyms..........................................................................15 2. Peirce: The Self-Negation of Non-Being..............................................................................16 3. The Abyss of Non-Being ...........................................................................................................17 4. The Naturalness of Non-Being ...............................................................................................19 5. Fathomless Depths of Power..................................................................................................21 3. Earth: The Ground of Being .......................................................................................... 22 1. The One is Being-Itself..............................................................................................................22 2. The Ontic and the Ontological................................................................................................23 3. The Logical Analysis of Being-Itself .....................................................................................25 4. The Earth Emerges from the Sea...........................................................................................27 4. The Priority of the One................................................................................................... 29 1. The One is not God.....................................................................................................................29 2. The Wiccan Ultimate Deity .....................................................................................................31 3. The Simple Original One..........................................................................................................32 5. Air: The Logic of Existence ............................................................................................ 34 1. The Two: Propositions .............................................................................................................34 2. Identity and Difference ............................................................................................................35 3. Some Theories of Existence....................................................................................................36 4. The Two Maximizes Consistency ..........................................................................................39 5. All the Air in the Abstract Sky ................................................................................................41 6. From Simplicity to Sets................................................................................................... 42 1. Plotinus: One Simple Thing ....................................................................................................42 2. The Axiom of Foundation ........................................................................................................42 3. The Axiom of Extensionality...................................................................................................44 4. The Empty Set Axiom ................................................................................................................45 7. The Axis of the World...................................................................................................... 46 1. The Axis Mundi ...........................................................................................................................46 2. The Incantation for Numbers.................................................................................................46 3. The Star of Numbers..................................................................................................................49 8. The Sky of Sets................................................................................................................... 51 1. Every Many has its One ............................................................................................................51 2. The Stack of Power Sets ...........................................................................................................53 4. The Incantation for Sets...........................................................................................................55 5. The Axioms of Set Theory........................................................................................................56 2 9. Progression from the One ............................................................................................. 58 1. From the One to the Many.......................................................................................................58 2. The Digital Forms of Things ...................................................................................................60 3. The Thin Tree of Strings ..........................................................................................................62 4. The Cosmic Computers.............................................................................................................65 5. How Programs Manifest Universes......................................................................................66 10. The Library and the Treasury ................................................................................... 69 1. The Incantation for Genotypes..............................................................................................69 2. The Complexities of Genotypes .............................................................................................71 3. From Complexity to Intrinsic Value.....................................................................................73 4. Seeds and Skulls .........................................................................................................................75 5. The Incantation for Seeds........................................................................................................78 11. The Incantation for Computers................................................................................. 81 1. Maximize Consistency!.............................................................................................................81 2. Consistency and Dependency.................................................................................................82 3. The Initial Law for Computers...............................................................................................84 4. The Successor Law for Computers .......................................................................................85 5. The Limit Law for Computers ................................................................................................86 6. Evolution by Rational Selection ............................................................................................86 12. The World Tree .............................................................................................................. 88 1. Plato: The Demiurge .................................................................................................................88 2. Plato: The Cosmic Egg...............................................................................................................89 3. Asexual Cosmic Reproduction ...............................................................................................90 13. Fire: Concrete Existence.............................................................................................. 93 1. Seeds are Creative Recipes .....................................................................................................93 2. The Incantation for Fires.........................................................................................................93 3. The Incantation for Demiurges .............................................................................................95 4. This Tree Stands in Flames.....................................................................................................98 5. Fire Fills the Abstract Sky..................................................................................................... 100 14. Spirit is Fire-Energy....................................................................................................101 1. Spirit Animates All Things ..................................................................................................