Editing Higher Tiers Explanation (section)

== The Absolute - High 1-T+ ==
In Hegelian philosophy, the Absolute is understood as a contradictory unity of both negation and affirmation of all predicates. This refers to the dissolution of all qualities and modes of being into indeterminacy (negation) and the affirmation of all qualities and distinctions within it (position), as it encompasses every essence and determinateness, which means any form of existence.

The simple, solid identity of the Absolute is indeterminate because every determinateness of essence, existence, and being dissolves into it. As a result, determining what the Absolute is seems to involve negation, presenting the Absolute as the negation of all predicates, or as a void. Yet, since it must also be seen as the affirmation of all predicates, it takes on the form of a contradiction. If this negation and affirmation are viewed as external reflections, what results is an unsystematic dialectic, easily showcasing both the finitude of determinations and the idea of the Absolute as the totality of all determinations. However, this external reflection fails to raise the positions and negations to a true unity.

There are two aspects of this indeterminacy: one in relation to itself and conditioned otherness, and one without relation, being completely unchanged and unconditioned.

Focusing on the unconditioned aspect, it is crucial to note that the Absolute ground is neither Being nor essence, meaning it is not only unprocessed but also completely unmoving and unchanging. It cannot be confined to either the outer or inner totality because these imply determinateness. The Absolute cannot merely be the sum of conditioned grounds or their relations. The former suggests connectivity and reflection (sublation), and the latter fails to meet the definition of the unconditioned.

The Absolute is not simply being, nor is it merely essence. Being represents unreflected immediacy, while essence represents reflected immediacy. Both are totalities, but determinate ones. Being manifests in essence as concrete existence, and the relation between being and essence evolves into the connection of inner and outer. The inner represents essence as a totality connected to being, and the outer represents being as connected to reflection. However, the Absolute is the unity of both; it constitutes the foundation of the essential relation, which, as mere relation, must eventually return to its identity, a ground that is not yet fully realized.

This quote aligns with the interpretation that the Absolute, as a contradictory unity, is both negative and positive in its exposition. Initially, the movement seems only to negate its own act within the Absolute. It transcends the manifold differences, determinations, and their movements, becoming a "beyond" that exists behind the Absolute. This is the negative exposition of the Absolute. The true form of this exposition is the logical progression of the spheres of being and essence, not something brought in from outside or imposed by external reflection. Rather, it is an internal process, driven by necessity, in which being becomes and essence reflects, ultimately returning to the Absolute as its ground.

In this process, reflection and determination relate back to the Absolute as the sum of all, which is called "relatively unconditioned" due to the indeterminacy of totality. The negative exposition dissolves distinctions into the Absolute, while the positive exposition represents the reflective "shine" of the Absolute. However, this positive exposition is still just a reflection, not the true substance of the Absolute, which remains beyond mere exposition. Any determinations that appear are nullities gathered externally and used to create starting points for further activity, but these determinations do not originate in the Absolute. Instead, they end in it, reinforcing the notion that the Absolute is the final ground of all processes.

The Absolute possesses Absolute identity, meaning anything similar to the Absolute—such as essence, being, existence, or the whole—exists as isolated totalities. This is because the unconditioned, by definition, cannot possess determinacy. Yet Absolute identity is not the Absolute itself but an attribute of it. This distinction emphasizes that while the Absolute can reflect itself through various determinations, it remains untouched and unmoved by them, always existing as the ultimate ground and unconditioned totality.

The identity of the Absolute is called "absolute identity" because each of its parts, or each determinateness, embodies the totality of the whole. Determinateness becomes transparent, appearing as mere reflective shine, where the differences dissolve into their own positedness. Reflected determinations—such as essence, existence, the world, parts, whole, and force—may seem to exist independently, but they ultimately collapse into the Absolute, which serves as their grounding reality. The Absolute, now in a state of pure self-identity, does not determine itself because determination involves a difference in form, which is already negated. However, since the Absolute contains every difference and form, the distinction of content must also emerge within it. Yet, this content is sublated within the Absolute's identity, which integrates all manifoldness, both of the world-in-itself and the phenomenal world.

The Absolute, understood as absolute identity, is thus "absolute" in a determined guise, meaning it exists in opposition to the manifold, yet it is also the negation of reflection and determination. This Absolute, in its achieved state, is not merely an incomplete exposition of itself but is itself the result of an indeterminacy process that returns to absolute identity, albeit abstract and indeterminate. Therefore, if one asks about the mode of the Absolute, it is simply actuality—neither unreflected nor reflected, neither positive nor negative—but a unity and expression of pure, unmoved simplicity.

When one seeks the content of this exposition, the answer is that the distinction between form and content within the Absolute has been dissolved. The Absolute manifests itself through this very process, and its content is the fact that it is self-manifesting. The Absolute, as absolute form, becomes identical with itself in its own division, a negative that returns to itself. This process of self-rejoining is what constitutes absolute self-identity, which remains indifferent to distinctions. As a result, the content of the Absolute is nothing other than the exposition itself—this self-sustaining movement. The Absolute, in its pure expression, manifests itself not as an inner truth or in opposition to something external, but purely as its own actuality, self-revealing for its own sake.

=== THE FORMS: ===
The intellect, or ''nous'', exists outside the soul and serves as the ground of being before the originary One. Its divine unity is second only to the One itself. All things arise from and exemplify the intelligible, which is perfect, unchangeable, and eternal. When the soul is purified, it becomes form—entirely incorporeal, intellectual, and divine. In this purified state, the soul is the source of beauty and related to all things that share kinship with it. When the soul ascends to intellect, it becomes more beautiful, as intellect and the products of intellect constitute the soul’s true beauty. These aspects are not alien to the soul, but intrinsic to its nature when it is truly itself.

Goodness and beauty for the soul, then, are realized through "assimilation to God," because beauty is found in the intelligible realm, where the rest of beings reside. Beings themselves are identical with beauty, while ugliness represents the other nature—primary evil. For God, goodness and beauty are identical, and the Good is synonymous with Beauty.

This reinforces the idea of the ''nous'' as an originary unity that precedes being, while containing all forms beyond the duality of subject and object. These forms, being of the intellect, are perfect, unchangeable, and beyond the constraints of space and time. They are not subject to corruption, distinctions, or determinations. The forms are a trace of the One and possess generative power, both internally and externally. The unity of these forms is the intellect itself, which is generative and ontologically perfect, unconditioned, and not subject to lower causes, whether actual or potential.

In this framework, intellection is of that which is internal to ''Nous'' (Intellect), meaning the Forms are internal to it. The Form is the Idea itself, and thus, Intellect and the intellectual substance are one. Each Idea is not distinct from Intellect but is part of it, with Intellect being wholly composed of all the Forms, and each Form in turn being identical with Intellect. This mirrors how the totality of scientific knowledge contains all theorems, each integral to the whole without being differentiated by place.

Intellect exists within itself, in stillness, always complete and full. If one were to suggest that Intellect is prior to Being, then one might conclude that Intellect, in its actuality and thought, generates and perfects Being. However, if Being is understood as prior to Intellect, the Beings reside within the thinking Intellect, while intellection is an addition to them. Similar to how fire's actuality is part of its essence, intellection is the actuality of the Beings. Ultimately, Being and Intellect are one and share a singular actuality. The distinction between the two is only apparent to us, divided by our understanding, while in reality, the undivided Intellect is also Being and encompasses all things.

Higher Forms such as Goodness and Beauty are reflected onto lower forms like fashion, taste, and justice (although justice itself is a higher form in terms of its nomological nature). Lower forms reflect higher forms in varying degrees of complexity to simplicity, similar to how materials reflect sunlight with differing clarity. Despite these differences in reflection, all forms are essentially the same in their core essence. The Forms are eternal and unchanging, representing emanations from the One. The various hypostases (such as Intellect and Soul) do not occur as temporal events but instead signify degrees of emanation from the One, where the closeness or directness of the emanation determines their reflective power.