What does the nature of being mean?

Answer 1

No, actually, "The Nature of Being" was not the title of a Monty Python film :-)

Being, or existence, may be something that we are accustomed to taking for granted. But, does existence exist, or is all of life a dream that only 'I' am dreaming? Even if it is merely a dream, then the dream exists. But, if existence is, then where does its is-ness come from?! Just what is existence?? Are all 'types' of existence fundamentally the same? (We had better be careful not question existence right out of existence!!)

Those are all questions about the nature of being. A comprehensive and working definition or description of being, or existence, would be an analytical or functional account of existence itself. And, in a nutshell, that is just what is meant by this abstract notion, the-nature-of-being.

To hold an enquiry into the nature of being is like me asking of you, "Please explain to me in terms I can understand, what human consciousness is - how it works." How might you start to answer such a question? Even the hottest philosophers do not know how to begin to address an issue like that.

We would at least need to raise our own human consciousness to a higher state if we wanted a chance to study self-aware consciousness at an analytical level. That might ultimately be achieved through a lifestyle of keeping an open mind, spiritual reading, and meditation. Human beings apparently can, and typically do, 'mature' through several different levels of spiritual awareness even in one lifetime.

Traditionally, the nature of being has been the subject of a branch of Metaphysics; more specifically, of the abstract and theoretical field called 'Ontology'. In that purely philosophical arena, basic categories, qualities and features of being or existence have been postulated and debated. This has become a vast and complex field taking in a lot of minute, hair-splitting debate and many points of contention. The subject of existence/being has raised a number of deep and important problems in metaphysics, the philosophy of language, and philosophical logic. As of now, there are no satisfactory philosophical accounts of existence.

The presented question, however, is being asked within the particular context of Religion and Spirituality (and not philosophy) so that should remain the focal context for this answer.

All of existence may be summed up as Life/the-Universe. Okay; then, what is Life/the Universe? One suggestion would be, "God", since Life, or the Universe, is both physical and spiritual (which in the broad sense means mental). And while God is knowable in as much as all of us are one with God, yet God is utterly mysterious in the sense that there is an infinite amount that we have yet to experience of God and of ourselves.

The nature of being (that is, the nature of God) is thus a wide open subject. "I am that I am; I will be what I will be; I am inexhaustible possibility - the alpha and the omega, beginning and end, the all-in-all." God is over all and through all, yet remains infinitely mysterious! That is good; it is as it should be, for it means that we, God's offspring, have an infinite amount of exciting and rewarding unfolding and evolving ahead of us.

During the course of our lives we naturally experience many different states of being. Up until now these states of being, whether enjoyed or not enjoyed by humankind, have very largely been turned on and off unconsciously. What is not yet widely known is that, for spiritual (i.e., sentient and self-aware) beings, like ourselves, the states of being that we experience may be consciously and deliberately chosen by us. We can voluntarily switch our own (inner) states of being.

This has enormous implications for each and every one of us and for our world as a whole. It means that, as individuals and as a community we can change the nature of human being -- we can actually change the features and qualities of our own being.

The states of being that we consciously or unconsciously choose for ourselves utterly change and define our lives, either for the better or for the worse. Moreover, those individual choices have knock-on effects on the states of being of the whole of our society (= our whole world).

To sum that up, we human beings have an enormous potency that is not widely realised: Each one of us can directly and creatively participate in producing truly happy lives for ourselves and for the entirety of the world's population.

Do we want a world that is enduringly peaceful, harmonious and happy? Certainly, we do!

We can create that world, not by deliberately attempting to alter our behaviours, but, by changing what we choose to be. And the only way to change what we are -- to truly change the nature of our being -- is to creatively revise our rock-bottom beliefs about who and what we are. This may sound scary to some of us but this can be achieved in a gradual and tentative manner.

Solid root beliefs give us strong and enduring motivation -- and such motivation can be evoked for constructive purposes or otherwise. (Notice how young terrorists are being strongly motivated.)

It is therefore in our best interests to nurture and develop a spirituality that is expansive, inclusive, positive and creative rather than one that is narrow, exclusive, hostile, negative and destructive. Each one of us has the freedom, and thus the responsibility, to steward and nurture our own spirituality. Each individual has it within their self to be, and to remain, their own spiritual authority. This freedom remains ours forever -- neither pain nor death can change that.

Refuse to take mundane existence for granted; not because one day existence might escape you, but for the reason that there are a lot more things in Heaven and Earth than have so far been dreamt of in human philosophy!

Answer 2

The nature of being refers to the inherent characteristics or essence of existence. It encompasses questions about consciousness, existence, purpose, and reality. Philosophers and thinkers have long pondered the nature of being in their quest to understand the fundamental aspects of life.