The project seeks to explore what reality must be like for persistence, identity, meaning, value, and directionality to arise. Drawing upon process philosophy, emergence theory, complexity studies, contemporary cosmology, systems thinking, and open-relational approaches to reality, the series progressively develops a relational account of existence centered upon becoming, coherence, embodiment, persistence, and participation.
The series ultimately served as the foundation for the philosophical framework later termed Embodied Process Realism (EPR).
Background
The Reality & Cosmology Series emerged from a broader effort to investigate the relationship between science, philosophy, theology, history, and contemporary understandings of reality.
While influenced by the process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, the series also engages questions arising from complexity theory, emergence studies, consciousness research, cosmology, systems theory, and contemporary metaphysics. Throughout the project, reality is approached as an open and evolving field of becoming rather than as a fixed collection of isolated substances.
A central question repeatedly appears throughout the series:
What must reality be like for anything to exist, persist, become meaningful, and matter?
Rather than beginning with theological or metaphysical assumptions, the project proceeds through a sustained ontological inquiry into the structures and patterns underlying existence itself.
This methodological commitment is summarized by one of the recurring principles of the series:
Before meaning comes being; and before interpretation comes reality.
Structure
The Reality & Cosmology Series is organized as a progressive investigation into reality beginning with ontology and extending toward cosmology, consciousness, culture, ethics, religion, and metaphysics.
The project is structured around the methodological principle that:
Ontology precedes metaphysics, and metaphysics precedes theology.
Accordingly, the series first asks what reality is before asking what reality means.
Ontological Foundations
The opening essays investigate the fundamental structures of existence through discussions of:
- relation
- coherence
- emergence
- embodiment
- persistence
- identity
- value
- meaning
- directionality
- participation
These studies establish the ontological foundations upon which later sections are built.
Narrative Ontology
Several companion essays employ narrative structures as vehicles for exploring ontological themes.
Most notable among these are the Jonah essays, which examine rupture, descent, transformation, and reconciliation as recurring patterns within becoming. These narrative studies function as illustrative companions to the broader ontological investigations developed elsewhere in the series.
Boundary and Horizon Essays
A number of transitional essays explore the limits of explanation and the horizons of inquiry.
Topics include:
- dimensionality
- hidden structures of reality
- Q-Box theory
- hyperdecoherence
- explanatory limits
- cosmological openness
- scientific uncertainty
These studies function as bridges between ontology and metaphysics.
Cosmology and Consciousness
Later sections investigate:
- consciousness
- participation
- emergence
- artificial intelligence
- complexity
- cosmological evolution
- relational time
- open futures
Particular attention is given to the relationship between local forms of experience and larger cosmic processes.
Religion, History, and Reconstruction
Several studies examine religious development, biblical history, manuscript traditions, and Christianity's evolving search for God.
These essays approach sacred texts historically while exploring their significance within broader cultural and philosophical contexts. The project frequently emphasizes the dynamic interaction between religious traditions and changing understandings of reality.
Metaphysical Development
The later portions of the series move beyond ontology toward metaphysical questions concerning:
- becoming
- continuity
- possibility
- participation
- teleology
- coherence
- cosmological directionality
These investigations eventually contributed to the emergence of Open Relational Metaphysics and related post-Whiteheadian projects.
Major Themes
Ontology
The primary focus of the series is ontology, understood as the philosophical study of what is real.
Throughout the project, ontology functions as the foundation upon which later metaphysical and theological discussions are constructed.
Reality as Relational
One of the central claims of the series is that reality is fundamentally relational rather than atomistic.
Objects, organisms, persons, cultures, ecosystems, and societies are interpreted as emerging from dynamic networks of relation rather than existing as isolated entities.
Coherence and Embodiment
A recurring theme concerns the relationship between coherence and embodiment.
The project argues that coherence becomes effective within reality through embodied forms capable of sustaining continuity across time.
This emphasis eventually became one of the defining characteristics of Embodied Process Realism.
Continuity and Becoming
The series repeatedly examines how patterns persist through change and how continuity emerges within an evolving universe.
Rather than treating permanence and becoming as opposites, the project explores persistence as an achievement of ongoing relational processes.
Directionality Without Determinism
The project proposes that reality exhibits recurring tendencies toward increasing coherence, participation, organization, and complexity without requiring predetermined outcomes.
This position has been described as an account of open or participatory directionality.
Consciousness and Participation
Consciousness is explored as an emergent dimension of relational reality through which the universe becomes increasingly aware of itself.
Participation functions as a key category linking agency, responsibility, creativity, and future possibility.
Open Futures
The series rejects both deterministic closure and radical indeterminacy.
Instead, reality is portrayed as possessing structured openness—a universe characterized by genuine possibilities, evolving trajectories, and unfinished futures.
Cosmology and Civilization
The later essays extend ontological questions into discussions of:
- ethics
- democracy
- ecology
- technology
- religion
- culture
- artificial intelligence
- future civilization
These studies investigate how ontological assumptions shape social and cultural development.
Relation to Embodied Process Realism
As the Reality & Cosmology Series progressed, recurring themes concerning relation, coherence, embodiment, persistence, identity, meaning, and participation gradually coalesced into a broader ontological framework.
These developments were eventually summarized in the Embodied Process Realism Manifesto (2026), which distilled many of the central insights of the series into a concise philosophical statement.
One of the defining conceptual sequences emerging from the project is:
Relation → Coherence → Embodiment → Persistence → Identity → Value and Meaning → Direction → Possibility
This sequence later became a central organizing principle of Embodied Process Realism.
Influence on Later Projects
The Reality & Cosmology Series served as the foundation for several subsequent developments, including:
- Embodied Process Realism (EPR)
- Open Relational Metaphysics
- Post-Whiteheadian philosophical investigations
- Consciousness and participation studies
- Cosmological and metaphysical essays
- Process-relational approaches to religion and culture
The series continues to function as a reference framework for ongoing explorations of ontology, metaphysics, cosmology, consciousness, and civilization.
Legacy and Continuing Development
The Reality & Cosmology Series represents one of the largest philosophical projects undertaken by R. E. Slater. Through its progression from ontology toward metaphysics, cosmology, and cultural inquiry, the series attempts to construct a comprehensive account of reality grounded in relation, coherence, embodiment, and participation.
Although the project remains open to revision and further development, it established many of the conceptual foundations that later informed Embodied Process Realism and related post-Whiteheadian investigations.
Like the reality it seeks to understand, the series presents itself not as a completed system, but as an ongoing inquiry into the nature of existence, becoming, and possibility.
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