The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science

passing into the same components in their concrete togetherness. There
are two current doctrines as to this process. One is that of the external
Creator, eliciting this final togetherness out of nothing. The other
doctrine is that it is a metaphysical principle, belonging to the nature of
things, that there is nothing in the Universe other than instances of this
passage and components of these instances. Let this latter doctrine be
adopted. Then the word Creativity expresses the notion that each event
is a process issuing in novelty. Also if guarded in the phrases Immanent
Creativity, or Self-Creativity, it avoids the implication of a transcendent
Creator. But the mere word Creativity suggests Creator, so that the
whole doctrine acquires an air of paradox, or of pantheism. Still it does
convey the origination of novelty. The word Concrescence is a derivative
from the familiar Latin verb, meaning 'growing together'. It also has the
advantage that the participle 'concrete' is familiarly used for the notion
of complete physical reality. Thus Concrescence is useful to convey the
notion of many things acquiring complete complex unity. But it fails to
suggest the creative novelty involved. For example, it omits the notion of
the individual character arising in the concrescence of the aboriginal
data. The event is not suggested as 'emotionalized', that is, as with its
'subjective form'.
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Again the term 'together' is one of the most misused terms in
philosophy. It is a generic term illustrated by an endless variety of
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