Why Reason Cannot Reach AA — an Instancological

Why Reason Cannot Reach AA

— an Instancological explanation

1. What “Reason” Essentially Is

Reason is not a neutral or unlimited faculty.

It is a structural cognitive tool with fixed characteristics:

It operates through distinctions

It depends on relations

It proceeds by rules, inference, and consistency

It requires objects that can be compared, categorized, or mediated

In Instancological terms, Reason belongs to the Absolute–Relative (RA) level.

Logic, mathematics, formal systems, and rational inference are all relatively absolute structures:

they are universal within the world, but still structures.

Reason does not grasp wholes directly.

It works by mediation, not by immediacy.

2. The Nature of AA (Absolutely Absolute)

AA is not a supreme object, nor a highest concept.

AA is:

not a thing

not a relation

not a structure

not a system

not representable

AA is the unspeakable background from which all instances arise.

It is not one quadrant among others; it is that which makes quadrants possible at all.

Crucially:

AA does not stand in relation to anything —

relation itself already presupposes distance, distinction, and structure.

3. The Structural Mismatch: Why Reason Fails

Reason fails to reach AA not because it is weak,

but because it is too well-defined.

Reason requires:

subject–object separation

premise–conclusion structure

logical space

formal consistency

AA requires none of these.

Attempting to reach AA by Reason produces an unavoidable paradox:

If AA is treated as an object → it is no longer AA

If AA is defined → it becomes Relative

If AA is reasoned about → it is already placed within RA

Thus Reason can only do one thing with AA:

Point to its boundary — and stop.

This is why all rational metaphysics ends in:

silence (early Wittgenstein)

negation (negative theology)

paradox (Kant, Gödel, Heidegger)

Not because AA is unclear,

but because Reason reaches its own ontological ceiling.

4. Why This Is Not a Failure of Philosophy

This limit is often misunderstood as the “death of philosophy.”

Instancology shows the opposite:

Philosophy succeeds by discovering its own boundary

Reason fulfills its role precisely by reaching RA

The impossibility of rational access to AA is structural necessity, not defeat

Reason is indispensable, but not sovereign.

5. What Can Reach AA, If Reason Cannot?

AA is not reached by:

deduction

induction

proof

representation

AA is recognized, not inferred.

Instancology names this mode Absolute WuXing (AW):

non-discursive

non-representational

non-relational

immediate

This is not mysticism. It is ontological alignment rather than epistemic construction.

Reason can prepare the ground.

Reason can clear illusions.

Reason can eliminate false absolutes.

But the final step is not a step —

it is a cessation of stepping.

6. The Final Clarification

Reason cannot reach AA for the same reason:

the eye cannot see itself

language cannot contain its own origin

structure cannot ground structure

AA is not something Reason fails to grasp.

AA is that which makes Reason possible in the first place.

7. One-Sentence Conclusion

Reason cannot reach AA because Reason is a structure, and AA is the ground of all structure.

This is not a limitation to be repaired.

It is the deepest confirmation that AA is real.