Ground of being

The ground of all being or foundation of reality is God, the uncreated, unbounded, self-contained, self-sufficient, self-consistent,[1] eternally self-existing Source of all existence, without beginning or ending, the Creator who through his Word (Logos) made and sustains in existence all created things in heaven and earth,[2] both the supernatural order or realm with its particular laws and operation and the subsumed[3] natural order or realm of spacetime with its particular laws and operation, included in the one reality of Being (see Ontology).

In the philosophical language of the archaic period in Greece (8th-6th century B.C.) arche (or archai) designates the source, origin or root of things that exist. Arche (Greek, ἀρχή) is a Greek word with primary senses of "beginning", "origin" or "source of action". (εξ’ ἀρχής [ex arches] : from the beginning, οr εξ’ ἀρχής λόγος [ex arches logos]: the original argument), and later "first principle or element", first so used by Anaximander (Simplicius in Physics 150.23[4]), "principles of knowledge" (ἀρχαί) (Aristotle Metaphysics 995b8). By extension it may mean "first place, power", "method of government", "empire, realm", "authorities" (in plural:ἀρχαί), "command".[5] The first principle or element corresponds to the "ultimate underlying substance" and "ultimate undemonstrable principle".[6] In ancient Greek Philosophy, Aristotle foregrounded the meaning of arche as the element or principle of a thing, which although undemonstrable and intangible in itself, provides the necessary conditions of the possibility of that thing.[7]

## References[edit]

1. ↑ "self-consistent" 2 Timothy 2:13
2. ↑ Genesis 1:1; Wisdom 11:24-25; Isaiah 42:5; 43:10; 44:24; 45:5-7,18-19; John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 4:11.
3. ↑ "subsume": That which is subsumed is classed as a specific or an individual or particular in the general; the inferior class of the (lesser) natural realm included in and subject to the general superior (greater) spiritual realm within the whole of reality. Adapted from The Reader's Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary; including Funk & Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary, 1966, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., Pleasantville, New York. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 66-21606 | subsume. p. 1335b.
4. ↑ see Simplicius, On Aristotle's "On the Heavens 1.10–12"
5. ↑ Lidell and Scott Lexicon | ἀρχή
6. ↑ Peters Lexicon:1967:23
7. ↑ Sandywell, Barry, Presocratic philosophy. Vol 3, 1966, Routledge, New York, pp. 142-144

## See also[edit]

Anselm of Canterbury

St. Thomas Aquinas

Creationism

Epistemology

Naturalism (philosophy)

Philosophical naturalism

Swinburne's argument from religious experience

Paul Tillich

## External links[edit]

* Arche at MedLibrary.org
* Arche at quazoo.com
* Arche at Babylon.com

Notes on Eudorus' Ontology (Alexander of Aphrodisias, in Meta., 59,18 FR. 3) Simplicius, in Ph., 181,1730 FR. 45 (Mazzarelli) by Anton Toth [1] (pdf downloadable document at ceeol.com)