Worldview Quiz · Precise — Ontological Atlas

Q1 TIME

Did time have a beginning, and will it have an end?

Yes — time began and will end. No — time stretches without limit. Skip — no strong view

Q2 TIME

If literally nothing ever happened, would time still exist?

Yes — time is its own container, even when empty. No — time is just the pattern of change; no change, no time. Time isn’t fundamental — it arises from something deeper that isn’t temporal. Skip — no strong view

Q3 TIME

Is time infinitely divisible, or is there a smallest possible moment?

Infinitely divisible — between any two instants there is another. There is a smallest indivisible "tick". Skip — no strong view

Q4 TIME

Given the complete state of the universe now, is the future already fixed?

Yes — in principle, every future event is settled by the present. No — genuine chance or freedom leaves the future open. Skip — no strong view

Q5 TIME

How does time unfold?

Once, irreversibly — past to future, no repeats or branches. In great cycles — history (or the cosmos) recurs. It splits — multiple parallel timelines are real. Skip — no strong view

Q6 SPACE

Is space finite or infinite?

Finite — space has a definite, bounded size. Infinite — space goes on without end. Skip — no strong view

Q7 SPACE

Would space exist if there were no objects in it?

Yes — space is a real container that exists in its own right. No — space is just the network of relations between things. Space isn’t fundamental — it arises from something non-spatial. Skip — no strong view

Q8 SPACE

What is the geometry of space?

Flat — Euclidean geometry holds; parallel lines never meet. Curved — geometry bends; matter and energy warp space. Space has no fixed geometric structure of its own. Skip — no strong view

Q9 SPACE

Can two distant things directly influence each other instantly?

No — influence only travels through neighbors, at most at light-speed. Yes — distant things can be intrinsically connected. Skip — no strong view

Q10 MATTER

Is matter a basic feature of reality, or does it arise from something more fundamental?

Matter is bedrock — the basic stuff. Matter is just patterns of relations between events or properties. Matter arises from something deeper (mind, information, process). Skip — no strong view

Q11 MATTER

Can matter (or matter-energy) be created or destroyed absolutely — not just transformed?

No — it is preserved; only the form changes. Yes — matter can come into being or be annihilated outright. Skip — no strong view

Q12 MATTER

Is the total amount of matter in reality finite or infinite?

Finite. Infinite. Skip — no strong view

Q13 OBS

Does a conscious observer exist at a single moment, or across many at once?

A single present moment. Across many moments at once (eternal vantage, deep memory, or trans-temporal). Skip — no strong view

Q14 OBS

Does a conscious observer exist in one place, or many at once?

A single location. Spread across many locations (or no location at all). Skip — no strong view

Q15 OBS

What can an observer ultimately know?

Only what is directly available to experience or evidence. In principle, everything — total or transcendent knowledge is possible. Skip — no strong view

Q16 OBS

Is the mind reducible to the brain and body?

Yes — mind is what the body does. No — mind is distinct and could exist apart from any body. Both — mind has physical and non-physical aspects. Skip — no strong view

Q17 OBS

Does the observer actively shape reality, or merely register what is there?

Active — observation, choice, or consciousness helps constitute reality. Passive — the observer is a receiver; reality is already there. Both — reality is partly given, partly constituted. Skip — no strong view

Q18 OBS

What kinds of agency beyond natural causation does the world contain?

A personal God who hears, acts, and stands in relation to creatures. An impersonal ordering principle — logos, Tao, Brahman — that structures reality without acting case-by-case. Particular spirits, ancestors, or kami — plural rather than universal, immanent rather than transcendent. Only natural causation; no agency beyond it. Skip — no strong view

Q19 OBS

Where does authoritative normative knowledge ultimately come from?

A revealed text is the final authority — even when tradition, reason, or experience say otherwise. Scripture read through an authoritative interpretive tradition — the community has authority over the text. Universal rational principles — natural law, logos — that can override revelation or tradition. Direct mystical or experiential knowing — inner experience trumps received text or reasoning. There is no fixed ultimate authority — what counts as authoritative is constituted by practice, community, and history. No source of normative authority is ultimate — only descriptive or empirical claims survive scrutiny. Skip — no strong view

Q20 OBS

Are there many distinct minds, or fundamentally one?

Many — each person is a separate observer. One — individual minds are aspects of a single consciousness. Skip — no strong view

Q21 ENERGY

Is energy a fundamental ingredient of reality, or does it emerge from something else?

Fundamental — energy is one of the basic stuffs of reality. Emergent — energy arises from something more fundamental. Skip — no strong view

Q22 ENERGY

Can energy be fully recovered after it has been used, or does some always degrade?

Yes — energy can be perfectly cycled with no net loss. No — entropy makes some energy permanently unavailable. Skip — no strong view

Q23 INFO

Is information a fundamental ingredient of reality, or does it emerge from physical processes?

Fundamental — "it from bit"; information is bedrock. Information consists in relations among things. Information emerges from physical processes; it is not basic. Skip — no strong view

Q24 INFO

Is information conserved at the cosmic scale — through cosmic cycles, thermodynamic erasure, the long run of the universe?

Yes — quantum unitarity, no-deletion theorems; the cosmos preserves information. No — cosmic cycles dissolve worlds, or thermodynamic erasure is real. Skip — no strong view

Q25 INFO

Does the soul, pattern, or whatever bears your personal identity persist through death?

Yes — soul / atma / pattern persists, by divine memory, karmic stream, substrate, or branches. No — the assembled life ends with the body; what continues isn't the person. Skip — no strong view

Q26 OBS

How does the school treat religious-theological authority? (If the question doesn't apply, leave it unaddressed.)

Q27 OBS

By what method is genuine knowledge of reality produced?

Through controlled observation, measurement, and inference from experience. Through a priori reasoning and conceptual demonstration. Through received divine self-disclosure — scripture, prophecy, sacrament. Through direct contemplative union with reality. Through careful description of lived experience, prior to subject-object distinction. Through practical engagement — what works in inquiry counts as known. Through historical-critical engagement and the working-out of contradictions. Skip — no strong view

Q28 OBS

What is the scope of truth? Is it universal, situated, tradition-bound, or constructed?

Truth is mind-independent, universal, accessible in principle to all. Truth is real but accessible only from within a tradition of inquiry. Truth is real but always known from a perspective; perspectives are plural and dialogical. What counts as truth is constituted by language, practice, history, power. Skip — no strong view

Q29 OBS

What is the moral-political primary — the discrete person, the community, the cosmic order, the class, the species?

The discrete person — communities are composed of individuals. The community of persons — persons are constituted by their relations. The cosmic-religious order — persons have their place in a hierarchy. The class or historical movement — persons are constituted by their position in social struggle. The biological species, or the wider biosphere of sentient life. Skip — no strong view

Q30 TIME

How does the school orient itself toward history and tradition?

The truth was once known and has been lost; the task is recovery. History is the gradual unfolding of improvement, liberation, or fuller realization. History is oriented toward a decisive consummation — judgment, kingdom, ultimate fulfillment. History recurs in cosmic cycles — kalpas, yugas, seasonal-ceremonial returns. Reality's deepest truth is not historically constituted; metaphysical truths are timeless. Skip — no strong view

Q31 OBS

Once known, is the observer's knowledge total, partial, or only momentary?

Total — knowledge once acquired is permanently retained. Partial — memory persists but is fallible, partial, and revisable. Immediate — knowledge is fleeting and does not persist. Skip — no strong view

Where do you stand?