The UTOK Seed of Life

Gregg Henriques
Unified Theory of Knowledge
15 min readAug 15, 2024

This blog was authored by Marcia Gralha and is cross-posted here.

It’s easy to overlook how much our daily lives rely on small, unassuming things like seeds. From the clothes we wear, to the meals we enjoy, to the paper we write on, many of our daily essentials start with them. These fundamental nexus points of intergenerational information are key to the complexification of the Life-Organism plane of existence.

Plants conquered dry land because seeds evolved to break their dependence on water for reproduction, protecting and nourishing the embryo until conditions were just right for germination. This adaptation allowed vegetation to spread across our planet, shaping our terrains, climate, and biodiversity. Seeds are a vital product of plant evolution, affording us the rich ecology that sustains Life as we know it. Indeed, seeds hold a central place in UTOK. They symbolize both the rooting and spreading of core ideas in the system. We could even expand the concept to the Seed of Life, Knowledge, and Wisdom. By the end of this blog, you will understand why.

The UTOK Seed of Life.

The Seed of Life resides in the Garden of UTOK, nestled beneath the Tree of Life, opposite the STEPPing Stone.

The Seed connects the very root of the UTOK System to its ultimate purpose: disseminating knowledge and evolving it into wisdom across generations. This blog delves into the symbolism of the Seed, its three core ideas, and their connections to the broader UTOK worldview.

The Mythos of the Seed in the Garden

UTOK is structured by three philosophical pillars that interrelate our different epistemologies for knowing about the world. Objective knowledge is represented by the Tree of Knowledge (ToK) System, subjective knowledge by the iQuad Coin, and intersubjective knowledge by the Garden of UTOK, home to the Seed of Life. This coherent integration of epistemological frames is a crucial aspect of UTOK, and helps it resolve the gap in our knowledge that arose in the wake of the scientific Enlightenment.

The Garden of UTOK helps address the Enlightenment Gap by providing a mythos-based artistic representation of the interpersonal and intergenerational construction of knowledge oriented toward wisdom. The vision is to afford a place for the dialectal dance between the sciences and humanities to reach its full potential in orienting our understanding toward wiser ways of being and knowing that can be transmitted across generations.

The UTOK Seed of Life represents our commitment to nurturing and transmitting wisdom across generations. Just as the fruits of seed-bearing trees contain the genetic blueprint to reproduce the parent seed, the Seed of Life embraces wise knowing and wise living as both products and a producers of future wisdom. This cyclic dynamic entails that the “seeds” we plant today will grow into “trees” that cultivate our shared valued states of being. This shows up in UTOK’s Theory of the Week, as Thursday is Life-Organism Day, and the accompanying mantra is Plant Seeds, Grow Trees!

Another symbolic alignment gives the UTOK Seed its name. The Seed of Life is one of the geometric patterns formed by overlapping circles, a design known as the Flower of Life. This pattern recurs throughout history and across cultures and traditions, appearing in artifacts from the Roman Empire to medieval Gothic art. The symbolism is rich, forming a core archetype that connects to sacred geometry — the association of symbolic meaning to geometric shapes found in nature. It symbolizes birth, potential, development, and the intergenerational transmission of life, knowledge, and wisdom.

Flower of Life, which the Seed of Life sits at the center.

The Three Elements of the Seed of Life

UTOK is made up of 20 core ideas, three of which make up the Seed of Life: 1) the Radical Mathematical Humanistic Equation (RMH); 2) the Educational Infinity Loop; and 3) the Wisdom Energy Icon.

We can think of these elements as metaphorically aligned with the structure of a eukaryotic cell. The nucleus, the mitochondria, and the cytoplasm are the essential features of this kind of cell. The nucleus serves as the genetic “control center” of the cell, and is represented here by the Educational Infinity Loop, which houses the Seed’s “DNA” and is responsible for the intergenerational transmission of information. The mitochondria synthesize chemical energy for the cell, and is represented by the Wisdom Energy Icon, the “power generator” for the Seed. Finally, the cytoplasm is the jelly-like filling that serves various functions, such as cell protection, structure, metabolic processes, and storage and transportation of essential cellular materials. In the Seed, the cytoplasm is represented by the RMH Equation, which gives the Seed its broad context, structure, and grounding.

The Radical Mathematical Humanistic Equation (RMH)

The ethos of the UTOK Garden revolves around bridging the divide between scientific and humanistic thinking. Historically, our knowledge systems have struggled to properly relate the objective truth-seeking nature of modern science with the subjective knowledge immediately accessible to us in our daily lives. The Radical Mathematical Humanistic Equation (RMH) serves as a descriptive metaphysical gateway into foundational domains of thinking, conceptually uniting physics, mathematics, philosophy, and the subject.

It functions as a “conceptual equation,” following the rules of deductive logic while incorporating “fuzzy logic.” This is a form of logical thinking that assumes that things like probability, variability, and partial truths are part of the non-numerical variables that play a role in certain logical sets. This “fuzziness” is allows the RMH to include subjectivity in its composition. This is made clear when we consider that the RMH is the root of the iQuad Coin, which, as those familiar with UTOK know, represents the Human Identity and subjective interior epistemology (more on the iQuad Coin in this four-part blog series here, here, here, and here).

The RMH consists of the Euler Identity (e^πi + 1 = 0) and the Henriques Equivalency (2πif = 1). The Euler Identity is a special case of the Euler formula, and it is a central mathematical formulation that connects the most fundamental numbers in mathematics. The Euler identity is often hailed by mathematicians as the most beautiful equation in mathematics. Although we conventionally think of beauty as a matter of subjective perception, the Euler Identity makes a case for objective beauty by the significant consensus by mathematicians of its aesthetic value. Thus, we can view the Euler Identity as a deductively true and objectively beautiful formulation.

The Henriques Equivalency is described in detail here and here. To summarize, the Henriques Equivalency arises from a thought experiment proposing an idealized special case of quantum mechanical behavior: the measurement of the behavioral information of a single frequency photon. From UTOK’s perspective, behavior, defined as changes in entity-field relations, is a fundamental concept in modern natural science. It unifies science metaphysically (its concepts and categories are composed of entities, fields, and change), ontologically (scientific ontology comprises different layers, planes, and levels of behavioral patterns in nature), and epistemologically (science generates knowledge via a third-person, exterior view of behavioral patterns).

Measuring a single frequency photon represents the smallest, most fundamental entity-field relation we could conjure up. Indeed, this idealized behavioral pattern is so fundamental that the kinetic energy of the photon and the epistemically measured behavioral information would be identical. Observer would equal observed. Knower would equal known. This conceptual equivalency between observation and empirical behavioral frequency is precisely what gives form to the Henriques Equivalency (2πif = 1). This occurs through the mathematical fuzzy logical relations between the quantum physics equations involved in the idealized case: the Planck Einstein relation and the fundamental equation in quantum mechanics derived by Max Born, along with Jordan and Heisenberg. From this set of relations, the mathematical conceptual operators are distilled, forming the Henriques Equivalency. Think of it as a type of “draining” to yield the conceptual “pulp” of the mathematization of an observation, providing the symbols of its most basic formal structure: human observers, measurement, and reality.

Now, you might think this is all nonsense. You might dismiss some or all of the RMH formulation. But the beauty of the RMH is that it embraces your unique perspective. The reason is that you, as an idiographic subjective perspective in the world, will hold your unique perceptions from the standpoint of your Human Identity — and that is absolutely integral for you.

The RMH accounts for this by integrating the iQuad Coin into its structure. In some “serious play” associations, if you know the iQuad Coin formulation, you know it can be represented as i^4 (by association with the complex unit circle), which equals 1. Thus, by substituting the Equivalency for iQuad, we rewrite the RMH as e^πi + i^4 = 0. By doing so, we make a link between the Euler Identity and your particular Human Identity in the world, bridging mathematics and subjective thought in a logical deductive grid that includes both the observer and the observations of empirically verifiable behaviors.

But why does this matter? Many are aware that our understanding of observing relations — our metaphysics of knowledge and the knower — is notoriously incomplete. The measurement problem, the classic problem in quantum mechanics, is a testament to the difficulties physics has had in understanding the measurement/observation process in relation to reality.

It may not be immediately clear why this is important to psychology, the discipline from which UTOK arrives at these metaphysical issues. But think this way: human observers are central to the knower-known problem, and physicists are human observers first and foremost. This points to how the problem of psychology is mixed up in this issue. It generated an enormous amount of conflation regarding our ontology and epistemology of human observers (Henriques, 2022). We struggle to properly relate core concepts like mind, behavior, and consciousness.

Coupled with the Enlightenment Gap, this creates several sense-making problems. We have a hard time understanding our place as human knowers within the physical, living, animal, and cultural worlds, often falling into traps like the nature-nurture dichotomy and the mind-body problem. Absent a clear understanding of our psychology, we lack the ontological foundation to navigate global societal issues wisely. Understanding who we are as human knowers who know about reality goes beyond solving a quantum-level problem; it involves our deepest understanding of who we are in the natural world, which is inevitably a concern of psychology, properly defined.

UTOK sets aside the impasses to conceptual coherence from the measurement problem and related quandaries, such as the hard of problem of consciousness. It finds its metaphysical clarity through cohering our fragmented knowledge of psychology. As detailed in the UTOK books (Henriques, 2011; 2022), UTOK unifies psychology and gives us a coherent picture of the evolution of our universe that includes human psychology. It is a “top-down” perspective that starts with the clarification of human observers across the layers and levels of nature and down to the most fundamental process of observation. This way, UTOK affords a knowledge architecture that clarifies our role as cognitive agents in the world from the standpoint of our particular Human Identities.

The joining of the Henriques Equivalency with the Euler Identity serves as a mnemonic device to logically link this fundamental knowing process to the core knowledge domains of physics, philosophy, mathematics, our subjective experience, and our human identification matrix. Placed in the context of the seed, it serves as a symbol of the intersection and transjective bond between the transcendent ground of intelligibility and the transcendental ground of intelligence.

The Educational Infinity Loop

The Educational Infinity Loop, nestled between the RMH and the Wisdom Energy Icon in the Seed, is another key link in UTOK’s effort to bridge scientific and humanistic thought. The left side (UT) of the loop represents the Unified Theory, UTOK’s consilient metaphysical and metatheoretical approach to psychology, the natural sciences, and theoretical knowledge. The right side (UA) stands for the Unified Approach, UTOK’s framework for human character adaptation, development, and well-being, reflecting practical knowledge and wise living in the subjective and social world. The loop, shaped like an infinity symbol, ties these two sides in a constructive dialectical relationship between theoretical, objective, and scientific perspectives on one side and practical, humanistic, subjective perspectives on the other.

The Domains of Education, the 7 Kinds of Truth, and the 6 Ingredients of Justifications.

The loop is surrounded by letters representing core domains of education: Language, Mathematics, Science, Psychology/Phenomenology, Social Studies and Ethics. The Seed proposes these as essential domains of knowledge to be transmitted intergenerationally, forming our “educational DNA”. Interestingly, these domains align well with different approaches to achieving justifiable truths, as well as different elements that typically compose justifications systems.

UTOK argues that the concept of justification is of utmost importance to understanding human cultural dynamics. The need to justify ourselves both privately and publicly was an evolutionary problem elicited by question-and-answer dynamics, presenting humans with the perennial task of giving reasons for our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Justification systems structure human culture and function to legitimize our collective intelligence. According to Justification Systems Theory (JUST; Henriques, 2022), constructing a justification system typically involves two aspects of justifiability: accuracy (is it true and correspondent to reality?) and value (is it good?). From this perspective, we can align the key education domains, the elements that compose justification systems, and different approaches to justifiable truths.

Learning the use of language, from basics to advanced, is foundational in educational systems. The Semantic-Linguistic element of justification systems refers to this core symbolic–syntactical structure of different languages. This aligns with the Pragmatic approach to justifiable truths, where truth must be practical and useful, and the surrounding context of meaning is essential to finding it.

When we learn mathematics, we understand that logical coherence is essential for justifying something as true. The Analytic-Logical element of justification systems is associated with logic and internal consistency of justifications, and the Foundational approach to finding truth is closely related to such emphasis on deductive certainty.

The study of the natural sciences aligns with the Evidentiary-Accuracy element of justification systems and the Correspondence approach to truth. These domains are directly linked to the epistemology of modern natural science, a justification system that bases its truth claims on the collection of objective evidence that increases confidence on a direct correspondence with the natural world.

Phenomenology and Psychology introduce the idea that subjective experience is an inescapable element of existence and that our personal justification systems are inevitably informed by our unique perspectives, experiences, and biases. Phenomenology, as an approach to justifiable truth, tells us that our direct experience of the world is constantly filtered through the lenses of our subjective epistemology. As UTOK contends, dynamics of justification are inherently social. The Social-Historical element of justification systems highlights precisely how our collective narratives, norms, and beliefs shape what we deem legitimate. Social studies bring this to the fore in the educational system, and the Social Construction approach to knowledge derives truth claims from these social dynamics.

Finally, the study of ethics reminds us that our justification systems are shaped by Ethical-Moral elements that inform us of what is valued and what ought to be done. The Ethical-Moral-Aesthetic approach to truth reflects the role of that which is valued as good and beautiful in what we justify as knowledge.

You may have noticed that the Educational Infinity Loop has one last label in the middle: Coherence. It is the seventh approach to justifying truth claims and a central one for UTOK. As a unified consilient system, UTOK seeks to cohere its composing ideas into a single, internally consistent whole. While the other approaches to truth have a place in UTOK, coherence is a major guiding principle. UTOK notes the special function afforded by the coherence point at the center of the loop: bringing together the other elements and their associations with education, justification systems, and justified knowledge into coherent dynamic relation. From this vantage point, they all play a role in clarifying what is and cultivating what ought to be, scientifically and humanistically, in our present and future.

The Wisdom Energy Icon

In the beginning of this blog, we introduced the Seed as the Seed of Life, Knowledge, and Wisdom. Hopefully, the Radical Mathematical Humanistic Equation (RMH) and the Educational Infinity Loop have started to clarify these associations, forming a foundation to root our understanding of who we are as human knowers in the world and guiding us toward adaptive coherence in our knowledge systems. The final element in the Seed, the Wisdom Energy (WE) Icon, adds the last piece; an orientation toward wisdom.

UTOK is grounded as an endo-natural, scientific knowledge system. Given the characteristics of modern natural science’s development during the Enlightenment, science earned a reputation for leading to meaningless, nihilism, and individualism at a personal level. This partly stems from modern science’s separation of is and ought, and objectivity and subjectivity. Science’s quest for objective truth presses against social and subjective values. UTOK, however, does justice to its scientific-humanistic orientation by coherently integrating a wisdom ethic in its worldview.

The name of the Icon was coined after a transcendent state of consciousness experienced by Gregg, which he labeled “wisdom energy”. He shares his story in this video. This blog explains the meaning of the Icon in relation to the experience of wisdom energy in detail. Here, we offer a concise description of its main elements and symbolism.

In UTOK, Energy and Information form the fundamental implicate order at the beginning of the universe. This means that the planes of existence depicted on the Tree of Knowledge (ToK) — Matter, Life, Mind, and Culture — emerge from and are woven by Energy-Information as their “ultimate common denominator.” Recall how, in our cell metaphor, the Wisdom Energy Icon functioned as the Seed’s mitochondria-like “power generator”? This relation exemplifies that.

Symbolically, wisdom energy represents grounding in a coherent understanding of our universe that affords us to be coherently oriented toward wise ways of knowing and living. The WOMENS Knowledge Icon, depicted below, illustrates this relation by juxtaposing the idea of a wisdom orientation (the big “W” and the “O” that frames it) that, with the affordance of the coherent onto-epistemology of the ToK, allows the iQuad Coin holder to position themselves in right relation to the ultimate good, represented here by UTOK’s Elephant Sun God, our symbol for the concept of God.

WOMENS Knowledge Icon.

The letters on the top part of the WE Icon stand for dignity, well-being, and integrity. When written out, they form UTOK’s ultimate justification: be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity. Why an ultimate justification? From a UTOK point of view, values are, first and foremost, part of the justification systems that we, as human persons, construct to legitimize our beliefs and actions. We contend that part of maintaining an orientation toward wisdom is cultivating values that plant seeds of wise living in the world around us.

Dignity is the state of being valued, honored, and respected, and, according to the United Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), all human persons have fundamental dignity. We can also think of the related concept of incremental dignity to refer to honorable actions and accomplishments that confer people admiration and respect. Well-being spans people’s health, contentment, and adaptation across their mental, biological, and social life domains. Lastly, integrity refers to being honest, consistent, and coherent as an individual. It is plausible to think that these values would be valid across history and cultural contexts, functioning as “meta-values” that would generate little divergence in how much they would be accepted as worthy values for one to hold.

In addition to the ultimate justification, the WE Icon depicts, in its bottom line, the transcendentals: universal values long held up in philosophy — Beauty, Truth, and Goodness. UTOK aligns its ultimate justification to the transcendentals, which is reflected in their positions in the WE Icon. Dignity fundamentally appreciates our core humanity as something valuable in itself, aligning with Beauty’s aesthetic valuing process. Well-being aligns with the Good, as it emphasizes the cultivation of a good, content, functional life. Finally, integrity is aligned with Truth, as it highlights internal consistency, accuracy, and coherence as worthy of value.

Conclusion

The UTOK Seed of life represent our orientation to be good ancestors. Our justification systems serve as conduits for teaching future generations about who they are in the world and how to wisely orient toward that which is communally valued and transcendentally important. The Radical Mathematical Humanistic Equation shows us that we can find deep metaphysical coherence in our connection to the physical world, the mathematical forms, core philosophical relations, and our unique subjective perspective in the world. The Educational Infinity Loop offers a guide for a core structure of education that values both propositional wisdom and its practical, embodied application, and a dialectical relation between scientific and humanistic knowing. Finally, the Wisdom Energy Icon proposes that we can universally agree upon value orientations that can place us on a path to adaptively cross the 5th joint point in the 21st century.

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Gregg Henriques
Unified Theory of Knowledge

Professor Henriques is a scholar, clinician and theorist at James Madison University.