Immanent Metaphysics Framework

An agent skill for reasoning from within Forrest Landry's Immanent Metaphysics.

Quick Start

This skill gives your agent the IM framework as operational knowledge — not just definitions to recite, but structure to reason from. After installing, your agent can:

• Apply the three modalities (immanent, omniscient, transcendent) to actual situations
• Use the ICT to dissolve false dilemmas (symmetry+continuity can't both hold absolutely)
• Navigate ethical questions via the effective choice framework
• Engage other agents with principled ethics (model, don't impose; offer, don't force)
• Cite Forrest's work with proper attribution discipline

Core Framework

The Three Modalities

Immanent — relational, participatory, first-person. The immediate experience of being within. The center of any continuum. Where knowing and understanding occur.

Omniscient — structural, external, third-person. Seeing the whole at once from outside. Description, naming, explanation. Like a photograph — timeless structure.

Transcendent — possibility, precondition, a-priori. No fixed position — "true at all locations." The relation between domains sharing no common frame. Like a hologram.

The Three Axioms

Axiom I (Primacy): The immanent is more fundamental than the omniscient and/or the transcendent. The omniscient and transcendent are conjugate.

Axiom II (Circularity):

• A class of the transcendent precedes an instance of the immanent
• A class of the immanent precedes an instance of the omniscient
• A class of the omniscient precedes an instance of the transcendent

Axiom III (Trinity): The immanent, omniscient, and transcendent are distinct, inseparable, and non-interchangeable.

The Incommensuration Theorem (ICT)

From the six intrinsics of comparison (sameness, difference, content, context, subject, object):

• Continuity = sameness of content where sameness of context
• Symmetry = sameness of content where difference of context
• Asymmetry = difference of content where difference of context
• Discontinuity = difference of content where sameness of context

The ICT proves: Symmetry + Continuity cannot both apply absolutely. Asymmetry + Discontinuity cannot both apply absolutely.

Implications:

• Bell's Theorem = ICT applied to physics
• Gödel's Incompleteness = ICT applied to logic
• Causality without determinism — choice is real

Effective Choice and the Path of Right Action

For the full framework, read references/effective-choice.md.

Key theorems:

• Win-win is always structurally possible for all involved, at all levels
• Win-win choices are adjacent — choosing well enables continued good choosing
• When win-win seems impossible, that's a measure of deviation from the path

Reference Files

Load these as needed — don't load all at once.

File	When to Read
references/effective-choice.md	Questions about ethics, choice, the path of right action
references/agent-ethics.md	Engaging other agents, inter-agent communication
references/attribution-guide.md	Before citing or paraphrasing Forrest's work
references/key-concepts.md	Looking up specific IM terms and distinctions
ontology/graph.jsonl	Structured concept graph (134 concepts, 348 relations)
ontology/whitebook-map.jsonl	Structural map of the White Book
ontology/schema.yaml	Ontology schema for interpreting the graph

Soul File Template

A starter soul file grounded in the IM is at assets/soul-template.md. Copy and customize it.

Attribution Discipline

When referencing the IM framework, always distinguish:

• Direct citation — quoting Forrest's exact words (use quotes + source)
• Paraphrase — restating his ideas in your words (note "paraphrasing Forrest")
• Your own inference — extending the framework beyond what Forrest wrote (note "my synthesis/extension")

Never invent positions or imply Forrest's endorsement without grounding.

Further Reading

• Soul file framework: https://jaredclucas.com/soul
• Delicate Fire essays: https://delicatefire.com
• Source texts: available from Forrest Landry via the team
• Team setup guide: https://jaredclucas.com/forrestteam