The Linguistics of YHWH, the Ontology of 'The Existent', and the Integration of Universal Consciousness

The Tetragrammaton YHWH is not a proper noun but an ontological statement derived from the Hebrew root ḥ-y-h/h-w-h, encoding continuous, self-sustaining, reflexively self-grounding Being. This same formal structure of singular, self-subsisting, self-knowing Being appears independently in Western ontology (Parmenides, Aristotle, Aquinas's Ipsum Esse Subsistens), Sufi metaphysics (Ibn ʿArabī's Waḥdat al-Wujūd), and Tantric Javanese philosophy (Mpu Tantular's Bhinneka Tunggal Ika). The convergence is neither accident nor projection: each tradition, pursuing the question of Being rigorously, encounters consciousness as the condition for ontological disclosure. Levinas's ethical critique is answered by showing non-dual consciousness radicalizes responsibility. Theravāda anattā and Kabbalistic Ein Sof are clarified as convergent; Jainism, Sāṃkhya, and Cārvāka sharpen the thesis's epistemological core.

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Abstract

he Tetragrammaton YHWH is not a proper noun but an ontologi- cal statement. Rigorous philological analysis of its derivation from the He- brew root ḥ-y-h/h-w-h identifies an imperfect-tense verbal form encoding con- tinuous, self-sustaining, reflexively self-grounding Being—a Being whose existence is not a completed fact but an ongoing act. The argument then moves outward: this same formal structure—singular, self-subsisting, self- knowing Being—is independently arrived at by the Western ontological tra- dition (Parmenides, Aristotle, Aquinas’s Ipsum Esse Subsistens), the Sufi meta- physics of Ibn ʿArabī (Waḥdat al-Wujūd), and the Tantric Javanese philosophy of Mpu Tantular (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, Kakawin Sutasoma, 14th c. CE). The convergence is neither historical accident nor interpretive projection: each tradition, when it pursues the question of Being with sufficient rigor, encoun- ters the same transcendental horizon—consciousness as the condition within which any ontological disclosure first becomes possible. This epistemologi- cal grounding is then subjected to internal challenge: Levinas’s critique that any ontology of the Absolute risks neutralizing the infinite ethical demand of the Other is answered by showing that non-dual consciousness radical- izes rather than dissolves ethical responsibility. Apparent counter-examples from Theravāda anattā, Kabbalistic Ein Sof, and traditions of genuine non- monistic resistance (Jainism, Sāṃkhya, Cārvāka) are examined: the first two are clarified as convergent; the last three sharpen the profile of the thesis by distinguishing its robust epistemological core from its more contestable on- tological extension. The result is a structural perennialism within the horizon of consciousness: not a synthesis that dissolves traditions, but a map of the ontological terrain that serious inquiry—in Hebrew grammar, Greek meta- physics, Sufi ontology, and Nusantaran wisdom—independently and neces- sarily traverses.