As we ponder different things in our reality, often we forget to detach from our storyline and think about the bigger picture. This thought of why things are the way they are and what causes them to be the way they are leads to exploring the causality of everything. To do that, it is necessary to understand what things are before trying know their causality. The discussion is purely based on aristotlian logics and, which resonates with my intuition very well.

What needs causality?

So, let’s understand the subject that we want to understand and find its causality. This subject can be called substance. Substance is the primary reality, the “thing” that exists in its own right (independence). Every substance is a composite of Matter (the potential material) and Form (the organizing essence). Together, these elements create a Unity discrete “this-something” that does not depend on anything else for its existence. We prove substance exists through the Logic of Change: for a leaf to turn from green to brown, there must be a permanent subject (the leaf itself) that persists through the transition. Without substance, reality would be a disconnected series of properties rather than a world of stable, recognizable things.

Now that we know the substances are the first of existing things that are independent. Let’s move on to its properties and how it affects other motion and time.

Substance, Motion, and Time

If the substances are the first of existing things and if all substances are destructible, then all things are destructible. When we talk about motion, which is kinetic energy that is being converted from the potential energy of the substance, then it should also be stopped at some point. But the reality is that the motion can never come into being or cease like substances, as the first motion that happened should also be triggered by a previous motion, and henceforth. As time is relative to the changes or motion, it can also have the same sense of being continuous. So, if we need to understand the cause of the first motion, which is a result of the first substance being moved, there should be a cause of it that does not move by itself to be considered as the first mover.  And this cause should always exist, as the motion of other substances always exists. And if this substance that moves the first body and does not move by itself, only by mere potentiality, then it again becomes a substance, and will prove that it can cease to exist. Hence, the essence of the first mover should not be just potential or matter which is finite, but rather be actual. Here, the term “actual” means the actuality of any substance and is described earlier as form (the organizing essence or actuality).

The Causality

Hence, in simple words, we can say that if everything in the universe is a mix of potentiality (matter) which is the movable and actuality (of what it is), there must be a starting point, which is pure actuality (Actus purus), which can make changes to the potential nature of all substances and also make the first move.

So, the ultimate causality can be the eternal unmoved mover. This definition resembles more how we usefully define God, but is beautifully represented and shown with logical explanations by Aristotle.