Cosmogenesis and the Inclination Turn: Rethinking the Beginning

Classical cosmology treats the universe as beginning at a singular point: the Big Bang. Space, time, and matter emerge, and the cosmos unfolds from that origin. Yet from the perspective of relational ontology, enriched by the Inclination Turn, this picture demands a profound rethinking.

Readiness Before Beginning

The universe is not inert prior to actualisation. Even before particles coalesced or fields fluctuated, the cosmos was a field of readiness — a dynamic posture inclined toward coherence. In this sense, potential is never absent; it is always already leaning, always poised.

The so-called “beginning” of the universe is not a temporal origin from nothing. It is a perspectival cut through the field of inclination — a local instantiation of readiness into coherence. What we perceive as a first moment is simply a salient alignment in a cosmos that was already inclined toward form.

Distributed Beginnings

Every instantiation — every particle, galaxy, or event — is a local beginning. Cosmogenesis is not a singular temporal event but a continuous series of self-actualising cuts. Each cut resolves a particular leaning of potential into coherent phenomena, while simultaneously shaping the inclination of the surrounding field.

Thus, the universe does not “start” once; it is always beginning. Cosmogenesis is perpetual: the cosmos is a choreography of readiness unfolding across scales.

Scaling of Inclination

The Inclination Turn also illuminates how cosmogenesis unfolds at different scales:

• Quantum fields lean toward particle configurations, producing local coherence without determinism.

• Particles incline toward interactions that form atoms, molecules, and larger structures.

• Galaxies and cosmic clusters emerge as alignments of larger-scale inclinations.

• Biological and social systems reflect the same principle: fields of readiness actualising locally, producing coherent structures at higher levels of complexity.

Each scale reflects the same relational grammar: potential is always structured and dynamic, poised to lean into actualisation.

Reflexivity of Cosmogenesis

Actualisation is reflexive: every event is both shaped by and shaping the field of readiness that produced it. Cosmogenesis is thus self-actualising — the universe leans toward coherence and actualises its own inclinations in a recursive, ongoing process.

This perspective dissolves the paradox of the beginning: there is no absolute temporal zero, no ex nihilo creation. Potential is always inclined; actuality is a cut in readiness. The cosmos is not a mechanism unfolding from a fixed origin, nor a stochastic haze, but a living choreography of inclination across scales.

Sidebar — One Grammar of Readiness Across Scales

The Inclination Turn shows that the same relational grammar underlies physical, biological, social, and semiotic systems. Cosmogenesis, at its deepest level, is a field of readiness leaning toward coherence. The same principle manifests at every scale:

• Language: Every utterance is a cut through the field of meaning potential — a local alignment of inclination into symbolic coherence.

• Biology: Organisms act and adapt as local instantiations of readiness — fields of potential leaning toward coherent living.

• Society: Cultural patterns emerge as coordinated leanings of collective readiness — fields of inclination shaping shared construals.

Cosmogenesis, then, is not exceptional; it is the cosmic-scale expression of the same self-actualising choreography of inclination that organises meaning, life, and social alignment. Every scale is a local manifestation of the universe’s ongoing posture, its continuous leaning into possibility.

“Potential leans before it is cut; reality unfolds in the posture of its own readiness.”

Closing Reflection

In this light, cosmogenesis is a natural extension of the relational ontology explored in The Becoming of Possibility. There, potential was understood as the field from which instances emerge; here, the Inclination Turn adds the dynamic dimension: the universe is not only a field of possibility but a field of leaning, tending, and readiness. Every instantiation — whether a particle, a galaxy, a word, or a social formation — is a local cut through this ongoing posture. Reality, across all scales, is thus a continuous choreography of inclination: potential leaning into coherence, readiness actualising as form. In embracing this perspective, we see the cosmos not as a static origin or a deterministic unfolding, but as a living, reflexive, self-actualising dance — always beginning, always tending, always poised.