Symbolic systems orient collectives by establishing axes and horizons. The axis provides verticality — centers, hierarchies, and points of reference — while the horizon defines limits, boundaries, and the scope of relation. Together, they structure perception and action, giving shape to the cosmos.
Myth, theology, and science all deploy axes and horizons. Mountains, sacred sites, and cosmic poles mark vertical orientation in myth. Divine authority, central principles, and ultimate ends form verticality in theology. Reference frames, laws, and constants anchor verticality in scientific cosmoses. Horizons delimit the knowable, the possible, and the relevant: they determine what is foregrounded and what recedes into the background of actuality.
The axis and horizon are not metaphysical absolutes. They are relational devices, perspectival cuts that stabilise meaning within a collective. Understanding their function is to see how cosmoses are enacted: how orientation, limit, and relation combine to make worlds intelligible.
Axis and horizon teach that cosmos is structured, yet contingent: that orientation emerges from relation, not from pre-given entities or universal laws.
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