The Informational Flow Ontology (Advanced): A Unified Framework for Causality, Consciousness, and Volition
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This work is currently under review and refinement. Access is restricted during this period. For inquiries, please contact the author. -- This paper presents the Informational Flow Ontology (IFO), a minimalist metaphysical framework that derives the fundamental categories of reality—time, matter, energy, intelligence, consciousness, free will, and karma—from a small set of axioms centered on causal energy, manifestation, and conservation. Every manifestation event divides causal energy into three parts: condensation (information), flow (causality), and radiation (undetermined residue). The radiation becomes the potential for the next manifestation, producing a recursive layered structure. Consciousness emerges as the inner face of causal flow; free will is the inner experience of radiation; vow power is its outer accumulation; karma is the residue of action. The framework is internally consistent and structurally isomorphic to core Buddhist teachings, particularly the Yogācāra doctrine of consciousness and the Madhyamaka view of dependent origination. We argue that IFO offers a precise ontological translation of these traditions while remaining compatible with contemporary physics and information theory.
Author: Hung, CK
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7160830254
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