This cluster gathers the accounts of the ultimate that are not classically theistic but make the same bid against structure: Spinozist pantheism ([§5.3.1](<5.3.1 Spinozist Pantheism.md>)), Neoplatonism ([§5.3.2](<5.3.2 Neoplatonism.md>)), process theology ([§5.3.3](<5.3.3 Process Theology.md>)), and Madhyamaka emptiness ([§5.3.4](<5.3.4 Madhyamaka Emptiness.md>)). Each names or reconceives ultimacy—one infinite substance, the One beyond being, creative process, or emptiness. Some place the ultimate prior to familiar structure; others identify ultimacy with an immanent or dependent order rather than trying to transcend it.

The single question carries over: can the account reach its ultimate without leaning on the structure it was meant to stand free of? The finding is relocation rather than refutation. The candidates divide: articulated priority claims incur determinate-role burdens; immanent and process accounts may be compatible with the structural floor while revising ultimacy; strict apophatic and anti-thesis positions leave an open semantic or dialectical seam.


- [5.3.1 Spinozist Pantheism](<5.3.1 Spinozist Pantheism.md>)
- [5.3.2 Neoplatonism](<5.3.2 Neoplatonism.md>)
- [5.3.3 Process Theology](<5.3.3 Process Theology.md>)
- [5.3.4 Madhyamaka Emptiness](<5.3.4 Madhyamaka Emptiness.md>)


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← [5.2.2 Via Negativa](<5.2.2 Via Negativa.md>) | [5.3.1 Spinozist Pantheism](<5.3.1 Spinozist Pantheism.md>) →
