In the religion founded by Zoroaster (c. 7th century bce), the ultimate ground of the universe was reduced to a single supreme deity, Ahura Mazdā, the "Wise Lord".
Although taking a different route, the argument from contingency follows the same basic movement of thought from the nature of the world to its ultimate ground.
He stands outside everything, "the infinite to which nothing can add and from which nothing can subtract," the ultimate ground of being.
The term mysticism applies to the attempt to establish direct contact, independently of sense perception and intellectual apprehension, with the divine a reality beyond rational understanding and believed to be the ultimate ground of being.
In Britain, however, the ultimate ground rule is that "the Queen in parliament is sovereign", which in plain English means that a prime minister in possession of a decent Commons majority can do pretty well as they please.
The three symphonies of his first period were conceived on a programmatic basis (i.e., founded on a nonmusical story or idea), the actual programs (later discarded) being concerned with establishing some ultimate ground for existence in a world dominated by pain, death, doubt, and despair.
