hierarchy of being is possible. The human organism is
　　   a complex higher order of being, a society  of actual
　　   entities;   it  is  also   called   a  "grouping   of
　　   occasions."  In this respect, the traditional notions
　　   of personal identity, ego, soul, individuality, etc.,
　　   would  have  to be reassessed, and if they  are to be
　　   admitted  they  must  be seen within  the context  of
　　   related entities.
　　　　 Whitehead  is keen on justifying  the doctrines  of
　　   becoming,  being,  and  the  relatedness   of  actual
　　   entities.  He cannot speak of one without implicating
　　   the others. Thus, "Whenever we attempt to express the
　　   matter  of  immediate  experience, we find  that  its
　　   understanding   leads   us  beyond   itself,  to  its
　　   contemporaries, to its  past, to its  future, and  to
　　   the universals in terms of which its definiteness is
　　   exhibited."(19) Moreover, in the immediate experience
　　   he  speaks  of nonsensuous  perception, which  has  a
　　   great  role  in  qualifying   that  experience.   For
　　   example, the knowledge of our immediate  past is such
　　   a perception.(20) A perception of this nature is also
　　   an aspect  of the continuity  of nature, albeit in an
　　   unseen  way.  In a more particular  sense, the actual
　　   entity  in terms of its subjective  form issues forth
　　   the continuity of its own being.
　　　　 The actual entity consequently  is never static  or
　　   independent;  it is perpetually becoming.  It has its
　　   prehensions   and   nexuus   in  harmony   with   the
　　   becomingness of nature.  It also has its "objectively
　　   immortal"  aspect, the  not-being  of  being  in  the
　　   passage  of subjective  forms.  (21) The "objectively
　　   immortal"  aspect, in turn, is the potential  for the
　　   prehensions  by other  actual  entities.  The passage
　　   from  past  to present  and  into  the future  is the
　　   creative
　　   _________________________________

　　   16. Adventures  of  Ideas, p.  201.
　　   17. Process  and Reality, p. 27.
　　   18. Ibid., p.  29.
　　   19. Ibid., p.  21.
　　   20. Adventures of Ideas, pp. 232-235.
　　   21. "The not-being  of occasions  is their 'objective
　　　　  immortality.'  A pure physical prehension  is how
　　　　  an occasion  in its  immediacy  of being  absorbs
　　　　  another  occasion   which  has  passed  into  the
　　　　  objective immortality of its not-being. It is how
　　　　  the past lives  in the present.  It is causation.