[betty boop]

My use of the word "nature" to mean no more than what a thing's qualities, characteristics, and attributes are is the common meaning of the word, when used about entities. I have no idea how that can be an evasion of anything.

I dunno, Hank. My lingering doubt pertains to the fact that you shed no light whatever on what "qualities, characteristics, and attributes" are, or how they came about.

[PatrickHenry]

My lingering doubt pertains to the fact that you shed no light whatever on what "qualities, characteristics, and attributes" are, or how they came about.

BB, you have aroused my curiousity. Regarding rocks and trees, what light would you suggest is missing from the previous post? (As to how rocks and trees came about, that's the domain of geology and biology, which I assume you agree is a very different issue.)

[Consort]

Maybe qualities, characteristics, and attributes comprise the ontological quiddity of a universal consciousness that permeates all that exists. Maybe not (I wanted to use the word "quiddity").