In a reductionist understanding there are levels and the relation between levels is mediated by something called emergence, which is a way of saying that there is no essential relation at all between levels of dependency. In an idealist or primacy of mind understanding there are levels and the relation between them is one of subsumption where the very same thing without ceasing to be itself reveals itself to be something else again, while the centre or core remains perfectly identical. An essential relation between levels prevails but it is a complex merging or mapping of the heterogenous paradigms or worlds of the two. This kind of relation is revealed in wonder and awe, like Jacob's ladder.