A fragment of our starry sky
Source: Hubblesite.org
Metaphysics is a study about the world, untainted by any assumptions, theological or scientific, unless it specifically states it. Legend says that the name was given by Aristotle because he ordered it before a book about physics, but Metaphysics could be understood as what comes before physics. I don’t go with that entertaining notion.
Meta also refers to a study within a study. So, meta physics would be the study of physics within physics. Or perhaps without physics?
The meaning of the word is not necessarily the same as the meaning of the concept.
If you have ever wondered about the world, you have done some initial metaphysics. If you continue wondering about the world, and study your ideas with logic, then you start doing metaphysics.
Who hasn’t looked up at the sky on a starry night and wondered how big the world is, and if you knew truly how big it was, would that essentially change all our believes about the world?
I have gone to a conference where the subject was ‘the world’. Different experts discussed the concept, but none of their ideas were close to mine, even though what they discussed in my opinion, were fragments of the world.
Some defined the world as a sphere, a globe, frictions. They were obviously being “Earth-centric”, assuming that nothing discussed within their scope went beyond Earth, even though one lecturer mentioned that we used our imagination to see what the world is, and added that we could imagine ourselves traveling through space and zooming to Earth, and then ending in a leaf on a tree. I liked that thought. But it was “Earth-centric”.
Our world is as big as our awareness of it, and our awareness of the world, changes how we experience it.
A person who thinks the world is nothing but his own neighborhood isn’t exactly on the same level as a person who thinks the world is a country, who isn’t on the same level as the one who thinks the world is the Earth, who isn’t on the same level as the one who includes space and the unknown in his world view.
When you think about the world, you quickly start wondering about the difference between time and space, changes and the permanent, everything and nothing, realities and possibilities; and you may even start thinking about whether time is something permanent or changing. If you start thinking about that, you will never end.
Metaphysics is where you find wonder, and wonder is where all philosophy begins.
Religion, science and mythology are attempts to answer metaphysical questions. Every scientific thesis is at heart a metaphysical question and statement about the world, that will either be proven true or false; or failing to do so.
When Thor, the god of the weather in Nordic myths, swings his hammer in the sky while riding a chariot driven by giant goats that can fly, it is trying to explain what storms are, and you only attempt to explain what storms are if you have ever wondered.
We could say the same about the surprisingly fruitful subject of Nothingness. If you haven’t given it a thought, you may imagine that thinking about Nothing is a play with words, or mere nonsense, or something that will leave you nowhere, wherever that is.
My experience with Nothingness, is that it is just as complex a concept as Time, Space, Everything, Possibilities, and so on.
Imagine the concept of nothingness:
- What would be seen if there was no light in the world?
- What would be left to touch if there were no objects?
- Are Emptiness and Nothing the same phenomena?
- Can Nothing even be a phenomena?
- Is Nothing possibly an absence of a phenomena?
Allow yourself the luxury to think about it. You may believe that it’s worthless, both before and after doing it. But my experience is different. It’s access into a metaphysical understanding of the world, where you may discover why religion and science came into being in the first place.
Formally, Metaphysics splits into various different areas:
- Ontology: The Study of Being
- Theology: The Study of the Divine Order
- Science: The Study of the Universal Order
- Cosmology: The Study of the Universe
Hopefully, we get to explore these areas further, in later articles.
