Metaphysics, or Reality Writ Large

This post comes in a series where I’ve been considering spirituality’s connection to ultimate meaning.

Previously, I wrote spirituality concerns the way people respond to questions of ultimate meaning.

I’ve also been exploring how spirituality and “the good” are connected. Our good helps us define our meaning and purpose in life. When the good avoids us, then, our spiritual health can suffer.

This is especially true when we have had repeated negative experiences. Unfortunately, when life treats us this way, we can also begin to perceive reality as overwhelmingly negative.

All these topics concern metaphysics.

In popular thought, metaphysics is often believed to refer exclusively to the spiritual or the mystical.

Metaphysics includes this, but it also includes more.

I use the word “metaphysics” to refer to all of reality–physical, non-physical, spiritual, mystical, and material.

“All our experiences have a metaphysical dimension.”

The reason all our experiences have a metaphysical dimension is because all our experiences teach us about the nature of reality.

When our experiences have been filled with love, affection, and joy, it is easy to see reality through that lens.

When our experiences have been filled with cruelty, abuse, hurt, and misfortune, reality is difficult to trust.

No matter who we are, our experiences form our perceptions, and then our perceptions become the stories we tell ourselves about the nature of reality.

I therefore wrote previously about how it is necessary to work with our perceptions if we want to change the realities we experience.

Here I will recall some of the things I’ve written about Truth. The Truth about reality always, always, always exceeds our perceptions.

So, for us to live spiritually healthy lives, we must always be open to how limited our perceptions actually are.

We must also be similarly aware of how we will never be able to understand all of what reality includes. This is easy to say when talking about things like how the universe came into being.

It’s much harder to say about people, especially those with whom we share close relationships. Somehow saying we don’t know everything about a spouse, lover, friend, parent, or child can seem threatening.

“Living a spiritually healthy life invites us into unknowing.”

But, living a spiritually healthy life invites us into precisely this kind of unknowing. Understanding that the reality of any person, place, or thing will always elude our grasp helps us keep good perspective.

It allows the person, place, or thing to be free of our perceptions of them. It also helps us remain open to being joyfully surprised when any of these things don’t fit our expectations.

Here are some questions to help you reflect on the limits of your perceptions:

1. Who are some people close to you? What are some of the things you know about these people?
2. How did you come to know these things about these people?
3. To what extent are these things the only things you know about these people?
4. What are some of the things you might not know about them?
5. How might these things you don’t know affect your understanding of these people as people?
6. How would you go about exploring these things with these people, if you feel comfortable?
7. What do you think it would be like to explore these things with them?

Encountering metaphysics always begins with the things we don’t know or understand. But, it also always raises the question of how we can move into more knowledge and better understanding.

All of life, then, is a metaphysical experience. Rejoice and be glad: you are a spiritual being!

References

Harman, G. (2018). Object-Oriented Ontology: a new theory of everything. London, UK: Penguin Random House.

Lasair, S. (2018). Spiritual care as a secular profession: Politics, theory, and practice. Journal for the Study of Spirituality 8 (1): 5-18. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/20440243.2018.1431022

Lasair, S. (2019). A Narrative Approach Spirituality and Spiritual Care in Health Care. Journal of Religion and Health [Online First]. https://rdcu.be/bSZY3

Disclaimer: The advice and suggestions offered on this site are not substitutes for consultation with qualified mental or spiritual health professionals. The perspectives offered here are those of the author, not of those professionals with whom readers might have relationships as clients or patients. In crisis situations, readers are encouraged to contact these professionals for appropriate support and treatment if needed.