The Metaphysical as a Rational Option
Todd Hayen
One thing I believe my bent toward metaphysics has prepared me for is when something that falls into the realm of the “unseen” then becomes “seen,” I don’t freak out. The material world, or the material view of the world, has been rather stable for quite some time. Or at least it has seemed to be stable. If the majority of the people who occupy the physical world believe it to be stable, and believe it to follow material laws, then the world will probably calm down and present itself in that manner.
All the dragons, devils, demons, fairies, angels, elves, ghosts, spirits, and apparitions, will slither away into their hiding places and rarely, if ever, be seen by non-believers.
Mark my words though, they are still there. They are waiting to be acknowledged once again, as they were in days of old—the evil ones as well as the good ones. Waiting.
We see them in our dreams, and in movies like The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and even in the popular series Yellowstone (Native American rituals), but in real life, in the material world, we only see their actions, and we explain away the causes of these actions with metaphors. That method is quickly losing its veracity. We may have to start seeing these causes as metaphysical as well as rational explanations.
So what does that mean? I recently re-posted this meme on Facebook:
Is this metaphor? Or does Laura Matsue, the person who originally posted the meme, see this literally? I would suspect she sees it literally, and I would suspect that many, if not most, reading it and agreeing with it, see it as literal too.
Just a few years ago, people would think folks that believe such things to be kooks at best, and dangerous psychotics at worst. I think things are different now. I certainly see things differently. A statement like the one found in this meme may have hit a more metaphoric tone with me four years ago, now I honestly wonder how literal it is.
Of course the sentiment this meme expresses has been around a long time. Certainly as far back as the timeline presented in most of the Bible after Genesis, or even before. The snake in the Garden of Eden being the first example of this “spiritual virus.” Although at times throughout history, humanity has been close to the edge of losing this battle, we were not there, and now we are here, and the battle between good and evil does seem to be rather pronounced at the time. And that is an understatement.
There was a time when people believed the earth was flat (cynicism intended). Along with that ancient belief, there was an assumption that dragons were at the edge of the flat world, and if a mariner ventured too far toward that edge, the dragons would either scare him away with great spectacle, or destroy him mercilessly. Maybe there actually were dragons in that time and place. Maybe there were fairies and unicorns as well, all things we have no physical evidence of now.
But new ancient stuff is discovered all of the time, and if there is any truth to the idea that things manifest through a powerful system of thought and belief, once enough people believe, the evidential remains of such creatures will begin to show up. Wouldn’t that be a hoot? Indeed it would!
Why is all of this important?
I think it is time that we start realizing that something is going on that can only be explained through a metaphysical explanation. This is something that the sheep folk have a very difficult time with. Most shrews I know are much less resistant to this idea. Many shrews are very religious folks, and have no problems with phrases such as “the devil” or “Satan” or “evil force” so it stands to reason they would not have much of a problem with a metaphysical explanation for the world gone awry.
Many shrews seem to be more open-minded (duh) and not as seduced by materialism and “material science” (there IS another “approach” to science that isn’t purely materialist). Although these thinkers like to have evidence and some semblance to a cause and effect correlation, they are more comfortable allowing for something a bit outside of the bell curve of causality.
This is good. Because I am strongly beginning to think there is no other way to fully explain what is going on.
Sheep can’t seem to do this. Once they run up against that ubiquitous question, “why would they do that?” they fall apart. If the answer to that question even smacks of aligning with “Satan wants to destroy humanity” they run out the door—although this response very well may be the most “scientific” answer available—or something equally as metaphysical.
Most people in my circle, academic as well as personal, have no problem with metaphysics. We tend, as mentioned, to look for metaphor rather than manifest reality to answer difficult questions—such as, did Jesus really ascend into heaven, or is that a metaphor? It is easier on the materialist indoctrination we all receive beginning in childhood to do such a thing: keep events such as the ascension of Christ within physical constraints, and if not possible to do, to then call it a metaphor.
I would say this is a “tendency” amongst us, but is not a given, particularly with things that happened a long time ago. I for one have no problem with material miracles (making the metaphysical a rational option in explanation) that have occurred throughout Biblical history. But a modern belief in physical fairies and elves is rare (because a modern belief system that allows such things is not very popular) but was not so rare in days of old, before science wiped out anything non-material as being “real.”
Now I think the tides are turning.
What we are dealing with today is ineffable, certainly ineffable if a material explanation was all that we had in our attempt to define it. This fact is probably the primary reason why the sheep have not joined our ranks. They absolutely refuse to believe anything that does not fit cleanly into a materialist paradigm. They do this with psychology as well, which is utter nonsense (although the clinical and academic world of psychology has been on a materialist track since William James was kicked out of the club over 100 years ago, Jung tried to keep it going down a more integrated path but he also has been as good as ousted from any serious study of psychology in modern times).
So what is the truthful explanation for today’s events? That I cannot say for sure. I am not sure if anyone can say for sure at this point. But I know I do not preclude a metaphysical explanation, and so far, attempts at that sort of explanation have been the most thorough in its efforts to explain. Why is it important to attempt to explain what is happening around us? If we are to fight it, we must understand it for what it is. If we think it is limited to greed, power, and money, we will then be more likely to fall for its cleverness in its attempt to control us, or exterminate us, or worse—separate us from our soul.
“…our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:11-12
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