Metaphysics: About what IS

Metaphysics (definition) is a word which is used to denote discussion and study of the nature of reality. For instance, some might think that this universe is nothing more than the dream of a galactic slime monster, and that when this creature wakes everything will cease to be. Others may think that they are the only being that exists, and that they are hallucinating their life. Still others may hold that reality only exists as the perceptions of it we each holds, that there is no ‘real reality’ which we all base our perceptions and experiences on.

I don’t hold with these theories. First of all, if reality is an illusion, it is a pretty persistent one. In fact, I have never actually witnessed anything which might make me suspect that this is all a farce. The best available evidence points to an objective reality which exists independently of any of us, which we all share together. It makes no rational sense to imagine a theory of the universe at once arbitrary and un-testable.

The other reason I hold with the theory of objective reality is that, in the end, it won’t really matter, and it is the easiest theory to cope with.  Whether the universe ends due to the Great Slime waking, or from the heat death of the universe, or we are all manifestations of one great mind, or nothing truly existed at all, it doesn’t matter. In the end, we are all dead, everything we have done is erased, and as far as we are concerned, there is nothing. Do I know this for sure? No, but I know it is the correct way to approach life. What I do know is that we are here, now. We as beings have thoughts and feelings and experiences. I do not, and cannot, know anything outside the realm of this physical universe I am presented with, and in this physical universe all things must end.

Does this make everything ultimately futile? I don’t think so. Just because a thing will end, it still happened. We can experience things, and revel in the life we have. Ultimately, all that matters are experiences, because that is all there is. Nothing has value outside its ability to affect the experience of some being. A thing, once experienced, cannot be unexperienced, it has been, and that fact will endure. The being will fade, and take the experience with them, but that is ok. The experience itself is enough, because the experience of life is all we have.

In all of these theories of reality, the experience remains the same. Indeed, they must result in the current experience of reality, because that is what they are trying to explain. If the experience is the same regardless of these theories of reality, and the experience is all that matters, all that is considerable by ethics, then which of these theories you choose is immaterial. I choose the theory of objective reality because it is the simplest theory which fits the evidence, and no evidence has ever been brought against it.

Of course, not all theories of reality are equivalent. A careless reading of the above paragraph may lead the reader to conclude that I see all theories of the universe as equal, which I don’t. Frankly, you have to be completely irrational to accept as true a theory which has no supporting evidence whatsoever and is much less probable than another theory which makes more sense. Additionally, my thoughts above only included such theories of the universe which conclude with our current experience. Any idea of reality which would lead the adherent to expect reality to be different than it is, or which speculates on experiences outside the physical universe are, at best, detrimental to those who hold them. This is where the evils of religion lay, though I will forgo that topic until I have built more of a framework upon which to build my arguments.