metaphysics

What Is Metaphysics?

The truly metaphysical, let us repeat once more, can be really only be that which is absolutely stable, permanent, independent of all contingencies, and in particular of historical contingencies;

That alone is metaphysical which does not change, and it is also this universality of metaphysic which constitutes its essential unity, precluding the multiplicity of philosophical systems and religious dogmas alike, and hence which confers on its profound immutability. RG, EDHe150

“If one were to ask what is metaphysics, the primary answer would be the science of the Real or, more specifically, the knowledge by means of which man is able to distinguish the Real and the illusory and to know things in their essence or as they are, which means ultimately to know them in divinis.

“The knowledge of the Principle which is at once the absolute and infinite Reality is the heart of metaphysics…Metaphysics concerns not only the Principle in Itself and in Its manifestations but also the principles of the various sciences of a cosmological order.

“At the heart of the traditional sciences of the cosmos, as well as traditional anthropology, psychology, and aesthetics, stand the scientia sacra (metaphysics) which contains the principles of these sciences while being primarily concerned with the knowledge of the Principle; this is both sacred knowledge and knowledge of the sacred par excellence, since the Sacred as such is none other than the Principle.”

~Seyyed Hossein Nasr~ (not sourced)

“In Occidental Medieval thought metaphysics was always placed under the total dependance of theology, it is there that the problems arose. J.-M. Vivenza in DRG14cl

“The sentimental element - induced by the point of view of religion - influenced the intellectual purety of the metaphysical doctrine. DRG14/15 Because pure metaphysics is by essence, independant of all forms.) DRG15cl

Explanation of by Charles Upton

Metaphysics is the study of 'first principles'. These principles are permanent truths, statements about eternal realities. They have to do with Being, and with the relationship of Being to the universe–spiritual, psychic and material–which allows It to appear. They even touch upon what is beyond Being. To use religious language, metaphysics has to do with the nature** of God, and the relationship of God to the cosmos, and to humankind. SAC69

This* is the ultimate result of the growth of the kind of society in which metaphysics has no place. Without a sense of absolute, objective Truth, everything becomes subjectivized, which is why psychology is now replacing both theology and philosophy. And when spiritual truth is hidden, not even psychology can maintain its own level, but is pushed in a materialistic direction, till all that's left of it is behaviorism, and finally psychopharmacology.
Furthermore, when the Absolute is replaced by the subjective, all subjectivities are 'absolutized'. My individual experience is just as 'absolute' as yours, and yours as mine; this is called 'tolerance'. But if there is no objective Reality which includes both of us because it is bigger than us, if we are nothing but separate and hermetically-sealed universes of experience, how can we relate to each other? SAC73

*When there is no trust in society, when people are only out to take advantage of the other, and when they are scared of each other. SAC73 o

**nature of God - not to be misunderstood as the essence of God (dhatihi )

SAC: The System Of Antichrist; Upton, Charles