On page 88 of Inside The Earth – The Second Tunnel, the author Radu Cinamar shares Dr. Xien’s assessment of scientists and the ideas of science and spirituality.  Dr. Xien say, “I know that scientists generally either despise or disregard spirituality and metaphysic; or, at the most, find it ironic because, in their world view, such cannot be measured.  But, if they were to study even the most basic notions of spirituality with an open mind, they would see that all of these thins are not only possible but are actually true.”  Later Dr. Xien continues, “The evolution of the human being, and that includes the scientific paradigm, cannot take place without spirituality being involved.”

This made me think about spirituality and metaphysics.  I wondered how many people really understood what metaphysics is or how many just think it is occult, taboo, or have some negative idea about it.  So, I looked it up to get a clear definition.

The Oxford Dictionary defines Metaphysics as “The branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time and space.”

And Wikipedia says it is from Greek words that together mean “after or behind or among [the study of] the natural.”  Its definition is, “The branch of philosophy that examines the fundamental nature of reality, including the relationship between mind and matter, between substance and attribute, and between potentiality and actuality.”

Finally, Britannica says, “the first causes of things, the nature of being.”

This helped me to understand that metaphysics really deals with the pondering of things in our nature as human beings that we think about, wonder about.  They are not material or physical, yet they exist for all of us. Where does life come from? How do we dream or have a hunch or intuition?  Are thoughts things?  So many questions.  Great philosophers like Plato and Socrates pondered these.

And then I realized, scientists are working with metaphysics all the time, but not relating or calling it so.  They ponder, look at abstract concepts, look for the cause of things, hypothesize about space and time.  Quantum physics really delves into it.  But then many try to fit it into the concepts of material, matter, and physicality.

Looking at this and understanding what metaphysics is about, I understand more of what Dr. Xien meant when he said, “The evolution of the human being, and that includes the scientific paradigm, cannot take place without spirituality being involved.”  Something to ponder.

  • Co-Host Tryna Cooper

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