As I see it there exist two paradigm in which people can use to perceive the world. All philosophies, religions, beliefs, and scholastics disciplines can be placed into one of these two containers. One can look at reality through a realistic, objective, scientific lens, or one can perceive reality through a mystical metaphysical lens. I believe each of these two containers are useful tools the we humans developed for different evolutionary reasons . People can exploit the difference in perception between these two lens, causing false conflict but I suspect the scientific and the metaphysical will be circling around, harmoniously double helixing each other in perpetuity .
So for reasons of randomness let's explore a metaphysical understanding of the world first. This paradam splints off In god Knows how many ways. I used that metaphor because god can exist here. Ghost, artificial intelligence, machine elves, plant spirits. You feel its part of the universe, despite not being able to prove it bring it right over to metaphics land. We have ancient hindu beliefs of reincarnation, as well as microdosing techno cultist saying the world we know is a simulation. There are monotheistic who believe this world is just a place where we temporarily place we go in order to sorted into those going to heaven, and the hellbound. These ideas can seem all very unique to themselves and plenty of people are willing to go so far as to kill because of these perceived differences. I argue that the differences in all these beliefs are not with the beliefs themselves but the cultural differences of the people expressing these ideas. It would be quite strange if a spiritual leader in a traditional hindu village was saying this is all a virtual reality game, while someone with a screen in there face 10 hr a day is talking about the bardo. Essentially they are saying the same thing, using different metaphors. At the base of all these concepts is that there are parts of the world that are beyond knowable world
One aspect of the metaphysical I find fascinating is the power of perception. Quantum physics says reality doesn’t exist till its observed. Endless mediator practice to gain control over their perception as it will influence there live. People pray in order to effect the world. We are culturally aware of the placebo effect. Conversely the nocebo, a negative psychosomatic response, could be thought of a modern day curse.
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If you think this is horseshit, cool, but lots of people have a metaphoric side to themselves. There are those who ponder wheather they are stuck in a cubicle for the same reason a labrat is stuck in a cage. Some force beyond their comprehension is experimenting on them. Others believe they are in communication with their dead ancestors. Superstitious sure, true who knows, useful of course, why else would so many culture devote so much collective creativity to the metaphysical landscape.
Now the other way of looking at the world is a scientific, observicle way, in which anything that can’t be perceived by all is not allowed. No god, demons, of metaphysical creature. You can have aliens but only if they exist on our same plane of existence with our ground rules, gravity, charge, strong and weak nuclear force. They can't be godlike programmers outside the simulation we all live in, or any similar nonsense. It literally needs to be sensed in some way.
Is this the right way to look at the world. Maybe, maybe not, Occuring to the rules of physics this is the true way to apprehend reality but again, using only the physical world to prove physics is a circular argument, which doesnt mean its wrong, just no one can say for sure. Not only that but when questioned why the world exist we must from this point of view draw a line in saying anything on the other side of the big bang is unknowable. The Metaphysical mystic also has to rely of supernatural agents of some sort to explain our origins, but making up stuff outside our reality is what they do so it doesn't come off as out of place.
History has many examples of metaphysics groups oppression scientist groups so it's understandable if someone who strongly identifies with a science worldview is abit defensive about any change to science. I feel that it was in my lifetime that a really old power balance shifted from metaphysic groups having more power than the scientific group. I believe when people take up agriculture, stories about the world became more important than direct observation . To have agriculture a culture need a certain amount of unifying propaganda. People living a traditional way I'm assuming placed less importance on stories as they needed to be practical. While they certainly had myth, from my knowledge it seem far less organized around beliefs. Rather, people were literally storing cultural information in their stories as a way of passing down knowledge when they did not have the means of writing. In this way I see a shift from a metaphorical dominant culture for the last 10,000 years or so to within the last couple hundred years slowly moving to a scientific paradigm. Furthermore I think the internet has giving a hefty push in favor of science that we will for good and bad have to contend with for the rest of our lives.
Scientific observation has always been with all people. We are curious and left to our own devices will set up our own proto- scientific test. When it become more formalized during the enlightenment, people were for the first time in the history of humanity expose to printed words. Information completely arrested in pure code unlike say a pixgram or emoji in which an idea is part of an emotional reality. Along with being completely abstracted it will be completely uniform. One “D” looks exactly like every other “D” . Does this also describe science . Emotionally detached and repeatable.
This has done some amazing stuff. Physics allows us to put cameras in space orbiting planets that are unfathingable distance away from us, all the are moving in multiple ways. Chemistry as well. I trust a chemist if they tell me what a chemical reaction will be. Chemicals are extremely predictable and will tell you what their properties are if you observant enough. When we get to biology though I have my doubts. Biology is complicated in a way pyychics and chemistry are not in that we have to bring out bias to it,.We are alive and care about other living whatever more even if very little more than elements and forces. There are areas were the facade of science begin to crack. Look at the dietary advice from the scientific community going back a few decades. How could so many bad ideas such a margarine, grain heavy diet, aspartame as a sweetener, have at some time worn the seal of science approval. This is different that than a idea that continues to develop, like gene selection adding to evolution. It people using the mojo of science and being wrong. And if you consider sociology a science then that is even more suspect. With people failing to replicate results, (as if there not infinite number of variables most of which will never be thought of once).
But that could be do to too small a sample size. Whether we want to admit it or not we don't have to set up test any more. We all have been mined of so much data. Do we still need to sacrifice so many rats to appease a cancer deity. We could conceivably enter in all the random variables we could think of and find all the people in the googleverse who meet all the qualifications and we can see how they measure on any issue. Weird sure, but this could done so no one's identity is revealed. I also suspect tech companies are all read doing this, which gives them power over us. If we can develop ways to get this information about us we can better defend yourself, against corporate, religious or statist propaganda. Of course by doing this we would create some sort of superorganism that exist outside of our reality, but at the same time have a scientific understanding of that force, blurring the lines between the mystical, metaphysical and the observable scientific.
I do think we should be aware of what linguistic container we are in when explaining phenomenon, having awareness of how both thought process work can help us not only better communicate with each other, but also help us understand reality itself more. To illustrate this let's look at the curious life of Jack Parsons. Born 1914 at the beginning of World War I. Jack was a practicing Thelemite occultist who would use arcane rituals to invoke demonic spirits, at least he did if you are in metaphysical land. If you are science minded you could say he was torturing his nervous system till it became disconnected with reality. Fair enough but also he earned a footnote in science history for his scientific contribution for his part in developing rocket fuel. Aside from being an alchemist's he also is respectable as scientist Now to be fair, at the time, rocket science was pretty fringe and not many established intellectuals would lend their credibility to it. Now though, there nothing woo woo about rockets. They are part of the backdrop of our world and Jack had a hand in formulating the fuel that puts satellites into space.
So by day Jack would work with his group, which would eventually become the still running Jet Propulsion Lab, as a scientist. He would base his reality off the periodic table learning the hidden properties of chemicals in order manipulate them in his desired way. At the same time he practiced, at least in his own mind black magic. The test pilots he worked for called themselves the “suicide Squad” . Being a test pilot for rockets in the 40s obvious was a high risk job, making their gallows humor well earned. If I look at this through a mystical lens though, something far more darker appears to me. Rockets allow us to put extensions of ourselves in space. So much of the world has been altered with satellite technology. Could he as well as other made some dark pact with some other worldly force exchanging blood sacrifice in exchange for this new found power. Most people (giving that we live in a science paradigm) would probably say rocket fuel would have happened with or without Jack. I myself feel that way most days, but I do wander off sometime. When I start to think about the negative aspect of our mediated interconnectedness, I wonder if their something beyond our comprehension influencing all of this.
And at other times I think technology is wonderful and is the fullest expression of the collective intelligence of humanity. But as modern technology is advancinging at seemingly increasing strides, I feel a need to ponder mystical and scientific expression of reality. Elon Musk who has expressed a belief we are living in a simulation, wants to colonize Mars. If this happens people will die. There will be a blood sacrifice to if nothing else scientific algorithms. Long long long terms Thousands of years from now will this be good? Can people even live on Mars for more than a few generations before we degenerate for some yet to be known reasons? Will something happen to Earth leaving behind a Marian race who have forgotten any ideas of our Gian origins if this even is our origins.
Whatever happens, wherever we end up, our path will have been as has been been now shaped by individuals and cultures who saw reality through mystical and science tific lens.