I say that life is difficult for materialists. I even use to say that materialists are as flat as a sheet of paper. They are concentrated only on the material gain and do not have a point of support outside themselves, in the world of religion or, to put it differently, have no support in the metaphysical world.
Comparing a materialist to a flat sheet of paper, in fact, I am not speaking on behalf of such metaphysicians as, for example, Thomas Aquinas or Augustine. I share the approach of patristics, but I like the standards and values of philosophers more contemporaries for example Kant, Nietzsche and Fromm. I think we must elaborate a contemporary approach to the notion of “metaphysics”, especially after Nietzsche's statement that "God is dead".
Metaphysics must also be in some measure intelligible, how M. Mamardashvili, the great soviet and Georgian philosopher, used to explain in his lectures. Almost any person will be able to establish a connection with metaphysics in his life, only if, of course, he is not a notorious scoundrel. This is a very interesting topic that Merab Konstantinovich wrote about, which can be briefly mentioned here.
To put it very roughly, nature does not give birth to human being. The nature gives birth to human material, in the depths of which a person has yet to be born ("ser humano" en Español, oder "Mensch" auf Deutsch, or "Übermensch" – in terminology of Nieztsche, but please, we must understand this Nietzschean notion correctly!)
The environment where a person is born is culture (or rather its narrative of culture), language, ancestry, many environments whose existence cannot be determined through laboratory research. These are worlds living by their own rules. Conscience is one of the important objects of these otherworldly environments. Conscience is very difficult to define. It is easy to find a reason for an evil act or behavior. However where must we look for the reasons for a conscientious, honest dealing? It is sometimes extremely difficult to find a rational material, tangible reason for it.
Conscience is phenomenon that is its own cause, has no causes, if only because in our language we use it when we are not looking for reasons. To say “for reasons of conscience” is the final authority of explanation. The metaphysical elements of our thinking are phenomena that themselves begin a causal series and have no cause in the material world. Spiritual fidelity to ideals, the need for meaning of life, spiritual yearnings - all of these are manifestations of a parallel metaphysical reality.
Sometimes it seems that a person has everything and is successful in his social life but he has blues, languor, and has desire for ideals and paragons. How can this be described in terms of Newtonian physics? Another manifestation of metaphysics is adherence to ideology, religion, to a particular worldview, when social existence is viewed as an erroneous and unsuccessful deviation from the ideal pattern, as our inability to follow it. The human kind has once created metaphysics continues to be a subject to its influence throughout his entire history, throughout his life and even after death.
Comments