Is a Metaphysician Relevant In Today's World?
Written by David Summerfield
The world I grew up in saw family members who considered themselves metaphysicians. It was expected to wake up and do “metaphysical work” first thing in the morning. This was to clear the thought and start the day with a clear acknowledgment of the spiritual reality all around us. That was the norm. We knew very few of our acquaintances were doing this, and we knew this set us apart from the rest of society. With this as my background, it was natural to immediately relate to how James Cowan interpreted Parmenides’ poem in the light of metaphysics. He was speaking my language, a language very few people are familiar with it seems. He kept referring to Parmenides as the 1st metaphysician. This led me to look up today’s definition of being a metaphysician, which is something more intellectual:
Metaphysician: Definition and Expanded Explanation
(https://ultimatelexicon.com/definitions/m/metaphysician)
“A metaphysician is a scholar or thinker who specializes in metaphysics, which is a branch of philosophy concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and existence, including concepts such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.”
With that in mind, what good is there to have a metaphysician working in today’s environment? Quite frankly I do get called on everyday to work as a metaphysician. All I have to do is look around at what’s going on, and I go to work right away. I’m not getting an actual telephone call or email asking for help, it’s just me being receptive to what I read or hear that is just as strong as an actual call. I don’t have time to ask myself if what I’m doing is relevant, since there are so many opposing forces crying out for attention. The urgent need for healing is always staring me in the face - around every corner. I also know there are way too many distractions out there competing for my attention. Blatant opposites keep interrupting my life - political game-playing between the right and left, personal hardships erupting with every news-reading, rampant diseases going unchecked, and there’s no end to the list. But, my metaphysical training is always there in the background of my thoughts (whenever it occurs to me to bring it forward…). I know Parmenides’ poem The Way of Truth laid out the framework for overcoming all distractions. Even though the poem was written to encourage all would-be philosophers to become healers (ouliades), it is also a call to enter the practice of healing in today’s world. And “here’s the rub” - I do often ask myself “does it really do any good?”
First, what does it mean to do something metaphysically. First off, “doing” metaphysics is a misnomer. It’s nothing one does. “Doing” something metaphysically actually is a contradiction in terms. Metaphysics is really just a Presence that the practitioner opens up to or embraces. Parmenides calls it One. The only action is It doing Its own thing. Hence, all anyone can do is to witness One, or Oneness. Anything else that seems to be happening, is probably not really “doing” anything. The only doing I know is getting really quiet, settled, listening, expectant, and especially knowing. Listening to what? Knowing what? Parmenides says it over and over in his poem The Way of Truth: go no further than just Being - no need to rehearse a “truth” - just stay in Being. If one has to know anything, it would be It is. There’s no need to think a thought, any thought. The action of thinking necessarily brings up the world of illusions. It really is quite revolutionary what Parmenides is asking of his readers…and it often makes little sense!
In preparing this essay, I realized I should go online and discover if my understanding of metaphysics is close to the current, general view. What I have been doing naturally my whole life was shown to be way too naïve. I should be going to an accredited Metaphysical College, and after many years receive at least a doctorate in Metaphysical Studies. I should be attending daily classes being taught by well-trained teachers who have lots of experience in the metaphysical healing industry…I mean ministry! Whoa. Please excuse that intentional mistake, but I have a problem with the commercialization of metaphysical healing - why not treat it like everything else out there - go online and get accredited to look like one should be paid for whatever one does. Wait a minute…James Cowan’s interpretation of Parmenides is what I’m learning about. I can blame Cowan - it was his understanding of Parmenides’ ouliades - his being a healer - and a metaphysical one that I’m studying. So, let’s just drop whatever the internet is saying, and just stick with our master metaphysician from 600 BCE!
OK. Back to the basics. A metaphysician delves into the fundamental nature of reality or existence. A metaphysician (such as me) wants to understand all about the underlying principles that govern all manifestations, including the cosmos. I want to know all about the One, the Absolute. And these investigations are for my own edification - you don’t have to pay me to share what I’ve come up with, unless you receive a healing as a result, and are grateful and want to say so in some way, such as thanking the gods - Apollo, for example - by building a shrine in his honor!
Cowan made it crystal clear what an ouliades must do as a healer: start by practicing Silence. This can be a call to meditate, to contemplate - basically just listening, really. And this is where I’m convinced our current world is no different than the ancient world of gods and goddesses. When ideas well-up inside, where do they come from? Where did the ideas which formed the basis for Parmenides’ poem The Way of Truth come from? That poem spoke to James Cowan - a whole book’s worth of ideas. Parmenides grew up talking with his gods - they would take his hand and guide him. It would be too hasty to think our guiding spirits don’t exist anymore. Call them whatever name you want - they’re still around all of us. I’d suggest it’s not too far-fetched to call them our present-day gods, guides, friends - those who are there behind the scenes always uttering what we need to hear.
In the Afterword of Cowan’s book One, Parmenides and his Vision (page 165), he leaves us with this encouragement: we all need to be thinking metaphysically, where “...we enter the otherworldly domain of pure metaphysics when logic finally reaches its apex, a place from which it can no further ascend…It is this world, the world of techne, (Ancient Greek meaning a philosophical concept that refers to making or doing…see technology), that men like Parmenides ask us to put aside if ever we wish to think metaphysically. How does one think metaphysically? It is the most enduring question and challenge of our time. To break with our dependence upon techne, to question the integrity of things as things, is to ask us to re-align our thinking towards a uni-dimensional world where contrariety and paradox come into their own.” Enjoy this path you’re on now :-)
(Oh, by the way, finally to answer the question posed in the title….YES, IT IS VERY RELEVANT IN TODAY’S WORLD - GET GOING ON IT!)
I absolutely agree! We do need metaphysicians. I am studying A Course in Miracles, which resonates with me because of my faith history. Initially I found it off putting because of that history, but now I call the Jesus in it Jesus 2.0. There is much in it that seems to align with your work. In fact I see that in many places currently which is encouraging. Thank you for all you're doing. Both of you!