Chapter 9 - The Most Important of Things
Lempo immediately said, “To be honest with you, I still don’t understand what it is that you say is so important. I know you said it had something to do with meaning, but what do you mean by that?”
The priest replied, “Well, first I have to tell you what this most important of things is.”
“So, what is it?”
“You’ve probably never heard this before, but I will explain, okay…”
“Stop wasting time and tell me what it is.”
“Metaphysical beliefs is the most important of things.”
Looking confused, Lempo said, “What in the world are metaphysical beliefs?”
In a calm voice, Father Plesta said, “Earlier, I implied that these metaphysical beliefs gave a person meaning, but this was just a narrow explanation of what they are and what they can do. And I know you’ve probably never heard the phrase before, but I also know you have either held or still hold some very weak metaphysical beliefs. I digress, sorry; I haven’t answered your question. A basic explanation of a metaphysical belief would be this: Something believed to exist, but is not experienced physically, because it is not part of matter; nonetheless, it is believed to affect one’s physical and non-physical life.”
“It’s funny,” said Lempo, “because you said I have or have had beliefs like this, but they sound like something a crazy person would believe in. I’m sorry to tell you, but I only believe in what I see and experience with my five senses.”
Father Plesta said, “Unfortunately, I believe this is true and this is why, right now, you feel hopeless, miserable, and living in a meaningless world in your head.”
“What do you mean, in my head? This world is meaningless, miserable, and hopeless.”
“Like I told you back at the laundromat; the world might be meaningless and miserable to you, but to someone else, it isn’t. Your standard is not a universal standard, although it is becoming more popular these days. It is your own subjective standard; one you’ve acquired from the purely material world you’ve been taught to live in, in your head.”
“What you say doesn’t make any sense. I wasn’t taught to live in a material world. We all live in this material world, what other one is there to live in?”
“Of course we live in a material world, but you live in a world that is purely material.”
“What in the world are you talking about man? Like I already said, we all live in this ‘purely’ material world.”
“Yes, I understand, but I am talking about the interpretation of the world that goes on in your mind. Your interpretation is one of a purely material world.”
“You’re really starting to confuse and annoy me man.”
“I’m sorry; let me make myself clearer and more intelligible. Now correct me if I’m wrong in anything I say. When you experience the world, anything you see has a purely material explanation, such that it follows the laws of physics, the inbred instinct for survival, or normal chemical reactions of matter or neurons within us. You have been taught to believe that everything has a material or physical explanation and any other explanations are rubbish.”
Lempo said, “But everything does have a physical explanation.”
“Obviously, everything you see happening has a physical explanation, but this is not what I’m talking about. It’s hard to have this conversation with someone with your kind of mindset.”
“What do you mean? You’re the one talking nonsense. You haven’t even told me anything about these metaphysical beliefs you mentioned earlier.”
“Okay, I’ll start with one even you know about; love. The idea of love is probably the most universal and important metaphysical belief out there.”
“How is love a metaphysical belief? Love is something that is experienced physically. As a matter of fact, love is more like an action, such as when you show someone love.”
“What about when you love someone? This is not an action, this is a mindset and a belief you hold about someone. Let me ask you something. Did you ever tell Eflen you loved her?”
Lempo saddened, “Of course I did, all the time.”
“I apologize if I saddened you. When you told Eflen you loved her, were you performing an action or were you expressing the belief and idea that you were in love with her?”
“I guess it would be dumb to say I was performing an action, but I don’t understand how I was expressing a belief or idea.”
“What else could you have been doing? What do you even think love is?”
“Love is a feeling you feel toward a person you are attracted to, or have a friendship with, or family ties with.”
“So, does this mean you don’t love Eflen anymore since you can no longer have a feeling of affection toward her now that she is not alive?”
“No, I still love Eflen.”
“How could this be if it is no longer possible for you to have any feelings of affection toward her since she is no
longer active in your life?
“I don’t know okay,” Lempo said in an uneasy voice.
“I’ll tell you how. Because love is more than a material feeling your body feels toward someone. It is a strong belief that you two are connected somehow. It is a connection that has no purely material foundation. There are many attractive girls such as Eflen, with a wonderful personality like hers, but out of all those girls, you romantically love Eflen. So your love can’t be wholly founded on her physical body, or the way she physically expressed herself, even though I won’t deny this contributed to your love.”
“If you really want to know why I loved her, I’ll tell you. I loved Eflen because of all the good times we had together and how she made me feel when we were together; so you see, it did have a material foundation.”
“It does, but not completely, because something made those times extra special and an inclination in your mind, toward her, made you feel different when you were around her than with anyone else. You were too ignorant and blind to see how special this feeling of love was between you two. You thought love was like any other physical feeling that just comes and goes with no rhyme or reason, and this is why you didn’t make an effort to be around her more often. You thought those important times when she made you feel great were unique and hard to replicate. You had a faint idea of love, but you attributed its manifestation to the physical circumstances; therefore you lost the belief and feeling of love. It is only now, when she is gone and you still feel this love for her that you can begin to see there is more to love than just physical attraction and moments spent together.”
Staring into the grave, Lempo said, “I think it’s time for me to correct you. My love for anyone, including Eflen, has only been for faint moments while we were together or talking on the phone, but this feeling never lasted too long. I have never felt the love you talk about; even now, I cannot say I love anyone, at least not in the sense you talk about. All I feel right now is pain, loneliness, and misery, not love. Yes, I miss Eflen, but not out of love; I miss her because of how much lonelier I’ve become.”
Sitting down in the grass next to the grave, the priest said, “I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to comprehend the concept of love; sadly, I was right. I guess I’ll have to explain what metaphysical ideas are in some other way.”
“What do you mean? You haven’t been trying to explain anything to me other than what you think love is.”
“Don’t worry son, there’s a reason for everything I said. It will all make sense after this next speech I have for you. Please follow with me.” A flock of birds passed by, catching the priest’s eye.
As the priest was temporary lost in thought, Lempo said, “So are you going to let me hear your speech?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. The beauty of God’s world never seizes to amaze me.”
“Whatever.”
Continuing to look into the sky, Father Plesta began to talk, “There are many ways metaphysical beliefs are taught to humanity, but there is one way the majority of our metaphysical beliefs are spread and taught, and this is through religion. But ever since the advent of science and the many technological advancements, religion and the metaphysical beliefs it teaches have been undermined; in some cases, zealously attacked with claims that they are relics of the past and therefore obsolete and useless in today’s world. The only things that are said to be true and worth believing are things that can be observed with our senses and verified using the scientific method. Everything else, including religion with all its metaphysical beliefs, is not to be believed in or counted as true, and anyone who does, must be ignorant, stupid, or crazy. As the authenticity of religion has begun to wane, slowly but surely metaphysical beliefs cease to be believed and are replaced with nothing; therefore we’re left with pleasure, pain, and a material world with no meaning, because it is metaphysical beliefs which give the material world meaning. I will explain why this is so. Being a Catholic priest, thus being a follower of Jesus, the foundation of all my metaphysical beliefs is found in the Bible, therefore these are the metaphysical beliefs that I will expound on. I can see by the look on your face that what I said bothered you, so I guess I’ll be impartial in speaking about any specific religion and its corresponding metaphysical belief.”
“Very well, let’s not waste any more time. A person like you, with no metaphysical beliefs, or meaning to life whatsoever, performs actions with no meaning or consequences, aside from wanting to gain physical pleasure or to prevent bodily injury. Now, take a person who has been taught from a young age that all of their actions will be reciprocated, so if they perform good actions, they will benefit in the future; but if they perform bad actions, they will, of course, suffer. After this is taught, it follows that they need to know what constitutes a good action versus a bad one. Let’s keep it simple, so let’s assume a good action is performed when one gives to those in need and a bad action is done when one takes from those in need. It must be added that this belief of receiving what one gives, whether good or bad, cannot be derived by observing the material facts as they are. The material fact, in this instance, is giving or taking from those in need. To an impersonal world, this is just another action, but the interpretation of the action being good or bad is added by a person who holds beliefs on what good and bad are. This world is not so lost as to not have any idea of what is good and what is bad, but to most people, including you, the bad is what causes pain and the good pleasure. This material system of good or bad is derived from one’s physical conditions of pain and pleasure and its reactions to the outside world; but in this system there is no meaning to our physical actions and the only purpose for doing them is to receive pleasure and avoid pain. In the other system, one with metaphysical beliefs, there is a meaning in addition to the material action and there is a purpose other than just getting physical pleasure or pain…”
Lempo interrupted the priest, saying, “To be honest with you, I’m finding it hard to follow along with what you’re saying. You talk to me like if I’m a psychologist or philosophy student. I’m tired of everyone who is trying to help talking like if everyone is an academic. I’m just so damn tired of life; I don’t have the mindset to hear these long winded explanations of yours. Stop beating around the bush and tell me what is so damn important about your so called metaphysical beliefs.”
Smiling back at Lempo, Father Plesta said, “Before you can understand how important they are, you need to know what metaphysical beliefs actually are.”
“So, what are they?”
“Metaphysical beliefs are what add meaning and purpose to any material event that happens in one’s life. You have been taught to see everything objectively, so when you do something, or if something happens to you, or is seen by you, the only thoughts that run through your head are objective and therefore involve only verifiable facts of the current circumstances; but if you had any metaphysical beliefs, you would start to add subjective value to these facts.”
“I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
“Now, correct me if I’m wrong. When you see something, for example a mountain range, you just see huge rock formations, maybe with snow on them; but you don’t see it as beautiful, because beauty is a metaphysical belief, it is not something that is part of the mountains; instead, a person adds this meaning. This is why you live life without seeing beauty or purpose in it, because you don’t understand that the beauty and purpose is not observed and verified, like every other fact you’ve learned; instead, these must be added to life by you.”
“You walk around the world lost and alone because the world of naked facts you’ve been brought up in, is lonely and purposeless. People have forgotten the importance of metaphysical systems or religions, and how they add meaning, purpose, and closure to this physical world of verifiable facts. Metaphysical beliefs represented in religions lay out for people a meaningful way of life; gives meaning to their actions; and gives them an ultimate goal in life that is directly related to these actions.”
“Can science discover morals? No, because morals only exist because of metaphysical systems. Can you look at an event and derive morals from the cold facts in themselves? No, because it takes a human with a belief system to add morals to the workings of the world. At school, you are only taught to know the world, but not how to give meaning to the world.”
Wide-eyed, Lempo said, “Can you explain this to me?”
“Take myself for example; I believe God created this world and therefore I see the world and universe as a divine creation and this also helps me see every event that happens in the universe under a different light than you. Whereas you might see everything as a random act with no purpose, I see everything having a God given purpose. I also believe this creator, God, is personal and so He is always with me and helping me out. With this belief I can never feel lonely. A scientific mind like yours can’t physically see God, therefore you can’t believe in a God and so you see a world with no God, morals, beauty, or meaning. The reason science doesn’t teach this isn’t because they aren’t real or true, but because the truth science reveals is a different kind of truth. Beauty, and morals exist and are part of a kind of truth, but they must be conceived in a different manner than scientific truths. It’s like a color blind person one day being able to see color; it’s not that the color didn’t exist up until the time he could see it, it’s just that he didn’t know it was there. Metaphysical beliefs begin to exist when you believe they do and you start seeing their workings when you add them to events of your daily life. If you have no metaphysical beliefs, then the facts will be just that, facts, with no personality, life, or meaning.”
Lempo said, “Are you saying that I have to believe in a religion, or be part of a religion, to have meaning in my life?”
“In a way, yes; this is what I’m saying. Although you can also acquire a system of metaphysical beliefs through philosophy, but this requires a lot of mental vigor and time that most people don’t have; so it is much easier to follow a religion.”
“Man, you’re crazy. Religions are for nutjobs and they have been the cause of many wars and deaths. Only the ignorant people follow a religion.”
“You only think religion is for the ignorant because religious truth does not match up to the scientific truth you have been taught as the only kind of truth. But this is not so, because religious truths are just as true as anything else, but only if you believe it is true within yourself. I know this sounds weird, but this is only because the only truth you believe in is objective and can be experienced in the physical world. But the truth in metaphysical beliefs is only true if you believe it to be true and it is only experienced in our physical world when, through your belief, it is added to your experiences. For example, if you believe in karma and you kick a dog and the next day you are bitten by a dog; to you these won’t be two separate, unconnected events having nothing to do with each other; instead they’ll be interrelated as cause and effect. Although this cause and effect cannot be derived from the actual events themselves; no, the cause and effect are added by your belief in a karmic system, which is an actual metaphysical belief. Can you prove this karmic system to be true using a scientific method? No, because no metaphysical belief can be measured by science. This is the problem with the empirical science-oriented world we live in today; they want to throw away all religions, which are basically the main proponents of metaphysical beliefs, since they do not coincide with scientific truth, not knowing how important religions are to humanity.”
“When a person has no metaphysical beliefs, his life and all the events, and memories included in it, have no meaning, purpose, or connection/correlation. This causes a person’s life to be lost, confused, and meaningless; thus causing a person to be lonely, in pain, hopeless, and ultimately depressed. Metaphysical beliefs connect a person’s memories into a meaningful, unified whole and they introduce a way of life with order, meaning, and lasting purpose. When one can’t find meaning in any moment of their life and there are no metaphysical beliefs to connect their memories and/or current experiences into a purposeful unity, they become lost and in pain; so they are drawn to fleeting carnal pleasure, such as sex, alcohol, drugs, wealth accumulation, and other vices. But you and I both know that, no matter how much carnal pleasure a person receives, it will never last or give their life meaning, it doesn’t matter how much time and money is invested in seeking this pleasure.”
Lempo, with a different expression on his face, said, “I don’t understand what you mean when you say metaphysical beliefs connect a person’s memories into a meaningful unified whole? Can you explain this?”
With a smirk on his face, Father Plesta said, “There are three main ways this connection is done. The first and most effective involves all religions and their main system of metaphysical beliefs. When there is a goal that a follower of a religion must attain, this person will be forced to observe and recollect his memories and review the actions, thoughts, motives, decisions, beliefs, and experiences in them to see if they contribute to the attainment of the goal. In doing this, the person will add meaning and purpose to every action and experience he’s done, going to do, and is currently doing, because the result of all these will determine if he meets the goal or not. In this case, many of his memories will become connected because the content of these connected memories have meaning in relation to them having proof of the person striving for the metaphysical goal; and since attaining this goal is a lifelong process (in most cases), all his memories are connected and related by this lifelong goal to show a steady stream of growth and attainment of this goal, or his shortcoming and failure to attain this goal. And if he’s failing to meet this goal, the connection of these memories of failure will also have meaning by showing what he needs to improve in order to meet the goal. Examples of this metaphysical goal and the strive for it are the attainment of nirvana; living out the eightfold path; and also the goal of entering into paradise on judgment day by submitting to God by living out the five pillars of Islam. As for us Catholics, our metaphysical goal is also to enter into paradise, or heaven, but by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins and from that day forward, living a Christ-like life and not committing sin, or repenting for our sins. Metaphysical goals such as these give our life, and the memories in it, a lifelong purpose and meaning, and all our memories are glued by these metaphysical goals into a timeline of our life experiences, showing us striving toward this goal or when we veer off the path from it. No longer will your life be a jumble of meaningless and unconnected, random memories, actions, or experiences with no rhyme or purpose to them. You will no longer be living life aimlessly lost.”
“The second method that metaphysical beliefs connect a person’s memories into a meaningful unified whole is taught by religious leaders, sages, and philosophers and these are morals. These are the right and wrong ways to act, react, and think with the world around you and the world within yourself. Obviously there isn’t an intrinsic system of morals that can be derived from nature or the empirical world of science, because there are many different rational systems of morals that have been constructed, taught and have been put into practical application successfully. In this system of metaphysical beliefs, a person sees certain actions, reactions, thoughts, and feelings as acceptable, and others to be avoided. So now a person’s thoughts, actions, and feelings are to be constantly observed to check if they conform with what should be done, or if they violate what is to be done and instead conform to what should not be done. In doing this, a person’s memories and experiences are connected and compared to show if her life is being lived morally correct or morally wrong. This in turn adds a special meaning to every action, thought, and feeling experienced and done in a person’s life, because it shows her to be morally good or morally wrong. So now a person’s life isn’t measured by the amount of pleasure or pain one feels or avoids, since a person now isn’t only trying to seek pleasure and avoid pain; now they are trying to conform to what the system of metaphysical beliefs says is morally right and trying to avoid what it says is morally wrong. Sometimes what is morally right causes a person to avoid the pleasure he used to seek as being beneficial. I digress, so this system of metaphysical beliefs, called morals, give meaning to a person’s life and connect all his memories into a unified whole to show a life of morally good choices, thoughts, and feelings, or the opposite. If a person has lived a morally good life, she will have contentment and pleasure within herself that cannot be taken away and she will feel like she’s doing something important and meaningful with her life, instead of chasing pleasures that will never last.”
“The third and last method involves separate metaphysical beliefs which, by themselves, are highly influential and emphasized in religion and philosophy. These beliefs on their own can add life and meaning to the inanimate world around you; and will also add a sense of connection and meaning to your social relations. Examples of these metaphysical beliefs are beauty, love, harmony, respect, justice, humility, and loyalty; although there are many more than these. These metaphysical beliefs are so powerful that adding one into your belief system will change the entire dynamic of how you receive and interpret all your life experiences, memories, actions, and also familial, social, and romantic relationships. Although all of these beliefs are not found in nature or anywhere in the universe if seen objectively, but things such as beauty, harmony, and peace can be added to one’s view of the universe and nature, and these will make them more memorable and worthwhile to look at; it might even make one feel joy and a certain kind of pleasure. Well anyway, these beliefs are too numerous to get into a deep explanation on how they connect your memories together, and each one does it in a different manner; so instead I will speak about the ones that I think are most important. But I think you should also know that some of these don’t connect memories into a unified whole all the time, but mostly liven up, enhance, and improve the quality of one’s experiences and memories. Examples of these would be beauty and humility. Sorry about getting off topic, but I always think it’s better to say a little more than what should be said rather than leave out something important. One of the easiest metaphysical beliefs to explain for this topic is loyalty and how it can be added to the past and current actions of a friend, lover, or family member. This idea of loyalty not only makes you see certain memories or actions of someone close toward you, but it helps you connect a series of actions and memories of a friend, lover, or family member. Viewing all these actions, memories, and experiences together will reveal if they are loyal and if that loyalty is shown by one of these people, the relationship between you will improve and create a stronger bond between you and them. Harmony is a belief one has within oneself; it combines a lifetime of good and bad memories with the result of a life that received a healthy balance of the good and bad life has to offer. I can spend all day talking about each individual belief and how it connects one’s memories, but there’s a lot more I want to tell you, so I’ll wrap this part up by talking about one last belief, which I think is the most important, and that is love. Love is either attributed to a person and/or your belief in a higher being, such as God; or it can also be added to your personal actions, thoughts, or feelings toward another person, or God, or whatever higher being you believe in. There are two basic ways that love connects a person’s memories into a unified whole with meaning. Both ways involve a person with a metaphysical belief of love and an entire system of what love means to them. The first way takes place when a person, let’s say you, interacts with another and the actions and spoken words by this other toward you fit your description of love. You will eventually combine all your memories of when she interacted with you and, if there has been consistent communication and action of what you view as love in these memories, it will be safe to say she loves you and this connection of unified memories with her will show a loving relationship with more meaning than just two people hanging out. In this instance love will not only connect her memories with yours, but it will also create an unseen and scientifically unexplainable bond between you two. The second way involves a person acting out her belief of love toward another person, let’s use you again. Well anyway, as I was saying, she turns her beliefs on love into actions and words and the memories of these actions and words spoken to you are accumulated into a unified whole because they have meaning and value as acts of love, that ultimately show her love for you. Both sets of unified memories are combined, showing that she’s received love and given love and therefore she is in love and the feeling of love permeates her entire being, experiences, memories, and life. This will give her life a meaning and pleasure not found by any other means. These are the three methods metaphysical beliefs connect one’s memories into a unified whole, with meaning and purpose. Not only do they change one’s outlook on life, they also change the way a person acts, reacts, speaks, and experiences life in general, from admiring a butterfly to being in a relationship full of different metaphysical beliefs. Without metaphysical beliefs such as these, one will live a life with only basic memory construction, but these memory constructs will have no meaning since they will only be related by physical cause and effect, from which no real meaning can be derived naturally. No longer will you only live in the moment, solely seeking pleasures that never last.”