Week 7 - Harry Manacsa

Do we really understand what's happening?

This week’s tackling of some metaphysical concepts underscores how difficult it will be to understand spiritual concepts. How can we knowingly justify the existence of a spiritual realm if we cannot empirically describe seemingly well-understood components of the physical realm? Lanza states that “physical reality begins and ends with the animal observer.” (Lanza 13) For example, to reiterate a point made from our Week 2 readings, time is perceived differently among people according to their conscious level. But, if mind and body are separate entities—the body being the instrument of observation—then time should not be palpable to an unconscious mind. Perhaps even the metaphysical world cannot aid us in understanding the spiritual world.

However, I think that that the multidimensional aspect of reality hints at the existence of another realm. In Lanza’s derivation of Zeno’s Arrow Paradox, he demonstrates that still-images of an arrow in mid-flight make it appear at rest. Only with the progression of time do the images provoke the arrow’s movement, or at least its perception. But since time is only extant in conscious beholders, we obviously have an innate instrument that enables us to see and comprehend the metaphysical world. I believe that the physical world can only explain how things come to be in a still-image, while the metaphysical world allows multiple images to play in succession. The fact that we can distinguish between a moment in time and reality demonstrates that we are conscious of these two dimensions at work. However, there must also be a medium by which these two dimensions of life can communicate. A life force might be the connection, bridging the two dimensions within us.

Question:

How can we knowingly justify the existence of a spiritual realm if we cannot empirically describe seemingly well-understood components of the physical realm?

Works Cited:

Robert Lanza. “The American Scholar – A New Theory of the Universe.”

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