非物質性的探索 -- Metaphysical Exploration

從日常生活到物質和非物質世界的探索 -- From Daily Life to Physical & Metaphysical Exploration

Life is about making choices. Whenever we make a choice, we cannot avoid making a judgment and a conclusion. However, making judgments or conclusions on a daily basis are almost always hasty (草率), unless they are scientifically proven or philosophically agreed by a mass of people. If it is a physical phenomenon, a closer-to-truth (接近正確的) conclusion can be made only after the scientific method is applied. If it is a metaphysical problem, a closer-to-truth conclusion can be made only after a long process of seeking and finding, reasoning, thought experiments, and testified in real life situations. And most of the time, both science and philosophy do not give definite answers. When we do not have certain answers, our activities become exploration.

物質性探索和非物質性探索 -- Physical Exploration & Metaphysical Exploration

Physical exploration is what we do for fun: traveling to a different country, going to a new restaurant, hiking and camping in a forest, etc. Metaphysical exploration is what most of us do as a child: wondering who we are in the world, how to interact with others, or what to think in order to live a full life, etc. If we completely stop exploring both physically and metaphysically, it will be the time when we are getting old, a stage after maturity.

相同和相反 -- Compare & Contrast

Both physical and metaphysical exploration have one thing in common, we do not know what is waiting for us. There could be an angry bear wandering in the forest and jumping on us at night, or there could be some significant errors in our thinking that might cost our life. The difference between physical and metaphysical exploration is that many of us stop metaphysical exploration at earlier times than physical exploration. Physical things are external to us, which give us a sense of reality. Metaphysical things are inside of the human mind, which cannot be sensed by the five human sensors, thus give us a sense of unreality.

識別終止非物質性探索的原因 -- Identifying the Cause of Ending Metaphysical Exploration

The unrealistic sense of metaphysical exploration gives us a great reason to abandon this activity. Therefore, for some people, they will simply turn off their brain whenever they hear or see things like religion, spiritual practice, or philosophy. Besides, they realize that everyone will remain in the physical realm (物質的世界) as long as they exist, so they start to shut down metaphysical exploration all together and solely explore the physical world.

不要終止非物質探索 -- Do Not Stop Metaphysical Exploration

"I have done enough. I have thought enough", you shouted. True. When you have traveled enough, or spent too much time in a forest, you will feel tired. That is when we should rest or 'switch gears'. The thing with exploration is uncertainty. Should I work in this company? Am I happy with my life so far? Maybe I should stop everything I do now and go to a different place? The focus is not on the direct answers of these questions. It is the consequences of accepting the proposition of these questions (接受這些問題提議的結果), and the possibilities, the values, the purposes of these propositions (這些提議的可能性、價值、和意義). And you take in all the findings and draw a bigger picture of your situations. This picture is a map. An accurate map cannot be drawn without knowing all the places and locations in a landscape. So if you stop exploring the physical world, you would not know clearly what the physical world is like. Similarly, if you stop exploring the metaphysical world, you will be troubled by unexpected situations in life.

尾聲：行走在森林自己畫地圖 -- Finale: Wandering Through the Jungle Drawing Your Own Map

I see life metaphysically as this: walking through a jungle, picking up tools that we think are helpful, and with the assistance of friends, partner, family, we draw our own map to the destination. Of course, everyone has the same destination, but it is the different paths that differ us. Sometimes, however, we seem stuck. That is when we have to look back at our map, and think about if there is something wrong with the way we draw the map. Or is it simply because the obstacles in the path we choose are too big. We can use the tools to clear obstacles. If they are the right tools, obstacles will be cleared eventually. However, all these tools we picked up during our childhood and adolescence are simply tools or toys. They can be thrown away, as long as they no longer help us to draw this map or help us to take our path. Therefore, to do metaphysical exploration is a process of searching tools and finding ways to draw our map. It surely has a drawback; we have to experience the uncertainty, we might return to an old place, we might get lost again. Our cliché (陳詞濫調) called this getting out of the comfort zone. But the more places you have been to, the less unfamiliarity you feel. And most of the time it is the strangeness in the wild that scares us.

The tools and map are vital, but they are also decided by us. You can, at any times, throw away the tools, look around for new tools and redraw your own map. If they are survival tools like spear or gun for hunting and fending off predators, make sure you have a sufficient replacement before you throw away the old one.

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