Metaphysical Impact

Physicality, not athleticism but existence, is everywhere. The air is physical, water is physical, light is physical, life forms are physical, emotions are names for physical chemical processes in the brain; but religion, politics, ethics, biases, beliefs- they are all metaphysical, they all are constructs of the mind, all fabrications of artificiality. These metaphysical concepts dominate this species, rule every thought, control nations of people, direct everyone into a large concert for their own demise, and they are addictive, like heroine, crack cocaine, and morphine combined into a potent combination, interpreted metaphysics is a deadly, habit forming, destructive element, and unfortunately, after its condition, forms itself out of the mind, rendering the user unable to isolate itself from the substance, because it is not physical, but metaphysical, and ever present in the thoughts and actions of the individual, and in consequence all people collectively. 
What are some roots of this metaphysical trait? Why are Homo sapiens the only known living species on this earth to possess such an aspect? Some may say that we possess such a mental ability because we are an advanced species intellectually and incredibly successful for how short a time we have been on this planet, but that seems ego-inflating. Perhaps it is that this species’ ability to rally behind a metaphysical invention that has allowed it to be so dominating and successful. All of the pack mentality species (e.g. ants, dolphins, lions, wolves, etc.) have the highest success rates. They collaborate, they unify, they work together when the time comes regardless of any predisposed bias against one another, and those that allow their poor relationships to interfere with the mission at hand run a great risk of failure. Humans have developed entire written theories for the effectiveness of this metaphysical teamwork, and in a sense, animals do rely on metaphysical constructs, the ones which do receiving the highest success, but humans have a much greater dependence on the metaphysical, and it seems that the initial ability to wonder what was not wondered before, ask what had not been asked, and even more so, create ideas to satisfy the need to know, and rally behind those ideas to propel the species into unfathomable success. Origins theorized, and it seems that metaphysics is a genuinely beneficial aspect of this species, but there is a problem. Metaphysical ideas such as religion, racism, political superiority, nationalism, and all kinds of other constructs, are competing, clashing, oppressing, killing, hurting, demolishing; they’re destroying humanity. Is this a bad thing? That’s hard to say. It seems that nature has preset safeguards to life (whether these safeguards are created or manifested is unknown) and that whenever a species gains too much power, whenever it begins to destroy the established entropic order, the species’ greatest advantage, what has forever been its strongest asset, becomes its most volatile detriment. Like cancer, metaphysics infiltrates the body as evolution, and when the time is right, it corrupts and kills the body to stabilize nature. In the book World War Z, the scientist assigned to track the source of the virus confided that nature has a habit of making an organism’s greatest strength its most obvious weakness. This is apparent and factual, and from here analytical observance and concluding decisions must be made regarding the beneficial nature and aspects of this oncoming self-destruction of humanity. Is it better to survive, or better to die out? Will we deform more of the world with our continued existence, or will we be a benefit? Primarily, however, metaphysics must be analyzed more before a definitive assessment can be delivered.
To look in literature, it is apparent that metaphysics is the driving force behind almost every short story, novella, novel, series, and every other conceptualization. To name a few significant metaphysical pieces of literature: The Holy Bible, Wuthering Heights, Al Qur’an, The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World, every Shakespearean play and sonnet, every religious text, every philosophical theory, every political doctrine, practically everything made by humans is metaphysical in its foundation. Friday Night Lights, Into The Wild, and The Killer Angels are no exceptions to this. The authors use metaphysics not only in their display of their novels, but the characters and actual people behind the novels used metaphysics to propel the events which were written about by the authors.
In Friday Night Lights, metaphysical concepts dominate Odessa and the inhabitants. Not only are racial bigotry, familial expectations, and unfair vilification, but the entire town is dependent upon High School Football to keep it alive. If there has never been a more depressing collapse of a first world community, it would not be too surprising. For an entire livelihood to be based upon the degradation of ethnicities, children, and coaches, all the while placing dependency upon a child’s game for a few months of the year; it is completely preposterous, and unmistakably a rather depressing outcome for a collection of people. Racism is a parallel to all kinds of discriminating (e.g. sexual orientation, heritage, body type, etc.) and is a prevalent aspect of humanity. The people of Odessa, and in consequence the world, have preset biases towards ethnicities. The reasons behind this racism are numerous, and can be construed in many different ways. For some, racism is taught by familial tradition, or by religious indoctrination. For others, racial bias is formed from experience, assuming that all people of a certain ethnicity or state are all the same. This racism, for whatever reason it comes about, gives people a sense of superiority at times, at others it opens something up for ridicule, and often it creates the perfect scapegoat for vilification. At the same time in Odessa and elsewhere, familial hierarchy dominates many children’s mindsets and futures. On top of being conditioned into racism, children are expected to follow into success and superiority. It is true that parents want the best for their children, but there are many factors which play into this. Parents want what they think is best for their children, and here it means success at a petty sport. This causes a great deal of stress on the players, as it would on anybody whose parents pressure them into being this impossible ideal of perfection, rendering them incapable of meeting this expectation. However, in the end, Odessa is a vilifying town, attacking other schools’ football teams, claiming them to be inferior; attacking ethnic groups, claiming them to be reasons why the team and community suffers; attacking the coach, claiming that because the team is not at a level of pristine perfection that it is on his shoulder; and attacking the very family members for not living up to the impossible standards placed for them. This is metaphysical conceptualization gone awry, and what once could have been used for the benefit of the town is now ripping it apart even more in its collapsing economic state.
Into The Wild portrays the metaphysical journey of Christopher McCandless. As a relatable character, McCandless was relatable and likable, not only in the account, but in his life as well. McCandless was incredibly intelligent, and it is difficult not to feel sympathy for him. Not particularly conforming to any religious or political party, Krakauer revealed Chris’ criticism against all spectrums of economic, political, and ethical trains of thought. He was not particularly susceptible to societal expectations, or to political party conditionings, yet he did fall victim to himself. McCandless thought he could figure out the ultimate absolution of humanity, thought that he could find the truth, what reality actually is, but in his self-indulgent, incredibly fortunate adventures, he only built his tolerance to fear, obstinacy to danger, and obdurate  reaction to other people’s show of concern. Chris is the embodiment, the analogous identity for humanity and its development through the metaphysical realm. He began his life in normalcy for a travelling boy, but it quickly became difficult, intense, and he was surrounded with emotional turmoil at every turn. He created and adopted his metaphysical entity, and helped not only himself, but others as well, spending Saturday nights feeding the homeless on his own fruition. Yet, he always had his own biases against external forces, e.g. his father, and they always plagued him. Therefore, he ventured into Jack London’s metaphysical hypocrisy, and ventured so far into his cavern that it killed him. In the song “Evidence” by Crown The Empire, it is stated “You’ll never find happiness while you live inside hate.” It seems that Chris McCandless was trying to find fulfillment, trying to find happiness, but he never would be able to, until he settled his issues with his father, to which he had already confessed to his sister that he could never forgive his father. Krakauer presents a potential argument that Chris may have met his absolution and internal self-actualization, but it came too late to save him, and he died, much like it appears that all of humankind will.
While McCandless’ journey led to his own death, and the devastation of the psychological integrity of numerous others, it was absolutely nothing close to the magnitude of the destruction caused by metaphysics in the American Civil War. A nation of people, convicted to their core about their metaphysical foundation of “freedom” split in two over additional metaphysical controversy, and in consequence to the closed minds, slaughtered millions of their own “brothers” over a domestic dispute. The impact of something as destructive as war can shatter everything that has been built, but it can also be the provocation needed to propel those involved and affected into a new stage of development. The absolute obliteration that occurred in the Civil War, and in the battle of Gettysburg specifically, is astounding, and the fact that it took a convincing metaphysical backbone, and continuous reinforcement of these metaphysical concepts on both sides is a strong testimony to the very present danger of metaphysical concepts, especially when these concepts are not presented and analyzed in a pragmatic manner. When entire congregations of people simply accept what is fed to them, it is a deadly concoction of corruption through idiocy. This is why pragmatic analysis of everything, absolutely everything, is crucial to safe development, safety for all involved, even with the incredible risk, but far less perilous than blindly believing whatever has been handed over in lace and bows, because many times, the object within all the trivial coating is an ugly, destructive creation, and is best to be rejected instead, or replaced after a while. Shaara took the liberty of portraying the personal thoughts of the generals and soldiers at Gettysburg, and he portrayed them as skeptical of their own metaphysical ideals pushing them to slaughter so many people, but not in the heat of battle, not it the spark of the moment when all the emotional chemicals concoct into a potent mix, allowing people to do the things that they do to one another. No, once the complexity of the situation’s ethical implications are removed, then everything is just easy to convince yourself into, especially when there is an army prepared to do the same on the other side. Not only does blind metaphysical dependence destroy the ability for segregated groups to come together, but it also destroys groups from the inside. In the battle of Gettysburg, the Confederacy had become so intoxicated with hubris and their cause that they idiotically followed Lee’s directions to charge an entire mile through a valley to the enemy, so intoxicated with their lust for victory and superiority, dominance and aggression that they still charged when artillery fire rained down from above, so drunk on power and their convictions in things fabricated by their minds and self-convinced by constant reinforcement that they ran uphill wearing wool uniforms in blisteringly hot weather towards the enemy, so convinced that the probability no longer mattered due to the reinforcement from their deity that roughly five hundred soldiers returned from this failure of a charge, leaving the rest dead or dying. One regiment lead by General Armistead retained only twenty men who managed to break the union line, but twenty men is nothing when an entire army surrounding them bears down. The Confederacy was set up to dominate the battle of Gettysburg, and quite probably push to Washington D.C. immediately after, yet their metaphysically intoxicating attraction decimated them in one swift charge, crushing every chance for their victory, not due to a divine intervention, not because their cause was less just, but because they ignored logic and the physical facts for their twisted reality of hubris and metaphysical dependence.
Metaphysical dependence is found in every society ever recorded, leaving incredible impact upon the race as a whole. The impact of the corrupt metaphysics is so drastic that it is impossible to accurately predict what this species would be without it. Metaphysics is the driving role behind almost all human caused issues, from the small triviality of a small town’s ethics to the entire conditioning into war. It is apparent that metaphysics, while it has brought humanity as far as it has, had also held us back, and is corroding us away. What is best? Is it best that humans continue to develop and exist, or is it better for humanity to die out as well? These are questions that may be unnecessary to answer, as the answers are swayed by the bias around the word ‘better”. In a sense, it is in the highest priority for humans to continue their existence, yet in another, without the corrupt metaphysical impact, humans would so quickly overpopulate the planet and consume all of the resources that our continued inhabitation of this planet would completely destroy everything that it is, and not only would numerous other species die from our impact, but we would lead to our own demise there as well. Metaphysics can be directed into a less dismal path, however. Since religion, nationalism, and the like are nurtured, taught into those who believe them, humans can also educate humanity towards different ideals, ideals that are so rudimentary that almost every child seems to be receptive of them immediately. How difficult can it be to believe that it is right to accept and love every individual? How simplistic is it to educate humans to cooperate globally towards a prosperous future for not only this race, but for the entire planet and beyond? At this point in time, more difficult than it is desirable to be. After thousands of years of reinforcement of these ideas of segregation, prejudice, purity, absolute truth, and the like, redirecting the minds of humans to disregard these will be difficult, near impossible if not fully; but it is not a battle which should not be pursued, not when the fate of the race and many others hangs in the balance. The battle will never be done, as with each individual comes one’s own subjectivity and corruption, and there will be a constant battle, but this is eons in the future in comparison to what is happening now; do we let metaphysics destroy us, or do we attempt to redirect it? This is the unanswered question.

The Killer Angels Journal

Without a doubt, the American Civil War was an incredible testimony to how readily subcategorized parties within a system can violently divide into a murder spree of desolation. Both parties held some sort of a righteous claim to justify the political agenda at hand. The Union used its claim of freedom and the abolition of old Victorian traditions to fuel its charisma in war. The Confederacy claimed individual State rights and outright democracy to fuel its fight. Both sides used additional propaganda tactics in their battle. To the Union, America was the land where, “no man has to bow”, however the entire time, persecutions of races, genders, mindsets, and social classes were supported by the very same members of the Union, e.g. Ulysses S Grant calling the invented Gatling Gun inhumane, and then authorizing its use against Native American settlements. The Confederacy was no better, and was adopting tradition of classical European mindsets into its culture, which could have posed a threat to the idealized way of existence as it had been. Both sides were corrupt deceivers, utilizing an exaggerated ideal to propel themselves into a politically charged, ethically shrouded internal conflict.

            Gettysburg itself was an abhorrent battle, as is common knowledge. With a casualty report of an estimated 46,000 dead, wounded, and missing soldiers, this battle was incredibly intense with a death toll nearing 8,000. The thought of this is antagonizing, many times because Americans think themselves superior to such degrading violence and conflict. Yet, the inhabitants of this country are no better than any other nationality’s inhabitant. In a land where the citizens fist fight over the maple syrup at IHOP and jealous girlfriends brutalize transsexual bystanders in McDonalds for looking at their boyfriends, it is rather ironic how America’s air of superiority is so thick that it darkens the whole world’s skies, primarily with Drone Strike missiles. No, Americans are nothing like those heathens who murder children and innocent judgmental extraditing Israelites. America would never kill indiscriminately, or utilize terrorism in its defense campaign to protect its values. Is that what an impending nuclear arsenal, overwhelming military power, and conglomeration of loophole-filled documents granting the government the shady right to take out any target it deems beneficial is? No, of course not; a ragtag band of religious fanatics fueling a hatred and discrimination of people in violation of their religious code of morality, that is the real root of terrorism. No! Not the 700 Club! They don’t fly airplanes into buildings, but they do support mindsets and ideals which are equally guilty in the hands of the deaths and oppression people globally. Realistically, this is true for every organization involved in large scale politics. Every side has its benefits and faults, and all carry at least one false banner of support to mask the deformed corruption beneath. This is the same for the Union and Confederacy. Humans have not developed, only altered.

            On a much lighter note, Shaara’s writing style is incredibly insightful, as based upon his extensive research, Shaara has adapted the apparent thoughts of the generals into a form of relatable literature, while at the same time taking extreme liberty of releasing some rather incriminating, dark thoughts of the generals, insinuating a level of deep thought which is usually lost to analysis of historical figures. They too are people, they too feel incredible pain, they too are uncertain of what to do, and make mistakes just like we do based upon cultural bias, persona faults, and erroneous decisions in rash panic. This aspect is usually lost or forgotten during historical analysis, and Shaara offers a novel which caters to this disregarded component.

Friday Night Lights Journal

It is apparent that humans have incredible expectations for themselves in life, but also for their children, for their peers, for the people involved in their ideals, their escapes, their distractions. Indeed, the author portrays it as though Odessa could be any town in America, but this even is too narrowed of a vision field, and the base themes can be extracted and set to every aspect of humanity in its entirety. Humans tend to find things to place their faith in; activities to escape from existence of a boring, depressing life; something to complain about. The reasons behind are different for every individual and nobody can claim to know fully what those reasons are because as of yet there is no effective way to penetrate the subconscious mind of an individual not giving the penetrated information, especially if the person does not yet understand the complexities and vast expanses behind their every thought.

            The oil town of Odessa is dying, as is Greenville in a sense, so the situation is relatable. When the work leaves, what is there left for sustainment? People stay because this is all they know, and they begin to turn to metaphysical concepts like racism, unreasonably high ideals for sports and other such organizations, vilification of whomever one can vilify. The Odessa citizens vilify their opponents in football, they vilify the coaches, and they vilify those of differentiating ethnicity. This vilification is an escape mechanism used globally from infancy well into adulthood due to the issue that humans fail to condition themselves and their offspring to actually important aspects of mindset and attitude which would in essence better humanity and quality of life. Granted, what we deem as “important” is entirely subjective also, as the importance of high school football and the vilification of those surrounding it may be indispensably important in the mindset of Odessa, but on a more in depth look, this important aspect is a pathetic excuse for the desire for dominance and to dissociate ill-conceived guilt. While this statement is also individually subjective, its claims are made in facts and logical, unemotional thinking, while the conceptions of Odessa are driven by metaphysical realities of superior race, gender binary dominance, disconnected outlets for entertainment serving as the only ultimate escape from the reality which the townspeople have both pushed and been pushed into, vilification of those who appear to be ripe, plump targets, familial hierarchy, which then divide into personal attitudes and perspectives birthed out of the circumstances.

            Bissinger tries to draw parallelisms between Odessa and the rest of America’s small towns, but this is only a child’s step toward a greater understanding. What is the unit of Odessa’s population? Human beings are. One could make the argument that they are Americans, but people are people, and they are a global populace. Is it not apparent that humanity as a whole is constantly is finding scapegoats in  politics, religion, lifestyle, personality, genetics, wealth, ideals, and a seemingly endless chain of other excuses to discriminate? All of these metaphysical realities born of the recesses of the subconscious mind, rooted for generations through traditions and values, conditioning and corruption, over and over until we now, as a global race, seem to overwhelmingly see metaphysical as above physical, better than physical, more real than physical, because it is unobtainable, because you can never touch god, you cannot hold feudalism, you cannot smell superiority. These ideas which “surpass” the physical world are dangerous. What happens to someone who loves objects, who values items and physical artifacts more than patriotism or faith? They are ridiculed, condemned in the minds of others as greedy, slothlenly, gluttonous, materialistic fools who cannot grasp the wonder of the conceptualized ideas of the rest of humanity. Metaphysical dependence is like a drug; it is addictive, and it is as if one can never get enough of their own specialized mind-warp. When we place the value of our religion, politics, and ideals above out value of life and existence, we are essentially labeling ourselves as an at-risk species, and with the modern technology capable of decimating the planet multiple times over, we are certainly a self-destructive endangered species. This is the ultimate message which should be extracted from this novel, but again, it is one completely subjective in the perspective of one who is constantly looking for ways to poke holes in the fabric of humanity’s cloak, and could very easily be skewed as well. After all, I’m only human.

Into The Wild Journal

Sometimes one might come to a point in life where nothing satisfies, a moment when nothing fulfills, and consequentially, individuals (and often congregations of individuals collaborating as one entity) will attach to an idea, a religion, nationalism, some sort of human construct of metaphysical existence in order to satisfy the belief in some higher order, a greater good, a right, ethics, being correct, and sequentially people venture deeper into an apparently infinitely deep cavern with a great source of light emitting from it, until the select few reach the point where they realize that the cavern is not infinite, and they can begin to see the source of the light. Some people stop here, some turn away, and some keep venturing. Should one venture deeper, this person would discover that the source of all this light, the cause of this whole great trek into the cavern, is a blindingly bright mirror, reflecting the light emitting from the eyes of the individual, showing back what has been fabricated by the immense Homo Sapien mind. When there is an entire organized religion staring into the mirror, when an entire political movement’s supporters gaze like infants at some confounded new object, when an entire culture rallies behind circumcision as a requirement, heterosexuality as a law, partnerships set to a singular limitation, the light emitting from that tunnel is the reflection of millions upon millions of individuals, staring, walking into what is truly the darkest place in life as if they were mindless shells of human, zombies if you will, staggering, mumbling about their world and their values, and their lives, and their gods, and their system, until they all crowd together and just feed off of their own light, but once people see that mirror, look into their own eyes, the light vanishes, because the metaphysical magic is gone, because they realize that they’ve been deluded, and that they’ve deluded themselves. Now they’re in the deepest cavern the world knows, and the light has stopped showing the way. They can still see the mirror, still see the millions gaping at the light, but now they can see that there are other caverns parallel to their own, with translucent walls dividing.
Chris McCandless found such a light once. It was coated in obstinacy yet logicality, rebellion yet loyalty, and it lead to his death. Chris McCandless never got out of his cavern; he died in there, with every other person who has ever succumbed to the ideas of self-reliance against all odds. Krakauer almost killed himself this way too. The sheer allure of the light is not the only reason why people stumble into the caverns; many times people grow attracted to it due to their pain, their sorrow, their experiences, and other factors. Like a drug, metaphysical truthism is addictive, and gobbles up millions by the millions into its grasp of placebos and delusions, but the real gag is: we created it, we fuel it, and we drive it. Some people just ride, accept whatever comes down the pipe as their own, but many people make their own personalized adaptations to the group perception, like all of us do. How can there be an absolute when everything is reformed by the individual’s perception of the “facts” given? McCandless was dead before he could show any signs of understanding this, whether he did or not.
Krakauer writes with incredible sympathy for McCandless, which doubtlessly influences the opinions of the reader. The subliminally persuasive tone is an excellent propaganda technique which draws a reader to sympathize with the author’s sympathy. Yet, the key to passing by the metaphysical attraction is to focus on the plain facts, and formulate truths and subsequent realities after. The physical is where analysis must begin.