Is it the case that if one set of metaphysical assumptions is correct and that the others are therefore necessarily false? Well, yes and no. The reason that I say this is because of my own personal metaphysical beliefs, in which we reside in what I call an “Infiniverse”. Ultimately, it is my belief that everything that can occur, must occur. In other words, all logically and mathematically possible options will be explored by the Eternal consciousness of the Divine Mind.
Within this structure, each of the different metaphysical options will be exist, just as each of the possible outcomes of our own lives will be explored. To make things interesting, there will be some universes where the Hindus are right and after death we will move onto a new incarnation, and others in which we instead move onto some sort of “heaven”, or perhaps even “hell”, after living the exact same life on this earth. Of course, it would be a very brave Divine Consciousness that would choose to explore a universe in which there existed a hell, but the option is potentially open.
Intriguingly, what this means is that we could be living in a universe in which competing metaphysical claims are in fact operating side by side, not because one side is correct and the other wrong, but because nobody has adequately figured out the true nature of the metaphysical reality that does in fact hold.
For example, I have friends who tell me about a range of miraculous, supernatural and psychic phenomena that they say that they have genuinely experienced. Now, I have no reason to believe that they are lying about their belief in these events, but as I have never, once in my life had a real world experience that I could say was definitely supernatural (in the sense of an event occurring in the “real” world, as opposed to my own consciousness), I am hard pressed to take these events at face value, as much as I would like to.
But what if we are both right? What if I am living in a universe where there are no such events and they are living in one in which there are? Would my experiences or life appear any different between the two universes? Perhaps not. Perhaps my experience in both universes is identical. Maybe in one metaphysical reality, belief in supernatural events is required to experience them, so I don’t experience them, because I lack belief. But in the other universe, I don’t experience them, irrespective of whether or not I believe, because they simply don’t occur.
Which raises the question of whether I have any particular right to judge, criticise, or condemn someone who does believe in things that I regard as being highly implausible or downright absurd. While part of me wants to insist that I live firmly in the reality based universe, I know from my own experience of the Divine Mind how powerfully strong subjective experience can be. I also know that if I am truly eternal, then I will ultimately spend at least some of my time exploring universes in which there is at the very least a subtle imposition of the “one rule for me, one rule for you” philosophy. This would be a really interesting place to explore and life is all about the Journey.
However, irrespective of whether you believe in my metaphysical assertion that we live in an Infiniverse, I submit that arguing, fighting and killing over what boils down to different metaphysical assertions is wrong. Fighting over something that is unprovable and indemonstrable is ridiculous and akin to murdering someone in indignant rage because they enjoy gardening, while you prefer motorsports.
