Legalism, Mortification, Metaphysical, Metempsychosis, and Existential

Word Definitions and Meaning

ver.: 20 April 2008

The meaning of :
legalism, metaphysical and metaphysics, metempsychosis,
mortification existential and Existentialism.

What Is Metaphysical ?

metaphysical : that which is beyond (< Greek meta ) what can be grasped by the senses (the realm the Greeks called physikos). Related words in some circles are immaterial, asomatic, incorporeal, bodiless, and discarnate; those terms are sometimes associated with cults.

The term 'metaphysical' originally comes from Aristotle, for whom the metaphysical meant some form of theological philosophy. It means something else in today's world. The modern media often use 'metaphysical' to mean the same thing as 'spiritual'. There's lots of overlap, but the two words refer to different things. 'Spiritual' refers to the realm of spirits. 'Metaphysical' refers to that which underlies everything, of which spirits and the kingdom of God are parts. Metaphysics is the study of such matters. It's rooted in intangibles, that which can't be found by the physical senses, that which holds everything together like wood beams in a roof. But 'metaphysical' hasn't (yet) suffered the same very self-ish turn that 'spiritual' has.

Metaphysics deals with questions like, "what is real?", "what is important?" and "what is actually happening?" behind what we can sense. Metaphysics is about ultimate mysteries, and so when people talk about the metaphysical realm, they often end up talking in circles or (worse) out of both sides of their mouth. We can't help it, really; we've used up our ability to describe the awesome, mysterious stuff we're talking about. We're not clueless about the metaphysical, but we don't really know much about it. Since that's true, and since most everything can be explained (rightly or wrongly) without metaphysics, a growing segment of people simply discard talk of anything metaphysical as something that doesn't exist.

For metaphysics to be meaningfully Christian, it has to deal with, and be expressed in terms of, the stuff of the world we sense and touch and feel. To use the traditional Christian term, metaphysics must be "incarnated". The root of all-that-is, namely God, came to breathe, eat, walk, hurt, and die in this world, as Jesus of Nazareth. This is how God operates. If we are to follow God, then when we speak of that which underlies this world, we must take it through the same path, expressing it and living it out in ways that matter for and have impact on the stuffly world we live in. If God does it that way, so must we, or we are not following the way of Christ.

You can also see 'metaphysical' the dictionary.

What Is Legalism?

legalism [ < Latin legalis (legal) < lex (law); + Greek -ismos (as a practice, doctrine, principle) ] The practice, doctrine, or principle of living or acting in strict accord with a code of conduct, set of rules, or codified law. "By the book".

In the Christian context, legalism is the attitude that "acting in strict accord" with God's rules is how a person becomes accepted and loved by God. Break the rules, and you will be punished by God and God's own - and you no longer are God's own. But God says something different, in both Testaments. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God is a God of grace as well as law, forgiving, giving us enough rope to hang ourselves. God set down ways to clear the record, and give more chances. God accepted the covenant people and each person in it -- but a relationship does not live from only one side. In the New Testament, God takes the next step, to show us where the Almighty really wants us to be, by going out to be among us, to live and be executed and then to live again. There are now no barriers to the acceptance and the love of God. The door is flung open wide, and the Lord has even stepped through it to welcome us. The Law does not save, nor our obedience to it; God's gracious love does. "There is no condemnation".

So then, what becomes of the call to follow Jesus, which is also clearly stated in those same pages by those same authors? Your behaviors become acts of love and gratitude, thank-yous to Jesus. You don't impose it on others, damning them to hell; they need to do it out of love and gratitude, too. (The society as a whole may find aspects of The Law as necessary to survive and thrive in a just manner, but that isn't a question of how God accepts you.) You don't even impose The Law on yourself, in the sense that you are forgiven by God and free to surmise the best way to love as Jesus does, even if it means to act differently from The Law. You are not chained to the letter of The Law, but are free to pursue its purpose.

You can also check the dictionary for legalism.

What Is Metempsychosis ?

metempsychosis [ < Greek, < metempsukhousthai (to transmigrate, move from one to another) < meta- (after, beyond, later) + empsukhos (to amimate; to put in (en-) soul (psukhê)) ]

1. the depression that sets in when a single guy realizes that he's already asked out all the women around him, and has gotten nowhere;
2. a word designed for the purpose of tormenting spelling bee contestants;
3. A belief in which the soul goes from one body to another, until either time ends or the soul is made pure or complete.

Metempsychosis is older than recorded history, and was probably a feature of the early religions of the Indo-Europeans and South Asians. It is fully present in Hinduism and Buddhism. In Judaism, ancient pre-Kabbalists developed a limited form of it. In Greek philosophy, Plato was its best-known supporter; it was Plato's followers who first used the term. Through Plato, it influenced some early Christians, including Origen. Yet, Augustine of Hippo argued vigorously against it, and it was eventually condemned at the Council of Florence in 1439.

Metempsychosis conflicts with Christian belief in resurrection of the entire person, a belief that does not separate the body and the spirit from the soul. Metempsychosis treats the body as a 'container' that's not an essential part of who we are. Thus it stands with gnosticism in not treating the physical world and bodily life as being real or of any ultimate value.

You can also check out 'metempsychosis' in the dictionary.

What Is Mortification?

Mortification : [ Latin mortificare (to make dead), < Latin mors-/mort- (to die, be dead) < assumed Indo-European mer(t)- (death, or the act of dying), which in Germanic led to the English word 'murder'. ] The act or process of making someone or something dead.

There are a lot of strange ideas about mortification. One was held by most of the medieval Church in Europe, which acted as if the human being had so little positive value in them that the only thing a Christian should do is constantly tell themelf how worthless they are and how little good can come of their life. They even physically brutalized themselves with starvation, whippings, beatings, extreme exertion, and such, to meet this supposed requirement, hoping to find their release from misery by inflicting more misery on themselves. This created a lot of self-wounding people who lacked the courage, self-esteem, and sense of empowerment to do what the Spirit was trying to have them do. This way of imagining mortification is still found in a few parts of the Roman Catholic church, and is echoed in their own way by many Fundamentalist Protestants. This view was deeply rooted in Middle East Asia for over a thousand years before Christianity, and is still held to this day by many parts of Islam.

Because of that gruesome record, many have come up with the idea that the core of the Christian faith actually teaches people to mortify themselves that way. After all, Paul brings up the subject. He said that the believer is to die to sin, so they can live in Christ. But he was talking about sucking the life out of the desire to do what God says is wrong, moment by moment. Paul was not saying "destroy all creativity, deviations from the rules, fun, personality, feelings, etc.", because that was not what Jesus or Paul meant by 'sin' or 'rebellion against God'. In fact, Paul writes about the great freedom to take action which comes from trusting in what Christ did. But there is something about each of us that insists on being our own worst enemy, as well as an opponent of God. That is what is to be killed, or 'mortified', because in the long run, when it's all over, that is what can mortify us forever.

It's hard to get people to know the true story about mortification when so many of them have met Christians who insist on a false story.

(Another meaning of 'mortify' is to make someone more like Mort; for more, see 'edify'. 'Mortification' is also one of those death-words used in the youth subcultures of death-metal and goth. They'd be mortified to find out how far it could really go.)

You can find 'mortification' in the dictionary.

What Is Existential?

existential [ Latin existere (to come forth, to show itself) < ex- (out) + sistere (to stand)] adj. Having to do with existence itself, and/or dealing with or relating to it. Based on how existence is experienced. Also : relating to or derived from the key tenets of Existentialism.

When cars are crash-tested in laboratory conditions, it's scientific and academic. When you're on the streets in a car as it hits another car, it's existential. Religious philosophy tries to deal with the world as it exists, but the question then is, what is existence really made of, and how do we experience it? If there is an 'underlying' aspect to existence, can we relate to it, and how? (Relating to the material-ness of existence is not hard; we're doing it all the time, and you're doing it right now.)

Existentialism is a family of philosophies that see the individual self, and that self's experiences and uniqueness, as the way to understand (or, at least, address) the nature of human existence. One kind of existentialism is Absurdism, where life is seen as essentially insane, and the emphasis is on the self's uniqueness to the point of isolation -- so special or unusual that social interaction can itself be an absurd ruse. Less-absurdist existentialisms stress not only personal freedom, but also with it the full responsibilities and consequences of those free choices. In Christian thought, if your relationship with the God of Life breaks down so badly that in essence there is no relationship, you no longer exist, or at best, exist in a sort of solitary confinement known as hell. (Or, in neo-orthodox language, God is "the ground of our being", so apart from God there really is no being, or at best, being entirely uses itself up.)

(At this point, Lou Costello correctly names all the players on the baseball team, and then yells out that he has no idea what he just said.)

You can also check the dictionary for 'existential'.