Metaphysics
What polytheistic religion would be complete without a satisfying metaphysics? Hîsyêô's metaphysics is a response to the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Iamblichus. It also attempts to incorporate some contemporary ideas of philosophy and science.
Dimensions
When one perceives of a line, one is thinking in a single dimension of space. When one perceives of a square, one is thinking in two dimensions of space. When one percieves of a cube, one is thinking in three dimensions of space. You might be getting tired of this exercise but is there a fourth object that is thought of as being in four dimensions? One might say that this dimension is time. Another way to phrase it is that the fourth dimension is the motion of the object. Now forget about the object that is measured and focus on the concept of the dimension.
Each dimension relates the same material concept, length; the same material intensity, the total inches or meters; but each one is oriented towards the object with a different perspective. The concept and intensity are the tool and they are applied to objects with different approaches. That is the essense of a dimension. The usage of this tool produces a result that can then be projected by the observer onto a mental or digital model that matches the original object in the measured dimensions. Interestingly, the intensity component is critical to the digital reproduction but less-so to the mental reproduction.
The tool of dimensions is essential to the understanding of the metaphysics of Hîsyêô. Just like we measure our material world in four dimensions, so too are there different approaches to measuring that which is beyond the material world (of course, do not think of "beyond" in a physical sense). Unlike the four physical dimensions, the metaphysical has only two dimensions.
Unity
The unity dimension is the technique that all things are whole entities and "units" which are singular and unified. Each entity is regarded as one entity. This concept can be applied to individual things, groups of things, or the totality of things. Whatever you are measuring or observing is continous and infinite.
Multiplicity
The multiplicity dimension is the technique that all things are parts or elements and the "units" in this case are within. Everything is either within a collection (a variable quantity), a set (a quality-selected quantity), or a body (a purposeful quantity). The act of relating one object to another can be implemented by indicating that they are part of a set. This concept can be applied to individual things (as in the case of negation), groups of things, or the totality of things. Whatever you are measuring or observing is discrete and finite.
Are the concepts of unity and multiplicity innate to the entity? Perhaps not. As a thought experiment, think of a yellow flower. Is the flower innately yellow? No, we know that it absorbs all other colors but yellow which is reflected.
These dimensions are useful tools for inspection, to grasp at the true but indescribable nature of a thing, but the thing itself exists regardless of whether or not it is a whole, collection, set, or body.
Planes
Both dimensions have a part to play in understanding the interplay of the top three immaterial planes (The Neoplatonists referred to them as "hypostases" but I think "plane" is a more contemporary English word for this concept). These planes are each a coextension of the others and are all collocated in time and space. Think of them like the alternate dimensions of folk, science fiction and fantasy stories (like the Upside Down of the Stranger Things).
The Everything
This plane is an entity which is the entire universe and also whatever else exists beyond our universe; it is everything. The Neoplatonists referred to this as The One and it was a supreme all-encompassing non-being being of pure goodness. The main difference between the Hîsyêô metaphysics and the Neoplatonists' is that instead of goodness, the stuff that is the essence of this non-being being is not "goodness" but perhaps is better described as neutralness. Concepts like goodness, beauty, and even neutralness are just concepts like any other within The Everything and there is no hierarchy within it. This (non-being) being's essence has no other word than "everything" which can describe it.
There are various theories at the crossroads of quantum physics and neurology which posit that concsciousness is an emergent phenomonon of quantum activity. We can use the dimension of Unity to recognize that The Everything is itself an entity and the dimension of Multiplicity to recognize that this entity is made up of innumerable quantum-entangled parts and these entities themselves interact via quantum activity. Through these observations by even our human minds, we can recognize that this would be enough quantum activity to be an emergent concsciousness and we call that consciousness The Divine Mind. The Divine Mind is effectively self-realized through the all-encompassing nature of The Everything.
The Divine Mind
Historically called the Nous or the Intellect, the Divine Mind is an intelligizing force that has emerged from the plane of The Everything into its own plane. Now this mind cannot simply sit idly without engaging in mental activity. Eventually it will recognize it's own self-awareness. Therefore the mind is or becomes active and aware of itself or rather of The Everything. To observe The Everything that exists outside of being and non-being is to engage in infinite and sometimes paradoxical observations and through experiencing all this, the Divine Mind is or becomes all-knowing and all-powerful and has, through its knowledge and power, builds a perfect copy of the Everything inside of its mind (think of it like a digital lossless copy). This mental model of The Everything, through both unity and multiplicity measurements, has created something truly complex and interconnected inside of the Divine Mind which is the ideas or forms of everything that exists within The Everything. Harkening back to the emergent consciousnesses theory, we again use our tools of dimensions to see that there is a sufficiently large network of quantum activity in this divine "image" of The Everything. What emerges into a new plane is a consciousness that we call the Cosmic Soul.
The Cosmic Soul
Sometimes called the Psyche, this concsciousness emerges from the plane of Divine Mind. As before, the Cosmic Soul is a mind and whether immediately or after some time, it eventually becomes self-aware and begins observing but this time we are now in a new plane and the plane we're observing is now the Divine Mind. Through its infinite observations with the dimensions of Unity and Multiplicity of the Divine Mind's forms, it has built a complex mental model of the qualities and relationships of the forms . It posits how they would all causally interact if they existed in a material world. This act of intelligizing produces a dream which is a perfect imagining of what a material world would be utilizing the forms of the Divine Mind. This dream is the material plane.
After The Great Shattering, the Cosmic Soul is the remaining pieces that represent the qualities and relationships of the material realm (the scienitific standard model). The pieces that have shattered are twofold:
- the Individual Souls of all sentient beings, and
- the Shards of control, manipulation, oppression and all the ways that the The First Law (the original Cosmic Soul) used to keep The Material Plane in a unified and non-chaotic state.
The Material
The Material plane is our world around us today. It is a dream inside of the Cosmic Soul. Despite being a universe-encompassing bundle of quantum entanglements, we do not posit a consciousness beyond the material plane which observes the material plane (like we do for the other planes). This could be due to the Cosmic Soul intentionally generating (intelligizing) the dream plane and thus this plane is more of a pseudo-plane. Another theory is that this plane's quantum activity is or generates The Everything in a rather circular fashion. Neoplatonists historically argued that this plane is removed from the others because it is a shadow of the perfect forms. Therefore it doesn't "emanate" or, to take this idea into Hîsyêô metaphysics, it doesn't have true quantum entanglements and therefore consciousness cannot emerge. However, this explanation is tenuous because it seems to imply that the Cosmic Soul's mind is less capable than the Divine Mind's. Perhaps each plane removed from the The Everything is some magnitude less powerful.
Individual Souls
As was mentioned earlier, since the Cosmic Soul's qualities and relationships make up the thoughts that cause the dream of the material plane, you might be wondering where our individual souls fit into this metaphysics. As it turns out, each individual soul is just a slice (like a pizza slice) of the larger Cosmic Soul. Prior to the great shattering, we were not individual souls at all. We didn't exist as souls but as zombies. Now our souls have shattered (what the Neoplatonists referred to as descending only without the same pomp and circumstance) and are now truly within us in the Material Plane. If we align our mind and our body towards the Divine Mind we can lift our piece of the Cosmic Soul back into place restoring unity but, thanks to the great gift of the gods (aspects of the Divine Mind), also imbuing a newfound multiplicity of an Individual Soul as an independent unit amongst the Cosmic Soul.
Imagine that you are sleeping and experiencing a dream. Most of us lack the ability to grasp that we are in a dream. Instead we are oblivious, going through real experiences and real emotions and reactions until finally we are slammed back into reality. Only the most advanced oneironauts have mastered the art of recognizing they are in a dream. The reason that these dreams can be broken at all (although challenging) is because they are dreams generated by individual souls. These kinds of dreams lack the power of the dream generated by the Cosmic Soul.
To recognize that the material plane is a dream, takes a lifetime of dedication to inward and outward work. Inwardly, you must arrange your mind, your thoughts and your principles such that you are able to better recognize the dream and eventually begin to grasp the planes beyond. Outwardly, you can engage in ritual acts in the material world that influence us behaviorally and give us tools for metaphorical mental activity. You can also engage in virtous acts towards others as acts of kindness and care change us in often profound ways and lift our souls up towards the Cosmos.
Gods
The gods themselves are similar to the individual souls explained previously: they are slices or aspects of the Divine Mind. Gods represent specific domains of ideas or forms and they are essentially personifications of parts of the Divine Mind (applying the dimension of multiplicity). This allows you to have a a metaphysical point (an anchor) that you can turn your mind towards. The ritual acts help us to further adjust our alignment keeping us focused on the Divine Mind as much as possible.
Are the gods described on this site the only gods or are the gods of other pantheons also valid anchors to turn towards? Given that these gods are personifications, they can shift and change and be one thing to one person and a whole other thing to someone else. The set of gods described on this site were carefully planned to cover all forms that one might encounter in the modern life. You may notice that the gods that cover the domains of the natural forces have been reduced to one. This is because we now know these forces to be qualities and relationships of the cosmic soul (the laws of physics, geology, biology, etc.). You may also notice that no god is placed above the others, this is to emphasize the lack of hierarchy within the Divine Mind (a lack of hierarchy is also one of the virtues). If you can critically analyze the cultural touchstones of your preferred gods and remove the influence of the shards or if you've already gone down this path due to your own work, then you can definitely worship your existing pantheon. The work of turning towards the Divine Mind can take many forms and no one is a master over its praxis.
Ethics
How do we derive an ethics from this metaphysics? The Everything is itself neutral and not all good like that of the Neoplatonists so there's no reason to necessarily do good acts because why would doing good acts turn you towards a neutral god?
First, let's remember that The Everything is not goodness and beauty that exists outside of space and time. It is not God but rather the entirety of everything. So why would we turn towards everything and is that just absurdity? Perhaps!
Instead of turning towards The Everything, we turn towards the Divine Mind as it is the greatest mind. Given that our soul is a third-order mind (Divine Mind -> Cosmic Soul -> Individual Soul), to better improve ourselves, we should seek to access the broader Cosmic Soul that we are part of (even though we are currently separated from it). Just like an employee should seek to understand their organization so that they can act in the best interest of the organization, so too should you seek to understand the Cosmic Soul so that you can act in the best interest of it. To understand the Cosmic Soul is to see the world through everyone's perspective and to understand the qualities and relationships that direct the rest of matter.
Since The Everything is not goodness, where does that leave the Neoplatonic argument for the lack of an existence of evil? This debate is rather archaic given that the concept of moral relativism is well-reasoned and also scientifically accepted. Since The Everything is neutral, there is no existence of Good nor Evil. Instead, they are shards of The First Law which can be used to reduce the agency of others. Yes, even "Goodness" can be a lever of power.
Semantics aside, the Hîsyêô metaphysical approach to the question of "Is there good and evil?" is to say that each individual soul has a will to power and real "goodness" should be a measure of how much a soul expresses itself to the fullest and also equally ensures that other souls have unbridled access to their will to power so that all can return to the unity of the Cosmic Soul and accept the gift of multiplicity of the individual soul. To simplify, it is mutual aid and synergy.
Why Have A Metaphysics?
In a roundabout way, this metaphysics was created because of Nietzsche's Philosophy of Religion by Julian Young. Young makes the case that Nietzche wanted a revival of the Ancient Greek religion because he felt that the Christian transformation of European culture was a recipe for disaster. Nietzsche's third metamorphosis, of the Child, is that of a first mover of a new culture and a new paradigm. Young implies that Nietzsche wanted a first mover to re-engineer the Greek pantheon for a new era. That planted the seed that led to the creation of a pantheon that would, on the one hand hopefully fulfill Nietzsche's dream; and on the other hand, would facilitate a new social order based on science, self-expression, and with no masters.
If one chooses to read various primary and secondary sources on the Greek pantheon, it is inevitable that one would reach Plotinus and the rest of the Neoplatonists. There was a tendency to interweave religion and philosophy and in many ways it was also the precursor to what we now call Theology. In order for the Hîsyêô religion to be complete enough to do philosophy or theology and not be an example of Eco's small world, it became a necessity that there be a metaphysics that complements the mythology. A good metaphysics is the glue that binds rituals and principles of a religion to the cultural practices of a community.