A Response To "A Refutation of Metaphysics"

A Response To "A Refutation of Metaphysics" by Helath Haermon

I do not frequently respond to the philosophical writings of laymen, but this Nord's work is troubling to me. It represents a broader trend of people treating knowledge and learning as worthless, and it threatens to kill the progress philosophy has made over the past thousand years. This Nord, while well meaning, has misunderstood some important Amaranthine concepts and come to bad conclusions as a result. I am publishing this in hopes of changing his mind and anyone else who has come to similar conclusions.

1)"All the World Is a Dream"

Among professional philosophers this idea is called "Divine Dream Cosmology". In brief, it holds that all that exists is a figment of the Dreamer's imagination. In his critique, the Nord makes two crucial errors.

First, he makes an argument from experience. He claims that since reality does not seem to be a dream, it cannot be a dream. While experience has its uses in philosophy, it alone is not sufficient to make a universal claim about the universe. Therefore, his line of reasoning is not right.

Second, he has profoundly misunderstood what Divine Dream Cosmology is. It is not the claim that reality is not real at all. Of course the hardships of winter, the love of marriage, and the pain of battle are real. However, they are only real to us. They are not real to the Dreamer.

2. "CHIM"

I am tempted to leave everyone in ignorance regarding CHIM, for it is an extremely dangerous idea, but it would be irresponsible of me to keep the keys to immortality to myself.

The Nord objects to the concept, claiming that it was merely a title for extremely powerful and egotistical people. In a way, he is right. But it is more than that. CHIM is royalty, not only in the political sense, but over the whole universe.

In a way, it is a natural extension of Divine Dream Cosmology. According to DDC, we are all dreams in the Dreamer's mind. CHIM states that it is possible to make oneself more real to the Dreamer than other dreams through acknowledging oneself as part of a whole yet still retaining individuality.

Very rarely has anyone achieved CHIM due to the Problem of Zero Sum. Plenty of people, through sufficient study and meditation, can imagine themselves as part of a whole. However, most never achieve CHIM because they are also unable to hold onto their personhood at the same time. They are subsumed into the whole as a result.

Extremely egotistical individuals have an advantage when it comes to CHIM, because they are so enamoured with their person that they are able to retain their individuality while experiencing the "wholeness" of the Dream. This is why people like Vivec and Tiber Septim were able to achieve CHIM while others have not.

We are fairly certain CHIM exists because everything we've seen has corresponded with reality. I have seen far too many study the concept, attempt CHIM, and pass out of existence as a result. Could it be something else causing their disappearance? Possibly. However, the phenomenon acts exactly as we would expect it to if CHIM were true.

As for his rejection of the gods wholecloth, I would love to assuage his skepticism. Have him come to the Telvanni and I will summon Azura. I am sure she could convince him of the gods' existence.

3)"Tower Power"

Here the Nord has once again misunderstood an important concept and come away with erroneous conclusions. No one educated in mythics has ever claimed the Towers hold up reality. They do, however, hold up the Mundus.

Everything is held up by affirming its own existence, as I established in my comments on CHIM. The only way to truly die is to become subsumed into the whole. This is true for everything, including the Mundus. The Mundus must be able to affirm its own existence in order to maintain itself.

This act of affirming existence is present in our everyday language. We use first person language frequently, and this in turn is one way we affirm our identity. Vivec poetically described this as the "Eternal I".

Now the Mundus as a whole is inanimate. It cannot uphold its own existence without outside intervention. What is this intervention? What else but the massive Towers scattered all over the Mundus spelling "I"? That is their entire point. So long as they are working, the Towers uphold the Mundus' identity and keep it from being subsumed into the rest of the Aurbis.

Anyone can imagine the consequences for all mortal life if all the Towers were to fail. The Nord may dismiss these ideas as "Imperial propaganda", but they go back as far as Shor and his own people. This duel between the Thalmor and the Padomaics is as old as Lorkhan and Auriel-no, as old as Anu and Padomay themselves.

Therefore, it is in the interest of the Nord and everyone else to stand against the Anuics, such as the Thalmor. The Mundus is the greatest hope for mortal life to transcend the limitations of this reality. The only way to be as real as one can possibly be is to become the Amaranth, and only a mortal can achieve that glorious goal.

I hope this brief response will persuade any skeptics of the importance of philosophy and its contributions to the advancement of mortals in the Aurbis. The greatest goal any mortal can have in life is to achieve the Psijic Endeavor, and that is impossible without philosophy.