what do you mean by metaphysical
Comment on Crystals
blaue_Fledermaus@mstdn.io 4 weeks ago
Not to defend these things, I also don't think they work, but the simplest argument is that they work on a metaphysical frequency/energy/whatever, so a physical instrument wouldn't be able to detect it.
JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
credo@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
“Not real”
ImWaitingForRetcons@lemm.ee 4 weeks ago
Metaphysical means that it’s beyond the bounds of normal physics - stuff like ghosts, spirits, religious stuff, etc. Basically, you can cover a lot of hokey with it.
sp3tr4l@lemmy.zip 4 weeks ago
Metaphysical is a fun woo woo word, because one definition of it is basically as you have said, a synonym for supernatural (ie, physically impossible), whereas the other definition of it relates to metaphysics, the philosophical approaches to understand the rules that govern or give rise to the rules/laws of physics.
So you have one contextual usage that means ‘weird unexplained spooky impossible nonsense’, and another that means, ‘logical structures that seek to explain the nature of reality as understood empirically, often by academics.’
Thus its a perfect word for mystical woo people who love to conflate different contextual meanings of words and pretend they are not doing that.
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Metaphysical is a fun woo woo word
It’s also a bedrock concept in philosophy. How-we-know-what-we-know, etc.
I mean, it can be two things, but c’mon.
Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 weeks ago
Many of them are also dangerously radioactive.
grue@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
Wait a minute, how radioactive? Better or worse than collecting old smoke detectors, Radioactive Boy Scout-style?
barsquid@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
If they worked at all it would be possible to measure the effects indirectly in a double-blind study even if we couldn’t measure the energy directly.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net 4 weeks ago
Could also be a placebo which has been clinically proven to have some subjective effect. Not worth getting fleeced over, but worth 2 bucks for a nice rock that makes you feel hopeful.
When I was growing up (granola) everyone in my family had a special little crystal that represented them. I remember when we all picked them out from a big bin. Not to say this kind of thinking can’t have a dark side, though…
Nowadays I just find “special” rocks while I’m out on a walk feeling a certain way, and like mentally imbue them whatever feeling I need (stability, remorse, etc). Then I keep them around and think of that whenever I look them, until I eventually forget why I even got them.
Got a nice Jasper that’s flat on one side helping me through some shit with my family atm
Chuymatt@beehaw.org 4 weeks ago
I actually really love this. Even as a staunch user of the scientific method and an atheist, I feel that the use of symbolism and ritual is actually quite important for the human psyche.
Have a good one.