"All I know is that I know nothing. And I'm not even sure about that."
Really? So what's the point of that? How does that help us? To answer this questions, let's look at the two parts of these words:
Meta is the prefix we use to square the meaning of a word--to times it by itself in effect. So metalanguage is grammar. Language about language. When I say "dog" is a "noun" I'm talking about the word, not the dog. Likewise, meta-thinking is intellectual introspection, or thinking about thinking. Normally, one would use the term metacognition though rather than meta-thinking though. Why make things simple when we can sound more sophisticated, right? Smile, I'm not saying that sarcastically. It amuses me, I must say I do like it. But don't get me started, or I'll state talking about the Latin conquest of England and the two sources of root words like thinking and cognition and why we play with them like we do. They are such delightful linguistic legos to play with! Ha!
Anyway, now that we've got that down, we turn to this concept of skepticism. Modernism is a kind of skepticism. If we can't measure it, define it, package it, and put it in a nice tight intellectual box, it doesn't exist. The skeptics laugh at the idea of God--God is not measurable; God is not seen, heard, or touched; God defies easy labels. "From whom shall I tell the people I was sent?" "What is your name?" Moses asks God. "Tell them that I AM," was and still is the answer. Moreover, let's also ask another hard question to box up an nice answer for. "What is free choice?"
The reality of free choice, like God, doesn't really exist for the modern skeptic. We have a nature/nurture debate. Your intellectually dissectable choices for explaining away behavior in simple cause and effect terms are to say that your choices are driven either by your nature (your genes) which we can count and measure, or by your nurture (your life experience which we can film, photograph, and feed into the file functions for fine formulas). But what about choice? What about when Gandalf turns in the cave to face his demon and burns with overwhelming spirit like as he pounds his staff down in the ground at the edge of the bridge and declares, YOU SHALL NOT PASS! The skeptic is skeptical of the manifestation of true free will, just as the skeptic is skeptical of God. If it can't be intellectually dominated, it doesn't really exist to the skeptic. Skepticism is the attitude that if something doesn't submit to us intellectually, it doesn't exist.
That is precisely why Jesus said, unless you become as a little child, you can not enter the kingdom of heaven. That is also precisely why it becomes harder and harder for some older people to learn new things. Neural science calls this mental fossilization. It is the opposite of what is called neural plasticity--flexible, open, impressionable thinking.
This is why it is useful for us adults to turn skepticism onto itself--to be skeptical of skepticism itself. It releases us back into the world of wonder and awe in all that we experience as BEING part of the world within and around us. God is part of the world within you and around you. You know that. You experience your consciousness of and constant reference to God and that consciousness of and reference to God in others. Why does it mater that we can't define what that means? Doubt the definitions, not the experiences, stories, and overwhelming present and prevalent myths of our lives and the lives of others. Judge things only by the magnitude of their BEING. If it has presence in your life it IS for you. Let meaning wrap itself around your soul in wondrous mystery. There is always more to learn about everything. Life is too short to get to the end of any story--the point is just to incarnate into and to live into everything as deeply as possible. Be in it. Like a child. Metaskepticism lets you do that. It let's you dive right in. It lets you suspend disbelief. It lets you doubt doubting. It lets you disbelieve in disbelieving. And then the adventure really begins and never ends.
Now you found your way back to wonderland with Peter Pan, and yes, you can fly! And feeling that feeling is much more of a rush and much fuller than the utter emptiness that seems to suck life and energy out into the void of saying "All I know is that I know nothing. And I'm not even sure about that." Instead of that, I say this in defining the meaning of my metaskepticism:
"My mind and heart and body as I experience these parts of my being soak life up around me like a sponge--I am me and my circumstances that fill me--therefor I will savor life in all it's multiple layers of flavor and scent--and even though I will never be able to define it all in words--I will let life impress me--and I will remember it and continually reflect and recreate what I have been given to experience."
That is what I mean by metaskepticism. It is the best friend of the true scientist always open to new discovery, while at the same time it is the worst enemy of the mere technicians who mascaraed as scientists, as described by Thomas Kuhn in the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Be part of the meta-revolution. Do just convert to a new idea, convert to a new way of having and holding ideas--a way open to permanent intellectual revolution--it's a change in energy state as profound as moving from solids (fossils) to air (completely pliable and adaptable). That is another glimmer of deeper meaning behind what Jesus said when he said we must be born again of Spirit. And those who are born again of Spirit are like the wind. Where the wind comes from and where it is going know one knows. It and those who are like the wind are limitless. They can think outside of the box.
This is going to be my Peter Pan blog. My wife and a few other friends (most explicitly Lori, but others as well) have asked me to share things that I am reading and the things that I'm thinking about in terms of what I read (all of my myriad associates) so they can get into the envisioning process behind my visions with me. I invite you to join me in this journal of my thought life here if you are so inclined, with one key caveat. Like Chris Martenson said at the beginning of his crash course, I say this: "these are my options and thoughts at this point in time, and I reserve the right to change any of my opinions whenever new evidence comes to light." The things I post here are merely my perspectives at certain moments in time, and I always reserve the right to change my opinions and evolve them constantly as I work to fly higher and higher to include ever larger panorama's within my view. Being a metaskeptic doesn't mean that you don't have lots of thoughts and opinions--it just means that you remain radically open to evolving your thoughts. Enjoy the cornucopia of fresh intellectual delights here. There will be no stale bread.
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