Why I Like Metaphysics, but Do Not Have a Religious Faith
I like metaphysics, but that does not mean I have religion in the Western sense.
The whole world may be curious about one thing: why do Chinese people seem to have no religion in the Western sense, yet still carry a civilization that has lasted five thousand years and maintained a high degree of order?
Maybe the answer is that Chinese people are not “without faith.” It is just that our form of faith is completely different from monotheistic civilizations. We brought “god” down from the altar, and placed “human beings” and “history” there instead. What we believe in is the continuation of bloodline (family), the glory of civilization (history), and the struggle of ordinary life (living).
This extremely practical and resilient cultural gene allowed China to maintain five thousand years of order and inheritance without needing an all-powerful God. Clan ties and cultural consensus carried a great deal of the weight. We replaced the gods of the other shore with morality and responsibility in this world. To me, this is a more advanced, more complex path of civilizational evolution.
Now think about it. What kind of “metaphysics” would grow from this kind of civilizational soil? Double cultural buffs stacked. How could I not be curious?
You can say I have no faith, or you can say I do. What I believe in is nothing more than the old thing Chinese people have believed since ancient times: that there is an inherent moral law in the universe, which the ancients called tianming or tianli. It is not personified. It does not appear as a miracle. It does not open its mouth and speak. But across long chains of cause and effect, it rewards good and punishes evil.