Over the course of a person's life, they will climb many mountains [1]. Wealth, power, beauty, social standing,.. these are but a few of the larger aims towards which people feel drawn, and to which people pursue. Mountain-climbing is fundamentally an endeavor in meaning-making; most people are climbing at least one mountain (whether they fully realize it or not).
[1]Mountains are our choice metaphor for personal achievement because they are impressive to behold, require great effort and dedication to ascend, and the air gets somewhat rarefied near the top [1-1].
[1-1]A recurring theme you will notice is that things get weird and company gets scarce as you approach our mountains' summits. See natural aristocracies → for examples.
There is, however, one mountain within the range that is special. It is The Holy Mountain, and what makes it special is that it is invisible.
The Holy Mountain represents the human pursuit of religious enlightenment. When people decide to live a moral and just life, and to embody goodness, they are climbing this mountain, even when they cannot see it beneath their feet.
What makes this mountain invisible is that it is esoteric →. The essays filed below → are, like their subject, esoteric. What this means is that they aren't written for everyone; what may be obvious to one reader may be inconceivable to another. While I can assume that readers of Transcendental Metaphysics are an intelligent bunch, I cannot assume that you are all religiously inspired [2].
[2]Keep in mind that religion is about being, more than it is about doing or feeling or thinking. The best I can do with my words is to inspire your thoughts; merely understanding a concept is incomparable to embodying it. My goal here is to help point you the right way up the mountain [2-1]; you gotta do the walking for yourself.
[2-1]Keep in mind that I am fallible and imperfect. I can only really help people who are where I once was, and even then it's no guarantee.
What you get out of this is principally a function of where you are on the mountain:
If you think the mountain doesn't exist because you cannot see it (i.e. if you're an atheist, agnostic, or science-minded skeptic), start down the esoteric road → and I will do my best not to convince you, but to open your mind to larger possibilities.
If you are spiritual but not religious, or are trying to develop your own practice outside of the confines of any established orthodoxy, start down the theology road → and I will do my best to elucidate why existing religious structures look the way they do, to better help you in your picking and choosing.
If you are already a part of an established tradition, visit the house with many doors → to see any reflections I might have had on that tradition.
If you're just here to see some magic, check out the Book of Spells →.