The theory of Everything in Astrophysics, Metaphysics
I once commented on the limits, so to speak, of the theory of everything in Astrophysics. Namely, it is a theory about the phusis, that is, nature, and leaves some questions opened. Those questions belong to the metaphysical realm. Questions about our fundamental relation with this phusis. In this respect, multiverses and strings - even if they end up being confirmed by observation, will be in no better standing than, say, the cosmogonies conjured up in Miletus, 26,000 years ago. Our theory of the physical world - including descriptions of ourselves and our functioning, cannot answer questions raised a century ago by phenomenologists, and yet others more recently within the so called post-modern movement.
This question can only be resolved rationally and not empirically. In it's ultimate form, it can also only be resolved privately, and can only be helped along publicly, not taught. It is a akin to the teachings of a zen master who guides his students through the absurd looking indications and guidances found in their literature leading on the path of serenity and one-ness with the universe. Only, in the case of philosophy, such a process cannot be obtained through revelation or emotional communions with the surroundings, or with concepts; it must be obtained the hard nosed way - through the exercise of reason.
Perhaps an answer is not possible. Like Sextus Empiricus, I fear that we must satisfy ourselves with a suspension of judgement, or of belief. Perhaps. But the mind doesn't like ambivalence: it strives for symmetry. Skepticism is indeed a disease of the mind.
