🌄 Wolfgang Smith’s Metaphysical System

Smith restores the classical, perennial view that reality is not flat.
Modern science sees only the lowest stratum — the corporeal, measurable world — but classical metaphysics recognises three ontological levels:

Corporeal

Physical, measurable, extended in space‑time

Horizontal (mechanistic)

Psychic / Subtle

Qualitative, symbolic, formative

Vertical (formal)

Spiritual

Pure act, intellective, transcendent

Vertical (higher)

This tripartite cosmos is the backbone of Smith’s entire system.

• Acts within the corporeal plane
• Temporal, mechanistic, quantitative
• The only causation recognised by modern physics
• Governs interactions between physical bodies

• Acts from above the corporeal plane
• Non‑temporal, ontological, formative
• Explains the transition from potentiality to actuality
• The key to understanding quantum measurement
• The mode by which higher levels inform lower ones

Vertical causation is the metaphysical “missing piece” that allows science to be reintegrated into a full worldview.

Smith’s central scientific claim:

Quantum measurement cannot be explained by horizontal causation alone.

The collapse of the wavefunction — the transition from a cloud of possibilities to a single actual outcome — is:

• instantaneous
• non‑mechanistic
• non‑local
• not derivable from physical interactions

Therefore, it requires vertical causation: an act from a higher ontological level that determines the actualisation of a physical state.

This is the scientific doorway back into metaphysics.

Smith argues that the cosmos is integral, meaning:

• the corporeal world is real, but not self‑sufficient
• the psychic/subtle realm mediates between physical and spiritual
• the spiritual realm is the source of form, meaning, and finality

This restores:

• essence/existence
• form/matter
• act/potency
• symbol/reality
• intellect/sense

The cosmos becomes intelligible again.

Human beings uniquely span all three levels:

• Body — corporeal
• Soul — psychic/subtle
• Spirit — intellective

Thus, the human person is the meeting point of horizontal and vertical causation.
This is why consciousness cannot be reduced to brain activity.

At the highest level:

• Being is pure act
• Truth is intellectual, not empirical
• Knowledge is participatory
• The intellect “sees” essences directly

This is the domain of:

• metaphysics
• theology
• contemplation
• revelation

Science becomes one mode of knowing among others — valid, but limited.

For your Many Mansions project, this system provides:

• a metaphysical foundation for the doctrine of the soul
• a bridge between classical theology and contemporary science
• a way to teach 16‑year‑olds that reality is more than matter
• a structure for explaining personhood, freedom, and moral agency
• a philosophical antidote to materialism

It aligns beautifully with your long‑term goal of restoring metaphysical clarity to Catholic catechesis.

For the Many Mansions project, this system provides:

• a metaphysical foundation for the doctrine of the soul
• a bridge between classical theology and contemporary science
• a way to teach 16‑year‑olds that reality is more than matter
• a structure for explaining personhood, freedom, and moral agency
• a philosophical antidote to materialism

It aligns beautifully with the long‑term goal of restoring metaphysical clarity to Catholic catechesis.