According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Metaphysics is “a division of philosophy that is concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being and that includes ontology, cosmology, and often epistemology”, and put simply, “the part of philosophy that is concerned with the basic causes and nature of things”.  

The lack of any metaphysical views would lead to the nihilistic tendencies of the narrator.  He has nothing to believe in; therefore everything is meaningless in his worldview.  It would be difficult to 

Metaphysics affects his interpretation of meaning, especially because of the ontological branch of metaphysics.  Ontology has to do with the philosophy and understanding of what it means to be, and related arguments.  Originally, the church gave people these ontological beliefs, and a world in which to base these views.  The church

This satisfied their need to feel as though they exist.  Not only that they exist, but how they exist within the world, which gave them a sense of importance.  This sense of importance was translated to the church.  When the people felt a sense of importance and being due to their religion, the church also gave a sense of importance and being.  The church can be a symbol for how the culture of the society is functioning around it.  For example, if people are becoming nihilistic, and find no reason to believe anything, the church will either cease to exist, or cease to have meaning, a reflection of the metaphysical beliefs in that culture or society.

In “Confronting mortality:  faith and meaning across cultures”, it is argued that faith has a large impact on the cultural view of mortality residing in the lack of faith, the presence of faith, and the presence of too many faiths.  In the scenario of Church Going, the problem is the lack of faith.  It is discussed throughout the poem what will happen when meaning dies.  As stated earlier, meaning is dependent upon the people in the community, and the church.  The idea of mortality is one that is quite relevant to metaphysics.  Since metaphysics focuses on being, it would seem inevitable to stumble upon the question of whether or not an afterlife exists.  From the perspective of a nihilist, no afterlife exists, and when we die, we are simply gone.  There is nothing more than that, things simply end.  The idea that death means death forever, rather than departing, is very important in Larkin’s poem.  In the majority of the poem, the lens that is being used by the narrator is one in which the ending of meaning of the church is one that is certain, definite, and forever.  

In Borzova’s article, he explains that sometimes the belief in a God is necessary for the proper function of society.  In Church Going, the narrator still carries on with his normal life, but he still seems to feel an intense dread due to a lack of meaning.  How can he find happiness in an empty world that he will one day leave forever?

It seems almost as if metaphysics is dependent on religion to give people a meaningful interpretation of the world.  Is religion, however, dependent on metaphysics?  According to the article “Religion without Metaphysics,” by Eberhard Herrmann, it is argued that religion pre-dates any record of metaphysical philosophy.  This existence of religion before metaphysics suggests that you do not need metaphysics for religion to become an important part of culture.  I believe, however, that the two are more intertwined than would be originally supposed.  Religion answers many questions that almost everyone asks sometime in their life.  These questions include “Is there a higher being than that of myself?”, “What does humanity mean relative to the rest of the world?”, and “What does it mean to be human?”.  Religion answers questions that metaphysics asks.  I will argue that metaphysical and ontological ideas are more deeply rooted in humanity than would be initially thought.   From the time we are young, we ask these questions, meaning that we use metaphysics to ask questions about reality, and as we grow older, we learn more about religion, and those questions become answered.  The discovery of meaning through the church can be divided up into two parts:  the intuitive questioning of the world and meaning before we are exposed to, or understand, the church, and the answers that we receive and the interpretation that we gain as we begin to understand religion more thoroughly.

Church Going reflects these ideas in most of the poem.  In the first portion of the poem, the narrator is very ignorant about the church.  He knows what one does at a church, for he goes through all of the traditions and takes part in the activities that are expected of him.  This includes reading through scripture, singing along with the songs, and donating money.  He spends his time thinking not about religion itself, but about when the meaning will die.  He does not seem to know the meaning of the church himself, which is possibly why he is so concerned that one day no one will.  He even goes onto to say later in the poem that he is ignorant of the values and beliefs of the church.  This comes up in his internal monologue when he is debating what the final person who understands the original meaning of the church will be like.  He asks whether it will be a representative of his standing in relationship to religious knowledge.  He describes the religion as a field, and that when meaning is gone, people will go through the motions and tend to the field even though the soil is infertile.  This perfectly describes what the narrator is doing, which proves the point that he, in fact, is not a representative of someone who gains understanding and meaning of religion.
