There are strong philosophical aspects to Philip Larkin’s Church Going.  Metaphysics can be classified as a branch of philosophy.  Since the main purpose of the poem is to discuss religion (cosmology and the existence of a God), how we will know what the future holds (epistemology), and what it means for religion to exist without a consistent meaning (ontology), this poem is very concerned with and shaped by metaphysics.  Philosophical metaphysics is essentially about the philosophy of being.  This branch of philosophy is concerned with the matter of existence, what it means to exist, the existence of a God and how we exist within the world.  

At the beginning of the poem Church Going, it is arguable that the narrator has nihilistic qualities.  He cannot seem to find meaning in anything, and though he is desperately searching for it, he cannot help but fixate on the pointlessness of pretending that the church is meaningful when it is not.  It almost bothers him that people are trying to search for meaning when there might not be any, even though he is, too.  He speaks of the “last” person that will know the true meaning of the church after it has all fallen apart and there is nothing left:  “Or will he be my representative,/ Bored, uninformed, knowing the ghostly silt/ Dispersed, yet tending to this cross of ground” (Larkin, 45-47).  Even though he recognizes his own apathy, he describes this “last” person as chasing after something that has already left him behind.  This becomes obvious upon his usage of the word “ghostly silt”.  He refers to religion and the church as a field, so in saying this, he is essentially stating that the place in which religion is planted (the hearts of the people) are ghosts already.  So at this point, what is the purpose of continuing to tend to the ground?  Religion is purposeless without meaningful believers.

The subject originally starts off to having nihilistic views of meaninglessness, but by the end, he has an epiphany.  Even though things seemingly die, like religion or the church, the meaning that it gives to others will never die, and therefore, it never really dies.  This character has to go on a journey, both within his mind and about a certain space to realize these things.  The piece requires that the subject interact directly and indirectly with the things that he believes have died.   The subject of Church Going needs to interact directly with the church, texts, and donate money in order to realize the purpose it still has within the individuals that attend it.

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 find meaning in anything if one does not have a strong foundation of faith or hope on which to build a fulfilled life.  Nihilism in this poem is almost like an illness that has plagued the narrator and he searches within the church to find a cure.  Luckily, he finds what he was looking for.  Even though the meaning that he comes upon is not exactly what he expected, it still creates hope.

Metaphysics affects the narrator’s 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 shaped people’s whole understanding of the universe and its function, so if someone based their belief system upon this, and then they began to think that it would all come tumbling down, this would shake their whole understanding of essentially everything.  It is not obvious whether the narrator used to be a believer in religion before the time that the poem takes place, but he does associate a source of direction and stability with religion, which is why he seeks out of the church of all places to fill the void within himself.  The lack of ontological beliefs can be just as powerful as having ontological beliefs in this poem because the lack thereof leads the narrator on an expedition of that most people might not even think to venture on.  A large takeaway from the poem in my opinion is that one cannot simply go through life without standing for something, and having nothing to believe in.  The narrator believes in almost nothing to start off with and this is possibly the most depressed and dissatisfied he is in the entire poem.  Church Going teaches us that it does not necessarily matter what beliefs we have as long as we do have beliefs.  The different branches of metaphysics provide a structure for which to shape our ideas and what to look for when we feel as though our understanding of the world around us does not have a firm foundation.

This idea is supported by several other essays and articles.  For example, in Borzova’s article, he explains that sometimes the belief in a God is necessary for the proper function of society.  This makes sense because a belief in a God is one of the strongest ways to unite a people throughout history.  Religion is the basis for many people’s hope, understanding of reality, and will to live.  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?

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.  

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.

With the literary movement, writers used their writing almost as a way to meditate on difficult thoughts about the sciences, philosophy, and politics, using it as a medium for intellectual thought.  Metaphysics proposes some very important questions that relate to being such as whether or not a superior being exists, what it means to exist, and the importance of those things that exist.  Even if writing did not take place within the seventeenth century, there is still a lot of writing that reflects metaphysical ideas throughout history since the time of the original metaphysical writers.  A good example of this type of writing is that of James Joyce, who has written The Dead.  In this story, Joyce describes a character named Gabriel, a man who is seemingly concerned only with his class and the value that he holds, not that of others.  Because of his delusions about the importance and value that others hold, he mistakenly describes those that have passed away as no longer meaningful.  He believes that the dead no longer have an impact after the living.  Is this really true?

The rest of Joyce’s story addresses the value of others, especially the dead, and their effect on the world.  This is done through the humanization of others, and slightly through the dehumanization of the main character, an indirect way of showing that his views are flawed.  Though the story is told from Gabriel’s point of view, Joyce makes sure that he does not leave out the small detail that Gabriel considers assaulting his wife for a moment, but then decides not to upon the realization that it might be “brutal”.  Annoyed, but realizing he is not going to get what he wants, he begins listening to what his wife is saying.  She discusses how a song reminds her of a past lover that she had.    The lover, Michael Furey, had died for her, a sacrifice that Gabriel would never be able to give for her.  Gabriel looks out the window into the snow and thinks about what his wife has said.  After all of this time of Michael Furey being dead and she still mourns him; she still is affected by him even though he has left this though.  With this truth, the question arises about whether or not the dead ever really die.
