The metacosm (from the Greek metá, “beyond,” and kósmos, “world,” “order”) designates that which transcends the cosmos without being external to it as a separate reality. It refers to the supra-cosmic order, that is, to the spiritual, intelligible, or divine principles from which the world proceeds and in which it participates. The metacosm is thus the beyond of the cosmos, not in a spatial sense, but in an ontological and metaphysical one.

More specifically

The notion of the metacosm arises whenever it becomes necessary to distinguish the manifested world from the principial realities that ground it. If the cosmos designates the ordered totality of created or manifested realities, the metacosm designates the order of first causes, archetypes, intelligibles, or spiritual realities upon which the cosmos depends.

In Plato, this distinction is reflected in the relationship between the sensible world and the intelligible world. The visible cosmos possesses neither its origin nor its reason for being within itself; it participates in eternal realities that transcend it. The Ideas may thus be understood as belonging to a metacosmic order of which the sensible world constitutes an image.

Neoplatonism deepens this perspective by describing a hierarchy of realities at whose summit stands the One, the absolute principle beyond every determinate being. The Intellect (Nous) and the intelligible realities likewise belong to this superior order, which transcends the sensible world while grounding it.

In the Christian tradition, the metacosm corresponds above all to the divine order. God does not belong to the cosmos as one of its elements, however supreme; He is its Creator and Principle. The angels, heavenly realities, and eternal truths likewise participate, each according to its mode, in this metacosmic order. The visible world therefore constitutes only one degree of reality within a much vaster creation.

From a metaphysical perspective, the metacosm should not be conceived as “another world” located somewhere beyond the physical universe. Rather, it designates a dimension of depth within reality itself. Metacosmic principles are present to the cosmos as its causes, models, and ends, without being contained within it or limited by it.

This notion makes it possible to move beyond the alternative between a materialism that reduces reality to the sensible world and a dualism that radically separates the spiritual from the cosmic. The cosmos participates in the metacosm without being identical to it; the metacosm manifests itself in the cosmos without being exhausted by it. Between the two there exists a relation of participation, dependence, and analogy.

The doctrine of symbolism plays a central role here. If the cosmos is symbolic, it is precisely because it refers to a metacosmic order that confers intelligibility upon it. Visible realities are signs of deeper invisible realities. The world thus appears as a theophany, that is, as a manifestation of principles that transcend it.

The metacosm therefore constitutes the properly metaphysical horizon of reality. It designates the order of causes, archetypes, intelligibles, and ultimately of the Principle itself. Without it, the cosmos remains unintelligible; through it, the cosmos recovers its meaning and purpose.

Further reading

  • Plato, Timaeus;
  • Plato, Republic, VI–VII;
  • Plotinus, Enneads;
  • Proclus, Elements of Theology;
  • Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names;
  • Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I, qq. 44–47;
  • René Guénon, The Multiple States of Being;
  • Jean Borella, The Crisis of Religious Symbolism (La crise du symbolisme religieux);
  • Jean Borella, Symbolism and Reality (Symbolisme et Réalité);
  • Bruno Bérard, Métaphysique du paradoxe;
  • Bruno Bérard, Metaphysics for Everyone, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2021 (It. trans. Sui sentieri della metafisica; Sp. trans. ¿Qué es la metafísica?; Ger. trans. Was ist Metaphysik? Zwischen Ambition und Wirklichkeit).

Terminological note: The term metacosm is far less common in the history of philosophy than macrocosm or microcosm. Nevertheless, it is useful for designating, within a metaphysical context, the supra-cosmic order of principles, intelligibles, or divine realities, particularly in certain contemporary authors such as Jean Borella and in traditional interpretations of cosmic symbolism.