Here I will describe four versions of metaphysics dealing with reality as we know it to be. The conscious self is the common sense point of view. Since the self has conscious choices, by analogy the self can assume others also have those same conscious choices. This leads to the conclusion that the mind and body interact, but what is the means of this interaction? The conscious self could be seen as a ghost in the machine, like the novel residing within the computer. This point of view has all action and reaction starting from inside the conscious self.
Materialism on the other hand starts with the assumption that only matter is real, thus everything that exists is either matter or entirely dependent upon it for existence. The universe is really 'out there' and can be verified and quanitized. Materialism denies the existence of any causal agency as the physical world is said to be causally closed. Thus there can be no 'self' which acts upon the body, rather all functions occur within material states of the brain. Everything starts outside and the 'self' merely runs parallel to reality without affecting it.
A third type of metaphysics is called the creative universe. It can be seen as a web of conscious selves tied together in an impossibly complex arrangement whereby a hierarchy of awareness is created, with human beings on the top rung of an evolutionary chain supported by all the other lower levels of awareness. This metaphysical position admits both a causal nature of the self and an inseparable role played by the environment the self happens to be in, but denies any overall creative force operating within the universe. Evolution takes place blindly and without goals, relying on chance and luck rather than any set direction.
The fourth metaphysics, transcendent reality, means that the universe has a cause and purpose, but only if it were created by a conscious agent which transcends it. Unlike the universe, this transcendental consciousness would not be developing towards a goal, it would be its own goal. The universe would be complete in itself. The more or less limited wholeness of organisms at all levels of complexity would be mirrors of the transcendental consciousness that they are ultimately derived from. This transcendental consciousness could be said to be the weaver of our reality as well as reality itself.