How is metaphysics distinct from other areas of knowledge? How is it distinct from other kinds of knowing? What specifically!
Meta-physics is after-physics.
Physics is the study of matter, of “physis”.
Meta-physics is, after the facts of physics are given, further contemplation.
For example, physics has as one concept “infinity.” This is a meta-physical construct, as infinity is never observable.
Another use of metaphysics is “why is there something rather than nothing” type questions, including questions about God. (God as creator is more likely, than eternal matter, which has been ruled out for matter as we know it.)
Metaphysics is also concerned with “Is there matter, or are there only mental entities?” (Entity = anything real.)
Metaphysics is concerned with questions which arise upon contemplating facts of physics (broadly taken to include all science).
“A Philosophy of Universality” and “Hope for the World: Spiritual Galvanoplasty,” O. M. Aivanhov, may be interesting.
“The Path of the Higher Self,” Mark Prophet, also discusses metaphysical issues in a general-reader way.

It is abstract thought.
It isn’t a form of knowledge at all.
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