The Last Religion
From Deobald
Contents |
General
Given a premise that we are each our own God, the mind is not a lens, but a factory, through which we create all that we see and experience. Supposing this to be true, Hell only exists for those who believe in Hell and thus escape from Hell involves either disbelief or belief in method of escape. Once someone believes in a method of escape, said method must be relatively easy to achieve or they will fail. Do you know anyone who already lives in this world - a Hell-on-Earth they've created for themselves?
From Scratch
The objective: Create a religion from scratch. Design a set of rules which will forge the world around us, and ourselves, toward perfection. [A fun game for ages 8 and up.]
Accepted Rules, by a committee of chimps.
- Have an open mind.
- Be nice.
- Don't bitch.
Rejected Rules.
- Accept that you know very little of the world around you, and that such will always be the case.
- The body is only a vessel.
Traditional Religion Venn Diagram - The Turquoise Portion
Accepted Rules, by a committee of arcs.
- Be nice.
- Be humble.
- Don't hurt people.
- Help those who need helping.
- Just calm down, and we'll sort all this out.... dude.
- Rules can only be accepted, not rejected. Allow everyone else to believe what they wish believe.
Rejected Rules
- None, obviously. Perhaps the inverse of the above, though?
- Be mean.
- Hurt people.
- Ignore others plight.
- And so forth...
Perhaps not. Even though these things may seem rejectable, to reject their value is to disregard Accepted Rule #6. Tricky business.
By Extreme Circumstances
I was watching an entertaining video about the root of all evil and returned to a thought I often have: Aren't extreme circumstances often the cause of much faith, personal growth, and strength in people who leave us awe-struck? The thought had little to do with the video, so please do not hesitate to watch the video simply because you correctly identify the following as uneducated tripe.
But objectively unordinary circumstances are an interesting seed to change in behaviour.
Have you ever been raped? Have you ever raped someone? Could you? Have you ever had someone spit in your face under circumstances in which you have no control, no means of repercussion? Did it leave you angry and unsatisfied? Hateful? Have you ever had a belief? Has anyone ever changed that belief? Has anyone ever hurt you? Could you stop the pain? Could you do it instantly? Do you have the capacity to hurt them back? The will? Can you hurt yourself? - Do you? Have you ever been convinced life is not worth living? Have you ever been convinced it was again? Could you kill yourself? Could you kill someone else? Have you lived on the street? Have you lived with no possessions? Have you ever relinquished all control of yourself? Did you get it back? Who was the last person you met who was more important than anyone else for the duration of that encounter? When was the last time you convinced your body to do something it couldn't before? When was the last time you convinced your mind to do something it couldn't before? Do you differentiate the two?
If I owned a TV, I would spend weekends watching Discovery Channel. I love seeing men hammer themselves to a cross. I love seeing women hang from air balloons by 50 meat hooks in their flesh. I love wondering if I could do it.
The interesting thing about all of these, let's call them "activities", is that they need not be physical to impose their force on you or to achieve their prescribed result. They need to be physical to be real, but the issue of perception overrides this like it does everything else in our world. You know nothing of the world but what you perceive. Your mind is infinitely capable of altering that perception. Thus, you are perfectly capable of producing these scenarios in a lucid dream or in a moment of boredom over coffee with an acquaintance you can't yet engineer your way away from.
An entertaining exercise for you, but easier for your kids to try thanks to greenfield, openwater brains... Get them to give evil a shot first -- whatever that means to them. Once they're bored with that, try the next most ridiculous thing. Repeat until they've convincingly killed someone, flown across galaxies, and lived a life of poverty in their own minds. Serve dinner and get ready for some 6pm daily conversation that won't bore you to death.
