| ECOLOGY | SOCIOGRAMS | PLACES | IDENTITY | INTIMACIES |
| VIOLENCE | DEATH | GODS | WORLD |
There is no god but good.
There is no good but truth.
There is no truth but practice.
There is no practice but will.
There is no will but being.
There is no being but hope.
There is no hope but wonder.
God is wonder.
To wonder makes one hope.
And hope gives one being.
And being prods the will.
While will inspires practice.
And practice extrudes the truth.
And truth implies what is good.
And who is good has god.
When the Earth was one and broke apart
and waters of the sky and land fell
steeply into molten crude basements,
a new race gaped and shrilled the calls
of a mind created mad.
"Here I am, now, what shall I do,
ought I kill myself and my kind,
or devise and rule a novel world,
there to persist until the day
when all will be well again,
as it was on days unremembered,
yet still proved, in the honest faces
of beasts, intimidated and tamed,
while we rave fearful, hence feared,
their masters, served by gods."
Not so long ago it was, figured
by the memorial generations
of him and her, the sixty years of
tales from old to young, two hundred
times from then to nowadays.
A story ten-score told, false for want
and dread of the truth, so what can I,
untrusting the favors of any god
of bloody sagas, culling hard science
that leaks vile gall for kernels of fact,
but digging out rot, say?
To think of gods is only human
I've yet to see the gods of the beasts
though I've seen many a beast worthy of such.
Once it was discovered that homo
was so smart that gods must therefore
not exist, they became furthermore expendable.
But whoever gods were or are and
if they are, why do they refuse
to go away? Just to make an obvious point
about the human order?
How vain of them.
The eagle is nesting
the world's a bower of clover
the Pacific spreads pacifically
Atlantis shines from its placid bed.
No one goes questing
to see what metamorphoses;
our god honorifically reposes,
time has come to say
you love me and
I love you.
Hope not.
The universe is dying down,
suicided Wiener said.
It is entropic
and do not fret
my fret is madness
from my crazy home,
I know better and
tell you so.
Relax and die
gracefully with the world.
However,
probability is mute on the point,
and so is material experience.
So is immaterial experience,
which goes unregistered
by our few weak senses.
A vision has more heat
than the xN atoms burnt
meanwhile by the Sun.
Every brain has a trillion images.
And gods are myriad,
And are created all the time.
(in 79 Verses)
I.
Knowledge
1.
When was the universe created?
The world has always existed, in some of
its infinitely possible manifestations,
and is being created in some others today,
and so it will go on and on.
2.
How long will this Earth endure?
The Earth will endure
for inestimable time,
depending upon now unpredictable
natural, divine, even human events.
3.
How much can a person know about the world?
One can know more
than one can learn,
yet infinitely less
than all existence.
4.
Can one know oneself?
One can know oneself
within the limits of one's abilities
to know oneself.
5.
Are the limits of these abilities known and achievable?
The limits of the abilities to know oneself
are unknown,
but more extensive
than the abilities that anyone has shown.
6.
What should a person know of oneself?
One should appreciate
one's own operative complex
of self-controls.
7.
Does a person have free will?
One acts in accordance with
one's nature and circumstances;
free will as action in ignorance
of one's nature and circumstances
can exist, but is not characteristic of
an autonomous rational person.
8.
What is known absolutely?
Nothing that matters.
The absolute should be ignored,
because its main function
is to promote absolute fear.
9.
What is absolutely clear?
Nothing, and
tolerance of ambiguity
should be a religious principle,
both to combat fear
and to express the supernatural.
10.
What is science?
Science may be usefully defined
as the method of choosing the largest chance
of certainty in solving problems
whose conditions and objectives are known.
11.
How should science relate to religion?
Science should solve an increasing number of
the indefinitely large number of problems of religion,
while religion expresses some of
the directives and limits of science.
12.
How should we express our relation to the cosmos?
We should relate to the cosmos
by understanding it and celebrating it.
II.
Morals
13.
What needs has one?
One's needs are fearlessly
to subsist decently,
to experience genially,
and to be treated justly.
14.
What duties has one?
One's duties are to help others
to be fearless,
to subsist decently,
to genially experience life,
and to be justly treated.
15.
Who is divine among people?
Whoever studies
and expresses
the divine
is divine.
16.
What differences exist between means and ends?
A means is a process of action
that contributes to
a more general process of action;
it is rational according to how it works;
it is deemed good or bad in its own effects,
and therefore contributes more or less
good or bad to the end process.
17.
Is good rewarded?
Insofar as
the religious and secular realms are consonant,
good action is rewarded in both;
the rewards of religion
would be in its practice
and in a health of character that it fosters.
18.
Should evil be punished?
Evil should be compensated for,
personally and socially,
not punished;
it should be treated as a problem of
coping with natural forces.
19.
Do right and wrong belong in the realm of the gods?
Yes, they belong where
the human and divine realms interact.
20.
Can a person distinguish right and wrong?
Yes, by exercising himself
in the fringe-realm of the supernatural
where the mundane
fashions its judgements.
21.
What is right or wrong?
Right is a determination that
the consequences of an action
are consistent with
the divine aspect of a person.
22.
By what rules should a person act?
A person should act
by the rules of one's nature
adjusted to the related ordinances of
a consensus of like-minded others.
23.
How should a person behave toward oneself?
One should accomodate consistently one’s divine and mundane character.
24.
How should a person behave towards others?
One should act towards others as to
a differently shaped development of oneself,
hence part of oneself,
hence considerately,
hence helpfully.
25.
How should a person behave towards plants and animals?
One should behave towards plants and animals
as toward others,
while recognizing in them an acute differentiation
from oneself
in the tragic divine need of humans
to derive instinctive gratification
from their exploitation.
26.
How should a person behave toward natural objects?
As towards animals and plants,
in descending series of
their divinity.
27.
How should a person behave toward the supernatural?
One should practice
an understanding
of its potential.
28.
What morality is devoid of religious significance?
All morality has religious significance.
29.
What morality should be religiously and politically promoted?
Morality should be promoted which
comes from a constitution that
is based upon consensus and
offering procedures that
(among other effects)
tend to establish the dominion of
divinity in humans.
30.
Is a person without religion bound to be wrong and evil?
His views are narrow and
he may not understand
his own religiousness, but
his actions may neither err
nor have bad consequences.
31.
What function does a person serve in the world?
One engages in
and represents
universal manifestations.
III.
The Supernatural and Divine
32.
Is there a supernatural part of the world?
What one cannot perceive and
what one cannot understand, even
if he learns something about it,
is the supernatural.
33.
Is the supernatural divine?
The supernatural is divine
insofar as it is meaningfully integrated
into human mentation, but
divinity implies no superiority over
the pragmatically knowable.
34.
What is divine on Earth?
The divine on Earth
is a uniquely human way of
looking upon oneself and
the world.
35.
How does one worship the divine?
The rituals for
worshipping the divine are
whatever exercises are useful to achieve it.
36.
What is sacred?
Everything
viewed in its supernatural
and divine manifestations
is sacred.
37.
What is faith?
Faith is positive morale,
a conviction of meaningfulness about
what one is thinking and doing, which
when related to the divine is
religious faith.
38.
What is revelation?
Revelation is the recognition
induced by an internal
or external stimulus, of
an important pattern to existence,
not previously experienced, to which,
if a divine element is present,
the term "religious" can be attached.
39.
What is discovery?
Discovery is a revelation
purposefully brought about,
whose applications are readily apparent and
available to others.
40.
What should authority be?
Authority should be the legitimate power of
one person over another,
which may be religious;
it should receive its legitimacy
by the consensus of those ruled and
should lose its legitimacy
to the extent to which
it is physically and mentally coercive.
41.
How should we behave towards the sacred?
As toward the mundane, although,
as with mundane varieties,
we should act toward the sacred
appropriately
in accord with its distinctions.
42.
How much of our energies should be given to the divine?
As much as necessary to receive
divine energies in return,
from ourselves,
others,
the world and
gods.
43.
What is divine energy?
Divine energy is the morale that comes from
developing relations with the supernatural.
44.
Is there a sacred community?
Yes, the community of those whose
understanding of the divine
is similar in forms,
scope, and
intensity.
45.
Will the cosmos ever be divine?
The theotropic universe
will ultimately dominate
the entropic universe.
46.
Is the divine also god?
Yes, insofar as
its mental integration functions as
a presentation of the human mind,
the divine is godly.
47.
To what futures should a person relate?
A person chooses and lives partially in
whatever futures one wants and is
capable of participating in,
except that upon death
one's future is resolved into
the cosmos
and reconstructed
beyond personal minding and control.
IV.
Gods
48.
Is it proper to expect gods?
It is proper to expect gods as
it is proper to expect enlightenment.
49.
What is a god?
A god is a generalized and immanent being,
manifesting itself immaterially and through
a demonstrable
external cosmic spirit,
operating in the human mind as
the repository of the supernatural.
50.
Is god material existence?
All material is effective:
insofar as the divine is effective existence, and
existence is all material,
the divine is material and
so is god.
51.
Where is god?
The god is wherever it can be and
acts so as to be.
52.
Is there one god or many?
There are both one and many gods,
depending upon how
the mind assembles the divine facets
in its behavior.
53.
Do gods behave like humans?
Yes, but only as
the human in its universal and
supernatural aspects.
54.
How many gods exist?
We have not discovered how many,
if any,
gods exist on Earth, while
in the universe
myriad gods exist.
55.
What proofs do we have that there exists a supernatural, a divine, and a god?
That divine beings exist is known logically
and by the highly improbable evidence of existence itself
which must in the innumerable worlds
by infinite compounding of our achievements
reach the point where divinities
operate and expand in their own ways.
56.
Do all gods have the same traits and behavior?
Traits and behavior are limited
ideas and actions to which
the gods cannot be bound.
57.
Where is god in relation to the human?
The god is where
the human mind is affected by
the supernatural and the divine, or
may ultimately be in conscious contact with it.
58.
How is a person related to god?
Personally, as to
an aspect of oneself,
socially, as to
a joint aspect of oneself and others.
59.
Does a person elect god?
A person chooses god but
his election is jointly with others
to the extent that the gods of others
permit a joint aspect of oneself and others.
60.
Can I will against gods?
One can will against gods
entropically for self or
universally,
including reductionism to
greater instinctive animality.
61.
Can all historical gods be attributed to catastrophes and other natural causes?
All historical gods are
in at least some of their manifestations
catastrophic.
62.
Are gods historical?
Historical gods have been the outcome of
persons interacting with events, and,
though probably non-existent,
persist in some of their earlier manifestations,
so that all are partly gone and
partly present.
63.
Should a person obey historical gods in their original ascribed apparitions?
The gods of the past are to be treated as
hypothetical models
to avoid and imitate as
they reflect upon the present and future and
satisfy today's conditions of existence.
64.
Are the gods rational and welcome?
Insofar as they are theotropic
rather than entropic,
the gods are rational and welcome, and
are to be preferred.
V.
Religion
65.
Can society hold together without religion?
Society cannot be conceived
without religion and therefore
cannot hold itself together
without it.
66.
Should two persons have the same religion?
No two persons can have
nor should have the same religion;
all religion is therefore partly personal.
67.
How are persons united by religion?
Persons sharing significant religious perspectives
identify with each other and
constitute a church
if they recognize their mutual identity.
68.
How should we regard existing religions?
We should regard existing religions as
in large part historically invalidated
in terms of the ongoing and future
historical process of religion, and
encourage their voluntary assimilation and development into
current standards of validation.
69.
Should there be priests?
Priesthood as religious leadership
must exist and should be
practiced ideally by all
when they can and,
by the fewest possible full time forever.
70.
What gifts should religion bring?
Religion should bring joy of thought,
wonderful awe,
a divine community, and
freedom from fear.
71.
What gifts should be made to religion?
One should give to others by
devotion,
rituals, and
cooperation
the intelligence afforded by religion.
72.
What does religion offer to human suffering of body and mind?
Religion offers to the suffering body and mind
the knowledge of self,
morale,
scientific pragmatic support, and
a cosmic sense of proportion.
73.
What symbols should be sacred?
Symbols that retain the least historical implications and
represent major points of this catechism
should be created and promoted and
become subjects of admiration and stimulation;
present sacred symbols should be reduced
in significance and intensity.
74.
What are sacred scriptures?
All graphic and written material
that was ever sacred
is still sacred and
worthy of wonder and study, but
at a reduced level of psychic investment, while
new contributions intended as sacred scriptures
should be no more sacred than
any other sacrally intended
or scientific or literary work
for which merit is claimed.
75.
Should our rites be simple or elaborate?
Rituals should be as elaborate as
necessary to learn the purpose of the ritual, as
stressed as necessary to enjoy its reassurances, as
simple as the available energies would afford, and should be
productive in other goods aesthetically and otherwise.
76.
What is the educative task of religion?
Religion should educate people
theotropically,
which is the constructive life force.
77.
What is the task of politics?
The task of politics is the same as religion
morally, but
politics contends largely with the pragmatic problems
issuing from theotropism.
78.
To what extent should we be bound by our religion?
We should be bound to our religion
to the extent and so long as
it helps us fulfill our obligations
to ourselves and the world.
79.
How long will it be until humanity becomes religious?
Mankind will become religious when
it discovers the existence of gods
on experiential principles
without delusion.
****************************************************
A UNIVERSAL CATECHISM
(a note on the above work)
A catechism can summarize the fundamental facts and doctrines of religion from our perspective. The word "catechism", which now broadly means an elementary instruction manual in a given field, has for seventeen hundred years meant, more precisely, exercises for instructing Christian neophytes. Before the word achieved popularity in its Latinized Greek form, it may have come from the combined words "tying down", connoting a binding divine covenant. Less religiously, it recalls a metaphorical American usage of the same words, as when we "tie down" a matter so as to put it in form for easy handling. Our catechism here intends to tie down in a well-known format the basic facts and doctrines of religion deriving from our study.
Setting forth a catechism exposes to a pitiless light our beliefs concerning religion. The onus of proselytism comes with it, for a catechism must tell people what they should believe. There are health and strength in such an exercise, quite aside from its validity.
Terming a catachism "universal" seems a contradiction in terms, at least sociologically, inasmuch as many a fractionating sect has developed a new catechism for neophytes smaller in number than used the catechism of their progenitors. At the same time, practically all catachisms present assertions believed to hold universal validity, even if believed in and taught to a very few, like this one.
step aboard the star light
bound for outer space
fasten tight your mind set
lest it fly away
think of all the gods there
each one belching truths
fix upon a goddess,
bright hemispheres of cream.
Coming upon the Switzerman dwelling
in his swamp actually the oceanic womb
of Mother Earth, Grüss Gott
asked him for pity's sake,
wouldn't he wish himself a better world,
Oh, yes, My Lord, I would, elevation!
Higher up to live, mountains, even Alps,
and voila' the sweet-pastured slopes
rose with the sun of the next day.
He roamed the greens among the flowers
hand-clasping his Swisser-womankind,
but grew thin and hence doleful,
such that even God could so note from afar.
With nothing but water, he was heard to say,
I cannot put on weight, and forthwith the Lord
appeared saying you need worry no more, for
two wishes more you have, is it a cow you want?
A cow? I suppose so, yes indeed, and oozing
squirting milk soon fattened the Swiss and
made them so contented as to stop wishing,
but God, so impressed by their land and work,
now came a third time and put the question almost
sternly, think now your last wish for all the world,
and while you ponder, pour me some creamy milk to
drink on this warm if pleasant day.
As he drank, the eyes of the Swisser brightly
watched, so when God had drunk and put down his cup
and said Well, what will it be, whatever you wish,
but I have a problem with Bengladesh this day,
the Swiss was inspired to say, yes, my Lord,
one franc-fifty for the milk, if you please,
and could well imagine now the universe as complete,
explaining to all why God has not been visiting
Switzerland of late, while some claim that
the Lord of Hosts or someone resembling him
has been observably -- through the eventually
repaired Hubble telescope -- operative in
a world a safe distance in light years away.
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