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I was following a post about Scientology here today and ended up following an investigative thread about L. Ron Hubbard and his alleged "religion." As far as I'm concerned, he was a hack, a third-rate SF writer with delusions of grandeur. In fact, I went to one of the Writers of the Future deals and they spent half of the night singing his praises. I've read his stuff. I was not particularly impressed.
But following this thread, I thought to myself--how hard could it be to start a religion? Or, at least, a Church? He managed it, and his whole rationale makes as much sense as... well, any other religion, I suppose. Okay, the pseudo-science is rather sickening--maybe faith is a better way to go than to invent a whole language of gibberish to attempt to justify the blatantly ridiculous. Thetans? The Bridge of Scientology? Xenu? Puh-leeze.
I'm agnostic. In fact, I really don't give a stainless steel rat's ass whether or not there's a God. I figure any supreme deity (or pantheon of deities) can take care of itself/themselves. To me, the most they could be is thought-forms, energy given existence by belief. As I'm married to a witch, and am friends with a lot of pagans, I use this line of reasoning to bring myself to some understanding of their belief systems.
But if I were to start a church, it wouldn't have a God. Not as most people understand it. I've been heavily influenced by Taoism--a philosophy that got me through some of the toughest times. Taoism, basically, is the notion that everything that is, and everything that happens, is "God." Or a reasonable facsimile thereof. God is not only All That Is, but Everything It Does. It is also part of the philosophy that wisdom is the ability to do the right thing by intuiting it, in effect following the flow of the universe.
Now, whether or not this is true or even possible is neither here nor there. The fact is that life, the interaction of events and persons on this planet, is a constantly shifting web of patterns, a weave of causality. The choices we make affect our lives and those of everyone around us. Awareness of cause and effect, and thinking critically about the potential outcomes of those choices, can mean the difference between sowing destruction or giving birth to greatness. All mysticism aside, all "you create your universe" new age stuff aside, this is a basic truth. Some of us are blessed with more choices than others. This is an obvious fact. Because of circumstances of birth and things beyond our control, some of us do not have options others might.
Thus, it's clear that the best way to seek to improve the lives of other people, and thus everyone around them, is by giving them as many options as possible--opening up the web of causality so they can reach farther than they might have otherwise. This is where education comes in. This is where health care comes in. People who are uneducated or ill have fewer choices. Some can actually be trapped by their circumstances with few options open to them. This benefits no one and, in fact, harms us all at a very basic level.
If I were to create a church, I would call it The Church of Humanity. It would not be about God, but about People. Teaching people to see the patterns of their lives, seeing how their choices can affect their existence on a day-to-day basis, how their choices affect others. How being civil, decent human beings can make not only their own world, but everyone's world, a better place.
I don't believe in Karma as most people understand it. My wife, for example, believes that karma from other lives can affect a person in THIS lifetime. I see reincarnation as a possibility, but I think that argument falls flat. Bad things happening to you because of decisions made in another lifetime makes as much sense to me as sending a person to eternal torment for a temporary act. It's fundamentally unjust. And as far as the rest, I've seen too many truly decent people get royally screwed, and too many bad people get away with anything short of murder (and sometimes even that).
So karma... not really buying it.
HOWEVER, the fact is that if you're a asshole(I think most religions' basic tenants boil down to "Don't be a asshole," once you get all the dogma and crap out of the way), you affect the lives of those around you in generally negative ways. That means that for every action you take that screws someone, you have created the circumstances in which if given the opportunity, that person will happily screw you back. On the other hand, if you treat everyone with common decency and compassion, you usually receive the same in return. This isn't mysticism, this is human nature.
Thus I believe that being a better person makes for a better world, even if it's in a small circle around oneself. And seeking to aid others in discovering the paths to a better self, a more joyous life, is an act of great generosity of spirit.
Again, it's all about choices. Making the choices that help the most people, or, at minimum, harm the least people. (Sometimes that's the way it shakes out). But even being civil and decent doesn't mean being a doormat and taking whatever someone else wants to throw at you. You don't have to put up with assholes. In fact, one of the best things you can do for an asshole is teach them that not everyone can be rolled over, that there's a limit to what they can get away with. Besides, no one respects a doormat. Sometimes putting a bully or asshole in his or her place is the thing that most needs to be done, for the good of all involved.
So here you have it--a "religion" without mysticism, a church without dogma. Or, at least, the bare bones of an idea for one.
To be honest, my own personal belief system only has one mystical underpinning; the idea that humanity, sentience, exists for a purpose. I don't know why I believe that, really, but I do. Despite all of the stupid, fucked up shit we have done, there is a core of true decency within us--a core that leads us to argue against such things as torture, war, persecution, and for such things as equal rights and freedom of choice. We have the potential to be so much more than we are. And maybe someday, somehow, we will be.
Either way, Humanity Abides.
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