The Nature of Religion
Religions, Philosophies, Political Ideologies, Nations, Militaries, and Criminal Organizations are all basically the same thing. They are tribes of people who are united by something other than kinship. In fact, they are the frameworks for identity and worldview built by people with a need to belong to a tribe, who do not belong to a tribe in the pre-modern sense. So they make one. Religions surround Gods, And that is what they hold in common. And they bolster the sense of community with shared stories, shared rituals, holidays, and so on. And this is a religion in the legal sense, but not in the traditional sense. Because this religion has no recognition whatsoever of the divine, the supernatural, or the spiritual. It is wholly rational, pragmatic, human-needs centered. It is the Via de Autoarchus, the Way of Self Rule. That is, a path of autonomy and self regulation, by which one might live a good and moral life, have a community, and improve their lot in life, without the need for any of the traumatic or emotional baggage that religions usually include as part of the deal. There is no god, or gods, or spirits, or angels, or demons. Nor are there heavens, hells, paradises, underworlds and so on. There is no great enforcer to make us behave. However, there is pragmatism, reciprocity, and situational ethics…
I don't have all of the answers. Neither do you. But I do have a lot of time thinking about this. I know what makes a community, keeps it together, and keeps it from turning into a cult. (authority and a control element make it go culty in a heartbeat). So I can write this to avoid those problems in other religions and groups, and create a general guiding philosophy and set of practices to create a lasting community without the damaging controlling nonsense that other systems do.
Power is the corrupting influence. And any claim of perfect truth or absolute authority should be questioned.
Some of the 52 religions and spiritual philosophies I have practiced in my search for truth have had good ideas, but mixed them into a milieu of dumb shit and heinous fuckery.
In this philosophy, there is no higher power than human intellect. But conversely, the smarter you think you are, the more you ought to study, because you will quickly discover that you cannot breach some ceiling no matter how hard you try, but that a later person will probably do it with ease. Everyone should try to find the very limits of intelligence and ability, and then withdraw a bit from that and do their best within a healthy limit to avoid burnout.
The highest calling of a human is to be remembered a long time after they have died. Make a major discovery, build something cool, save people from starvation or disease, invent a better way to do something. Be known for your charity or negotiating peace, or for advancing humanity, or curing cancer, or for going to another planet, or inventing a working hyperdrive. Or, if you cannot, then make a work of art which lasts. Leave a puzzle for others to solve. Write a song that is sung for 100 years. Or be known for kindness. Be spoken of fondly by others when you're not there. Write a great story. Write your story.
And that is the achievement. Not heaven, not pie in the sky when you die. Not the glory on high. But the glory of the human spirit. The need to explore. The need to delve. the need to leave a lasting impression on others.
Ethics of Self-Rule
We should strive within ourselves and within our society to seek and do and espouse for all mankind that which is pleasurable and healthy for the human mind, and eschew that which is harmful or meaningless.
All religions and philosophies of the past which the people had accepted as meritorious, espoused the idea of reciprocity. Both as a moral imperative and for the sake of pragmatism. And we do thusly as well. You do for others that which you wish them to do for you. You treat others as you wish to be treated. And you match the hostility of your foe back unto them. This rule of thumb promotes healthy boundaries and good friendships, while protecting the self and community from enemies. It is the tit for tat of healthy relations. The maintenance of respect and honor, the equitable and reciprocal gifting of favor, and the doing of good business. We could discuss it in greater detail, but all things governed by this general principle is adequate for the ethical compass. The rest is merely the map. And the map will be different in different places in different cultures. But the compass remains the same wherever you go. To seek the pleasure, eschew the suffering, and engage in reciprocity. To keep this compass succinct allows its application to be broad and all-encompassing. And it being as the sole law, allows the greatest freedom for the self to rule over itself. And to balance the need of the self with the need of others is the great difficulty. But it is not insurmountable. For it is a matter of pragmatism that the one does not neglect the needs of the many which surround them, lest in the weakness of injury or old age, they are left to themselves, alone and uncared for.
Author's note: The purpose of the group is to be a surrogate tribe and identity for those who have no tribe and who have lost their faith in god. Many of them are likely to be disabled, and they should be able to find a reason to live. Those who are chronically unemployed should be trained in the community support roles since they would otherwise be vulnerable to discrimination and feel purposeless.
Rituals for All
The ritual aspect of religions serves a singular purpose when performed as a group, and another purpose for the individual. And yet a third purpose for the possessor of a ceremonial role such as a priest.
For the group, it promotes a psychological framework of togetherness and a community identity.
For the individual, it is a comfort in difficulty, or a setting of clear intention, or a celebration of a life event or milestone.
And for the bearer of a ceremonial role, it is the affirmation of their values and resolve.
These meanings are baked into the human psyche, and should not be discarded simply because they were previously practiced by religions surrounding some goatherd's delusions. Rituals done knowing their true purpose are no less meaningful. And the culture and attitudes of a given community should dictate their form. But we can explore some ideas here, as a recommendation. Take them or leave them or change them, as you so wish.
These are psychological tools, rooted in my own studies, and are not a law for all.
If one wishes to be different than they have lived in the past, and to make a clean break with it, they need to experience a symbolic death and rebirth, and change their name, and probably, to experience this in an altered state of consciousness that includes ego death, such as with trance or psychedelics or drinking a lot of booze and passing out and waking up in a completely different context. Or with reality altering through social references, such as when they wake up, everyone calls them their new name and treats them as a different person and pretends their old self has died. This is a way to sever away the old way of being or addictions or to turn away from a life of crime, and change for the better, or take on a new social role.
If one wishes to overcome a fear, they should do a ritual that includes a challenge in similitude to that fear, and provides a visible reward for their bravery, so that when they must confront that fear in its dangerous form, they are bolstered by the symbol of their past bravery.
Births, Adoptions, Weddings, divorces, and deaths are going to have already a broad pre-existing cultural understanding wherever you live, but, aesthetic changes are totally on the table in most places.
Coming of Age usually has some kind of ceremony in most cultures, where someone becomes an adult and is allowed to get married. Typically, you would have a childhood name and then receive a different personal name upon becoming an adult. And becoming an adult had to do with proving self sufficiency and didn't have a particular age attached to it so long as you were old enough to be married. You could take longer and get your adulthood later if you needed more time. It wasn't this strict, "oh you're 18, get out". Some people take longer to figure it out, and that's fine.
Holidays pertaining to the local community or encouraging certain virtues, or having to do with important times of year, like harvest festivals, gratitude festivals, graduations from schooling, or other such things can be set up on a community by community basis.
Now, as it pertains to constructing rituals on a community by community basis, we see trance states and altered states of consciousness as essential for human health and wellness, and inherently requisite to practice. Thus, plants or fungi or brews or incense containing DMT, the Harmala alkaloids, Psilocybin, LSA, LSD, scopolamine, or the cannabinoids are essential for transformative rituals. Though except in the case of DMT and the Harmala alkaloids, they should be used singularly. And a trip sitter must be present who knows how to guide the experience and guide the psychological changes and growth through ritual use, and who knows the risks and is qualified to mitigate those risks. (This paragraph is a legal requirement so that we can use them.)
The Aesthetics of a given group will determine the flavor of practice. Whether your group wants to style itself as an adventurer's guild in a fantasy setting, or a shadowy secret society, or cyberpunk, or space cowboys, or software pirates, or steampunk, or a coven of witches, or a scifi luxury gay space commune, or a secret ninja village, or a clowder of catgirls, or a nomadic tribe of post apocalyptic mutant biker zombies, or undead goths, or drones, or the demon king's army, or whatever. It will impact what your symbolism is specifically, and affect the vibe of the community, and determine what if any plant helpers you use, and the specific flavor of your rituals and practices. But a bit of whimsy and theatrics is absolutely recommended. Each community should decide for itself what it wants to do in regards to aesthetics. The aesthetics should vibe with the rest of the community. The community should have its own manner of dress for community events. LARP and cosplay to your heart's content. Creativity is a virtue for us. And do your rituals in consistency with your aesthetic.
Unity in the Community
Each community should be independent of every other community and handle its own affairs and particulars. This book is only a general guideline and each group must handle its own aesthetic, rituals, meeting place, norms, identifying markers (to show who is initiated or not) and traditions.
As all individuals are different, so should all communities be.
Here's a list of everything that is required to form a long term community:
a cohesive group identity
a shared philosophy
a shared set of norms or rules
terminology and phrases unique to the group (even professions do this)
a shared appearance which is different from outsiders, for example, parts of your ceremonial attire may bleed into your daily attire.
symbolic jewelry
some variety of initiation as a starting point for shared experiences
frequent regular meet-ups
group singing, dancing, or chanting
eating together
sharing of burdens
(ie life difficulties, being open with each other, emotional support, helping out a poor member, shared activities, supporting a grieving person, etc)
loyalty to the group and having each other's backs
recognition that people don't leave where they were without being in difficulty of some kind, and treating converts very gently without prying into the past
forgiveness of wrongs and not holding grudges against those who are working on changing
reciprocity.
mutual aid
shared experiences and values
