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The Magic of Reality
The Mystical Side of the Real World
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Is there a supernatural side to reality? Is there any such thing as magic? Do miracles occur? In the strictest sense of the definition of those words, no. No real magic, no real miracles. There is just science that we understand, and science that hopefully we will eventually understand, assuming that we stay on the Path of Knowledge.
Having said that, there's also a looser definition of magic and miracles that is in common use. It is a reflection of wonderment and amazement. It can refer to things that appear to be magical and mystical yet aren't. For example to me a cell phone is an almost magical device. I can voice command my phone to dial up people on the other side of the planet and talk to them over this little wireless box in my hand. Every time I fly in an airplane it amazes me that something so huge and heavy can fly through the air. The Tree of Knowledge amazes me. That the human race can come together and produce all of this stuff requiring an amazing amount of organization, and that we can act like a hive of bees without the common person having any idea that the very language of the thoughts in your brain, was invented by other people. To be that linked in to the group mindset, without any awareness of that, is miraculous to me.
What most people call Magic and Miracles are things and events that they can't explain.
Computers are almost magical to me. When you think about it, what is a microprocessor? It's imprinted silicon. It is a rock. We could say that we have developed the technology to make rocks think, and we wouldn't be entirely wrong. We are at a time when evolution has taken us to the point of self realization, and we can now choose what we will become. We are in an age of great wonderment, an age where reality is more amazing than it has ever been. Why would anyone want to give up reality for a fiction based existence?
So - for those of you hard core realists who might be cringing right now worried that the Church of Reality is going to go off the deep end, that's not going to happen. I'm not diluting reality by talking about miracles and magic in this context. I'm actually somewhat diluting the concept of magic and miracles themselves, because what most people call a miracle is just something they can't explain with science. Not that it's unexplainable, but from their perspective it is.
I think it's a miracle that no one had already come up with a Church of Reality until now.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, I knew that magicians used tricks to create illusions. Illusions that looked magical. At that time, it seemed that more adults believed in real magic. They may have known that magicians didn't have powers, but still believed that there were people and/or beings that do. There is still a lot of that today, but I do think that the number of realists have increased. Many people are still confused about the difference between the unexplained and the unexplainable. And sometimes it's fun to play with that misunderstanding and make supernatural claims just to get people to think about it. As always, thinking is a good thing and this will probably start some lively debate.
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Thinking about reality is like an anti-virus program for the mind. It clears out the bad information and replaces it with real information. Thinking about reality purifies the mind. Living "the lie" causes brain damage, not only by training your mind to rely on wrong information, but also by destroying mental processes. When the mind is full of lies you become unhealthy, mentally and physically. Life becomes confusing. Living the lie makes your mind less functional.
Reality heals the mind. It not only clears out the wrong information but it also regenerates your ability to think. When you live the lie you get used to believing in things that you subconsiously know aren't true. You get used to believing lies that other people tell. You get used to believing contradictory information. When you think about reality you learn how to be more discerning. You learn to know when someone is trying to bullshit you. Reality removes the leaches that are sucking your mind dry.
Fictional religion is like a computer virus, infecting your mind and sucking the life out of you like a leach.
A computer virus is a bad program that enters your computer. It changes the operating system and hides, so that you can't find it or remove it. The virus' mission is to make its priority your computer's main mission. It sucks up resources, it takes up memory, and it slows the system down. It saturates your connection to the web, sending out copies of itself in and attempt to convert other computers to the virus. It wants to take over and lets your computer function just enough so that you keep using it. Sometimes when the virus is done it destroys the computer and wipes out all your files.
Traditional Religion is like that. It takes over your mind and it sucks you dry. It takes away who you are and replaces you with a new person who is under its control. It makes you surrender your good judgement and replace it with what they call "faith", which is really a command to, "accept this bullshit as true and you are prohibited from thinking about it or questioning it." In fact - to question it means that you have sinned against God and you will lose eternal paradise for an eternity of Hell and damnation. They steal your very mind, and you live out your life in a world of fiction and lies. When you die, you don't get that eternal life that they promised but we know for a fact that you do get, eternal peace. So why spend your life waiting to die, to live? It won't happen after your gone. Do it now, live life, accomplish something. Let your name live on through possitive achievements. It seems logical then, to live your life in reality, not tip toe through life on fantasies of eternal life after death. It's just not going to happen in a physical sense. Your name and your influence and your genes will only live on in your accomplishments, through the stories, memories and genes of following generations.
Living the lie is slavery. They own you. They control you. They make you believe that you are living for something real but, it's just an illusion. You see this yourself in every other religion other than your own. They way you look at them - you are just like that. Your religion isn't any more real than all of the other religion that you don't believe in. Their religion is bullshit, and your religion is bullshit too.
"How do you know that?", you might ask. How do you know my religion isn't real? We in the Church of Reality believe in reality the way it really is. If your religion is reality then we will all convert to your religion. It's that simple, you prove it - we convert.
If your religion isn't reality, then you're just a slave to the cult mind. They control what you think. Reality gives you the freedom to be real.
When you start thinking about reality it starts to reconstruct your mind. It brings back who you are, and pushes aside who other people tell you that you are supposed to be. It lets you experience the real world the way it really is. It allows you to ask the Sacred Question, what is real? You can explore the universe with your mind. You breath in trillions of gas molecules (air), feel the reality all around you, right here on this spinning planet orbiting a star that is 93 million miles away. Reality is such a wondrous place.
Ask yourself about why you believe in what you believe in. Does your idea of God make any sense, really? Oh - but you're not supposed to think about that. Doubting is the unforgivable sin. Unless you suppress reasoning you will burn. If you test God or if you prove god is real then you lose faith because if you have faith then you don't need proof. But I ask you, "What does God have to hide? Is your God so weak that he can't stand up to scrutiny? Is he irresponsible and not accountable? Does God really have an anger problem? Don't you think that Hell is a little on the psycho side?"
This world we live in, this real world, it's a wondrous place. It is absolutely fascinating. How can you not want to experience it? How can you turn your back on reality? We don't have a lot of time here to exist. How can you waste it? How can you waste your entire limited existence to living a fantasy. A fantasy that isn't even your own. How can you do that?
To me its all about freedom. I can not live as a slave. I am free to think what I want, to say what I want, to be who I am. I can question everything. I am not afraid to face reality because reality is all there really is when it comes down to it. And you know in your heart that I'm right about that. Think about reality. Let it purify your mind. Let it clean your soul. Let it free you. Feel the real world with your mind.
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Does reality have miraculous healing powers? Will it make you richer? Will it help you live longer? Actually, yes it will. People who think about reality make better decisions than people who turn their back on reality. A religious person might waste more money gambling, for example counting on supernatural powers to tip the odds in their favor in spite of the fact that people of faith and Atheists win and lose the same at games of pure chance. A realist on the other hand would more likely choose not to gamble because they understand that the odds favor the house.
People of faith are more easily scammed than Realists. That's because their religion requires the suppression of critical thinking. This makes them vulnerable to scams by people who are in their faith based circle or people pretending to be in their circle. People of faith are more likely to send their children to die in faith based wars believing that they are sacrificing for a noble cause. A Realist will first test to see if the cause is truly noble before sacrificing their life and the lives of their families.
Realists live better lives because reality based thinking leads to better decisions on average than thinking that relies on fiction.
When making medical decisions a Realist is going to rely on science to find a cure. A person of faith might turn to ritualism instead. They might also refuse blood transfusions or other common medical cures because it conflicts with their faith. Not every Realist lives a better life than people of faith. Many faith based religions provide community and community is good for people if it is a healthy community. Many Realists are less community oriented and their independence is often a big factor in becoming a Realist in the first place. It is often said in the Atheist community that, "Atheists aren't joiners." But perhaps this church can create the kind of community that everyone can feel comfortable being a part of. In fact it's something we must do.
So a Realist has the advantage that by making reality the focus of their belief system they tend to make better choices than people who shun reality. Better choices tend to make you happier, healthier, and wealthier. Realism doesn't have a fake afterlife to offer you but the only restrictions on sex is that you should use good judgement to avoid unintended pregnancies and the spread of disease. Being a freedom based religion we offer more sexual options than those who require virgin marriage monogamy. Sex is a good thing in our religion.
The word Reality does have healing powers. Every time you say "reality", the Sacred Message, you cause people to think about reality. And every time you think about reality it regenerates your mind making you a better person.
The most important thing about Realism is the quality of life issue. Reality gives you the freedom to be you. It allows you to live the life you choose. It allows you to accomplish great things. There is nothing in the world like being free. Free to think anything you want. Free to explore the universe with your mind. Your life is your own. Your thought are your thoughts. You are not forced to think only what you are allowed to think. You are not forced to live the life of a slave. You are not forced to live someone else's life, to be their puppet. In the Church of Reality you can be you and add your distinctiveness to the Tree of Knowledge and be remembers for who you are.
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Newsflash |
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The IRS has approved the 501(C)3 tax exempt status of the Church of Reality. |
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Please link to us, discuss us in online forums, and blog about us. Every time anyone thinks about reality the world becomes a little smarter.
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The Church of Reality is a non-prophet organization.
"RealityŽ" and "Church of RealityŽ" are registered trademarks of the Church of Reality.
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The Magic of Reality