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Compatibility with other Religions and Philosophies |
How does the "Meaning of Life" and the "Purpose of Humanity" compare with other religions. In some way it is quite similar and in some ways it's quite different. The biggest difference is that the Church of Reality is by definition more dedicated to getting it right than other religions. It came from the way the Church of Reality started. I was pondering religion and I thought, "If there were such a thing as the one true religion that got it right, what would that religion be?" My first thought was, "It would be the one that believed in everything that was real." And the name church of Reality came to mind.
Other religions are mostly backward looking religions that started with some great philosopher or event that was written down in a holy book that keeps getting less and less relevant with time. The Church of Reality is a forward looking religion and our world view changes with new discovery and our understanding becomes more and more relevant with time. Other religions are about clinging to their preconceived ideas. Our religion is about shedding our preconceived ideas. They are faith based, we are doubt based.
However all religions are meant to answer the great questions. Why are we here? What is our purpose? How should we live our lives? This is all born out of the quest to understand reality, and since these religions were created by real people living in the real world, reality had an influence on them. They are in many ways just like us.
The idea that we are here to "Seek the Truth" and that we are here to allow "Reality to become self aware through us" is essentially the same thing.
For example, all religions are about "Seeking the Truth". We are to be truth seekers. That's fairly universal. Well what does seeking the truth mean? What is the TRUTH? Reality is the truth. The Truth is all about what's real vs. what isn't real. So when we concluded that the purpose of life is for us to be the mechanism for which reality becomes self aware, and they conclude that humanity should seek the truth, that's very similar.
In many religions they worship God. Although there is no formal definition of God most religions define it as that which includes everything in the universe as part of God. Nothing is outside of God and nothing can be bigger than God. Our definition of reality is the sum total of everything that is real. Everything is included and nothing can be bigger than reality. So our reality is a 2.0 version of their God. If you take the purest meaning of their God and expand it you get our reality.
So in our religion the spiritual experience of realizing that I am reality contemplating itself and their concept of worshiping God has some similarities. Similarly thousands of years ago when they wrote the Bible, it was their best attempt at explaining reality and the origin of the universe with the level of technology they had at the time. Some of us thousands of years later look back and laugh but keep in mind that thousands of years from now people will be looking back and laughing at us. That is if we don't screw up and destroy ourselves.
Now science is the new Bible and it's not a static document. Science is the new method for discovering reality. It's the same goal, it's just that we have better methods now and in the future our methods will improve. Science is the Bible 2.0.
Similarly in Atheism people reject the belief in what is not real. But their motivation in doing so comes from our intrinsic need to have a relationship with reality. If not for reality Atheism would have no meaning. If not for reality there would be no place for God not to be real in.
Humanism too is a 1.0 version of realism. Humanism is pro humanity. Humanism wants humans to survive and thrive. Humanism rejects supernaturalism, but it fails to go all the way to fully embracing Realism as the way to achieve the Positive Evolution of humanity that they seek. The goal of humanism are the same as the Church of Reality but they lack the mechanism for achieving that goal and they lack the intellectual infrastructure to explain why they believe what they believe.
If we all come together and embrace reality we can continue to exist and explore this wondrous universe that are are part of. We can let reality explore itself through us.
We are all in this together. We either all survive or we all go extinct. No matter what religion or non-religion you are the Church of Reality is the upgraded version of where you are at now. It's time for all of humanity to come together and embrace reality as it really is and let us decide we are going to survive and thrive together as we explore this amazing universe that we are all part of, and that created us to want to understand everything.
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