Gaianism (book)/Introduction/Religion
This is the Why a religion Chapter of the Introduction section of the book Gaianism.
Why a religion
 | This chapter is a stub. |
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Understanding why Gaianism is designed as a religion requires first an understanding of Gaianism's main principle and purpose, being consistency and safeguarding humanity respectively. The notion of Consistency is applicable in a range of contexts, for example intellectual honesty is a form of consistency between held beliefs and factual knowledge, and intellectual rigour being the consistency of standards. Safeguarding humanity is also applicable in a range of context, for example in biological terms it means protecting the human species from undue extinction, and in cultural terms it means protecting what we can come to understand as our humanity. Everything Gaianism represents results from the principle of consistency and the intention to safeguard humanity. These fundamental characteristics define, require and support each other, but are arbitrary choices and therefore do not require being explained or justified in on themselves: they just happen to be what defines Gaianism. However, dedicating time and resources to this pursuit does require motivations and reasons, and these are basically rooted in beliefs. Holding beliefs is an inescapable characteristic of being human, and possibly also of any non-human intelligence as well.
Religions are not necessarily about faith in God, or belief in Gods, or even constructed around sacred texts. The word religion comes from the Latin religare, meaning re-ligate, reconnect, can can be interpreted as reconnecting with what's essential, the mystery of life, that which belongs in an experiential realm and cannot be communicated or explained. There still are some mysteries around our experience of being alive, such as our sense of self, how placebo works, where does life (as we know it) come from or what sparked it, if we're alone in the universe, or what happens to our subjectivity when we die. However, most of what used to be mysteries are now either well understood, or at least we understand elements about them that invalidate previous assumptions or beliefs. For example, whilst the experience of self (or subjectivity) remains a mystery, we now know that we become conscious about our decisions a few milliseconds later than we actually make those decisions, and we now know a lot more about how, at least in mammals, certain emotions depress the central nervous system causing a cascade of biochemical reactions that affects the subject's overall homeostasis eventually leading to disease, and we know what life and its environment looked like when it started spreading through Earth (cyanobacteria and an atmosphere devoid of free oxygen gas), and we know the difference between total and partial brain death, and reanimation and suspension. We know that single-parent and same-sex parents can be (and often are) just as intellectually sound and emotionally stable as those raised in traditionally constituted families. Our current understanding of psychology, biology, archeology, palaeontology, physics, etc, happen to invalidate most of the traditionally held beliefs every person still holds today and rely on for everyday decision making. And this is so because science doesn't deal with values, so we continue to rely on the values we're surrounded with or come across with through literature or other forms of communication.
It is said that science has to do with facts, and religion with values. However, anyone who's not affiliated to an organised religion, or doesn't consider themselves religious, would object to this notion. Although values are not the exclusive domain of organised religions, they're always sourced from what can be can call "religious thinking", which includes faith, mysticism, magical thinking, and generally any belief or belief systems. There is almost nothing in human life that doesn't involve belief systems, even Science is ultimately based on belief systems such as ethics and humanism. Facts cannot be values, facts belong in the realm of objectivity, facts are facts regardless of our subjectivity, it doesn't matter what anyone would think of them. It is a sensible practice deriving our values from facts, however, holding values that are at odds with facts is folly. Which brings us to Gaianism's purpose. Fulfilling on "protecting humanity", especially whilst maintaining it's principle of consistency, requires a number of beliefs that are often not aligned with long-held beliefs, often rooted in old religions or ancient mysticism, as most of them are now invalidated by current scientific knowledge. Even the linguistic constructions that we rely on for everyday communication are rooted on, and assist to the survival of, old, obsolete beliefs. In pursuing the highest effectiveness for protecting humanity, Gaianism intends to take on the most updated factual knowledge, and with it review, and update, every social value that is or can be detrimental for our long-term survival.
Notes
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