Final Post

1. Religion is a set of organizing principles for life.
2. Right and Wrong are subjective not objective, but that shouldn't stop us (humanity) from inventing a set of organizing principles based on human experience and reason.
3. Religion should be on firm ground. Humans have traditionally invented a 'faith-based' God to be at the foundation of a religion. But it needn't be that way. God is basically an entity that is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. Guess what, so is the Universe (defining Universe as anything that existed/exists/will exist in the future).
4. Universe is unquestionable, it exists in front of our eyes. We are part of it. However the creator of this Universe is questionable and beyond our grasp. Why even try to imagine (or invent) the creator? Just put the Universe at the foundation of religion.
5. A set of organizing principles that could be embraced by all of humanity should be based on human experience and reason. All humans experience 'duality' i.e. they just know that they exist (don't need a proof) and know other things exist that which are different from them. All humans and very familiar with rational framework of 'causality' i.e. a bunch of things need to happen, come together to create something, sustain it and eventually destroy/transform it.
6. Using the experience of duality and the rational framework of causality, we can define Universe as: "an interconnection of infinite, unique objects". It should be possible for every human to agree with this definition. This is critical to inventing a religion that entire humanity could embrace not just a particular group.
7. If Universe is the foundation of the religion, it only makes sense to learn from it.
8. From 'interconnectedness', we learn to be aware and to understand the interconnections in nature and to respect it and work in harmony with it.
9. From 'infiniteness', we learn that we are infinitesimal in this Universe but it is possible to overcome this depressing fact by being among people we love and who love us back.
10. From 'uniqueness', we learn that each person is unique in this space/time and whether he/she likes it or not, it is a fact. It is incumbent upon each of us to express that uniqueness and deliver positive things to world around.
11. From 'object-ness', we learn that we live inside a body that makes us a person. It is a pre-requisite to take care of the body as when the body wears off we cease to exist.
12.  Knowing the right thing is very different from doing the right thing. Being = Knowing + Doing.
13. There is a lot to learn with regards to "doing" the right thing. There are a lot of skills that once we learn and incorporate in daily life will help us stay consistent with word and deed.
14. There are two attributes that define a great life: meaning and pleasure. You don't want a life with just one of those things. Ideally you want a life filled with great meaning and satisfaction but at the same time very pleasurable.
15. Religion gives meaning.

Rational Empiricism - a religion for nonbelievers

What happens if you don't have a religion?
You conform unconsciously or get confused when you have to make choices in life. Looking back at such a wavering life could cause much distress. You might regret the lost opportunity and it may be too late to fix it.

What is a religion?
A religion is a set of guiding principles for making choices in life. Religion gives the person clarity to make those choices and to consciously decide where to spend their time and energy in this world. It facilitates the person to live a meaningful and pleasurable life and gives the strength to navigate through the painful times.

Does religion need a God?
Religion has to be based on some solid, unshakable foundation. Belief in a God and God's word or a God's messenger's word  is one way to create a religion. One downside to such God-founded religion is that there are powerful middlemen interpreting the God's message and laying down rules for others to follow. A second problem is, at times practitioners of religion vilify other Gods and religions and cause communal disharmony. A more serious downside is the nature of faith itself; a faithful can't rationalize why he has faith but he has to always protect his faith. After living a long, devout life, if some incident suddenly converts him to a non-believer, then it invalidates a large portion of his life which would be quite devastating.

What is the foundation for Rational Empiricism?
Rational Empiricism is a non-theistic religion founded in reflecting and reasoning human experiences. Every human can testify to these two experiences; a) duality - that he exists and he is different from other things in Universe and b) causality - that there are causes for things to come into existence, causes for their sustenance and causes for them ceasing to exist. From these experiences, one can rationalize a definition for the Universe to be ''an interconnection of infinite, unique objects'. How?
1. Duality gives rise observation of objects
2. Duality also gives rise to distinction of self from other objects and to distinction of one unique object from another.
3. Duality also gives rise to observation of incomprehensible number of objects in Universe which gives rise to infinite, unique objects.
4. Causality indicates that these objects are interconnected as they continuously interact in space and time creating, sustaining and destroying each other.
Putting these concepts together, the definition of Universe as an interconnection of infinite, unique objects is justified. This definition of Universe forms the basis for the religion: Rational Empiricism.

What are the guiding principles of Rational Empiricism?
There are four guiding principles of Rational Empiricism interpreted from conception of Universe:
1. Principle of Uniqueness - Each human is unique, so is every other object in Universe.
2. Principle of Interconnectedness - Humans and other objects are interconnected to each other in complex ways.
3. Principle of Infiniteness - Each human (himself a collection of innumerable objects) and other seemingly infinite objects constitute the Universe.
4. Principle of Fitness - Each human is a person unless he is a corpse.

What is the promise of Rational Empiricism?
Rational Empiricism promises a meaningful and pleasurable life (pleasures within the boundaries of meaning) for the practitioner, a more peaceful and just society and a sustainable planet.
1. Principle of Uniqueness encourages expression of individual's unique passions and adding value through work and predicts that people do their best work in such environment.
2. Principle of Interconnectedness supports equality for all in the society and promotes scientific understanding of the interconnected world and policy making based on those findings and predicts that a human society in-sync with nature will thrive.
3. Principle of Infiniteness asserts that a sense of belonging and companionship is desired by every human in this seemingly infinite universe and predicts that love at home will give the recipient of love the strength to navigate through the tough times in life.
4. Principle of Fitness encourage physical and mental fitness while alive before other objects eventually figure out and transform him/her to dirt.

Will Rational Empiricism stand the test of time?
If we stop experiencing duality and causality, then Rational Empiricism can be discarded. But I am guessing that when that happens we won't any longer be humans, we would have evolved to a different species or we will be living in a new Universe.
Also, if we find new ways to rationalize duality and causality different from the way it is done in Rational Empiricism, then Rational Empiricism can be adapted and evolved to the new concepts. For instance, there are two fundamental mysteries of Universe that are purposely not dealt with in Rational Empiricism: a) What is the origin of Awareness? and b)  What is the origin of Universe? Rational Empiricism doesn't bother answering these questions because these mysteries of the Universe doesn't negate our experience of duality and causality. However, if and when somebody presents rational answers to these questions and if that alters our conception of Universe, then we can evolve Rational Empiricism to the new concepts. Until then Rational Empiricism will be valid in its present form for humans.

Different pieces of the puzzle

A quick summary of all the previous blogs:
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I started off the first blog post in this site on July 2008 with observations and questions about human's place and role in the Universe and how our incomplete knowledge of Universe causes uncertainty and consequently uneasiness in day-to-day life. I argued that incomplete knowledge is inevitable in a life of Duality as existential questions are beyond human knowledge. I initially thought the solution lied only in the domain of non-duality i.e. that there has to be a self annihilation; which happens naturally in dreamless sleep and in a state of flow. I soon realized a satisfactory solution is very much needed in the domain of duality as well, as we do spend substantial time outside the states of non-duality.
I argued that a philosophy for life in duality has to be synthesized to provide sails to navigate the seas of duality. Prevailing religions didn't appeal to me as they are based on an unseen God as their foundation. I am not wired to be a man of faith. I knew that any philosophy I synthesize won't comprise of 'absolute truths' of nature, but I wanted it to be at least complete, non-contradictory, elegant and rational based on human experience. The following philosophical framework is my take on the idea of god and a definition of a religion which will be a compass to live a life in duality. The hope for this is two-fold: a) that it gives me clarity in life, that it would serve as an anchor and rudder in predominantly a life of duality and b) that it would help others like me who are traveling a similar path.


Philosophical framework for life in duality:
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Non-essential
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1. God - universe

Although God is non-essential in this philosophical framework, the concept of God demands clarification. God is generally considered as the being that created Universe. God outside of Universe is unimaginable. God inside (part) of Universe is finite and hence unacceptable. What is approachable is the idea that God is indistinguishable from Universe. Consequently, a reverence for everything in the cosmos is reasonable.

Essential
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2. Religion - practice this; respect everything, contribute every day, love along the way

Religion is a guide to life. The necessary characteristic of religion is it should be unshakable over your lifetime. If you become skeptical over its fundamental precepts, then it can't serve as a guide any more.
practice: Internalizing and expertise requires mindful practice. Practice; duality imposes you to act, which you can do good job of with practice.
respect: All things in existence are equal by virtue of their existence, hence all things (animate/inanimate) deem respect. Respect everything; self-respect is an intrinsic right. Threads: Intrinsic, Self, Objective, Community, Laws & Justice, Non-judgment => Equality, Scope for Meaning.
contribute: Contribute as you consume much from this world, only that is fair. Contribute everyday; self-value is created when you create value in the world. Threads: Extrinsic, Other, Subjective, Personal, Economics & Value, Education => Employment, Scope for Flow.
love: Deep, meaningful social relationships are needed to avoid feeling lonely. Love along the way; self-love is a gift that you receive when you receive love. Threads: Holistic, Mutual, Relative, Inter-Personal, Sociology & Nurture, Parenting => Family, Scope for Positive emotions.

The progression is: respect < value < love. Ideally; everyone will respect you, some will value you, a few will love you.

3. Pleasure - Practicing a religion that makes sense to you gives meaning to life. If the quality of our experiences going through life are also pleasurable to us, then that is the icing on the cake. Just seeking pleasure without meaning is an empty, unsatisfactory life and on the other hand just having a meaningful life without enjoying it is unsatisfactory as well. So, the formula for a great life, a happy life is a concoction of meaning and pleasure.

Summary
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A meaningful+pleasurable day for a human would be as follows:
1. being in an environment where everyone's treated with dignity and equal rights are upheld and there is a compassionate social net for young and old people without a family
2. having flow experiences at work and being appreciated for the good work
3. receiving immense love from and having fun with family and friends
4. having a very restful, dreamless, great night's sleep

Most humans, however have a sub-optimal experience:
1. There are still sections of society that are discriminated even in most countries. Most countries don't give all its citizens even their basic rights. We still have homeless on our streets. We are just scratching the surface on rights of non-human entities.
2. Most people's skills and strengths don't sync up with the education they get or the jobs they do. So, they drudge through their workday instead of enjoying it and being creative at it.
3. Many don't have the social skills to be in a loving relationship, raising a family, giving unrequited love to their children, making genuine friends and having fun.
4. May be the sub-optimal experience of human lives reflects on the sub-optimal quality of sleep we have in the nights?

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Hear - Reflect - Contemplate

REVELATION
(Rupert Spira in his book Transparency of Things)
Omnipresence: Consciousness is all there is.
Omniscience: Consciousness is self-aware.
Omnipotence: Consciousness has total freedom.

REFLECTION
Something that is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent could be considered God, even an atheist would agree with that definition. The entirety of existence can be considered to be omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent; as Existence encompasses Everything! So, is consciousness = existence = god?

CONTEMPLATION
1. DUALITY: There is subject-object dichotomy
2. FUNDAMENTAL CLAIM: In the context of duality, every 'thing' in existence is equally significant by virtue of its existence. All superiorities and inferiorities are subjective/contextual.
3. FUNDAMENTAL OBSERVATION: Every 'thing' has some attributes and every 'thing' interacts with things it is connected to - can be visualized as a ripple effect. (Or butterfly/domino effect).
4. EXISTENTIAL QUESTION: What caused the ripple?
5. LIFE: Flow of Existence is algorithmic; proof is science.
6. DILEMMA: Our mindfulness causes confusion within us, creating an illusion of free-will. Realizing that mindfulness is not a willed condition dissolves that confusion.

From this argument, for humans in duality; the logical religion is Philosophy, the logical ethic is Equality, the logical pursuit is Science and the logical mantra for the present moment is Causality.


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Stating the Purpose of Existence: an Unsolvable Problem

Existence: Everything. Examples: The chair I am sitting on, dust on the ceiling, a distant star in a different galaxy, mental concepts like atomic theory, patriotism etc.

Awareness: The fact that I am able to make this claim about chairs and stars means I am aware of chairs and stars. Somehow, I know these things are different from me (as I am also self-aware). Labeling them and scientifically understanding and manipulating them stems from this awareness.

Also stemming from this awareness, is a question: why is there an existence rather than nothing? Basically, what is the purpose of existence?

As an analogy, what is the purpose of a cell phone? Because man invented it, we can firmly state its intended purpose. To put it simply, one way to state the purpose of a cell phone is, it can be used to talk to a distant person. The important thing to note here is that, in stating the purpose of the cell phone we did not mention how a cell phone looks or works. The implementation of the cell phone itself is not needed to state its purpose.

It is my premise that the parts cannot be used to state the purpose of the whole. In our cell phone example, we used the concepts/objects: use, talk, distance, and person etc to state the purpose. Moreover, we did not mention the screen, keypad, antenna etc which are parts of a cell phone to state its purpose. But the parts need to be used to describe how the parts put together achievs the stated purpose.

From the cell-phone example, we can note that there is a difference between: a) stating the purpose of an object and b) describing how the parts of that object satisfy its purpose. The purpose of any object is stated using objects and concepts external to the object in question. Whereas, description and relationships between parts proves how the stated objective is achieved.

Coming back to the original question, what is the purpose of existence? We should, similar to a cell phone, be able to state the purpose of existence without involving the parts that make up existence. But the problem here is that existence encompasses all objects and concepts. There are no objects or concepts above and beyond existence that we can use to state the purpose of existence. We have to conclude, then, that it is impossible to state the purpose of existence.

The purpose of existence is beyond man's understanding. So, complete, perfect knowledge is impossible, for we have a question (what is the purpose of existence?) for which we cannot reason an answer. Hence, knowledge in the conventional sense is useless to solve this particular problem. This being the case, as long as we are aware of existence (duality), this problem will prevail and remain a cause of uncertainty.

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