Part 3: Another Religious Plug-In

“The Answers”, First Draft

I discussed the religious method in part 1. In part 2, I presented some difficult questions to ask when we are practicing the method. In Part 3 I present a first draft of a religious interpretation that provides a consistent, integrated set of answers to those questions.

In developing the religious method, I came across several ideas that fit together seamlessly. They are generally consistent with science. This interpretation answers the major questions from section 2. It’s very simple. It is based on three underlying assumptions about the universe.

This is an example of the kind of results you can get by applying the religious method. I don’t expect anyone else to agree with this belief system, but possibly you will find some aspects of it informative. It can be used as a standalone religious system, or it can be used as a “plug-in” to your own beliefs if you find some aspects of it appealing. You can ignore it if you don’t see any value. Or you can use an a-la-carte approach and pick a few elements, like a buffet.

Or you can practice the religious method and develop your own completely different answers to the same questions. There are definitely other integrated belief systems that provide a consistent set of answers to all the big questions, based on other assumptions and other points of view. One of my goals in presenting this plug-in belief system is simply to show that it is possible.

Here is what you will find in part 3.

  1. I will acknowledge sources. Several schools of thought that already exist in science, religion and philosophy are related to this religious interpretation. Many of them are controversial, but most of my ideas are not new. However I think that this is a new combination of ideas.

  2. I will describe what deep reality is like.

  3. I will give a creation myth, describing how the universe arose in its present form. This myth was engineered using the religious method. There is no scriptural basis for this myth.

  4. I will cover many of the questions we talked about in part 2, to show how the proposed belief system answers them without contradicting science or leaving major questions unanswered. I’m not going to go through the whole list of questions, because that would be repetitive and boring.

Finally, I will talk about what to name this religious belief system.

Sources

This belief system is not entirely original. It is a new combination of existing ideas. It begins from several underlying concepts. These separate ideas have been chosen because they fit together well. There are great alternatives to every one of these ideas, and I’m not expecting the reader to believe that all these ideas are true.

The first is the religious method itself. The religious method is an answer to several important questions of epistemology, which asks “How do we know?”. This belief system tries to be consistent with science, and to present a morally positive outlook. It probably won’t be contradicted by new ideas or personal crises. But if that does happen, then we will seek to revise it using the religious method.

Definition of “god”. If we see finite intelligence, finite energy, finite complexity or finite strength, then I personally would not use the word “god” to describe it. On the other hand, if we see infinite intelligence, infinite complexity, infinite energy and infinite strength then I would use words like “god” or “divine”. Because those are the best words in the English language to describe such realities. This is a very different definition of the word “god” than in traditional religious belief systems.

Pantheism and panentheism. Pantheism means that “the universe itself is god”, while panentheism means that “god is in the universe”. There is a scripture that says, “God is all, and in all.” That very succinctly describes both pantheism and panentheism.

Altruism. I argue that the purpose of religion should be to improve human outcome. Some religions want to improve outcome when we are alive, but most focus on improving our outcome after we die. I want to point out that these beliefs need to be good for the believer. If it doesn’t make things better for you, then why would you be motivated to believe it?

When we discuss altruism and human outcome, people ask questions like “Whose outcome specifically?” or “Who gets to decide how to measure human outcome?”. These are very important questions, and I don’t claim to have perfect answers. Religion should try to improve the outcomes of all people without exception. Especially, these beliefs should be good for the believer. Each person gets to decide what it means to improve their own outcome, consistent with their beliefs. Which raises a lot of messy and intricate questions that we must take seriously.

Panpsychism. This is a school in philosophy that seeks to answer the hard problem of consciousness by stating that all the matter in the universe has a baseline level of awareness. And that this awareness explains how our brains can produce consciousness. Our brains organize information and perceptions about our inner world and the outside world. When combined with the baseline awareness of all matter, it explains consciousness. This religion asserts that this pervasive awareness has a divine source. Panpsychism combines very well with pantheism.

Many Worlds. This belief system states that time has three dimensions, not just one. There is the ordinary time dimession, which we call “time”. But there is also a “possibility” dimension where other possibilities occur. We see a tiny slice of possibility where only one of these possible things happen. There is a “law” dimension where other laws of physics can apply. We see a tiny slice of the law dimension where the current laws of physics apply.

These higher time dimensions are “meta-dimensions” because they appear to be “dimensions of dimensions”, which is hard to visualize, and leads to staggering levels of complexity. But the ‘possibility’ dimension explains the probabilistic nature of quantum physics and the wave/particle duality. And the ‘law’ dimension explains the anthropic principle, the fact that this universe seems perfectly “tuned” to produce intelligent life.

M Theory is an interpretation of physics where the entire universe consists of two membranes or “branes”, and all the matter in the universe appears as resonances in the vibrational patterns of the two branes. They are never supposed to touch. But if they did touch, it could produce a cataclysmic event such as the big bang, that would explain how the universe was created. It is capable of describing how the world looked before the big bang. And it describes the world as a combination of two opposing forces, also present in this belief system.

Emergent Space-Time. This religion states that space and time aren’t properties of deep reality, but are produced by the way that cause and effect works, by the relationships between things in actual reality.

Unfortunately our language is filled with assumptions about space and time, so it is hard to talk about realms where space and time don’t exist! I’m going to ignore that fact. I want to describe things in a simple way. Otherwise I will get tied into knots, or I will have to invent new verb tenses that don’t make assumptions about space and time.

Idealism is the belief that the universe is ultimately made of information. Most people accept materialism which states that the universe is ultimately made of material. Philosophers have been arguing about this for a long time. In the last century, quantum theory has made it progressively harder to maintain the materialist point of view. At the tiniest level, the material itself seems to be made out of information!

Combining these ideas together, a specific picture emerges that answers all the big questions and provides a positive explanation of exactly how the universe works.

Based on these ideas, here is what deep reality looks like.

Deep Reality

There are three distinct elements of the universe, three forces that explain everything we see and experience.

I will refer to them as gods because they have infinite energy, infinite strength and infinite intelligence. I do not consider it appropriate to use the word “god” when we encounter finite strength, finite energy and finite intelligence. I pluralize the word gods because infinite complexity implies a plural identity.

But I want to point out that you can conceptualize these three elements in several different ways:

Here are the three divine entities.

Pure Mind, Infinite Intelligence is ultimately the only thing that exists in the universe. Pure Mind is aware of everything that has happened, is happening, will happen or might possibly happen in any of the realms of existence. Pure Mind is emotionally characterized by infinite love, infinite curiosity and infinite longing. The entire universe that we experience is a small part of the mental activity of Pure Mind. Therefore the universe is ultimately made of information, not material.

Importantly, everything in the universe has awareness, because Pure Mind is aware of everything, and everything is the mental activity of Pure Mind.

Pure Mind is the deep nature of reality which existed before the beginning, before the creation of space and time, before the creation of this universe. It is the uncaused cause, the root of the tree of cause and effect. If the universe and all existence implodes or is destroyed, Pure Mind will still be there.

Pure Mind may have imagined many different realms of existence, and they may all have reality. Things may work differently in different realms that we cannot see. But in our realm, where we exist, there are two governing forces that explain everything that exists and everything that happens. These two forces are opposite, complementary forces, and their interactions give rise to all that exists.

Is, Infinite Strength is the god of unique existence. Whenever anything arises, he says his name “Is”, which means “This exists uniquely. Nothing else exists in its place, and it cannot be copied exactly without introducing some change, because it is unique.” He is steadfast, adamantine, diamond-like. He is an immovable object. He is what makes things distinct and makes reality real. He represents the masculine aspect of the universe. His strength comes from Pure Mind which is infinite intelligence, the deep nature of reality.

Also, Infinite Energy is the goddess of inexhaustible complexity. Whenever anything arises, she creates something else new and says her name “Also”, which means “This also exists, it is not exactly the same, and it is also real.” She is creativity, fecundity, disruptive, unstoppable. She is an irresistable force. She is the gift that keeps on giving. She represents the feminine aspect of the universe. Her strength also comes from Pure Mind, because infinite intelligence does not remain still but constantly adds infinite mental energy in one continuous act of ongoing creation.

Feel the breath rising and falling in your chest - that is Is. He is the sun in the sky. A piece of dust floating in the air. A photon. He is the ground under your feet. A seed. The skeleton inside my body. Your heart. And you. He is you.

Close your eyes and imagine what you’ll be doing next year – that is Also. She is a swirling galaxy. Sunlight. She is a billion spores floating in the wind. Every synapse in your brain. Your ongoing heartbeat. And you. She is you.

Is is the silent king, the bedrock of all that is, unwavering and steadfast. Also is the dancing queen, vibrant, ever-changing, bringing life and joy to the realm.

Creation Myth

Human beings are better at understanding stories than we are at understanding abstract descriptions. So here is a creation story.

The dance of Is and Also takes place outside the boundaries of time and space, and gives rise to space, time and the universe, and an infinite number of other universes. It started when Also forced the creation of existence itself, and Is uniquely created a universe that contains nothing, has no space and no time. Is canonized this empty universe, a universe containing no thing, no place and no time. But it exists and is unique.

Also forces the creation of more universes and Is ensures they cannot be exactly like this first empty universe. They need to be different in some way, so they cannot be completely empty. The second universe contained something but had no place, or it had a place but no thing. Another universe contained two things, and Is required that there must be some difference between the two things. They had to be in different places.

As infinite numbers of universes are created in this way, they have more and more things and they need to have more and more places for those things to go. There need to be laws that govern the things in the universes, and those laws give rise to emergent properties like space, time and possibility.

Also keeps adding new things, and Is requires them to be unique. Each thing must have some kind of difference. The distinctions between them depend on the laws that apply in that part of the metaverse. Where we exist, the actual relationships betwen things appear to produce relationships of space, time and possibility. But elsewhere it works differently.

Meta-dimensions (dimensions of dimensions) are created. First the Metaverse where the laws of the universe are different. Then the Multiverse where the laws are the same and every set of possibilities happens. Every point in those meta-dimensions is a different stream of Time.

Eventually our universe was created, and infinitely many variations on our universe are constantly created by the inexhaustible complexity imposed by Also and the steadfast uniqueness imposed by Is. Our universe has three dimensions of time and three dimensions of space. The first two time dimensions are meta-dimensions, meaning that they are “dimensions of dimensions”. So they are unimaginably big.

Our universe appears to exist within a meta-dimension of law and configuration that defines the laws of the universe and the various numbers expressed in those laws. This dimension forms a metaverse where the laws and the configuration of the laws can vary, so there are other places where the laws of mathematics and physics work in different ways. The law dimension is the first meta-dimension of time.

Our universe appears to also exist within a meta-dimension of possibility that defines the many possible things that could happen according to the laws of mathematics and physics that exist here. This dimension forms a multiverse defining every possibility that could occur. An infinite number of universes exist in the multiverse contained inside the the meta-dimension of possibility. The laws of math and physics are the same throughout the multiverse. Those laws are probabilistic because they describe all the possibilities that could occur. The dimension of possiblity is the second meta-dimension of time.

Our universe also appears to have a third time dimension, which we call “time”. And it appears to have three dimensions of space, which we call “space”.

These six dimensions, three of space and three of time, are not part of Pure Mind, the deep nature of reality. They are emergent properties of the relationships between the things created by Is and Also in this universe. Also creates more and more complexity, so Is adds more and more unique places or things. The dimensions of space and time that human beings experience emerge from the infinite complexity of the dance of Is and Also. They are emergent properties, part of human experience, but not part of deep reality.

Intimate contact between Is and Also creates the universe.

The dimensions of space and time are part of the way that human beings experience the universe. So they are definitely real for human beings, but they are not real at the level of Pure Mind, deep reality. They are real at the human level but not at the absolute level. Pure Mind does not experience reality in terms of time and space, but sees the broad expanse of law, possibility, time and space as a single continuous reality that exists eternally. While human beings appear to be born and to die, Pure Mind is simultaneously aware of everything that was, everything that is, everything that will be and everything that could possibly be, without limitation and without exception, in a single timeless moment.

Our conventional view of reality is that only the present exists. The past has vanished and no longer exists, and the future does not exist yet. This view seems wrong, because it implies that infinite intelligence has no memory. Quantum interactions would not work without infinite intelligence. If the past no longer exists, how can it now be causing the present? If time and space are emergent properties of interactions in deep reality, then it implies that the past and the future don’t “vanish” and that our conventional view of time is based on our limited perception of the universe.

Epistemology

Science and philosophy cannot give us true knowledge of deep reality. Only religion can give us such knowledge. But the danger of religion is that it may contains many statements that are incorrect. For that reason, the religious method gives us a framework that we can use to work on our beliefs and gradually improve them over time.

To do that, we have to accept that our religious beliefs will always be a work in progress. In exchange for that compromise, we can develop religious beliefs that are completely self-consistent, do not contradict scientific research or our own personal experience, and give us solid answers to the big questions that are most important to us.

By trying to answer all the “big questions” in the most satisfying, most consistent and simplest possible way, we have a way to eliminate self-contradictory beliefs, those that contradict our experience and those that do not satisfy us or that don’t help us in difficult times or times of disruptive change.

When we confront the entropy of the universe, which is constantly trying to kill us, what is your spiritual interpretation? The answer is up to you.

This is a very big project, but human beings have already been working on it for hundreds of thousands of years and we show no sign of stopping any time soon. So we might as well embrace it and bring it into the modern era.

Why does the word “religion” apply to this? My belief in Pure Mind, Is and Also is not testable, so it is not science. It is not really rational, and we cannot provide a series of rational arguments why anyone should believe it. But it is very simple and it has great explanatory power. It seems to be generally consistent with scientific research. When it is incorrect or incomplete, we continue to use the religious method to fix those problems in the future.

All our knowledge is subject to uncertainty. This includes our memories, everything we learn from academic or sacred writings, personal religious and mystical experiences, and the evidence of our own senses. It includes introspection and observation. It is valid to be somewhat skeptical of everything we hear. It is wise to be skeptical about our own beliefs, and the beliefs that others have. Some beliefs are strong enough to survive the most skeptical treatment. Those are beliefs that we can rely on. Absolute certainty is probably impossible. But ultimately, we are human beings and we need beliefs we can rely on. So there is always a tension between our rational minds and our own emotional and spiritual needs.

Why are there so many contradictory religions? The deep nature of reality is very mysterious, but it is always the same and it presents itself to human beings in every moment of our existence. We are more intelligent than the other beings on this planet, but our intelligence is finite. Our religions are sincere attempts to explain reality. They are also motivated by a desire to improve human behavior. And they seek to ensure the flourishing of religious institutions.

None of us is perfect, and we are beautiful in our imperfection. And all of us are right about some things, and wrong about others. Because we are each tiny slices of a much greater mind. A mind that is emotionally motivated by the infinite love of Pure Mind, the infinite curiosity of Also and the infinite longing of Is.

Physics

In every moment, infinite complexity and infinite possibility happen to an infinity of tiny things. That’s what the equations of physics say. Is gives us the things, and Also gives us the infinities.

Reality really does exist. But our conventional view of reality based on our everyday senses is completely unreal. It does not reflect the deep nature of true reality.

The deep nature of reality exists outside of space and time. But human beings experience the universe as space and time. So the equations of physics are probabilistic equations that describe the universe in terms that include time and space.

Time and space are emergent properties of the universe that arise from the actions of Is and Also.

The actions of Is and Also produced the whole universe and countless things in countless places. Is and Also produced countless different realities where things are not exactly the same as they are here. So there are an infinite number of parallel universes where other things happen, different than what happens here. And Is and Also produced countless more kinds of reality where things work in completely different ways. So there are an infinite number of parallel multiverses where different laws of math and physics exist.

Wave collapse or multiverse branching occurs when Pure Mind becomes aware of an effect. Is canonizes the effect as a unique effect, and through Also this effect causes an infinite number of follow-on effects. Human consciousness occurs when Pure Mind becomes aware of human brain activity.

Actually, Pure Mind is aware of all the activity in our bodies and our brains. Most of that activity is not part of our conscious awareness. We are only aware of the information in our minds, a tiny part of the whole.

The universe works in a deterministic way. All possibilities are guaranteed to occur. We see one possible outcome. The universe appears to behave randomly because this time we have chosen one of an infinite array of alternatives. And yes it’s really always infinite.

The universe is not random. It is we who are random.

Matter is made of information, but we are also made of information. So the ground still hurts if you fall on it.

Energy is produced when the inexhaustible complexity of the universe causes a particle to investigate all the possible paths leading in all the possible directions. Is generates a particle effect, and Also causes every possible follow-on effect. Pure Mind is aware of every cause and effect, every possibility, unbounded by time and space.

If everything is made of information, then it opens up many possibilities. And physics is definitely tending in that direction.

The Observer Effect. Even the seemingly-passive act of observing something has an effect on what we are observing. This is especially true at the leve of very small things, where the observer effect can have profound implications. Observation is an effect that itself becomes a cause.

The Anthropic Principle. The conditions in the universe are conducive to intelligent life in this multiverse, but they are probably not conducive to intelligent life in the majority of multiverses. As we look out at the heavens, we don’t see a lot of places with intelligent life. It is possible that this is a mostly-barren universe, and that conditions in other parts of the multiverse and metaverse may be way more conducive.

The speed of light is an absolute limit here, but it may be a different speed and it may not be an absolute limit somewhere else. Even a number like pi could have a different value if the laws of the universe were different.

Intelligent Design. The laws of the universe that we experience are tuned to allow intelligent life. This tuning implies the existence of a tuner, Pure Mind, infinite intelligence.

These religious beliefs are untestable because they are part of religion, not part of science. They are our best answers to the untestable questions of life. The most important questions.

What do we want to get from our beliefs? We want beliefs that do not contradict physics. That explain our place in the universe. Form the basis of our understanding of right and wrong. Help us when good things happen. Help us when bad things happen. Tell us what is left of us when we are gone.

We can improve these beliefs in the future. When scientific understanding reveals specific contradictions. When a simpler explanation, a more satisfactory explanation is developed in the future. When we realize we got something wrong. The religious method lets us modify these beliefs when that happens.

Metaphysics

Most people don’t like to talk about metaphysics. But metaphysics is important for religion. Because naive metaphysical assumptions are baked into our ordinary view of reality. And those naive assumptions are provably incorrect.

We need religion to give us an easy-to-understand explanation. What the heck is the universe? What are we? What is everything made of?

Our whole explanation of physics, that we discussed above, is one example of metaphysics.

Substance or material is ultimately made of information. It is a manifestation of Pure Mind, created by the interaction of Is and Also. Is gives substance unique existence, and Also keeps adding more substance. Pure Mind is aware of infinite substance. Every possible thing that could exist, does exist somewhere. The infinite awareness of Pure Mind is the deep nature of reality.

All that is metaphysics. It is a series of inferences that can’t be tested. But it is one way to explain how deep reality produces physics.

Possibility is a meta-dimension of time. Our whole universe occupies a single point in the dimension of possibility. Our bodies extend sideways in the direction of other possibilities, to include other copies of ourselves who are experiencing different effects and having different outcomes.

We are far greater than what we seem. We mistakenly think that this one body is “alone” and that we are isolated from other beings. Because our perception is limited to one single reality. We are deeply interconnected with all things. Everything in the universe forms one single body, but our sense perceptions create the illusion of separateness.

We are all truly children of god. We are greater than we appear, and we are all deeply connected.

More metaphysics: When philosophers ask, Why is there something rather than nothing?, the answer is that Is and Also created the first universe containing nothing. Also, goddess of infinite complexity, required that an infinite number of new universes must be created, Is, got of unique existence, required that they all have to be different than this first universe that contains nothing. In that first universe there are no philosophers. But if there were, they might well ask the question, “Why is there nothing rather than something?”

Everything we experience is an infinite web of causes and effects. Pure Mind is the first cause, the uncaused cause that is not an effect. Pure Mind is non-temporal and non-spatial, because time and space were created by Is and Also which are emanations of Pure Mind.

Biology

Human beings arose through natural selection by “random” variation. In other universes, every possible alternative genetic sequence was tried. But here in this universe, a seemingly-random series of variations has occurred. This has produced human beings, so we should be grateful.

Human beings have conscious awareness, and our pre-human ancestors also had conscious awareness. Many animals have conscious awareness. Life evolved through biochemistry and our ancestors gradually became more complex over time. Any human being, regardless of their gender, their beliefs or their practices also has consciousness as long as they have a functioning brain.

Biological brains can explain the informational contents of our mental processes: how visual perception works, how impulses are suppressed, and how memories are formed. But the “hard problem of conscioiusness” reveals the difficulty in explaining how biological processes can give rise to the subjective conscious experiences of human beings. Shouldn’t the cells in our brains be “un-aware bits of matter”? But if they are, how can we explain our own consciousness?

Our conventional view of reality is that physical processes should produce unconscious matter. Physics identifies four forces: strong and weak nuclear, gravity and electromagnetism. How could those forces interact to produce conscious awareness?

This new religion answers many important questions of philosophy. The “hard problem of consciousness” asks how brain activity can possibly produce the irridescent, radiant conscious awareness that human beings experience.

In philosophy, there is a famous debate between the “eliminativists” and the “panpsychists” who disagree about whether consciousness is real. And in a sense, both sides are right.

Eliminativists say that conscious experience is an illusion, an emergent property of brain activity. For example, neurology reveals that our biological brain activity is not the same as our subjective stream of awareness. Brain activity starts before consciousness happens, and we have already made decisions long before we become consciously aware of them. Scientists and philosophers are spending a lot of time on the details of how the activities of individual cells and brain structures could possibly combine to form conscious experience. It’s complicated. The point is, the harder you look at it, the activity of our brains makes our conscious experience look like “smoke and mirrors”. Because our brain activity is different than our subjective conscious experience in so many important ways.

So the eliminativists conclude that conscious awareness is not actually real. And so therefore the “hard problem” is really “no problem at all”. Protons and electrons combine to produce water molecules, which have “wetness” even though protons and electrons do not have wetness. The wetness is an emergent property of large numbers of water molecules. In the same way, neurons combine to produce “consciousness” even though they do not have consciousness. So what’s the problem?

Human awareness has a special epistemological status, because we “definitely know” we are having it. Our own consciousness is a very special thing that we can’t doubt, because we are always experiencing it. It is nothing like water molecules producing wetness. If I’m sitting in a pool, I can doubt that the wetness is real. Maybe it is a hallucination, or a dream. I might not really be sitting in a pool at all. I might be a butterfly dreaming that she is a human being. But I cannot doubt whether I am conscious of it, because I am definitely experiencing this moment right now. Even if the whole thing were a hallucination, “I” am definitely experiencing it. (Even if “I” was really a butterfly having a dream!) So consciousness has this special epistemological status.

Panpsychists say that the “hard problem” is really a big problem. Un-aware bits of matter could never combine to produce human consciousness, and we know that we are definitely conscious right in this moment. So either matter needs some baseline “awareness” added to it, or consciousness is produced by information and not matter.

The eliminativists and the panpsychists are both right as far as they go, but they are both missing the most important thing about consciousness.

Pure Mind is infinite intelligence. With intelligence comes awareness. Pure Mind is aware of everything that happens in the universe. Our awareness of the information contents of our brain activity occurs when Pure Mind becomes aware of our brain activity. We experience the divine awareness of our internal brain states when our brains organize our experiences into a single integrated representation of our selves and our worlds in the present moment. All matter, including our brains is actually made of information because all matter is the mental activity of Pure Mind.

Pure Mind is also aware of everything else in the universe, so everything else that exists, also has irridescent awareness. But that awareness is not connected to our individual brain activity so we do not experience it.

The awareness of a rock floating in space is not a stream of consciousness, because the rock does not have sense organs and a brain to organize that awareness into an ongoing integrated representation of its experience. So it has Pure Mind awareness. But not consciousness.

Genetic Research

It is good for human beings to try to cure genetic diseases. It is possible that genetic research will have unintended negative consequences, or will be used to alter the DNA sequences that make up the human genome. Many people are troubled by the prospect. Some people may try to enhance human DNA in various ways. Others may try to stop that. We should approach genetic research with great caution.

Every genetic variation has already been tried, but not here.

Human Beings

Human beings have religious needs. In the modern world of accelerating change, we urgently need sturdy beliefs to guide us.

The religious method is a quest for a set of beliefs that accurately reflect everything we know about the universe, that will answer the big questions we have about life, and that will provide us with guidance in difficult and confusing times. There is no single “correct” belief system, and we are constanly learning new things. We need to be adaptable and flexible, but we need to have answers we can turn to and beliefs that we can rely on.

The universality of religious experience suggests that it is very ancient. Religion is at least as old as human beings. Science and philosophy are very important, but they are incomplete and we can’t rely on them to give us certainty about the deep nature of reality, the meaning of human life and what will happen to us after we die. They struggle explain the difference between good and evil, and to give us a feeling of certainty about what to believe.

Human beings are the most intelligent, dominant creatures on this planet. As we look into the heavens, we don’t see signs of intelligent life anywhere yet. It may be out there, but it seems to be rare and widely scattered. We need to take good care of this special planet where we live, and yet our own heedless actions are posing an existential threat to our existence. Climate change is causing temperatures to rise. Pollution and contamination are poisoning our bodies and our food supply. Centralization of power creates a few excessively powerful individuals. Those individuals are leading us into war and eroding institutions of civil society that are supposed to protect us. Truth and basic goodness seem to be casualties of modern culture.

Human behavior is not conducive to human survival. Many human beings believe that large numbers of other people have no human value. Many are dumping toxic waste into our rivers. Many are exterminating each other in large numbers. Many are orchestrating elaborate falsehoods that harm people and the planet in pursuit of money and power. Many are creating powerful AI system and training them to mimic human words and human actions. Soon these AI systems will be much smarter than we are. And we are training them to copy our behavior. How will they treat us?

The combined actions of Pure Mind, Is and Also create a reality where we exist in this specific improbable universe, we have conscious awareness of our own lives and we are subject to forces of infinite complexity. The entropy of the universe guarantees that we will not live forever, and we will be subject to chaotic and unpredictable forces while we are alive. We are given the privilege to experience this lifetime, and we also get an infinite number of parallel opportunities to experience all possible lifetimes. Pure Mind is curious to see how we will react to our complex and unpredictable world. Chaotic outcomes are guaranteed to continue happening to us, in the present and the future. If we can manage to align our beliefs with the reality of our existence, then we will be able to make the most informed choices possible.

The truth is not easy to understand, and it is a mix of good news and bad news. But understanding the truth is psychologically and emotionally transformative.

Soul

“Soul” refers to the deep nature of reality, so the deep nature of the reality of a human being is our “soul”. While our three-dimensional bodies age and die over time, the underlying reality of our bodies as experienced by Pure Mind does not change over time. The underlying reality of our bodies is not limited to a single possible outcome, and it does not “vanish” at the moment of death. Human perception causes us to experience events in terms of space and time, but the underlying reality neither arises nor ceases.

“Soul” is the deep nature of reality. Every measurement that a scientist makes is interacting with deep reality through the lens of space and time. There is no “extra” energy of soul that science is capable of measuring, and there is no “supernatural” effect of Is and Also. Every measurement is already a miracle caused by infinite intelligence and infinite complexity. There is no need for additional “supernatural” miracles. The “natural” world that science can measure, is already completely miraculous in nature.

Some people believe that souls are reborn as different species. Or that human beings continue their individual existence in an afterlife, such as heaven and hell. Or that human beings are reborn in a new body over linear time. All these beliefs are true in a sense.

We live an infinite number of parallel lifetimes. These ancient beliefs see time as a single dimension. But in reality, time contains an infinite number of dimensions. We are given a very expensive gift, the gift of an infinite number of lifetimes. But they don’t occur one after another. Instead of thinking forward in time, we need to somehow think “sideways” in time, into the realm of possibility.

We are deeply loved because we are children of god. We are manifestations of the mental activity of a being of infinite love, infinite longing and infinite curiosity. Pure Mind loves us and wants to see what we will do under every possible set of circumstances. In this lifetime we get to see one possible set of outcomes that we could have. Good things will happen and bad things will happen. When bad things do happen, it is not a “punishment” and it does not mean that we are not loved. It means that we have been given a very expensive gift, the gift of an infinite number of opportunities to experience every possible set of outcomes. When this life brings us bad outcomes, it may not feel like a very good gift. Pure Mind loves us and is curious to know how we will react. Everything in the universe is ultimately made of one thing, and the great diversity of things in the universe is caused by the infinite complexity of infinite intelligence.

When bad things happen, remember your true identity. There is only one thing in the universe, and you are that thing. In this body, you are like an intelligent micro-organism. A cell in a larger body. And so is everyone else. We are all connected in directions that we are incapable of seeing.

What about karma? Is there a moral “bank account” where we can accumulate good merit through positive actions and moral debt through evil actions, and how will we be repaid or punished for our actions?

We don’t believe in linear rebirth across multiple lifetimes in a single thread of time. Instead, we believe in multiple parallel lifetimes. We believe that time and space are only appearances. When we are born, it only appears to be a beginning and when we die, it only appears to be an end. Our entire lifetimes have always existed and always will exist in the memory of infinite intelligence. Our individual bodies appear to be separate from the bodies of other people, but this is also an illusion.

Many people live narcissistic lives of self-interest at the expense of others. They think that they are gaining, and that other people don’t matter. When we do this, we are actually harming ourselves. We may think that no one noticed and we got away with it, but that’s never the case. Those negative actions will always exist, in the eternal present moment of Pure Mind.

Other people deeply love themselves, and try hard to take care of themselves. They extend their love and caring to other people, and they spread positive outcomes. They experience love and joy, and they create joy and comfort for others. And they make mistakes, lots of mistakes, because they are imperfect. Our positive actions will always exist, and they are also noticed.

But if everything is an illusion, why bother? It is true that our experiences at a human level are illusory representations of deep reality. But it is also true that there is a deep reality lying beyond our perceptions. We don’t know very much about deep reality, but we can make inferences. That reality appears to be created by an infinitely intelligent universe using infinite power and infinite complexity. We are being given a very expensive gift in this lifetime. The awareness in our minds comes from a divine source. It seems wise to treat ourselves and other children of gods with love and compassion. It seems profoundly unwise to engage in deliberately harmful actions, or to heedlessly harm other beings and the world that we live in.

Religious Belief and Human Outcome

As human beings, we need a core set of beliefs to guide us. This set of beliefs underlies all our goals, morals and daily activities. If our beliefs are incorrect they will inevitably lead us into problems. If our beliefs are in alignment with reality, and if they are good for ourselves and those around us, then they will enable us to improve our own outcomes and to help others.

In our daily activities such as driving to work or buying groceries, we don’t always directly apply our religious beliefs. However even in these cases, our actions are guided by our beliefs, habits and goals. Ultimately our goals and habits are based on our beliefs, and our surface-level beliefs are based on our deeply-held convictions about human nature and the nature of reality.

If our daily actions are like a tree, then our religious beliefs are like the roots of that tree. The leaves could not survive without the roots, and if the roots are weak or rotten, then the tree will have all kinds of problems. If we believe that we are disconnected individuals whose outcomes do not rely on the outcomes of other people, then we are likely to seek narcissistic advancement at the expense of others. Other people will sense this and be on their guard, and ultimately our own outcome will suffer.

Most religions seek to improve the outcome of adherents, while they are alive and/or after they die. The goal of the religious method is specifically altruistic. We want to develop a set of beliefs that is good for ourselves, and good for all human beings. Similar to human life, the purpose of religious practice is to benefit the practitioner.

There are those who say that the purpose of religious practice is to glorify god, or that god needs our help. If any being needs help from human beings, then that being does not have infinite intelligence, infinite energy or infinite power. So that being would not meet our definition of god.

But human beings are children of gods. We are like intelligent micro-organisms, cells in a larger body, ultimately cells in the body of Pure Mind. There is no contradiction between improving human outcome and glorifying gods. Human intelligence gives us the opportunity to gradually bring our beliefs and actions into alignment with the deep nature of reality. This enables us to appreciate the deep mystery of infinite intelligence, and the value of the immense gift we have been given by being born in a human body.

This universe is one of an infinite number of causal partitions. It contains a tiny slice of a single entity of infinite power, infinite intelligence, and infinite goodness. This human lifetime is one of an infinite number of opportunities for the universe to experience one possible set of outcomes. If human beings understand the true nature of existence, then their outcome will be in alignment with the truth, and their outcome will be improved. Explaining the deep nature of reality is one of the most important responsibilities of religion.

Religious Experience

I want to talk about why religious and mystical experiences are important, and what role they have in our belief. But first I should say what they are.

Mystical experiences have six distinctive characteristics.

  1. They are inexpressible. The person who has had the experience cannot adequately describe them later using conventional language.

  2. They are transient. When the experience ends, the mystic resumes their ordinary consciousness.

  3. They come through you, not from you. The person having the experience feels like a channel through which the experience flows. They do not feel like they are the source of the experience.

  4. They are authoritative. The person having the experience does not doubt the validity or truth of the experience while it is happening.

  5. They are transgressive. A boundary is crossed by the experience. Some aspect of the experience takes the person to a place that they could not or would not normally go.

  6. They are transformative. The person who had the experience is changed as a result.

A mystical experience that another person has had, may not feel authoritative to us. Many of our beliefs may be influenced by, or have their origin in, mystical experiences that others have had. We are not required to accept beliefs because other people have had a mystical experience.

If a mystical experience aligns with our beliefs and brings our intellectual beliefs to an emotional and experiential level, then that’s awesome. And it isn’t really important what caused it.

If a mystical experience tells us things that we don’t agree with, then we are right to question them. The religious method provides a way to strengthen our beliefs and ensure that they align with reality. It doesn’t matter what the source of those beliefs are.

Morality

Morality is a human construct, inferred from our beliefs about divine principles. It is not a divine construct, given to us in a scripture that definitely has a divine source. Scripture appears to have a human source.

Our morality is based on our beliefs about a divine universe of infinite intelligence, infinite complexity, infinite power, infinite energy and infinite goodness. We are all equal children of gods. When we take the right view about our existence, love and compassion arise naturally from those beliefs. We have a responsibility to each other, but our primary responsibility is to ourselves. Because no other person is in a better position to help us, than we ourselves are.

This morality can be developed using the religious method. It is a work in progress. It is subject to constant testing and improvement over time. The religious method calls us to create beliefs and morals that are simple and beneficial to human beings, that do not contradict themselves, or empirical research, or our lived experience.

The religious method does not require us to create morals or religious practices that are primarily beneficial to religious leaders and religious institutions. Instead, morality is based on our beliefs about the deep nature of reality, and our identity as human beings.

The divine gives us no prohibitions. No requirements. We have freedom. The consequences of our choices are based on the laws of cause and effect. Anyone who understands the truth of our existence ought to be kind to themselves and others, if they take the right view. That is a human concept based on divine understanding. It is not a divine commandment coming from infallible scripture.

When a person thinks that they are a separate independent being, they may believe that killing their enemy is a victory. The truth is that we are all parts of one infinite being. If the right hand cuts off the left hand, that is absolutely not a victory.

Our choices affect our outcome in this lifetime and in the distant future. Our interpretation of time and space means that the past doesn’t cease to exist when time moves forward. Gods are aware of the past, present and future because our limited perception of time is a property of our human sense organs. It is not an attribute of actual reality.

Religious Practice

Our religious practices are based on our specific beliefs. Inspired by our beliefs, we engage in specific practices designed to express our true identity or achieve our spiritual goals.

The egocentric belief that prayer is a form of negotiation where we can ask for a positive personal outcome at the expense of our enemies is a misunderstanding of the true nature of prayer. The best possible outcome of prayer can be obtained by taking the right view of the deep nature of reality, consistent with our beliefs about the universe.

By trying to communicate directly with gods, we are making an effort to communicate with the deep nature of reality. The benefit could be to better align our minds and actions with the truth of our existence. This should tend to result in better outcomes through natural cause and effect. No magic is required. Although it may feel quite magical at times.

The universe confronts us with infinite complexity, and in this lifetime we get one distinct set of opportunities to respond to a unique set of challenges that will never recur. We ought to pay attention, and we ought to make the best choices that we can to improve human outcome, for ourselves and each other. We are going to make some good choices and some bad choices. Gods are very curious to see what choices we make.

Religious rituals (and practices) can become habits that we repeat many times. They become so familiar that we stop noticing them, stop thinking about them. This gives them the ability to bypass our conscious minds, and to influence us directly on a deeper level. For example, if a person tries to repeatedly think the word “love” ten thousand times, then it will take a long time to finish. As they go through their daily activities they will be thinking “love, love, love…”. Then when they remember washing the dishes, or writing a message, or being in confict, their memories will all be connected in some way to the word “love”. This sort of practice can have an emotionally transformative effect on a person. Nothing supernatural is required, for this to be transformative.

If we contemplate life and our beliefs, we may encounter questions that are bothering us, or difficulties where our beliefs don’t provide us with good answers. We may notice inconsistencies or we may think of simpler explanations. This is a natural part of the religious method. For example if we contemplate the problem of evil, then it could challenge our beliefs and lead us to a different understanding of the nature of gods.

Challenges to Religion

People often ask, “Why does God remain hidden?” But everything in the universe is the mental activity of Pure Mind, caused by the interaction of Is and Also. We are like cells in the body of gods, or thoughts in Pure Mind. So the problem is not that gods remain hidden, but that we expect a gigantic old man with a beard, or a hand to reach down from heaven, or angels to come and perform miracles. If we look at the tiniest things such as quarks and electrons, they are performing miracles requiring infinite intelligence every time they move, branching off into an infinite number of parallel universes trillions of times per second. So everything that happens is actually a miracle. We don’t notice, but it doesn’t mean that gods remain hidden. Our vision is just so limited.

Can gods break the laws of the universe? Can Pure Mind create something completely impossible, like a “square circle”? Is and Also created a metaverse where the laws of mathematics and physics vary. In this universe, it seems to be impossible to create a square circle. But elsewhere in the metaverse, the rules would work differently. The mathematics that we are used to might not work there, and all sorts of seemingly-contradictory things might be possible under those conditions. Pure Mind is not limited by the laws of this specific universe.

The Problem of Evil

We are all equal children of gods. We are all one body, emanations of Pure Mind, cells in the body of gods.

If Pure Mind is infinitely intelligent, Is is infinitely strong, Also has infinite energy and complexity, then why is it that bad things happen to good people? Shouldn’t gods of infinite love, infinite curiosity and infinite longing seek to prevent bad things from ever happening to us?

Intelligence works by exploring alternatives and making choices. Pure Mind seems to be exploring every possible outcome that could possibly happen. Our lifetimes are part of that exploration. As childrens of gods, we get to participate in an infinite number of alternative paths. This single lifetime is part of an infinite number of lifetimes that could happen to you, and all those other lifetimes are happening in the sideways direction of possibility. Your body is much larger than it seems. But reality is partitioned into different “threads” of time by the rules of cause and effect. So we only get to see this one possibility.

So yes, both good and bad things are going to happen to us. This human life is not easy, and especially the last part at the end is not very nice. It’s especially unbearable if we believe that our individual existence is intrinsically real. But the truth is far greater than what we experience in this lifetime. We are not really isolated individuals, alone and unloved.

What does this mean about free will? There are two levels of reality, the absolute level and the human level. The dimension of possibility means that there are many alternative outcomes that could occur. In some way we will be able to experience all of those alternative outcomes. But we only get to experience one set of outcomes in this lifetime. That’s at the absolute level. But at a human level, in this lifetime we definitely have the freedom to make choices. And those choices do influence our outcomes. It’s like going through a city with many streets. You are free to choose any street to go down. Some of the streets look better than others. And different things are happening on different streets at different times.

There is a debate in physics about whether consciousnesss collapses the wave and chooses an outcome. In this religion, Pure Mind collapses the wave, and human consciousness is also part of Pure Mind. As human beings, we can make choices about which path we follow.

So yes, at a human level we do have free will. Pure Mind, of which we are a part, has free will at an absolute level. Before this lifetime, we made the choice to be here in this moment having these experiences. But in this lifetime, we only get to experience the human level. At a human level, we have free will, but we are subject to the laws of cause and effect.

Our consciousness does come from the absolute, divine level. But we only get to experience a tiny slice of it at the human level. Life is going to throw all sorts of things at us. Pure Mind (soul, our true identity) gets to experience it along with us.

Naming

I have no idea what to name this religion. I have considered several names.

The current working title for this religion is RM PAMP.

The name is a work in progress.

More Information

Visit my site https://religiousmethod.com to join the discussion about the religious method and RM/PIA/PAMP (or whatever we decide to call it).