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Beliefs and practices are connected, yes, but separable. At least, we can find examples religious behaviors that are isolated from a unifying doctrine. I dream of cooking up a religion in my kitchen: letâs talk about the recipe
I have my own alignments, obviously, but my desire is to take the outside view to all ideology, where ideology is understood merely as a materialist version of religion; but psychologically, there is no difference between them https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1019264243244228608?s=21
There are six major ingredients to make a religion, you donât need them all, but it helps. They are: false consciousness, a nemesis, religious ecstasy, dietary taboos, eschatology, and evangelism.
False consciousness: a revelation that necessitates a new way of being https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1019567614580801536?s=21
Nemesis: a unifying enemy, also a scapegoat https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1020322404751441921?s=21
Eschatology: a sense of how the world will end. Giving meaning to death also gives meaning to life. https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1019938214688145409?s=21
Religious ecstasy: a glimpse of the transcendent. I will never be the same again. https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1020811720216858624?s=21
Dietary taboo: that which goes into a manâs mouth does, contra Christ, make him unclean https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1021055008605798400?s=21
Evangelism: the reproductive organs of an ideology; a phallusophy: https://twitter.com/0x49fa98/status/1021524869735804928?s=21
Together these components form an invisible machine with a mind of its own, a distributed virtual intelligence executing in a substrate made of the people who carry it.
In the discipline of design, an affordance is an element that presents an opportunity for use. A handle can be grasped, a button can be pressed, etc. the affordances of an object are those objects which afford manipulation
The components of religion are affordances into the human mind. Ideologies compete for mind share and the components above are their avenues of attack. If your own map is weak in one of these areas, and someone presents a strong model to you, then a new memeplex can bloom
When left to their own devices, people will instinctively build ideas that fit into the above slots. We want religion, itâs part of our extended phenotype. To be human is to live inside of and construct ideology, like a spider and its web, like a beaver and itâs dam.
Although religions contain sacred values and create stores of sanctity, it is possible for two people or groups to start with the same memeplex and yet have contradicting sacred values. This is one of the ways that memeplexes mutate.
Given enough time, divergent values can lead to schism. There are many ways to change the emphasis of religious practice while staying within the walls of a memeplex canon. Sacred texts can be reinterpreted, prophets can append to the ideology...
Perhaps the pious believe that their own God steers the memetic evolution of their belief system, but I believe Gnon works through men, even through the deliberate actions of men, or not at all.
https://twitter.com/eli_schiff/status/1023266626978959362
Of course many long for a new religion but it is very complicated to make one. Itâs not as if atheists merely lack the will. Even if you compose a new religion you will need to be very charismatic to spread it.
Of course many long for a new religion but it is very complicated to make one. Itâs not as if atheists merely lack the will. Even if you compose a new religion you will need to be very charismatic to spread it.
