I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Collins at Liberty Forum here in New Hampshire.
I hope to get a chance to talk to him again, as while all the criticisms I've been hearing have merit (some more than others), I do think he and Simone's hearts are in the right place and they're actually trying to do something about it.
The nature of religion makes it impossible to engineer, and it's not going to come from someone who's a staunch atheist, because they will tend to automatically dismiss the entirety as irrational.
If I were to attempt to engineer a religion, I would look at first for the evidence of what is likely to exist outside of this infinitesimal slice of material reality and see what makes the most sense.
After you determine that, then the methodical and scientific exploration of that evidence could point the way towards what that larger reality contains, and might allow a better understanding of what we actually are, and what our purpose is.
I have my own ideas on this naturally, and at some point might put them down so others might consider if they are useful to them, but given the infinite and expanding nature of consciousness and reality it's a certainty all individual consciousness will, in time, find out for themselves - and the joy is truly in the journey.
Terrestrial environment dictates culture and restricts technology by random distribution of resources. Technology can alter environment, influencing culture and possibly freeing previously untapped resources. Space, however, is a radically different environment. The culture of space will be rooted in terrestrial culture but must rapidly evolve to something very different to match the survival requirements of life in space. Technology will BECOME environment in space, initially. This will expand somewhat, when space resources can be tapped and most importantly, when new technologies and engineered materials are developed in space (NOTE: I refer to materials and tech that can only be developed in space because of the unique environmental conditions present...for example, creating crystals that cannot grow in a gravity well, or synthetic mircofilament material relying on ultra-high G stresses to form them, or genetically modified trees grown in high G to make them astonishingly dense and strong (super-dense wooden ships and spacefaring men, anyone?.) These new materials and technologies will be proportionately more culturally impactful than raw materials on earth impacted terrestrial cultures. Out of this milieu, new religions will form of necessity. They will be very unlike terrestrial religions, which meet the needs of Earthlings in their environment. Spacefaring humanity will already be in heaven and will see it very differently than their ancestors. These new religions will vaguely parallel what terrestrial religions are like. They will aim to meet needs of men for the transcendent in a most transcendental environment. The gods of the spacers will be interesting manifestations of the hopes and fears needs of a people living in the most hostile environments possible.
Perhaps it will one day be heretical to deny the existence of star-gremlins, who every spacer knows bedevil even the best ships and stations and habitats.
"Do you deny you are a Gremlin-Denier? DO YOU?! We have recordings of you doubting the existence of these well documented devils on THREE OCCASIONS! HOW DO YOU PLEA?"
Religion, for those in the trenches, is synonymous with authority.
The small people don't have the tools to defy religion. When it no longer addresses their lives, they simply abandon it.
If you talk to them, they don't deny the authority, they just don't participate, which puts everyone in a really weird place. If anyone cares, this is part of the why behind rock music, because it is real, it is transcendent, and it lives in the hearts of the small people.
Honestly, everyone can put their gifted precise grey matter arguments together, but it won't matter, because the small people won't grasp the language.
Why the Gnostic?
Because the power of Gnosis lies in its direct, sweaty, agonizing appeal.
I do realize that the wild, transcendent, uncouth waves of people tranced out scares the fucking shit out of those in polite society. I do realize that talking about hanging with dead people is just too much for an intellectual approach to existence.
Okay.
I'm not asking anyone for anything here. I'm just going to point out to anyone willing to listen that true spirituality is a lovers embrace of transcendence, and that transcendence never occurs in well behaved rooms of politely seated people reciting by rote to some dude in a suit or a funny hat.
Fundamentally the problem with the Collins's project is that a strictly materialist approach to maximizing fertility ends with mass-produced bugmen in artificial wombs and humanity becoming eusocial.
I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Collins at Liberty Forum here in New Hampshire.
I hope to get a chance to talk to him again, as while all the criticisms I've been hearing have merit (some more than others), I do think he and Simone's hearts are in the right place and they're actually trying to do something about it.
The nature of religion makes it impossible to engineer, and it's not going to come from someone who's a staunch atheist, because they will tend to automatically dismiss the entirety as irrational.
If I were to attempt to engineer a religion, I would look at first for the evidence of what is likely to exist outside of this infinitesimal slice of material reality and see what makes the most sense.
After you determine that, then the methodical and scientific exploration of that evidence could point the way towards what that larger reality contains, and might allow a better understanding of what we actually are, and what our purpose is.
I have my own ideas on this naturally, and at some point might put them down so others might consider if they are useful to them, but given the infinite and expanding nature of consciousness and reality it's a certainty all individual consciousness will, in time, find out for themselves - and the joy is truly in the journey.
Terrestrial environment dictates culture and restricts technology by random distribution of resources. Technology can alter environment, influencing culture and possibly freeing previously untapped resources. Space, however, is a radically different environment. The culture of space will be rooted in terrestrial culture but must rapidly evolve to something very different to match the survival requirements of life in space. Technology will BECOME environment in space, initially. This will expand somewhat, when space resources can be tapped and most importantly, when new technologies and engineered materials are developed in space (NOTE: I refer to materials and tech that can only be developed in space because of the unique environmental conditions present...for example, creating crystals that cannot grow in a gravity well, or synthetic mircofilament material relying on ultra-high G stresses to form them, or genetically modified trees grown in high G to make them astonishingly dense and strong (super-dense wooden ships and spacefaring men, anyone?.) These new materials and technologies will be proportionately more culturally impactful than raw materials on earth impacted terrestrial cultures. Out of this milieu, new religions will form of necessity. They will be very unlike terrestrial religions, which meet the needs of Earthlings in their environment. Spacefaring humanity will already be in heaven and will see it very differently than their ancestors. These new religions will vaguely parallel what terrestrial religions are like. They will aim to meet needs of men for the transcendent in a most transcendental environment. The gods of the spacers will be interesting manifestations of the hopes and fears needs of a people living in the most hostile environments possible.
Perhaps it will one day be heretical to deny the existence of star-gremlins, who every spacer knows bedevil even the best ships and stations and habitats.
"Do you deny you are a Gremlin-Denier? DO YOU?! We have recordings of you doubting the existence of these well documented devils on THREE OCCASIONS! HOW DO YOU PLEA?"
Religion, for those in the trenches, is synonymous with authority.
The small people don't have the tools to defy religion. When it no longer addresses their lives, they simply abandon it.
If you talk to them, they don't deny the authority, they just don't participate, which puts everyone in a really weird place. If anyone cares, this is part of the why behind rock music, because it is real, it is transcendent, and it lives in the hearts of the small people.
Honestly, everyone can put their gifted precise grey matter arguments together, but it won't matter, because the small people won't grasp the language.
Why the Gnostic?
Because the power of Gnosis lies in its direct, sweaty, agonizing appeal.
I do realize that the wild, transcendent, uncouth waves of people tranced out scares the fucking shit out of those in polite society. I do realize that talking about hanging with dead people is just too much for an intellectual approach to existence.
Okay.
I'm not asking anyone for anything here. I'm just going to point out to anyone willing to listen that true spirituality is a lovers embrace of transcendence, and that transcendence never occurs in well behaved rooms of politely seated people reciting by rote to some dude in a suit or a funny hat.
Many thanks John. Was a pleasure to chat with you.
Fundamentally the problem with the Collins's project is that a strictly materialist approach to maximizing fertility ends with mass-produced bugmen in artificial wombs and humanity becoming eusocial.
> Universal Catholic Wokeism vs. the underground gnostic resistance of organic right-wing mytho-memeticism.
For your attempt to present that dichotomy, wokeism and especially transgenderism is extremely gnostic.