preface: if you asked me if i had a hobby, i'd sound pretty boring to you. my hobby is thinking, specifically, thinking about the church of the great unwashed. it's 1% side project, 99% daydream. someday, when i feel i've thought about it properly, i want to start a religion. i admit this is a strange choice of vocation for an agnostic, but i have my own definition of religion, one which has nothing to do with any supreme being. a religion, to my mind, is some set of principles that provide people with hope, a sense of order, and a few basic moral principles. a religion that presumes to do anything else, in my opinion, does its faithful more harm than good.
you may wonder why the statements below are in the first person ('i ..'), rather than the second ('thou.. '). i don't want to present any of this as dogma, firstly because there's no punishment associated with the church of the great unwashed (i.e., eternal damnation) and secondly because the tenets are meant to be flexible and personal. so this is it.. even if you don't feel like adding a writeup, any comments are appreciated.
the church of the great unwashed - tenets
- i am the sum of all my actions. my words, when they are not actions in themselves, have no power if i cannot provide evidence of their sincerity.
- i do not take actions i would not want to be commonly taken by others. i will not knowingly do anything i feel to be wrong by the preceding principle. when i make a mistake, i will take responsibility for it. if i decide to do wrong, i will not make excuses to mitigate the fact that i have broken my personal moral code.
- i am no better or worse than anyone else, so i will refrain from assessing the character of any other person. no matter how justified i may feel, i will not seek revenge for any wrongs done to me by doing the same wrong, in turn, to my abuser.
- i judge the success of my life based upon my own happiness and what good change i can bring about in the world.
- i am made happy by comfort - safety and physical well-being - and by the appreciation of others, as a result of my own acts of altruism and my faithful attempt to be an asset to any society i may be a part of. i take pride in great accomplishments, but know that happiness comes not only from big achievments. i take pleasure in material things only so far as they allow me to maintain the basic comfort of myself and those dependent on me.
- i can believe i have lived a good life if i have made one good and powerful change in the life of another person. if my existence makes the difference between another person's life being good and their life being meaningless, i will be proud of the life i have lived.
- in all things, i endeavor to be honest with myself, even to the point of cynicism. as the sole judge of my own morality, it is important that i do not rationalize my actions. when i commit an error, i acknowledge it, i do what is possible to correct it, and though i forgive myself, i am ever cautious of repeating my mistake.
- i value learning. i do not let my sense of pride injure my ability to take criticism. i do not take any statement as absolute truth, but change my opinion or belief if and only if the evidence for the new mindset is more compelling than evidence for the old. likewise, i try and teach others the things i know, but do not presume to know anything with total certainty.
- when the two come into conflict, i prefer my long-term happiness over my short-term happiness. i am willing to work hard and make sacrifices to attain a goal that will surely follow from my efforts. i would rather be challenged and sometimes fail than never be challenged at all.
- by being a fair and kind person, i fulfill my debt to myself. if i live up to my own honest expectations of myself, i will be looked upon with respect by those around me.
next:
parables