How can we create a spiritual tradition that enjoys the benefits mentioned above without suffering from the problems? Why would we try to create such a tradition?

I believe it is an important endeavor in order to fill the void in the modern secular world that was mentioned above. This in order to meet the central human needs that currenlty go unanswered, which leads to social pathologies.

The core beliefs

  1. Caring for Wellbeing in all its forms (physical, psychological, social, financial) for ourselves and for others - this is a central value and goal of our faith.
  2. Respect for the personal sovereignty of ourselves and of others
  3. Anti-dogmatism: treating our understanding of truth, ethics, and practice as always provisional, open to revision through free inquiry, direct experience, reason, and new evidence.
  4. Anti-coercion: relying on persuasion and free choice, never coercion, to influence what others believe or do — the sole exception being defense of the innocent from harm.
  5. There are limits to toleration: Respecting everyone’s personal sovereignty is as long as they do not aim to harm other people’s freedoms and personal sovereignty. It is justified to oppose bigotry and harmful ideologies.

Invitation for free thinking, anti-dogmatic

Unlike traditions that treat all of their teachings as fixed and final, this new spiritual tradition draws a distinction between what is open to free inquiry and what is essential and non-negotiable. Metaphysical questions — what happens to our consciousness after death, the ultimate nature of reality, how to interpret a given practice or teaching — are open for discussion, revision, and even disagreement. No belief about these matters is imposed as absolute truth; each person is invited to explore, question, and adapt them in light of reason, evidence, inspiration, and their own experience.

What is not open to revision is the core commitment to caring for the wellbeing and personal sovereignty of every person. Anyone who denies the value of others’ wellbeing, who would sacrifice it for their own benefit, or who seeks to coerce others against their will — has placed themselves outside this tradition. This is not a minor matter of style: there is no toleration of unjustified intolerance. Just as a healthy democracy must actively oppose those who aim to exploit its freedoms in order to install a dictatorship, this tradition actively opposes any effort to use it, or any other institution, to erode people’s freedom and self-sovereignty.

In practice: differing beliefs about God, the afterlife, or the nature of consciousness are all welcome. A fruitful debate about how to implement our core beliefs is encouraged. Coercion of any kind — physical, social, or institutional — is unacceptable (except when used in defense of the innocent from harm).

Designed rituals

Instead of following rituals from the past, TBD

Community

Community is central to this endeavor. The whole point is for people to come together to “implement” together the new spiritual tradition rather than doing it individualistically. The purpose is to help each other better understand the spiritual tradition, with self-inquiry, adapting it to each person’s convictions, thus respecting their personal sovereignty.

Is it possible to compete with existing religions?

It is definitely possible to create a new spiritual tradition that competes with existing traditions. There have been many cases of creating a new religious tradition. That’s how Christianity began as a reformation of Judaism, and how Islam started as a new thing instead of the pagan religions there. That’s how Martin Luther started protestant christianry instead of catholicism, and how the Bahai faith started in the 19th century. Several new religious traditions started in the United States during the 19th century, including Mormonism (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), Seventh-day Adventism, and Christian Science. In all these cases there was a break with existing tradition, but some people did join the new religion nonetheless.

Are we going to try to persuade people to join?

Every person who believes in something and thinks it will do good to others would naturally want to tell about it to other people so that they can also benefit. Of course, we do not do it by force or by manipulation, and if you disagree this doesn’t mean that our relationship is over. We believe we are supposed to show love not only to people who believe in what we believe but to everyone, giving a personal example of how to be a good person.

To influence people by showing a living example and persuading by pleasant words [to be continued…]