New Religion
1. Why a New Religion Is Not Absurd (It’s Inevitable)
For most of history, religion wasn’t optional. It did five things at once:
-
Explained reality (what is)
-
Explained suffering (why pain exists and how to endure it)
-
Structured meaning over time (birth → maturity → death)
-
Bound communities together (shared rituals, shared sacrifice)
-
Encoded wisdom before science, psychology, or sociology existed
The modern world dismantled religion function by function:
-
Science took cosmology
-
Psychology took the soul
-
Economics took morality
-
Therapy took confession
-
Entertainment took ritual
-
Politics took salvation
But nothing replaced the integrated whole.
So people are left with fragments:
-
Truth without meaning
-
Freedom without structure
-
Pleasure without purpose
-
Knowledge without wisdom
That vacuum will be filled. The only question is by what:
-
Ideology
-
Tribal politics
-
Technocratic managerialism
-
Online cults
-
Or something intentionally designed
In that sense, a “new religion” isn’t radical—it’s overdue.
2. Religion as an Evolved Operating System
Your earlier framing is exactly right: religion is a pre-written map of reality refined across generations. Writing your own from scratch is possible—but brutally inefficient and psychologically dangerous.
Where older religions excel:
-
They assume human weakness
-
They build in forgiveness
-
They ritualize restraint
-
They survive bad days, not just good ones
Where they struggle:
-
They encode historical assumptions as eternal truths
-
They freeze moral insights at the time of their birth
-
They treat revision as apostasy rather than maturation
A new religion, if it’s serious, must treat itself explicitly as:
An evolving framework for meaning, not a frozen revelation
That alone would be a massive innovation.
3. Why Mormonism Is a Near-Ideal Predecessor
Your instinct here is sharp.
Mormonism is arguably the most structurally modern religion ever produced. Not because every claim is correct—but because of its architecture.
What it gets right:
1. Ongoing Revelation
Truth is not closed. That’s enormous. Most religions died intellectually the moment they sealed their canon.
2. Structured Community
It doesn’t just tell you what to believe—it gives you:
-
Callings
-
Rhythms
-
Mutual obligation
-
A shared narrative across generations
3. Moral Seriousness Without Monastic Withdrawal
It assumes people will marry, work, raise kids, build institutions—and tries to sanctify that life.
4. Teleological Meaning
Life is going somewhere. You are becoming something.
5. Integration of Body, Family, and Eternity
It resists the ancient Gnostic error of treating the physical world as a mistake.
But its failure modes are also clear:
-
Heavy historical claims vulnerable to modern scrutiny
-
Cultural rigidity mistaken for eternal law
-
Sexual and gender frameworks struggling under modern knowledge
-
Authority structures that resist transparency
-
A pace of adaptation too slow for a world that changes every decade
It evolved faster than older religions—but not fast enough for what came next.
4. The Core Premise of a New Religion
Here’s the philosophical center it would need:
Reality is knowable, meaning is constructed cooperatively across time, and wisdom accumulates—but humans remain tragically limited, biased, and fragile.
So the religion would:
-
Respect science without worshipping it
-
Respect tradition without freezing it
-
Respect individual conscience without dissolving community
-
Respect transcendence without requiring metaphysical certainty
This religion would not say:
“Here is the final truth.”
It would say:
“Here is the best map we have so far—and the rules for improving it.”
That alone avoids the Nietzschean trap.
Nietzsche didn’t go mad because he questioned God.
He went mad because he tried to carry the entire weight of meaning alone.
A good religion distributes that weight.
5. Revelation Reimagined: From Prophets to Processes
Instead of a single prophet, revelation becomes institutionalized wisdom-generation.
Possible mechanisms:
-
Periodic doctrinal review (like constitutional amendments)
-
Councils combining philosophers, scientists, psychologists, historians
-
Sacred texts that are explicitly layered (core, commentary, revision)
-
Moral updates tied to empirical outcomes (does this produce flourishing?)
Truth becomes:
-
Stable enough to live by
-
Flexible enough to survive correction
Heresy isn’t disagreement—it’s refusal to participate in good-faith revision.
6. Ethics: From Absolute Rules to Developmental Wisdom
Old religions often ask:
“Is this permitted or forbidden?”
A modern religion must ask:
“Does this move a person toward greater integration, responsibility, and generativity?”
Moral teaching would be:
-
Stage-based (what’s healthy at 20 is not the same at 50)
-
Context-aware (family, capacity, circumstance matter)
-
Grounded in long-term consequences, not momentary purity
Sin isn’t rule-breaking—it’s fragmentation:
-
Lying to yourself
-
Refusing responsibility
-
Destroying trust
-
Avoiding growth
Repentance becomes:
-
Reintegration
-
Repair
-
Recommitment
Forgiveness remains central—but not cheap.
7. Ritual, Myth, and the Sacred (Still Non-Negotiable)
No matter how rational we become, humans do not live by propositions.
A new religion still needs:
-
Sacred time (weekly, yearly cycles)
-
Initiation rites
-
Marriage rites
-
Mourning rites
-
Narrative myths that encode truths psychologically, not literally
But myths would be taught as myths—true in meaning, not in physics.
Sacred stories become:
-
Maps of the psyche
-
Warnings about hubris
-
Illustrations of sacrifice
-
Models of redemption
This avoids both naïve literalism and cynical dismissal.
8. Death, Finitude, and the Honest Afterlife
Modern people don’t believe ancient cosmologies—but they still fear death.
A new religion must confront death without lying.
Possible stance:
-
Radical uncertainty about personal survival
-
Absolute certainty about legacy and continuity
-
Eternal life reframed as participation in something that outlasts you
You are saved not by escaping death—but by becoming part of an ongoing human story.
Meaning survives even if the ego does not.
That alone is enough to steady a soul.
9. Authority Without Tyranny
Authority would exist—but it would be:
-
Transparent
-
Limited
-
Accountable
-
Revocable
No priesthood immune from criticism.
No doctrine immune from review.
No leader immune from moral failure.
Sacred authority is earned through wisdom, not claimed through lineage.
10. The Point of It All
The final purpose of this religion would be simple—and ancient:
To help ordinary people live meaningful lives, bear suffering without despair, love without illusion, and die without terror.
Not to perfect the world.
Not to eliminate tragedy.
Not to conquer reality.
Just to help humans carry it.
Closing Thought
What you’re really describing isn’t heresy or hubris.
It’s the recognition that religion evolves—or it decays into irrelevance or fanaticism.
Christianity was an evolution of Judaism.
Mormonism was an evolution of Christianity.
Another evolution will come.
The only real question is whether it emerges:
-
accidentally
-
violently
-
manipulatively
Or consciously, humbly, and wisely.
If you want, next we could:
-
Sketch a “canon” structure
-
Design weekly rituals
-
Compare this directly to Mormon theology point-by-point
-
Or explore why attempts like secular humanism failed to replace religion
Just say where you want to go next.
Perfect. Let’s treat this like engineers, not mystics: a canon is an information architecture, not just a pile of sacred books.
I’ll sketch a layered canon designed to survive centuries and change.
A Canon for a Living Religion
(Stable at the core, adaptive at the edges)
Design Principles (Before Content)
A viable modern canon must satisfy five constraints:
-
Stability – people need something that does not change week to week
-
Legitimacy – it must feel earned, not arbitrary
-
Adaptability – revision must be possible without schism
-
Hierarchy – not all texts are equally binding
-
Transparency – people must know why something is authoritative
Old religions solved this accidentally. This one must do it intentionally.
Canon Architecture: Four-Tier Model
Think of it like a constitution, case law, commentary, and research archive.
I. The Core Canon (Foundational Texts)
Purpose:
Define first principles—not rules, not policies, but the deep structure of reality, meaning, and human obligation.
Characteristics:
-
Extremely small
-
Extremely slow to change
-
Mostly poetic, mythic, and philosophical
-
Treated as interpretively rich, not literal
Contents Might Include:
-
A creation narrative (psychological, not cosmological)
-
A doctrine of human nature (limited, social, meaning-seeking)
-
The nature of suffering and sacrifice
-
Responsibility, truth, and integration
-
Death, legacy, and continuity
Tone:
-
Dense
-
Beautiful
-
Memorable
-
Quotable
Think Genesis + Ecclesiastes + Tao Te Ching, not a rulebook.
Revision Rule:
Changes require overwhelming, generational consensus—think centuries, not decades.
This is the bedrock. If this moves too often, the religion dissolves.
II. The Interpretive Canon (Authoritative Expansions)
Purpose:
Explain, apply, and deepen the Core Canon for lived human life.
This is where most religions actually live.
Contents:
-
Ethical frameworks
-
Models of virtue and vice
-
Social responsibilities (family, work, community)
-
Case studies of moral failure and redemption
-
Philosophical clarification
This layer is authoritative but not infallible.
Key Innovation:
Multiple voices are allowed—and preserved.
Contradiction is not erased; it’s documented.
Revision Rule:
Texts can be:
-
Superseded
-
Annotated
-
Contextualized
But not quietly deleted.
Truth evolves in public.
III. The Applied Canon (Guides for Living)
Purpose:
Translate wisdom into daily practice.
This is where:
-
Rituals live
-
Community norms live
-
Moral expectations live
Examples:
-
Marriage and family guidance
-
Parenting principles
-
Work, stewardship, and service
-
Sexual ethics (developmental, not absolutist)
-
Conflict resolution
-
Repentance and reconciliation processes
Crucially:
This layer explicitly acknowledges:
-
Cultural context
-
Historical change
-
Scientific knowledge
It is meant to change.
Revision Rule:
Regular review cycles (e.g., every 10–25 years).
Outdated guidance is retired with explanation, not denial.
This prevents the “we never taught that” problem.
IV. The Open Canon (Wisdom Archive)
Purpose:
Prevent stagnation and capture emerging insight.
This layer is:
-
Open-ended
-
Non-binding
-
Experimental
Contents:
-
Philosophy
-
Psychology
-
Science
-
Economics
-
Comparative religion
-
Art and literature
-
Minority dissent
Some of this will later be elevated.
Most will remain provisional.
None is ignored.
This is where prophets used to be—now institutionalized as process.
Revision Rule:
Continuous. Messy. Honest.
This is how the religion breathes.
Authority Gradient (What Binds How Strongly)
| Layer | Binding Force |
|---|---|
| Core Canon | Identity-defining |
| Interpretive Canon | Normative |
| Applied Canon | Guiding |
| Open Canon | Exploratory |
No confusion. No bait-and-switch.
A person always knows:
-
What is essential
-
What is expected
-
What is optional
-
What is speculative
How Revelation Works (Without Madness)
Instead of a single prophet bearing unbearable weight:
-
Councils steward canon layers
-
Evidence, outcomes, and lived effects matter
-
Minority reports are preserved
-
No claim of personal infallibility
Revelation becomes:
Collective discernment under moral constraints
Not “God told me,” but:
“This survived scrutiny, time, and consequence.”
Heresy, Reimagined
Heresy is not disagreement.
Heresy is:
-
Willful distortion of canon hierarchy
-
Freezing provisional guidance as eternal law
-
Ignoring evidence of harm
-
Refusing revision in bad faith
This reframes orthodoxy as intellectual honesty + moral seriousness.
Why This Works Psychologically
-
People get roots (Core Canon)
-
They get direction (Interpretive Canon)
-
They get practical help (Applied Canon)
-
They get hope for growth (Open Canon)
Most importantly:
No single human is asked to carry the weight of God.
That’s how you avoid both tyranny and Nietzsche’s collapse.
Next Directions (Your Call)
We could next:
-
Draft a sample Core Canon text (short, poetic, dense)
-
Design weekly rituals tied to canon layers
-
Map this canon directly against Mormon scripture
-
Explore how schisms are prevented structurally
-
Design initiation rites and moral education paths
Say which one you want—and I’ll build it at the same depth.
Good. For a Core Canon, restraint matters more than brilliance. This should feel ancient on first reading and inexhaustible on rereading. Short, aphoristic, mythic—but not naïve.
I’ll draft a single foundational text, something like a Genesis–Ecclesiastes hybrid. Think of it as The First Measure.
The First Measure
I. Of Reality
Before names, there was order and disorder,
and the human stood between them.
The world is not made for you,
yet you are made for the world.
You do not command it,
but you are accountable within it.
What is real resists you.
What is false collapses under weight.
Truth is not comfort,
but what remains when comfort is removed.
II. Of the Human Creature
The human is unfinished.
Born weak, knowing little, desiring much.
You are shaped by hunger and fear,
by love and imitation,
by what you worship without knowing it.
You see poorly,
but you see enough to be responsible.
You err not because you are evil,
but because you are partial and tempted by ease.
III. Of Meaning and Burden
Meaning is not discovered whole.
It is built through commitment.
That which you refuse to carry
will be carried against you.
The burden chosen
is lighter than the burden avoided.
To live without weight
is to live without shape.
IV. Of Truth and Speech
Speak so that what is hidden may be revealed,
and what is broken may be repaired.
A lie simplifies the world,
and makes you smaller to fit within it.
Silence may be mercy,
but evasion is always theft.
You are bound not to say all things,
but you are bound to say what matters.
V. Of Order, Change, and Time
What endures must adapt,
and what adapts must remember.
Tradition without renewal rots.
Renewal without tradition dissolves.
Do not curse the past for being incomplete;
it carried you this far.
Do not worship the future;
it does not yet know you.
Walk forward while facing backward.
VI. Of Love and Obligation
Love is not a feeling,
but a willingness to suffer with and for another.
To bind yourself is to narrow your freedom,
and to deepen your life.
What you are unwilling to commit to
you will eventually resent.
Do not confuse desire with devotion,
nor sacrifice with self-erasure.
VII. Of Failure and Repair
You will fail.
This is assumed.
What matters is not purity,
but return.
Confession restores proportion.
Repair restores trust.
Forgiveness is not forgetting;
it is the refusal to become what harmed you.
VIII. Of Death and Continuity
You are not permanent.
This is not an insult.
What you carry forward
outlives you.
Die knowing you added weight where it mattered,
and removed weight where it crushed.
What you become
is taken up by those who follow.
IX. The Measure
Hold fast to what is true,
even when it costs you.
Carry what you must,
and refuse what corrupts.
Bind yourself wisely,
and revise what fails to serve life.
You are not the center,
but you are a steward.
This is enough.
If you’d like, next we can:
-
Annotate this line-by-line (showing how doctrine emerges)
-
Draft a second complementary core text (a mythic narrative instead of aphorisms)
-
Stress-test it against nihilism, fundamentalism, and hedonism
-
Translate this into ritual use (weekly readings, initiation rites)
-
Compare it directly to Genesis, Ecclesiastes, the Sermon on the Mount, and LDS theology
Just point the direction.
Excellent. A religion without myth has no bloodstream. Aphorisms give structure; myth gives memory, emotion, and identity. This second text should feel older than it is—true even if not factual, unavoidable once heard.
I’ll write a single, compact myth meant to be reread across a lifetime. Call it The Story of the Two Fires.
The Story of the Two Fires
In the first age, when humans had learned to walk upright but not yet to see clearly, they gathered at night around a single fire.
The fire kept away the cold and the animals, and its light allowed them to recognize one another. But it burned without care, and many were scarred by it. Some feared it. Some worshipped it. None could live without it.
In time, a child was born who watched the fire more than the others. While the elders argued about where it came from and who controlled it, the child noticed that when the fire grew too large, it devoured the camp, and when it grew too small, the darkness returned.
The child asked, “Who tends the fire?”
No one answered.
When the child grew older, the people divided.
One group said, “The fire is sacred. It must never be changed.” They built walls around it and forbade anyone to touch it. The fire slowly choked on its own smoke, and the people froze while defending it.
Another group said, “The fire is dangerous. We will master it.” They pulled it apart, scattered its embers, and carried them wherever they wished. The embers burned bright for a time, but each fire soon died, and the people were left alone in the dark.
Seeing this, the child—now grown—took an ember and carried it beyond the camp.
The ember burned the traveler’s hands. Many times it nearly went out. Wind and rain tested it, and the traveler was tempted to drop it and walk free.
At last, the traveler reached a high place and found others there—some carrying embers, some carrying scars, some carrying nothing but regret.
They argued.
Some said, “Your ember is false.”
Some said, “Your fire is too small.”
Some said, “You stole what belongs to all.”
The traveler said nothing.
Instead, they placed the ember on the ground and built a circle of stone around it.
The fire returned—not large, not small, but tended.
Each who wished to stay added a stone. Each who stayed learned when to feed the fire and when to let it rest. Those who tried to own it burned themselves. Those who ignored it drifted away.
Children were taught not where the fire came from, but how to care for it.
Stories were told of those who had carried embers too proudly, and of those who had let them die.
The fire changed with time. So did the stones.
But the circle held.
When the traveler grew old, they called the children close and said:
“This fire is not mine.
It is not yours.
It will outlast you if you tend it,
and consume you if you do not.
Do not worship the fire.
Do not scatter it.
Do not let it die.
Carry it together.”
Then the traveler lay down and did not rise again.
Long after, strangers would ask the people,
“Where did your fire come from?”
And the people would answer:
“We do not know.
We only know how to keep it.”
Why This Works as Core Myth
This story quietly encodes:
-
Tradition vs. fragmentation
-
Authority vs. stewardship
-
Sacred without literalism
-
Knowledge without ownership
-
Religion as a living practice, not a relic
It also:
-
Avoids miracles
-
Avoids divine characters
-
Avoids cosmological claims
-
Centers responsibility, not belief
It pairs naturally with The First Measure:
-
One defines principles
-
One shows consequences
If you want, next we could:
-
Write a ritual retelling version for children
-
Annotate the myth symbol-by-symbol
-
Create a counter-myth (what happens when the fire is abused)
-
Draft a founding schism story (to normalize disagreement)
-
Design an initiation rite centered on the fire
Tell me where to go next.
Perfect. I’ll annotate this the way theologians and depth psychologists would—but without collapsing the symbols into slogans. Good myths stay open; annotations clarify range, not “the answer.”
I’ll go symbol by symbol, roughly in narrative order.
Symbol-by-Symbol Annotation
The Story of the Two Fires
1. The First Fire
Symbol:
The original fire represents foundational meaning—the earliest religious insight, moral structure, or cultural truth that makes human life possible.
Key properties:
-
Necessary for survival
-
Dangerous if mishandled
-
Neither fully understood nor controllable
Encoded truth:
Meaning precedes comprehension. Humans inherit systems of value before they can explain them.
This is tradition in its primal form.
2. The Night Gathering
Symbol:
Human beings as inherently communal and fragile.
The fire only matters because people gather around it.
Encoded truth:
Meaning exists between people, not just inside individuals. No solitary enlightenment sustains civilization.
3. Scars from the Fire
Symbol:
Religious trauma, moral injury, dogmatic abuse.
The fire protects—but it also harms.
Encoded truth:
All meaning systems wound some people. This does not invalidate them, but it demands humility.
A religion that denies its scars becomes cruel.
4. The Child Who Watches
Symbol:
The observing conscience. The integrative mind. The proto-prophet.
Not chosen by divinity—chosen by attention.
Encoded truth:
Wisdom begins with noticing patterns others ignore, not with authority.
This avoids the “special revelation” problem while preserving insight.
5. “Who Tends the Fire?”
Symbol:
The central religious question.
Not:
-
“Who owns truth?”
-
“Who created truth?”
-
“Who speaks for God?”
But:
Who is responsible for maintaining meaning?
Encoded truth:
Responsibility precedes legitimacy.
6. The First Division
This is crucial. The myth predicts schism rather than denying it.
A. Those Who Freeze the Fire
Symbol:
Fundamentalism, rigid orthodoxy, literalism.
They preserve form at the expense of function.
Encoded truth:
Protecting meaning without using it kills it.
This is religion as museum artifact.
B. Those Who Scatter the Fire
Symbol:
Radical individualism, relativism, “spiritual but not religious.”
Each person carries a private ember.
Encoded truth:
Freedom without shared structure leads to isolation and darkness.
This is meaning without inheritance.
7. The Traveler with the Ember
Symbol:
The reformer—not the destroyer, not the conserver.
The traveler:
-
Carries cost (burned hands)
-
Accepts risk
-
Leaves comfort without rejecting inheritance
Encoded truth:
True renewal requires sacrifice, not rebellion.
This directly contrasts with Nietzschean self-creation.
8. The High Place
Symbol:
Perspective gained through distance and effort.
Not heaven—elevation.
Encoded truth:
Wisdom requires stepping outside the original camp without denying it.
9. The Gathering of the Scarred and Empty-Handed
Symbol:
Pluralism without flattening.
Some bring:
-
Insight
-
Trauma
-
Loss
-
Nothing at all
Encoded truth:
Community does not require equality of contribution, only willingness to participate.
10. The Accusations
Symbol:
Inevitable moral conflict.
“You stole it.”
“It’s false.”
“It’s too small.”
Encoded truth:
Any attempt to steward shared meaning will be attacked from all sides.
Silence here matters.
11. Building the Circle of Stones
Symbol:
Institutions, rituals, canon, boundaries.
The circle:
-
Contains without owning
-
Protects without enclosing
-
Is built collectively
Encoded truth:
Meaning survives through structure—not control.
Stones = limits, norms, constraints.
12. The Fire That Is Tended
Symbol:
Living religion.
Not maximal.
Not minimal.
Maintained through practice.
Encoded truth:
Truth is not static; it is kept alive.
13. Adding Stones
Symbol:
Participation creates legitimacy.
Authority emerges from contribution, not decree.
Encoded truth:
Those who refuse responsibility lose influence.
14. Burned by Ownership
Symbol:
Corruption through power.
Those who claim exclusive authority are consumed.
Encoded truth:
Sacred things cannot be possessed—only served.
15. Teaching Children How, Not Where
This is one of the densest lines.
Symbol:
Transmission of practice over doctrine.
Encoded truth:
Origins matter less than stewardship.
This avoids brittle historical claims while preserving continuity.
16. Stories of Failure
Symbol:
Canonized mistakes.
Not hidden.
Not erased.
Taught.
Encoded truth:
Wisdom accumulates through remembered error.
This prevents the “our leaders were always right” lie.
17. The Changing Fire and Stones
Symbol:
Adaptive tradition.
Encoded truth:
Change is not betrayal if the function remains.
Continuity is measured by survival, not sameness.
18. The Death of the Traveler
Symbol:
Mortality of reformers.
No eternal leader.
No final prophet.
Encoded truth:
The system must outlive its best steward.
19. “Carry It Together”
Symbol:
Shared burden as salvation.
Encoded truth:
Meaning is sustained by cooperation, not belief alone.
20. “We Do Not Know Where It Came From”
Symbol:
Epistemic humility.
Encoded truth:
Honest uncertainty is not weakness—it is protection against tyranny.
21. “We Only Know How to Keep It”
Symbol:
Final theological claim.
Encoded truth:
Religion exists to teach care, not certainty.
Meta-Observation: Why This Myth Is Dangerous (In a Good Way)
-
It undermines authoritarianism
-
It resists nihilism
-
It normalizes revision
-
It sanctifies responsibility
-
It survives loss of metaphysics
It can be believed by:
-
Theist
-
Agnostic
-
Skeptic
-
Believer-in-becoming
That’s exactly what a Core Canon myth should do.
If you want, next we can:
-
Encode explicit doctrine extracted from the myth
-
Write a counter-myth (when the fire is exploited)
-
Draft a children’s liturgical version
-
Design a schism-handling ritual based on the circle
-
Stress-test this myth against Mormonism, Christianity, and secular humanism
Just say the word.
Good—this is where it turns from beautiful into useful. I’ll annotate line-by-line, but I’ll do it the way serious religious traditions do: not “what it means,” but what doctrines quietly emerge and constrain behavior.
I’ll quote small chunks, then unpack.
Line-by-Line Annotation of The First Measure
(How doctrine emerges from poetry)
I. Of Reality
“Before names, there was order and disorder,
and the human stood between them.”
Doctrine emerging:
-
Reality is neither chaos nor paradise.
-
Humans are mediators, not masters.
This rejects:
-
Edenic perfection
-
Pure nihilism
-
Technocratic control fantasies
It places humans in a tragic but meaningful middle position.
“The world is not made for you,
yet you are made for the world.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-anthropocentrism without self-negation.
This blocks:
-
“The universe exists to serve me”
-
“Nothing matters because I’m insignificant”
Human dignity comes from fit, not privilege.
“You do not command it,
but you are accountable within it.”
Doctrine:
-
Responsibility without sovereignty.
This undermines:
-
Totalitarian religion
-
Radical individualism
-
God-complex leadership
Authority = stewardship, not control.
“What is real resists you.
What is false collapses under weight.”
Doctrine:
-
Pragmatic realism.
Truth is defined by:
-
Durability
-
Resistance to pressure
-
Consequences over time
This allows science, experience, and moral testing to coexist.
“Truth is not comfort,
but what remains when comfort is removed.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-sentimental epistemology.
Truth is not what feels good, nor what soothes anxiety.
This directly inoculates against:
-
Ideological utopianism
-
Therapeutic moralism
-
Prosperity-gospel thinking
II. Of the Human Creature
“The human is unfinished.”
Doctrine:
-
Developmental anthropology.
Humans are not fallen from perfection nor complete at birth.
This allows:
-
Growth
-
Education
-
Moral maturation
“Born weak, knowing little, desiring much.”
Doctrine:
-
Humility about cognition and appetite.
Desire is acknowledged, not condemned.
Weakness is assumed, not shamed.
This makes moral instruction necessary but not cruel.
“You are shaped by hunger and fear,
by love and imitation,
by what you worship without knowing it.”
Doctrine:
-
Unconscious devotion.
Everyone worships something—status, safety, pleasure, ideology.
This reframes idolatry as inevitable but redirectable, not rare evil.
“You see poorly,
but you see enough to be responsible.”
Doctrine:
-
Limited knowledge does not excuse moral evasion.
This blocks:
-
“I didn’t know” nihilism
-
Moral paralysis
-
Infinite skepticism
Responsibility scales to perception.
“You err not because you are evil,
but because you are partial and tempted by ease.”
Doctrine:
-
Tragic moral psychology.
Sin = laziness, bias, comfort-seeking—not demonic depravity.
This preserves accountability without hatred of the self.
III. Of Meaning and Burden
“Meaning is not discovered whole.
It is built through commitment.”
Doctrine:
-
Existential construction within constraint.
Meaning is not arbitrary—but it is earned, not revealed instantly.
This rejects both:
-
Pure relativism
-
Instant enlightenment myths
“That which you refuse to carry
will be carried against you.”
Doctrine:
-
The law of avoided responsibility.
Avoidance doesn’t eliminate burden—it relocates it into:
-
Anxiety
-
Resentment
-
Chaos
This is a moral law, not a threat.
“The burden chosen
is lighter than the burden avoided.”
Doctrine:
-
Voluntary sacrifice is redemptive.
This sanctifies:
-
Marriage
-
Parenthood
-
Work
-
Service
Not as oppression—but as structure.
“To live without weight
is to live without shape.”
Doctrine:
-
Form requires resistance.
This condemns weightless lives of:
-
Pure pleasure
-
Endless option-keeping
-
Permanent adolescence
IV. Of Truth and Speech
“Speak so that what is hidden may be revealed,
and what is broken may be repaired.”
Doctrine:
-
Speech is for healing and integration, not domination.
Truth-telling is instrumental to repair, not cruelty.
“A lie simplifies the world,
and makes you smaller to fit within it.”
Doctrine:
-
Lies reduce complexity by amputating reality.
You don’t escape truth—you shrink yourself.
This is psychologically precise and morally damning without rage.
“Silence may be mercy,
but evasion is always theft.”
Doctrine:
-
Moral distinction between restraint and cowardice.
This prevents absolutist honesty while condemning manipulation.
“You are bound not to say all things,
but you are bound to say what matters.”
Doctrine:
-
Proportional obligation.
Speech ethics are situational, but responsibility is unavoidable.
V. Of Order, Change, and Time
“What endures must adapt,
and what adapts must remember.”
Doctrine:
-
Evolutionary tradition.
Change and continuity are mutually corrective, not enemies.
“Tradition without renewal rots.
Renewal without tradition dissolves.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-fundamentalism and anti-revolutionary excess.
This single couplet defeats most ideological religions.
“Do not curse the past for being incomplete;
it carried you this far.”
Doctrine:
-
Gratitude without naïveté.
The past is honored without being canonized as perfect.
“Do not worship the future;
it does not yet know you.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-utopian restraint.
Progress is necessary—but blind faith in it is idolatry.
“Walk forward while facing backward.”
Doctrine:
-
Conservative progressivism (in the literal sense).
Memory guides motion.
VI. Of Love and Obligation
“Love is not a feeling,
but a willingness to suffer with and for another.”
Doctrine:
-
Love defined as sacrifice, not emotion.
This stabilizes marriage, friendship, and community ethics.
“To bind yourself is to narrow your freedom,
and to deepen your life.”
Doctrine:
-
Freedom as depth, not breadth.
Choice is meaningful only when limited.
“What you are unwilling to commit to
you will eventually resent.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-avoidance psychology.
This explains modern resentment without moralizing.
“Do not confuse desire with devotion,
nor sacrifice with self-erasure.”
Doctrine:
-
Balanced ethic of selfhood.
No hedonism.
No martyr complexes.
VII. Of Failure and Repair
“You will fail.
This is assumed.”
Doctrine:
-
Failure is built into anthropology.
This eliminates moral surprise and shame-based control.
“What matters is not purity,
but return.”
Doctrine:
-
Repentance over perfection.
This is the moral heart of the system.
“Confession restores proportion.
Repair restores trust.”
Doctrine:
-
Two-step reconciliation.
Truth without repair is incomplete.
Repair without truth is fraud.
“Forgiveness is not forgetting;
it is the refusal to become what harmed you.”
Doctrine:
-
Forgiveness as moral victory, not denial.
This protects victims and prevents moral contagion.
VIII. Of Death and Continuity
“You are not permanent.
This is not an insult.”
Doctrine:
-
Mortality without nihilism.
Death humbles without negating worth.
“What you carry forward
outlives you.”
Doctrine:
-
Legacy over ego-immortality.
Meaning survives through transmission, not survival of consciousness.
“Die knowing you added weight where it mattered,
and removed weight where it crushed.”
Doctrine:
-
Ethical metric for a life well lived.
Weight = responsibility, not dominance.
“What you become
is taken up by those who follow.”
Doctrine:
-
Intergenerational moral inheritance.
You are a link, not an endpoint.
IX. The Measure
“Hold fast to what is true,
even when it costs you.”
Doctrine:
-
Truth requires sacrifice.
No prosperity gospel. No cheap virtue.
“Carry what you must,
and refuse what corrupts.”
Doctrine:
-
Discernment, not blind obedience.
Not all burdens are sacred.
“Bind yourself wisely,
and revise what fails to serve life.”
Doctrine:
-
Commitment plus correction.
This legitimizes reform without rebellion.
“You are not the center,
but you are a steward.”
Doctrine:
-
Humble agency.
You matter—not absolutely, but consequentially.
“This is enough.”
Doctrine:
-
Anti-totalizing restraint.
The religion does not promise omniscience, utopia, or salvation-from-reality.
Only orientation.
Meta-Conclusion
From this single text, the following doctrines emerge naturally:
-
Truth is tested by endurance
-
Responsibility precedes authority
-
Meaning is built through sacrifice
-
Failure is assumed; repair is sacred
-
Tradition evolves or dies
-
Community outlives individuals
-
Certainty is not required—integrity is
Nothing supernatural is demanded.
Nothing nihilistic is conceded.
That’s exactly what a Core Canon should do.
If you want next, we can:
-
Extract a formal doctrine list
-
Design weekly readings aligned to life stages
-
Show how this outperforms secular humanism psychologically
-
Compare this canon directly to LDS scripture line-by-line
-
Design a confession and repair ritual based on this text
Just tell me where to take it.
