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The Vision of the First One |
To continue the software project analogy, in the begining of a project it is necessary for the person who has the overall vision to be allowed to complete their initial work on the project. In this case the project is to write the structure of the natural religion of the human race. And I have to come up with this without the benefits of having supernatural powers or even the inspiration of omnipotent beings. This is starting out as the work of one guy with an idea that he came up with one night while smoking a joint. It's a huge job with awesome implications. Nonetheless, I seem to be stuck with it and I'm going to do as good a job of getting this started off in the right direction as I can.
Like other software projects, there is a time where the developer needs to maintain sole control of his work until it is sufficiently developed to the point where it can be cleanly handed over to a larger group of people who can continue to take it forward and have it develop organically into what it was originally designed to become. The Church of Reality is still in the pre-release beta testing stage where it is open for scrutiny and suggestions. I have opened it up for external editing. I have someone who is fixing the grammar and spelling, so there is a second developer who at least has a minor role in directly controlling the final product. I continue to listen to the ideas of other people to incorporate into the project. I am not the one who thought of everything here. A lot of people deserve credit for coming up with the concepts used here. But it is in the design specifications to turn this project into a community based project and have it develop a life beyond the original designer. In fact - this feature is considered a necessary feature of the final product.
At what point and to what extent does the developer relinquish control to the community? That is a tough question indeed. And it is especially tough for me as someone who isn't the most highly skilled at working with other people. I am somewhat inspired by the work of Linus Torvalds, the developer of the Linux operating system and one of the greatest contributions to the Tree of Knowledge in the history of the world. Linus developed Linux using the GNU free software development tools developed by Richard Stallman, to create a Unix like operating system. He started it on his own and eventually attracted other developers. Now Linux is the accumulated work of hundreds of thousands of people and is in use on tens of millions of computers, which serve directly or indirectly every single person on the planet.
My true role in the Church of Reality is that I am the Project Manager and I am developing a public domain religion.
Linus is still in control of Linux and rules over it as a benevolent dictator of sorts. Linus has assumed a position of great responsibility and trust and has maintained his position as leader of a great movement and has kept his original vision on track and true to its purpose. Linux today has grown far beyond what Linus originally dreamed of, yet is true to the original vision of what it should become. It didn't degenerate into chaos or something that was unrelated to its original intent. It has remained pure, and it is my hope that whatever happens that the Church of Reality develops to be as true to its original conception as Linux has done.
Linus's official role in Linux is project coordinator. I think of myself as the project coordinator for the Church of Reality. Some people (jokingly) refer to me as the Pope of Reality but I am not a pope. I'm just the guy who keeps the project on track.
So - if I do a good job and it works out, perhaps I too will remain the project coordinator for many years to come. Or it might turn out that I attract others who have superior skills and fully understand the power of the original vision behind the church and will gracefully take charge of this project but continue to be true to the vision of a natural religion that is rooted in reality and true to the Principle of Positive Evolution. I do not know which way this church will evolve, but quite frankly, if better people came along who wanted to take on this task and can do a better job of it than me, I am totally fine with it. I am a lazy person, so if someone else wants to do my work - go for it! I am always looking for volunteers.
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