The Principle of Humility is to resist a false sense of self importance. This planet is but a speck of dust in the universe; a small rock orbiting a medium size star in a galaxy of billions of stars in a universe of trillions of galaxies. We exist but for an instant of time. There are possibly billions of other planets that have life that are far more advanced than we are that we wouldn't even be good enough to be considered food. So how important can we really be?
This principle is based on the idea that we should do the best we can and work together to try individually and collectively to figure out who we are and why we are here, where is here, and what being here means. Humility is to realize that our knowledge is very limited and that the more we learn the more we find that we don't know.
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The Principle of Personal Responsibility is the recognition that how we behave personally affects who we are as a species and how the Tree of Knowledge will evolve. We can choose to live our lives in a manner that is beneficial to society or to live in a way that is detrimental to society. What is good for humanity and what is bad for humanity is - like everything else - subject to debate and exploration. As a church we ask the question - "What is moral? What is right and wrong? What is good and evil?" These are questions that we ask as explorers in the pursuit of the understanding of understanding and to know the meaning of meaning.
We recognize that the concepts of good and bad exist and sometimes they are clear and sometimes they are not. But as individuals we recognize that if we are going to grow the Tree of Knowledge that we have to evolve in a positive direction and that our personal behavior makes a difference. As members of the church we choose to strive to do what is right.
The Church of Reality is more than just being on a membership list. It is not a title but a way of life. To be a realist individuals must perform the dharma of the church. Membership is a series of acts and the acceptance that what we do in life matters. In the living of our lives our conduct reflects our moral code that is to be judged against the Principle of Positive Evolution and if what we are doing is moving society in the Sacred Direction. Thus - as individuals we take responsibility for our decisions and are committed to pursue a life that is constructive rather than destructive. And that the pursuit of perfecting society and behaving in a manner to promote the growth of the Tree of Knowledge constitutes the basis for a moral code under which we can all live together in peace and harmony to allow people to flourish individually and as a species.
The Principle of Personal Responsibility recognizes that what we do as an individual matters. Everyone affects the Tree of Knowledge in some way. We recognize that people have the ability to choose and that different choices have different results. Self improvement often requires change and the pursuit of reality, the way it really is, often has a price. And to pursue reality often involves taking control of our personal lives and affirmatively determining the direction our limited existence will take; to decide what we will become rather than be driven by the circumstances around us. Although we often have little control of what hand life deals us, we choose how to play the hand we are dealt. We choose to be good upstanding members of society working towards moving mankind in the Sacred Direction.
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The Principle of Wisdom is a personal commitment to not only work towards becoming smarter - but also wiser. Wisdom is the ability to arrive at the truth in spite of influences that would lead to the wrong conclusion. To be wise is to develop methods of extracting the truth against adversity.
We recognize that much of what we are taught is not true and that we become comfortable with our erroneous knowledge. We also recognize that there are complex emotions and expectations of society that pressure one's mind into fooling one's self. We recognize that there are people in the world who are not very honest who would use deception, illusion and the abuse of logic in order to get people to believe things that aren't true. But in spite of this - we are committed to extracting the truth and learning methods that allow reality to be known even in adverse circumstances.
To be wise is to have a highly disciplined mind and strong commitment to the pursuit of reality the way it really is. It represents not only personal skills, but also a strength of character to be able to face reality. It is to be a responsible person who can see past the confusion of the moment and to grasp the big picture. Wisdom requires strength of will, courage, discipline, humility, and commitment. Wisdom is something that is learned and everyone can become wiser than they are now.
As members of the Church of Reality we honor wisdom and we choose to commit ourselves to becoming wiser personally and to supporting the principle that we, as a society, are better off by elevating the status of Wisdom. As individuals we should be asking ourselves and asking other people, "Are we being Wise? Is there Wisdom here?"
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The Principle of Self Scrutiny is the recognition that we are imperfect and that the pursuit of reality is always a goal and that knowledge is ever growing. It is the acknowledgement that sometimes we get it wrong and that we should always test ourselves and our world view to make sure that what we think is real actually is real. This is what we call the Purification of Truth. It is a test to ensure that we are not fooling ourselves. It makes sure that we are not living the lie. And it makes us accountable to the truth.
The Church of Reality is a doubt based religion as opposed to a (blind) faith based religion. Realists are required to doubt everything and to continually test both old and new ideas to verify that they are still true. Blind faith is irresponsible and bypasses accountability. We doubt everything because we care about reality. By doubting we accept responsibility for preserving the integrity of the truth.
We welcome doubt and scrutiny as a means of purifying truth. It makes us accountable and ensures the integrity of our beliefs.
We are of limited knowledge with a limited brain; primitive computers trying to understand our existence. We need to be humble in our understanding of understanding and fully aware of our flaws and the processes that would lead us to a path of self illusion. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who don't know and those who don't know that they don't know. Let us never become the latter.
We as Realists practicing Realism must therefore always rely on our doubt to test ourselves and to test our world view against reality. We need to continually reexamine our world view to look for errors or to have a deeper understanding of what we think we already know. There is always a certain amount of trash in the Tree of Knowledge. Much of this trash comes from old world views that were never challenged or the lies of people who would distort reality for selfish reasons. Purification of Truth requires doubt as the process of cleansing the Tree of Knowledge of error, and is a necessary process in Positive Evolution.
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The pursuit of the reality as it really is and the understanding of understanding is available to everyone. We are not an exclusive club and we do not discriminate based on minor genetic differences, cultural background, political affiliation, religious history, the geography of your birth location, sexual preferences, lines on a map, your gender, the shape of your body, or what frequencies of light are reflected off the surface of your skin (color). Although some people are smarter than others, everyone can improve themselves. So if you have two brain cells and are tired of living the lie, the Church of Reality is available to you. We are one planet. We are all part of the human race. We are all here together. We have to learn how to get along in a manner that is eqitable to everyone.
All people have intrinsic value. People are born in different locations and in different economic circumstances and different cultures. But we are all people and every individual has certain rights for just being a member of the human race. The Church of Reality recognizes that it is in the best interest of all of us to support social justice for everyone and to recognize that true wealth comes only when the basic needs of all of us are met. Inclusiveness insures that everyone has a place at the table. |
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