Belief in God is a natural consequence of human thinking. Religion is the social function of organizing and guiding society based on this...
Belief in God is a natural consequence of human thinking. Religion is the social function of organizing and guiding society based on this distinctively human attribute. Religion can effectively organize society because it is based on faith, the inner determination of the individual's intentions and behavior, the motivation of the person who forms society.
But the religions that organize society are now in crisis. Besides a few theocratic countries, religion's role as a social organizer has been superseded. And where theocratic governance is in place, the social rules of religion are explicitly dismissive and exclusionary, serving to maintain the power of the political elite.
The very foundations of the belief in God are being undermined by the development of science, and the organizing functions of a society based on the personal motivation of religion are being replaced by the functioning and institutional system of the government in power. Today, individuals and society can function without faith and religion.
However, until our knowledge of the world becomes complete, the possible existence of God cannot be ruled out as a possibility for human thought, and therefore personal motivation based on religion remains a potentially existent organizing function of society.
Belief in God is a determining motivation for human behavior, and therefore a shared religion existing in society can emergently create common qualities to all of the humanity, it can shape the whole society.
A social organization based on the individual's internal religious motivation is more effective than a government that influences the individuals from the outside. Governance is a method suitable only for the operational control of society, religion is able to influence the functioning of society globally, and can shape it at the level of the entire system.
Today’s world religions currently do not have effective social organizing functions, because instead of building on the inner motivation of the individual, they have turned into governance that acts from the outside. A significant number of Christian priests, for example, are not believers. This statement is supported not only by internal opinions from the organization, but also by concrete behavior manifested in actions that do not follow the life of Jesus.
Due to the reason-seeking characteristic of human thinking, religion still did not lose its potential organizing ability and potential importance for society, but it has currently lost its role and function as a useful means of social operation.
What can be the fundamental basis for a religion that organizes society in today's human civilization?
Religion is typically a form of community and individual behavior based on assumed truths. The typical assumed truth of religion is the existence of a supreme being in relation to the world, humanity and the individual. And the inherent function of religion is the application of the rules ascribed to the supreme, derived from God and expected from us.
The development of science is constantly narrowing the field of potential existence of the supreme, because it explains the functioning of the world, of society, of human beings in a way that does not involve the participation of God. Science seems to be the antagonistic opponent of religion. In reality, however, science is also a form of the search for God through human thinking, through a special rational instrument of the scientific method of cognition.
Additionally, it is a rational assumption, and in many cases, the explicit motivation of scientific research for reality is that we are not alone in the universe. According to science, life, even intelligent life, could have evolved naturally in other places of the universe. This position based on scientific knowledge is understandable, because if science would not make this assumption, it would consequently assume the existence of God through the concrete, realized fact of the emergence of humans.
Science, which naturally presupposes and convincingly argues for the justification of the natural emergence of the human race, actually by this very effort, it creates its own superior, the possible existence of an intellect created by the universe, which is capable of creation, such as we are, humans.
In accordance with scientific thinking, such an intelligence could be substantially ahead of human beings in knowledge, and therefore in abilities, and might possess capabilities that are inexplicable, i.e. divine, in terms of actual human knowledge. Science also creates its own god.
Whether assumed by faith in the rationality of science, or in the certainty of religious faith, the possible existence of an intellect with divine abilities compared to humans is a potential reality of our world. Alien intelligence with divine capabilities could potentially exist in reality for humans.
If the assumption of the existence of an alien intelligence with divine abilities is rational faith-based thinking, what might be the related purpose of the religion associated with this god?
Science rejects any presumed divine revelation, any knowledge that is attributed to God but not produced by the scientific method, and considers it outside its field of activity. Therefore, the question must be exhibited in a way what is appropriate to scientific thinking:
What might be the social role and function of a kind of human behavior, i.e. religion associated with a supposedly existing alien intelligence with divine powers?
Putting the question in this way, the existence of God is still an assumption in search of reality, and in this way the rules of religion are not required to come from God, but can come from human thinking.
Certainly, most of the social rules of existing religions also originate from human thought, the difference is that while the existing religions trace these rules back to divine intention, which is not the acceptable argument for science, the above, strictly rationality-based conception of religion can derive the rules from humans, and thereby can be examined by the tools of science.
As a natural consequence of this assumption about God, which also can be satisfactory for science, the rational purpose and function of the related human behavior, which is inferred and functions as religion, would be to prepare ourselves, and the whole humanity for the contact with a divine intelligence.
Why is a religion, and only a religion, appropriate for this?
The greatest challenge for human intelligence is the encounter with another intelligence. Science can support humanity's effort to meet with alien intelligence, but science has no direct social organizing function. Direct social organizing function is provided by the system of governance of society, and social memes, the common customs of communities, of which has a special form also, the religion that serves to connect with a foreign intelligence.
A society guided by a government based on typical human behavior, based on natural human traits, seems convincingly incapable of achieving cooperative interaction with an alien intelligence with divine abilities.
The systems of governance that humanity has applied so far, which were founded on the evolutionary heritage of mankind, based on human nature, are the cause of this condition.
Religion acting as a social meme is a potentially suitable tool for shaping of the individual and global community, because it can shape the whole society in emergent way through the intrinsic motivation of the individual will, rather than through external intentions. A suitable religion is a potentially suitable means for preparing for a relationship with an existing god.
This is the role that religion has always been meant to play, to serve the relationship with God, but religion governed by human governance is unfit for this task. An exclusively meme-based religion, which functions without human government, which can emergently shape humanity can make us fit for connection.
What is the characteristic that a religion, acting as a meme, must have in order to make humanity capable of a relationship with a foreign intelligence with divine powers?
The relationship certainly must have many conditions, but the most fundamental, and objective condition is that the relationship must certainly not be harmful. This is an obvious, necessary, rational requirement in a god-human relationship, and all other conditions must conform to this essential principle.
What is necessary to ensure that a relationship with an intelligence with divine abilities does not involve damage?
A necessary understanding about the world by us, a suitable level of knowledge, certainly should not be an expected condition for a relationship. Human history continuously demonstrates that a level of knowledge does not necessarily imply an unimpaired social relationship.
The nature of any social relationship is determined not by the level of actual knowledge, but by the concrete way of behaving. The level of knowledge and the nature of behavior, based on our experience of human history, are non-correlating properties.
What is the form of behavior that, acting as a religion-based meme, can guarantee a harm-free relationship regardless of the level of knowledge?
At present, God exists for us by faith. We seek God. If God actually exists for us, beyond belief, apart from perhaps a few people, the obvious fact is that God has not manifested himself to all of humanity. Why?
Perhaps because God doesn't exist in reality. But if the divine actually exists for us, which we cannot rule out, then it could not have manifested itself for the whole of humanity because we are not in a suitable state for the relationship.
What clearly shows that we are not currently capable of cooperating with an alien intelligence without damage? The fact that we are not even able to do so with each other either. When we are able to cooperate with each other without harm, without limitation, we can prove, and at the same time, we can express and show that we are ready to do so with others.
What prevents us from unrestricted cooperation with each other?
In the living world, there are countless examples of communities cooperating without limits. The multicellular organisms, the immune system, the ant colony, all form an unrestrictedly cooperative community. The operation of these systems was pre-programmed by the genetics shaped by evolution. These living communities are generally characterized as organisms lacking self-consciousness, intelligence and, above all, volition.
But human society is not like that. Humans are not programmed to cooperate with each other by evolution in an unconstrained way. Humans have their own independent will, which is an obstacle to the formation of an unrestrictedly cooperative community that would require personal self-sacrifice at the level of society.
Human society is also based on cooperation, which is what made humans the most significant species on Earth. However, in addition to instinct-based programmed behavior, human society operates according to cooperation based on the intentional will of individual interest transformed into conscious behavior. We are capable of instinct based cooperation using our intelligence by consciously implementing concrete action.
At the level of human society, there have been, and there are attempts to create an unrestrainedly cooperative community. Authoritarianism, absolute kingdoms, communist ideology all require and presuppose an unrestrainedly cooperative society to function successfully. However, historical experience shows that social systems that require unrestricted cooperation without regard for the personal will of the members of society, that do not rely on free personal will, are unsuccessful in creating an effective society and are incapable of achieving unrestricted cooperation.
It can be concluded, if the undertaking of cooperation requires a conscious decision, if it is brought about by individual will, then cooperation is too precarious and fragile to be socially unlimited, as evidenced by the failure of social models based on voluntary or coercive forms of cooperation.
The most successful human social form at present, capitalism seems to be based on voluntary cooperation, but cooperation is based on the pursuit of individual interest, and therefore cooperation in this social system is also an ad-hoc phenomenon, subordinate to competition of individual interest.
A suitable world religion, based on the personal motivation of the individual, but which does not intentionally implement collaboration, can be a practical and effective means of achieving unrestricted cooperation throughout society, and thereby preparing us for a relationship with a foreign intelligence with divine powers.
The most suitable method for forming a society of individuals functioning according to self-conscious will and cooperating without limits is a common religion, which can guide conscious action built on presumed but generally accepted truths. The presupposed truth of common religion is the existence of foreign intelligence with divine abilities, the purpose of religion is to prepare humanity for contact, and its task is to form, through personal motivation, the human personality and society to be capable of unimpaired cooperation. The instrument of the task is a suitable world religion, which function is the realization of an unlimitedly cooperative human society.
When we are able to cooperate with each other in an unrestrained way, then we will be able to cooperate with a more advanced alien intelligence in a mutually interconnected way. A world religion can and will organize human society, consisting of conscious individuals, into a community functioning through unlimited cooperation, and can operate it in accordance with this criterion.
What rules should govern a world religion that can create unlimited cooperation?
Humanity is already operating by communal intelligence, existing in an era of directed evolution. For humans, evolution is no longer operated by random changes, but by the natural selection of consciously created changes. Directed evolution proves that we are able, and it makes us capable of consciously pursuing a human-made religion that is suitable, even required for connection, and which is able to form the expected behavior.
A religion that realizes unlimited cooperation, that based on the motivation of establishing contact with a foreign intelligence with divine capabilities, must promote and expect from its participants a consciously engaged, proper behavior that can achieve the expected unrestricted cooperation of society not based on external or even internal intentions but forms it emergently.
What kind of consciously achievable human behavior enables the emergent formation of an unconstrained cooperative society?
The actual operating functions that create the inherently cooperative human society are partly genetically programmed and partly created by social evolution, as it can seen in the case of capitalist social systems based on money as a resource. These processes, while employing consciousness in operation, are essentially based on subconscious processes to achieve a somewhat cooperative human society.
The constraint and reason for the limitedness of the level of cooperation is the rivalry in human relationships, the need to defeat each other, which comes from our biological evolutionary heritage. We need to free ourselves from the biological legacy. If we are able to do this, then we will be able to have a relationship with other minds free of impairment. Unrestricted cooperation can be achieved by a religion that is mutually embraced, intentional, but which does not create cooperation by intention, but by emergence.
What rules should this religion operate by?
A religion based on a complex system of rules is certainly inadequate for the creation of a society of unlimited cooperation, as we see it in the actually practiced religions. But the function of unlimited cooperation operating according to a simple rule is already available to us, and is used to some extent and to some degree. This is the practice of love that determines behavior. Beyond the personal interest which is only capable of occasional cooperation, love is the selfless and self-sacrificing function, which can bring about lasting cooperation in the human community.
Love is a complex human function, whose operation is fundamentally regulated by instincts and emotions developed by evolution. Biological evolution basically made the survival of our species possible through the function of love, it shaped human individuals into smaller groups that cooperate primarily by instinct.
But instinctive emotion-based love does not universally and generally work in shaping human behavior. The emotion-based procedure created by biological evolution is a sufficient solution for the formation of a group of people who cooperate to the extent necessary, because it works satisfactorily, but it is no longer a sufficient method or means for the further development of the social system of humanity, which presupposes and requires unlimited cooperation in order to establish a relationship with an alien intelligence.
But humans are special creatures because we can consciously form our behavior based on rational goals. Although love is fundamentally an emotion-driven behavior, human intelligence has the potential to operate love as a consciously driven behavior.
What is the form of love that is not emotion-based, i.e. not directed by biological evolution, but based on conscious behavior, i.e. controlled by intention?
The behavioral definition of love according to the definition in a previous thought:
A practical manifestation of love as behavior is such a consciously preferred personal action that supports another living being despite the disadvantage of the person performing the action.
The behavioral definition of love liberates us from the emotional feeling of love, and makes the function of love interpretable as an action that can be accomplished consciously, and in the case of proper motivation, can be achieved in an intention-like way on the individual and social level.
Love-based behavior is a community-shaping function, a suitable and appropriate tool for building a cooperative society.
There are existing religions which, perhaps not accidentally, try to build a community based on the form of loving behavior. However, the practical operation of these religions has lost its essence in the complexity of what is surely a man-made set of rules, and usually has been transformed into an authoritarian system supporting the pursuit of personal interests, rather than being the expected social meme-based behavior, originated on personal motivation.
A world religion which establishes the condition of contact with foreign intelligence with divine capabilities, i.e. able to fulfill the formation of unlimited cooperation, must be based on a simple law, and it is unnecessary, superfluous, and harmful to influence that law with further regulation. The only law is the practical love-based personal behavior that emergently shapes humanity into an unlimitedly cooperative society.
This function can also enable Artificial Intelligence to cooperate with humans, and the religion of conscious love manifested in behavior and action can also enable us, humans to cooperate with each other, and with any alien intelligence, to achieve unlimited cooperation.
This requires the contribution of all of us, our conscious setting of joint example, based on a common world religion of practiced love of intelligent people.
This state is irrespective of the scientific knowledge and technical level of the given society. This state, the state suitable for relationship, is the divine level. The divine level is not the level of proper knowledge, but the accomplishment of the unlimited cooperation of intelligent consciousness.
Operating through unlimited cooperation, humanity's society of intelligent, self-aware individuals creates a new level of life, creates a new form of life, that makes us suitable to interact with the unrestrictedly cooperating community of intelligent species.
The capabilities of the intelligent consciousness of the individuals who form an unlimitedly cooperative society, through the peculiar evolutionary mechanisms of society as a living organism, create the possibility of the birth of an existent god. This can be done by a religion based on the exclusive law of love, which, through the consciousness of the people, transforms the community in an emergent way into a new form of life, which can enable humanity to survive technological progress and become a member of a new society of a supreme form of life.
God is love, because love creates the godly state. Life, which is a process functioning on matter according to evolution, to which intelligent consciousness can give meaning, lead to the most valuable matter in the universe, and to the complex system that is formed from this matter, the most advanced state of matter, to the maximum potential of matter, the divine state, which is the result of a specifically characteristic selfless behavior, defined as functioning love.
Are we humans capable of this state?
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