What does the Church of Reality do? What is it that we are about? Here is a quick overview of what we do using some of our own Terminology. These are the Seven Sacred Missions of the Church of Reality.
1. We believe in Reality - the way it really is! - If it's real - we believe in it. The Church of Reality is a Personal Commitment to the Truth. We Realists explore the universe together with our minds. We think about thinking. We wonder about wondering. We attempt to understand the Understanding of Understanding. We ponder the Great Questions. We are a curious people and we are bound together in our quest to know more.
2. We Spread the Sacred Message - Reality - Our mission is to promote reality in society. Every time we mention Reality we spread the Sacred Message. We are here to ask the Sacred Question - "What is Real?" in order to raise the status of Reality in society. We want people to consider reality when making important decisions. By spreading the Sacred Message we cause people to be Real in the Sacred Moment (which is Now). Our mission is to say "Reality" as many times as we can and to get other people to think about reality as often as we can. We introduce the Terminology of Reality into the Tree of Knowledge so that we have a common vocabularity to talk about reality in religious terms.
3. We Choose the Sacred Direction - Forward - The Sacred Direction is forward - onward and upward. Our Principle of Positive Evolution commits us to envision a future that is better than today. We are one planet and we are all in this together on our little ball in the universe. In order to answer the Sacred Question and explore our reality society must move forward. We take responsibility for our future and we commit to making tomorrow better than today.
4. We Honor the Tree of Knowledge - The Tree of Knowledge represents the sum total of all human understanding. It is what separates us from the animals. The Tree of Knowledge represents the soul of humanity. We are better than we were hundreds of years ago because our Tree of Knowledge has grown and if we continue to evolve in the Sacred Direction our Tree of Knowledge will continue to grow. It is through the tree that we explore reality as it really is and attempt to answer the Sacred Question - What is Real?
5. We Ask the Sacred Moral Question - What is Good? - The Sacred Moral Question is, "Is this a Good Thing?" What does "good" mean? That too is part of the Sacred Moral Question. We believe in the principle of positive evolution and the sacred direction as well as the other Sacred Principles as a foundation for determining right and wrong. We believe that right and wrong are important concepts that deserve to be carefully considered in realistic terms. Often reality is ignored and no one asks if the decisions that are being made are a good thing. We believe that when reality is ignored and no one asks if the decision is good that we end up with bad results. We as Realists are dedicated to Asking the Sacred Moral Question so that we make better choices so we can move in the sacred Direction
6. We Issue the Sacred Challenge - The Sacred Challenge is a challenge to other faiths and religions to ask themselves - "How do we know that what we believe is real?" The Sacred Challenge applies first and foremost to this church itself. Our Principle of Self Scrutiny demands that we constantly audit ourselves to make sure we are not deluding ourselves. We consider Reality to be a sacred thing and there are many other who claim their beliefs to be real when it just isn't. Many people want to be good moral people and are trying to "do what is right" but what they think is right has never been put to the reality test. Our message to people of other faiths is - question everything - challenging your beliefs is a good thing. We ask you to fully understand what exactly you do believe. We therefore ask other faiths to adopt the Principle of Self Scrutiny, to ask the Sacred Question, and to encourage your members to challenge your beliefs on the basis of if it is actually real. We require our members to scrutinze us. We challenge you to match us.
7. We make it Happen - We are a religion that is an activist religion. We don't just find problems - we solve problems. We are committed to coming up with solutions and to take responsibility to bring the concept into reality. We make sure that the job is done right. We are a community and we do the work to make community work. We go out and learn and we try to understand and we spend a lot of time thinking and we give of ourselves for the connon good of all people. In the Spirit of the Tree - our shared knowledge - we support sharing. It is our duty to look around and figure out how to make it all work.
As some of you know - I am the First one of the Church of Reality and I'm working on an interesting question that many people are asking. The question - will the Church of Reality lose it's focus and become corrupted like all the other religions.
Isn't it inevitable that if the Church of Reality becomes successful that it has to become corrupted by its success? That's what most people believe - and - am am attempting to address this issue. The real question is - what can I do now to prevent it from happening. How is the Church of Reality different than other religions?
Other religions are based on mythology. Thus if one myth evolves into another myth it's really not a significant change. How does one argue that one myth is better than another myth? But the Church of Reality is dedicated to reality. So if the Church of Reality converts to mythology then that is a more fundamental form of change that from myth to myth.
Reality doesn't go away after you stop believing in it. So if the Church of Reality gets off course - it can always come back to reality. Reality is the solid rock - the lighthouse - and it is always there no matter if people believe in it or not.
I have a joke about if a Christian who believes he can fly and a Bhudist who believes he can fly both jump off a bridge at the same time - who will hit the water first? The point you see is gravity applies equally to all religions and belief doesn't change reality. So - there is reason and hope to believe that the Church of Reality is different in that it is a religion that is grounded in the real world and therefore has a way to repair itself and get back to it's roots.
Reality is like a rock - it's solid - it's real - and it can be found if someone get lost. All you have to do is let reality back into your heart and let it guide you back to realism.
But - that doesn't mean that it can't be corrupted. So - I'm working on a plan - some tests - so that these become automatic clues that the Church of Reality might be straying off course. And - I'm looking for suggestions on how to keep reality real - and not become RINO - Reality In Name Only.
So - for example. If the Church of Reality becomes about me - Marc Perkel - then it's off course. I am not a diety - I have no special "powers" and I'm just a guy with an idea. If this doesn't work out someone else - hopefully - will come and do it right. But reality is still there no matter what. So - if the Church of Reality starts worshiping me - it's off course.
Or - if you are being forced to believe in things that are not supported in logic or science - that's a bad sign. The Church of Reality is to be judges by it's fruits and not just on what is being preached. It has to produce results.
Of course - several of the Sacred Principles are specificly there to help prevent this and all the sacred principles were written with keeping the Church of Reality always tied to reality. The Principle of Self Scrutiny deals specifically and directly with the idea that this church is about Reality and should always be tested to make sure it's on course. The Principle of Bullshit declares that bullshit is always bullshit no matter how many people believe it. So - if the Church of Reality becomes a cult and starts forcing people to believe in bullshit - it's still bullshit. The Church of Reality doesn't change reality - reality changes the Church.
The Principle of Humility also addresses this issue. To be humble helps avoid various ego traps. For example - suppose this church take off big time and I become some big celebrity for starting it. It would be really tempting to start believing tha there's something special about me and let my ego separate me from reality. But the truth is and always will be that I am just some random guy with a briliant idea. If I hadn't thought of it - eventually someone else would have. And - whoever thought of it would be tempted to think they are special. This principle is in fact a message to myself and all my sucessors in case we get a little two self absorbed to put us back on track.
But - reality was there long before Marc Perkel existed (at least - I think so) and will be there long after Marc Perkel dies. Reality is not about me - it's about reality. And thus the Principle of Humility reminds us that we are just life forms of a spec of dust and our only significance is in relation to what we accomplish on our spec of dust.
This church has the sacred question - "What is Real?" Now we have the Holy Question - "What is the human race going to me like 100 years from now?" This is the holy question because it causes the listener to wonder about the positive evolution of humanity.
So be it!
Why the Church of Reality
Several people have asked me the question since I started the Church of Reality about why does Reality need a religion? What is the diffeerence between the Church of Reality and science? I'm also filling out my IRS 501c3 forms and having to answer that to the IRS. So ....
Here's why Reality should be a Religion.
Don't forget to donate.
The Principle of Activism and Maintenance
Often societies deteriorate because good people stand by idly and let bad things happen. To do nothing and allow something to happen can often be as bad as causing it to happen. Everything needs maintenance in order to preserve what has been accomplished. There are times when we can not stand by and allow things to go in the wrong direction. Really is something that is actively pursued and it requires some effort not only to pursue it - but to maintain the systems that allow it to be pursued. We are therefore committed to being actively involved in moving forward and to prevent those who move us backward from succeeding.
The Principle of Wisdom
The Principle of Wisdom is a personal commitment to not only working 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 it 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 itself. We recognize that there are people in the world who are not very honest who would use deception and illusion and abuse 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 it to have a highly disciplined mind a strong commitment to the truth. It represents not only personal skills, but also a strength of character to be able to face reality as it really is. 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 commit ourselves to becoming wiser personally and supporting the principle that we, as a society, are better off by elevating the status of Wisdom. And as individuals we should be asking ourselves and asking of other people, "Are we being Wise? Is there Wisdom here?"
It was 5 years ago that the Church of Reality was born. At first it was just a humorous idea. I registered the domain name and started building the web site. As I wrote a lot of ideas came together. At first I wasn't sure that it would ever be a "real" religion because - like most people - I had the idea that in order to be a religion that you had to believe in things that aren't real. But that's not the way it is.
Religion is a statement of your identity and your belief system and how you evaluate truth. It is about your morals and ethics and your community. How you evaluate right and wrong. To identify with a religion is to associate yourself with a belief system. In society, it identifies you in the larger culture of people who care about those sorts of things.
Religious identity is important in society. Many wars are fought over religious issues - my God is stronger than your God. People want to know what religion you identify with so they can evaluate your moral code.
But - what of those who have no religion - or - not organized religion that matches their belief system? What is their religious identity? Are they a "nothing"? And what does that say about them. To be an Athiest is not a religion. An Athiest is merely someone who does not believe in God(s). So - what of someone who believes in reality? There is not church for them - until now.
The Church of Reality goes beyond a mere title. As I wrote about the Tree of Knowledge and Intelectual Tything and created the Order of Root and wrote the Sacred Principles it became apparent that I could in fact create a religion based on reality and perform the mission of being a religion without putting limits on reality and declaring arbetrary truths that become carved in stone and hold reality back from progressing.
The belief in Reality and the Practice of Realism is as rich and full as any other religion. It is unique and it is forward looking and it requires personal responsibility. It has all the elements of every other religion and then some. And I look back and I look forward and I think that this is an important step forward and a contribution to religious choice.
I'm looking for some volunteers to help spread the word about the Church of Reality on the Internet. I'd like to get as many links to it as possible. In order to do that I need people to go to related sites like lists of religions and suggest the Church of Reality.
Also - if you have a home page or have friends who have pages I'd appreciate a link. The more people link the more we will get noticed. Also - if any of you have pull with DMOZ or other search engines - could use some help there.
I still believe that if everyone in the world heard the name "Church of Reality" and had an idea that it was a church based on believing in what is real - that it would raise the IQ of the planet by 5 points.
You can be part of the process that brings humanity out of mythology and armegeddon and put it on the track of positive evolution. If you want a future brighter than today - then go out and spread the word. Tell people how reality changed your life!
This is the blog of the Church of Reality. It's purpose it to announce events, point out how religion influences the world for good and bad, and to be a place where I post random thoughts about reality. I am looking for other authors to help me with this and to maintain this blog. If you are interested email the First One at marc@perkel.com.