Belief System
A Belief System represents a person's generalized world view, typically organized around a religion or philosophy of life. It can also consist simply of one's perspective or interpretation of the universe and how to make the most of our time within it. The key feature is that all of life's experiences are interpreted through the framework of the belief system, hopefully making sense of the universe and making the believer more successful at navigating life.
Some Assembly Required
Traditional religions, are like classic, handmade furniture. It comes to you fully assembled. It looks beautiful and lasts for centuries.
A belief system based on science is like Ikea furniture--you have to put it together yourself, failure to do so successfully can cause emotional strife, and it will probably need to be updated in a few years.
But imagine if you had no picture of the finished product nor any instruction book! That's what trying to create a secular progressive belief system is like these days. You're probably missing a few pieces too.
metaculture is designed to give you that picture (the fractal) and the instruction booklet (best practices) so you can take your science education and create the Ikea Furniture of the Mind that is your core belief. It doesn't quite provide the fully-assembled belief system that religion provides, because it is built on a modern education which can't be substituted by a single book or even a wiki.
With its basis in science and ability to self-correct, metaculture avoids the dogmatic drawbacks that typically come when scripture cannot be updated.
Belief Systems and Meta-Belief Systems
Most people already have a belief system that they identify with. Universalists like Humanists, Unitarians and Baha'i have existing institutions, traditions, rituals, and scripture that say many of the same things. Progressive theists of all stripes share these values. What is the point of metaculture?
metaculture can also be a meta-belief system that defines the things that these groups have in common, helping them see each other as part of the same in-group and unite in common causes. It can serve as a rallying cry to unite people of all cultures and religions who share the goal of increasing quality of life for all.
metaculture can serve a similar function for belief systems that networks like the United Way do for individual charities. It defines a common goal and uses it as a way to organize, coordinate, and amplify the effects of our efforts. There is a United Way umbrella organization, but most people are associated only with their individual causes.
The other thing metaculture helps with is to persuade others that you do in fact share a common cause. We naturally tend to look for differences between our own beliefs and any that are presented by others. This is especially the case when different allegories are used to describe the same thing, rather than the language of science that reduces subjectivity. The philosophical and theological framework of metaculture makes a convincing case for universalism and the shared goal of increasing happiness. It makes it easier for people of different cultures to realize they are simply using different languages to describe the same universe, and they can work together as members of the same in-group.
Something for Everyone
The metaculture belief system has something for spiritual seekers of all stripes, with the possible exception of literalists. It seeks to find a truly "enlightened centrism" that looks for the positive aspects and goals of "both sides" when confronted with modern dichotomies instead of mindlessly rejecting one or both, and without compromising reason or values in the process.
This is the opposite of most inclusive movements, which tend to offer "nothing for anyone" in terms of actual details that people can point to as part of their shared beliefs. To avoid conflict, the values are defined in a way that is intentionally vague and based on platitudes instead of concrete ideas and practices. But vague values cannot truly unite and inspire people. A better approach is one that takes the best ideas from every school of thought and combines them into a single system that appeals to the core values and goals of every group simultaneously.
Fractal Pantheists
There are many people who have independently constructed a very similar belief system. If you are one of them, then this is right up your alley. You should consider becoming a contributor to this wiki.
Theists
The theology of metaculture is fully compatible with any allegorical reading of scripture. It seeks not to replace religious traditions, only to provide an interpretation that is compatible with science.
Atheists
Pantheism is fully compatible with a materialist view of reality. There is no belief in the supernatural, and debunking pseudoscience is a core value. Atheists are encouraged to find secular spirituality and develop a universal concept that induces happiness.
Eastern and New Age Spiritualists
Mindfulness, consciousness exploration, balance, and many other values associated with eastern spiritual traditions are embraced by metaculture. Practices like Reiki or Acupuncture can be used as honest "Placebo Rituals" that acknowledge the source of their healing power is in the mind.
Psychonauts
Psychedelics enthusiasts will have plenty to trip out on with all the fractals. They will also enjoy the explorations of consciousness.
Progressives
The ethics and economics of metaculture lend themselves to progressive causes like environmentalism, social justice, equality, and a strong social safety net.
Centrists
Nothing radical is being proposed, only adherence to evidence-based best practices. No utopian vision of the future is given, only a goal of continual incremental improvement.
Libertarians
Capitalism is celebrated for its accomplishments and efficient markets are encouraged whenever incentives align with gross national happiness. Freedom, both economic and personal, should be maximized. Authoritarian rule should be prevented in both the government through monopolies on political power, and in the market through old fashioned and new fashioned monopolies.
Conservatives
Good Faith Conservatism is necessary to maintain the balance of power that prevents progressive idealists from moving too fast and breaking things that people's lives currently depend on. The values of family, self-reliance, capitalism, and freedom are celebrated.
Futurists and Luddites
Even though metaculture discourages those who wish to prioritize the needs of future humans over those of the living, contemplation of the future possibilities of human evolution and the ethical dilemmas that they will pose is highly encouraged. It takes a generally optimistic perspective of the future, while avoiding blind faith that all new technology will be beneficial without strong mitigation efforts. The focus on ethical and humanistic integration of technology into society should appeal to those who worry that new tech is constantly unleashed on our unsuspecting brains without regard for its destruction of culture.
Big Pharma Lovers and Haters
metaculture's emphasis on understanding and leveraging the power of the placebo effect to create self-healing through ritual should appeal to those who are skeptical of our overmedicated culture and seek alternatives to pharmaceuticals. It is fully honest about the fact that the placebo effect is being employed and makes no "snake oil" style claims about the healing power of alternative therapies. Clear distinction is made between the kinds of ailments that can be cured with the placebo effect and ones that cannot, and makes no dangerous warnings against using modern medicine generally.
Why Hasn't Anyone Done This?
When researching the subjects discussed in this wiki, you will find hundreds of content creators that approach these subjects from a similar perspective. Yet, none of them presents the ideas as a collective whole that offers a unified worldview and doctrine. It is always left to the individual to see the big picture themselves. Why is that?
These pages discuss the aversions that secular and progressive people have to dogma and how it prevents them from unifying behind anything resembling ideology. This leaves the door open for the right wing manosphere to swoop in with the ready-made ideologies that kids crave.
Besides the general reluctance of the secular community to define their beliefs beyond the absence of the supernatural, other reasons a project like metaculture has not been done before include:
- Required technology has only become recently available
- Necessary advances in science were needed
- General awareness of those advances takes time
- What is being proposed is rather audacious
- Only cults and crackpots typically make such proposals
- As a result, grounded people of science don't attempt it
- Science educators are not supposed to talk about religion and most don't
- Religious people in science are derided by atheist colleagues when they discuss spirituality
- Similar efforts have been made, they just always lack one or more key ingredients
- Need to both know philosophy and how to configure a wiki site
In other attempts to define the belief system of the future, the most common shortcomings include:
- Incomplete philosophy and theology that fails to address major questions
- Focus on future people instead of the living
- Cool future-tech takes priority over ethics
- Does not address cool future-tech
- Libertarianism
- Too atheistic and leaves no room for spirituality
- Full of pseudoscience and quantum woo
- Is actually a multi-level-marketing scheme
- Fails to satisfactorily resolve science and religion conflict
- Does not incorporate secular institutions that will provide a place for community and ritual
- Does not incorporate ritual
- Is 2,000 years old
- Fails to take principled stances on the nature of reality, ethics, and the best practices for life
- Super racist and/or misogynistic
Because every secular humanist, universalist, progressive and pantheistic belief system out there has one or more of these shortcomings, metaculture shall be defined as the one that doesn't.
The metaculture Belief System in Summary
The metaculture belief system is designed to promote science and reason, inclusivity, and evidence-based best practices.
To achieve the goal of inclusivity, and ensure that everyone is truly included, including those with spiritual mindsets and deep religious convictions, it is necessary to create a satisfactory solution to the problem of science versus religion.
metaculture does this using a Pantheistic interpretation of theology that assumes god and the universe are one and the same. When viewing science and religion from this perspective, everything else follows logically. When viewed through this lens, scriptural allegory must be interpreted in a way that assumes there is a real-world analog. So the creation story is an allegory for the big bang and evolution. Morality handed down from god is an allegory teaching us how to deal with our evolved emotional wiring. Science should be considered a spiritual pursuit because to understand the universe is to understand god.
Another key aspect of the metaculture belief system is the fractal organization of the universe. This perspective serves as an overall organizing principle to help understand the interaction of things in the universe at multiple levels of scale. The universe is made up of singular entities that combine in huge numbers to create emergent properties, whether those entities are atoms, stars, or people. The fractal metaphor helps make sense of all kinds of complex systems and therefore serves as a perfect framework for understanding an infinitely complex, self-similar, self-organizing universe.
Core principles that are applied to each aspect of philosophy, science, and religion throughout are:
- Positivity and optimism about the future.
- Focus on common goals rather than differing methods.
- Be as culturally neutral as possible.
- Don't speak in generalities--provide as much detail as possible while still achieving universalism.
- Allegory in scripture must have some real thing in the universe that it is a metaphor for.
- There is a path for anyone to fill in the necessary prerequisites for achieving enlightenment.
- Emotional appeals in support of good science are no vice, and are necessary for persuasion.
- The ultimate goal is to help people understand why we must base our political and life choices based on science, reason, and evidence-based best practices, regardless of the theological details--functional rationality.
- The Dogma of No Dogma - every principle is subject to review.
Believe in the Power of Video
Unfortunately the loudest voice on the Internet talking about belief systems at the moment is not providing terribly good advice beyond cleaning up your room, so it won't be included here.