Looking Back to 2006: A Self-Inflatable Raft

A Self-Inflatable Raft
Original post date: March 1, 2006

Religions and philosophic beliefs don't arise in a vacuum. They spring forth as the result of historical events and societal conditions. They are attempts to promise future stability and security amongst the insecurities, worries and fears of the people in a particular culture. And they are not built in a day, but evolve over a number of generations.

In other words, religions and philosophic belief systems are not akin to a self-inflatable raft. Neither pops up one day completely filled out ready to sail.

What if the great whatever decided today to rid the world of all religions and philosophic belief systems? With the wave of its mighty hand (for lack of a better term), the Bible, Koran, Tao Te Ching and all such texts simply vanished, both in their written form and in the consciousness of collective society. The names Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad, Lao Tzu, Moses, God and any others no longer hold any special meaning.

As society sets forth to tackle the challenges of living in this world, ideas concerning the purpose of life and our place in it will necessarily begin to take root and flower. In this specific instance, if you had the capacity to create a religion and/or philosophic belief system that IS akin to a self-inflatable raft, what will it look like?

What principles will form its foundation? What Golden Rules will you write? What will you name it?

The pages of this new Great Book are empty now. How will you fill them in?

To read the intro to this retrospective series of posts, go here.