Yoism, an open source religion

Hey, it works for Linux, the alternative to Windows. So why not apply open source principles to the creation of a new-time religion? Out with dogmatism and hierarchy; in with freedom and independence.

Such is the allure of Yoism, which bills itself as the world’s first open source religion. Thanks to a link sent to me by Church of the Churchless visitor Steve, I’ve been able to browse around the intriguing cyberhalls of Yoism and get a feel for the Almighty Yo.

Yo, I learned, is “the Infinite Unknowable Essence from which all that we experience manifests.” All right, I can get behind that. I’m suspicious of anyone who claims to know what God is like, but once you start using words like “infinite” and “unknowable,” you’re starting to make mystical nonsense—the only way to go when it comes to the Ultimate.

There’s proof for the existence of Yo. And it makes pretty good sense. Or, nonsense. Below is the core Yoist conclusion. It is founded on scientific fact. The new physics—quantum theory, in particular—does indeed tell us that the seeming obviousness of the everyday world emanates from a wildly mysterious foundation. Yo.

In aiming to create models of Truth/Reality that are consistent with the world of direct experience, the scientists have now done something that the words in their scientific lexicon can't fully describe. They have shown that the experienced world is, indeed, maintained by/supported by/generated from an unseen world.

This unseen world manifests as the collective human experiential world in a lawful, stable, and consistent manner that, as our knowledge advances, is increasingly predictable, is independent of any individual's wishes and biases, outlasts our death or lapses in consciousness.

In contrast, our individual experiential worlds appear to fluctuate from individual to individual or, within one individual's experience, it fluctuates from moment to moment, mood to mood, or state to state. And the only world each of us knows (the world of our individual personal, direct experience) appears to end when the individual dies.

Thus, our fragile, unstable, fluctuating, personal experiential worlds are produced by (emanate from) an inconceivably huge, profoundly stable, foundational field of space/matter/time that manifests following its own rules or patterns of action, which we discern and call its "laws."

From the above, it isn’t surprising that Yoism finds a compatible philosophical partner in Buddhism. However, there is a refreshing eclecticism in the Inspirational Writings of Yo. I was pleased to find that two of my favorite sacred teachings made it into the collection: Kissing Hank’s Ass and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

The Book of Yo is the continually evolving product of Yoism’s Open Source Truth Process.

By "Truth" we simply mean the clearest expression of a system of ideas and beliefs that is most consistent with reality as it is directly experienced. Ours is a truth that you can test and experience directly, with your own senses and mind. Our truth is not based on narrow human authority (dogma, received wisdom, and imposed truths). Rather, it is based on the broad authority of the collective human experience of being-in-the-world, i.e., the human experience of reality.

Sounds good to me. Yo! Check it out.

Comments

[Roger]

Brian; The definition or description of "Truth" sounds good to me too. There is a pleasant completeness about it.

[Brian]

Swami, I'm deleting your lengthy comment praising the virtues of Hare Krsna because it had nothing to do with my Yoism post.

If you want this weblog to be a billboard for your own religious beliefs, you should make at least a half-hearted attempt to comment on the subject being discussed.

Nick, since your comment referred to the deleted Hare Krsna content, I've deleted it as well.

[Swami]

So be it. Hare Krishna to "Yo" too.