Comment by Kernel John on October 25, 2012 at 10:51pm

A great contribution!  Thanks.

For me, Open Source Religion or Spirituality as I like to term it - a solitary journey that increasing numbers of people are endeavoring to engage in.  I believe that, as you have defined it, personal spirituality will replace institutional religion(s).  This is being made more readily possible as forms of global communication open up new channels of discovery and dialogue. 

Thanks for taking the time to pull the video together.  It is a powerful expression.  The transcript (testimonial) could be more widely shared for closer reference.

Sid, what happens when members start using other forms of media, like Skype, to expand further the way we cross-communicate?

Comment by John C Maguire on October 26, 2012 at 8:24am

Appreciate the kind words Kernel. I'd be happy to post the transcript, but it's currently in a word document, and being borderline pc-illiterate, I don't see anyway to post a link for it here or on youtube. Perhaps I'm mistaken and someone who actually knows things could inform me. Thank you!

Comment by Kernel John on October 28, 2012 at 10:54pm

Hi John . . . regarding you comment that we are all religious creatures at heart . . . I tend to agree with that perspective, however, many would react to this claim.  First the word religion conjures up a lot of bad feelings in people and others might prefer to be called spiritual creatures rather than religious.  What I'm getting at is this . . .

To build a case for OSR as an alternative, or even preferred, evolutionary path I think we need to understand what it is that predisposes us to be religious creatures.  Could there be a circuit or two in our brain that inclines us to attribute a cause to major events or outcomes in our lives?  Once we can attribute a cause to an event, say a thunder storm, or a famine or bountiful harvest, we can then begin to exert some power or influence over it that event. History records all kinds of gods and spirits that we could then try to influence or appease.  Today we understand this largely in terms of myth and superstition but often fail to connect our own personal religious practices and beliefs to these very same inclinations.  

Now don't get me wrong, I do not propose that that this ancient inclination to attach cause and affect with hope and belief should be replaced by the scientific method.  I simply propose a rebalancing of this ancient intuitive inclination with a more rational approach. 

What's wrong with superstition? Many athletes, for example, follow certain routines regarding the meals they eat or the way they get dressed on game-day.  In their heads they have come to attribute a ritual or routine  with the power to help them win or better succeed.  How many times have we each knocked on wood as a means of warding off a potentially negative outcome - whether we actually believed in this superstition or not? 

Is our predisposition toward religion not just a more civilized or reasonable extension of being superstitious?

When the athlete crosses himself before going to bat, is this a religious expression or a variation of what his teammate does when he rubs the rabbits foot he keeps in his pocket? 

There must be research material that can help demonstrate that an Open Source approach to religion is the next logical step beyond institutional religion.  For this we would need to describe how the Open Source process to Religion works. 

Comment by John C Maguire on October 29, 2012 at 9:01am

Yes, word compromising on word choice was definitely a challenge, and certainly the choice of using spirituality or religion is subtle but important in framing/communicating the issue. I agree that people tend to put spirituality on trial for the ills of the world, when in fact religious institutioins are purely intermediaries for people to channel their own dysfunctionl psychologies through; just as trans-national corporations have largely filled that niche today through the "free-trade" agenda. What is lacking in general in the world is a grasp of what's important in life, and how we fit into the larger picture that seems at random and cruel to many people. I would say there is a deep need within people to find a logic to how it works; and depending on how honestly, thorough, and open-ended one's mind works, we all end up at different and not necessarily accurate conclusions. I don't think its a circuit in the brain necessarily, but a byproduct of every humans subtle, unconscious connection to the Akashic field, zero point, the morphogenetic field, whatever you want to call it. Sprituality is an instinct like all others because, just like most instincts, it has some evolutionary component that the masses are  not yet conscious of. Indigenous cultures used to embrace and positively transduce this inherent connectedness to one another and the field, but because our culture and our science largely stress "rugged individualism", and "separateness from mind and nature", we are alienated, lost, confused, and misinterpret the godheads message and channel it in dysfunctional ways.

I think the research material you're searching for further lies in the sometimes allusive record of what does religion have its roots in (ie ethneogenic ritual and astro-theology), but also where did religion originate (perhaps dogon in africa, perhaps northern steppes of russia, perhaps the "mythological" hyperborgia)? Unfortunately we can only go so far back and it requires a certain amount of speculation if you go farn enough back, but historical evidence of the world's source religion (in a nutshell: shamanism), can butress the scientific evidence of high weirdness and heightened human potential.

Anyway don't think I'm responding to your post all that well, but I'll likely add on more later. Cheers!

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