Rational Religion

In the Beginning is the Word.

One of the hallmarks of a conventional religion is a vocabulary couched in cant.  The Faithful converse in made-up or specially-defined meanings of words.  It's part of the in-group exclusivity which makes them feel they know something nobody else has access to.

The Faithful are not alone in this failing.  A made-up vocabulary which "outsiders" are not supposed to understand is common to many professions, and to the youth culture of every succeeding generation in this country.

Another religious constant is a scripture which, in addition to being written in the private lingo, is often so arcane and opaque as to be undecipherable, or so elliptical and stuffed with qualifiers that it can mean everything and nothing at the same time.  (See: Horoscopes; I Ching.)

There is a human prejudice that if something is easy to understand it can't be profound.    The opposite is usually the truth.  Most of the profundities are pretty straightforward.   It's in trying to get around them that we trace the tortuous paths that lead us into confusion.

The precepts of a Rational Religion are few and simple; deceptively simple, because as in any religion, they can lead to infinite complexity.    Other faiths seek to provide some sort of intellectual closure... to wrap it all up and tie a bow, making an easily manageable package.  They speak of "Eternity" but they think of it as a stable condition where time stands still; or evolves manageably.  

The Rational Religion does rather the same thing, with, however, as little recourse to metaphysics as possible.    When we say "infinity" we mean infinity; or far enough out there that the distinction becomes pointless. 

Permanence is a delusion; the product of our innate megalomania and our ridiculously short life span.

Remember that the First Principle of Rational Religion is "The only constant is change."

That's open-ended.  On both ends.  It leads the mind into the void.  Not every mind can take the exposure.  

This is not a conventionally-religious attempt to make the "faithful” feel that they are somehow special.  It is a warning.