From: Brent Allsop (allsop@fc.hp.com)
Date: Wed Aug 08 2001 - 12:57:12 MDT
Eric Chen Yixiong <cyixiong@yahoo.com>,
> 1) A strong belief in a supernatural power or powers that control
> human destiny
There is definitely a power that is taking us towards the
singularity, the best that is possible, or whatever you want to call
improvement. Extropians believe in this very "religiously" do they
not!?
> 2) Institution to express belief in a divine power
There are organization like The Extropy Institute! But this
isn't nearly enough if you ask me! I'm a cultural LDS (mormon) and I
would give anything to have an extropian "bishop" to offer moral,
emotional, psychological... help according to extropian "religious"
values, weekly sunday meetings where I could go and associate and
affiliate with other extropians (like extro conferences only on a
weekly bases and locally rather than only every 2 years way out in
California!), "sunday school" to help my children to be able to better
learn extropian values, extropian "home teachers" to assist my family
with extropian life issues (like helping with funerals, cryonic
preservation, estate issues...), extropian "missionaries" that donate
two years of there life or some type of "proselytizing" support for
which the goal is to "spread the good news or extropian 'gospel'" and
literally "save the world" or at least save as many as possible from
all "evil" (anything which anyone doesn't really want) especially
information theoretical death... instead of "baptism", there would be
such "rituals" as signing up for cryonics"... And we all know what an
extropian funeral should be like.
A simple credo would be something like unconditional love for
all and to eternally work until everyone had everything they wanted
and until then to get as close to this as rationally and as fast and
as best as is possible. We wouldn't claim our church was "the only
true church" we would claim we will follow all that is true and
anything that really works at moving us closer to getting everyone all
that they want. Thereby it would be "a true church" or a "meta"
church (how do we most rationally find out what is really true, and
follow after such!?) since even !IF! it turned out that there were
something like a real "priesthood power" (or say the power of liquid
notrogen cold...) that really worked or had some real utility, we
would rationally study how why and when it worked and seek to utilize
it as best as we could as yet another tool in our goal of getting
everyone everything they wanted... (Some extropians might even
believe in such. We would help them explore, seek after, and
hopefully fulfill such according to any and all of their true
desires...)
Would all parts of most extropian's lives be infinitely
improved if there was such an organization? My families life is sure
lacking without this! How many of you wish there was an extropian
"church" something like this?
I maintain my "faith" and "hope" that there will be enough
extropians to set up something like this some day. I guess, like most
all of us, we were just born way to early?
The best definition I ever heard of "religion" was simply: "A
way of life". To me, extropianism is more of a !true! religion than
any other religion I know of.
What say yee!? I say let's get out there and spread the "True
Gospel" and get to work "Saving the world!"
"Most may still worship misery, choose death, and seek that
others be miserable like unto themselves - but as for me in my house,
we will eternally choose, hope for, and seek after all that is good."
Amen and Glory Haleluja my beloved brothers and sisters!
Brent Allsop
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