inspiration

Transreligion for Athiests and Non-Athiests Alike

Religious myth has only degraded and inhibited human progress. Essentially all contemporary religions are myth based. Christianity fails the test of worth when it relies on Hebrew racial myth (the old testament) and Greek philosophical myth (the concept of the Christos and related ideas) as absolute truths. We know that nothing that draws on such ancient Sci-Fi can be either true, good, or beautiful, except by accident, and thus stands forever opposed to the power of love in the world.

There are, fortunately, many people (now and in the past 2000 years) who love others, serve others, do good to others, and make our world more beautiful by their efforts. Some of these people call themselves Christians or Jews or Muslims or Atheists or something else, which is their choice, but their lives have taken inspiration from the universal powers of love and truth in the human mind, not from religious myth or dogma.

Eddi van W Flickr/creative commons

Eddi van W
Flickr/creative commons

Transhumanists continue to debate the appropriateness of any kind of religious faith or behavior as a component of Transhuman life. My own post-transition perspective illuminates many ethical and moral concerns of the Transhumanists. Foremost, if we are to foster the emergence of a genuine Transhuman philosophy of life, we need to create an inspirational framework that justifies and motivates rational behavior. We should evaluate candidate inspirational frameworks according to their individual ability to satisfy essential requirements that must be met by any proposed framework.

In my view, a satisfactory transhuman rationally religious world view ought to address five basic requirements that bridge the gaps of sex and gender and merge the physical, psychic, and inspirational elements of joy into a total personal and socially transforming experience of reality. At the same time, we recognize that a genuinely operational inspirational framework, a true transreligion, can only emerge from the collective unification of individual joyful experience. This list is just a starting point for further thought and discussion.

1) Assure complete freedom from reliance on any myth or backstory. Our beliefs are based on plain observational knowledge and insights of personal wisdom.

2) Demonstrate open and informed attitudes, viewpoints, and experiential training for all of the many dimensions of sex and gender.

3) Practice group communion for collective psychic inspiration and empowerment, through the exploration and experience of sex and gender as acts of communion.

4) Fellowship every transhuman living on this planet. Empower them to know the joy of living, showing how love finds expression in true service to others by doing good and making beauty.

5) Be open to alliance with any cosmic government that may make its presence or influence felt in human affairs, with a willingness to facilitate transhuman emergence. In the meantime dedicate your life to the highest principles of love, truth, goodness, and beauty.

To summarize, we help one another by starting with baldfaced mythless truth and showing each other the joy that is really important and gives meaning to life. A universal acknowledgment of the possibility that some external force will intervene keeps us mutually focused on progression towards our ideals of truth and love, regardless of what the future brings. And our intent to combine free and open acceptance of all forms of sex and gender expression with equally free and open communion, joy, and fellowship guarantees our ability to lead the destined evolution of human affairs.

Transhumans may find something like this just fine as the basis for a way of life and be finally able to leave the god talk to the past. But a religion, the social expression of a community of individuals who share common ideals, is not designed, so much as grown through the social customs of the community. Setting aside old, incorrect beliefs, the inherent truth of principles like these will emerge and cause focused will actions. Through trial and error, the community will gradually discover convenient and innovative ways of serving these principles to more and more people. And that will be the emergence of true Transreligion.

Now is the time for a new inspirational framework to replace the outdated and overly interpreted ideas of our pastfathers. I do not know what will emerge, but I trust that it will necessarily be true to ideals and principles such as those stated here.

Editor’s note: This was published a few years ago to offer a framework for a new non-religion incorporating the ideas of sex and gender freedom. It is re-issued today to help spur the coming together of many diverse points-0f-view who are striving for a humane world unified with shared ideals. 

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A Manifesto For The New Age of Sexual Freedom

The figure of Columbia, with a gender-fluid, two-spirit American native as the model, is VenusPlusX's icon for The New Age of Sexual Freedom

The figure of Columbia, with a gender-fluid, two-spirit American native as the model, is VenusPlusX’s icon for The New Age of Sexual Freedom

Editor’s note: republishing it by popular demand …

The New Age of Sexual Freedom is synonymous with the end of sexism and racism (the greatest form of sexual oppression), and the end of nationalism for the purposes of war (the greatest form of racism), in the shortest amount of time (because we are killing each other).

 

One of our most frequently asked questions is Why A New Age Of Sexual Freedom? Also, what’s that got to do with human rights — equality rights, immigration rights, environmental protections, and safeguarding net neutrality?

In honor of the relaunch of VenusPlusX, I am answering this question in the form of a manifesto, for the express purpose of continuing this conversation on line, which was developed for the most part with Dan Massey before he went on to other shores. Your thoughts and comments are welcomed. We crave your criticism.

To fully understand why VenusPlusX frames the quest for a more perfect world in terms of Sexual Freedom, specifically erotic freedom, first widen the lens a bit for the long view.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons

We are all capable of imagining an ideal state of being wherein every baby is born into the world free from all forms of discrimination and enslavement, and where human rights reign, including sexual freedom. These children are free to express whatever their personality wishes, to live and prosper wherever and however they determine. At last, there are no barriers preventing an era of world-wide mutual cooperation and support. Living Peace.

This state of being signifies that we have finally attained the most fundamental and personal human right, our inherited and inherent sexual freedom.  Only the achievement of universal sexual freedom, or erotic freedom, will symbolize our civilization’s full maturation — the point when everything that ever interfered with Peace on earth and good will among humans has been eliminated. No more sexism, racism, ageism, certainly no more war or destruction of the earth’s natural resources. Just universal pluralism, a world wide family.

Sexual Freedom is also important in another more basic way, and why VenusPlusX has propogated the more appropriate erotic freedom to get beyond words and get physical. Each human is endowed with health-promoting erotic senses. When a friend puts their hand on your shoulder when you need it, both of you feel comforted. Your electro-chemical systems fire up with the thrill of exercise and sport, and other activities you feel passionate about. Even your adrenalin in an emergency rushes through your every passageway. Erotic senses are your human senses and they operate asexually in numerous ways and also through sexual pleasure all the way to the ecstatic orgasm, something more than 90% experience. All of your erotic senses bring comfort, warmth, and safety in various dimensions everyday, igniting and awakening us to the larger world, even the cosmos itself.

And, more. Whether you perceive pleasure from your erotic senses as the stairway to heaven or just something that makes you feel better, more connected . . . more creative, our awakened erotic senses inevitably bring about much needed healing.These senses bring us into the realm of Love, and the expression of that Love, through Truth (consistency in real time), Beauty (harmony), and Goodness (Love IS the desire to do good to others). Again, another reason the attainment of sexual freedom is crucial to all human progress.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons

Your experince of your erotic senses may be mostly inexplicable, but they are there for a reason. You may have felt these, even for a fleeting moment, now try to put together as many consecutive moments just like them, and have a happy day.

These erotic senses are to be revered, even worshipped, for they are what connect each of us with every other human in the world, and beyond. 

It’s possible to open the lens wider still, and try to take the longest view possible, to understand how our perfecting world can progress speedily to the ideals we have in mind.

The progression and transformation of civilizations over millenia pass through many stages, from their most primitive roots all the way to universal pluralism (worldwide Peace). The attainment of Peace is the direct result of obtaining the most fundamental right of sexual freedom, the holy grail of all other freedoms.

Progress is a creative act, the ability to transform our selves and our world by adapting to better ways of doing things. Progress is always active and is often upstepped under certain positive circumstances.

Progress has its own evolution and ecology, always preserving and building upon what is old (historical) and also good (humane) while gradually dispensing with all other forms that are old and bad (inhumane, coercive), always in a state of forging a new and better art of living that is free from all forms of local and global enslavement.

All efforts to strengthen communities, the health, housing, and employment of one’s neighbors, especially those most in need, are surely part of this new age. Hospice is an excellent example of an eleventh-century global concept worthy preservation. So is the Internet, now unfortunately under attack by special interest profiteers who would impinge on its free and productive use by everyone on an equal basis. 

The military-industrial complex is an easy example of an inhumane and coercive system requiring redirection (say, a green army to protect our environment).

Progress’s natural ecology, then, becomes reflective of how we are getting from Point A (now) to Point B, that perfected world. This concept is nothing new since its been long recognized by agrarians, religions, cults, marxism, feminism, and the transhuman and futurist movement. Progress always synthesizes all that is good, forms worthy of survival and preservation, with everything that is new and also good, on micro and macro levels, so therein is our simple equation, what I like to call a formula for peace. And, progress has scientifically proved to us that the more you apply this formula for peace each day, the better today becomes, not just for you but for everyone that you touch.

Progress is a constant, gradual, sometimes cataclysmic, transfer from coercive systems— created during intermediate and often painful stages of civilization—to new, humane, voluntary associations. 

Wherever and whenever an approach, a thing, a process, whatever … is coercive (enslaves another human), a humane alternative can be found with just a tad of creativity. (Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are good places to start looking.)

Expanding and improving voluntary associations are the result of creative, thoughtful, and for the most part selfless people working for the good of humanity, a silent form of mercy on a mass scale. There are those who go through life in an uncaring trance, not really present in any moment to make a lasting contribution to the evolution of civilization, or even be aware of much that is going on around them. The rest of us have to wake them up! (Maybe once they realize that enjoyment of sexual freedom is key to something better, they might become more attentive,see above.)

Most dangerous, the generational uncaringness (learned or invented) of people “asleep at the wheel” turns them into blind fodder for the relative few who would amass power, enslave them, and sacrifice their humanity through man-made, always corrupt at their core, coercive systems. The longer and deeper these maligning systems persist, the more hopelessness ensues and even more people drift into this semi-awake state.

So, there’s no time to wait! Arise!

Eventual, inevitable, universal pluralism is built of mutual
respect and individual responsibility, and is only made possible
through the creative energy of Love, a very
high form of Peace wherein we do good to one another.

 Related: A Personal Call to Action

What is the Kingdom of Heaven?

Aphrodite, god of Love

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También en español The Name of God has been a subject of superstition and speculation throughout human history. Much confusion has arisen from an inability to imagine a deity of sufficient power, presence, and knowledge to consistently satisfy all humanity’s putative requirements for a god to satisfy. We have revealed that the single word “Love” is the best description of absolute deity. We have also shown that the existence of Love makes possible the activation of a divine function best described and named as “Truth”—the finite function of deity that creates Goodness and Beauty. And this active god of the finite universe is the true meaning of the phrase The Word of God.

Hermaphroditus, god of Truth

With these names we have abandoned an ancient idea of Judeo-Christian pastfathers that envisioned god as a blend of an elderly patriarch and the fiery demon of Mount Sinai, who, according to myth, personally consorted with the legendary Moses. We have also abandoned the image of the broken body of a blameless human murdered by barbaric crucifixion being in any way representative of the active face of deity at work creating the finite universe. We have suggested that classical pagan images (Aphrodite and Hermaphroditus) can equally well portray the true meanings of the upholding of Love and the creativity of Truth, who is the “son” of Love—the active response to the desire to do good to others.

Humans have been equally obsessed by the idea of a perfected world, a “heaven” that exists in some transcendent reality or in the distant future, where everything “has gotten better.” One of the key ideas of religions is the notion of survival of death to be repersonalized in such a world. Like the name of god and the word of god, this idea has been burdened with so many myths, misconceptions, and total misinterpretations as to be rendered fantastic and absurd to the rational mind of modern humans. It is time to set aside this antique jargon, which imparts a false sense of sanctity and, like the other common terms we have explored, leads to serious misunderstanding, miscommunication, and impairment of spontaneous personal growth.

At its root, the experience of the Kingdom of Heaven is the experience we have previously described as salvation from uncertainty. The core function underlying human behavior is the constant need to decide what to do next. Many functions of this sort are fully (heartbeat) or partially (breathing) automated, and we are unconscious of these. There is a stream of consciousness in which our self-identity must constantly make more-or-less conscious choices of action. Again, many of these are obvious and merit little attention; however, there arise occasions on which higher mind functions must be invoked when no guidance or contradictory guidance comes from lower mind functions.

Finally, such choices may reach a level of importance that requires recognition of personal responsibilities to others and analysis of personal abilities to address those responsibilities. This is the domain of moral choice, a living theater in which, regardless of our self-opinion or our rhetoric, we demonstrate the values that motivate our lives, that define the nature of our souls. When we feel unable to reach a decision, or find ourselves faced with a deep moral conflict, we are actually face-to-face with a choice that will strengthen or weaken our attachment to certain ideals and ideas in ways we cannot anticipate, and may rightly fear should our choice be an inappropriate one.

And this is the great uncertainty from which every wise and caring person seeks salvation. For many it is simply ignored or reduced to the final conscious moments before death. Such only seek salvation from death and may obtain whatever afterlife may be available to them. But the individual who lives a life of obedience to Truth, a life of supreme integration, finds that they know what to do and often simply do the right thing automatically, and this is true salvation from moral uncertainty as well as the key to understanding of one’s permanent role in the universe—the recognition that one’s mortal body becomes an avatar for an immortal soul obedient to truth in the expression of love. Experience of the Kingdom of Heaven, however, is not just about an inner state of confident salvation, but about the results in one’s life as one constant reaffirms that state, for the result is a coordination of one’s own actions, even relatively mechanical actions, with the actions of one’s environment, so that everything either works better or works for the good. In a free and truth recognizing society everyone appreciates this motivation toward cooperation and unity of purpose, while tolerating all constructively diverse expressions of personal will.

Personally entering this state is far easier than making sense out of my attempts to explain. John Mark recalled that Jesus taught:

Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of Heaven. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of Heaven as a little child, he shall not enter therein. (Mark 10:14-15)

The point is that openness, acceptance of truth, freedom from cynicism and skepticism, freedom from myth and superstition—all natural attributes of the child untutored in the delusions and fears of the past fathers—are the necessary human attitudes for the achievement of true happiness, the realization of complete sanity, and the progressive perfection of the human state as we enter and progress through the New Age of realized love, truth, goodness, and beauty; of liberty, freedom, justice, and equality for all.

 


Why Trans Life is a Necessary Cosmic Reality

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También en español At the end of the last post I admitted that  I certainly cannot prove that this higher level of Transcendent Life (Trans Life) exists beyond Real Live (RL) as RL exists beyond Second Life (SL). If it exists, then there is surely a path of transition from RL to Trans Life that is similar to the SL to RL transition, and our destiny is to transcend RL and occupy this new level by following the path of living truth.

Follow me now into a domain of rational speculation and let me explain why I believe Trans Life is a universe reality.

In the post Where Did All This F*cking Evil Sh%t Come From? we explained how the presence of evil in the universe is in contrast to the presence of good. There is no reality in evil; however, good has not yet fully permeated the entire finite universe. If the final state of the finite universe is destined to be completely permeated by good, then a process must exist in time and space for the generation of good to fill the gaps of apparent evil. This process is the action of individual beings satisfying the desire of love to do good to others as an act of free will guided by truth.

Where are the beings to come from who perform the great task of filling the universe with the true goodness born of perfected love? We might speculate that an initially empty finite universe comes into existence with some minimum capability or imperative to satisfy the universal desire of love to do good. We can further speculate that this capability has been sufficient to bring into existence a partially developed and populated universe in which a large number of planets are populated with communities of physical creatures, who are endowed with similar abilities and characteristics as ourselves.

Now we may ask what would be the purpose in populating a RL universe with limited, finite beings destined to decay and disappear after a few decades of productive life? Is it reasonable to speculate that such beings could progressively transfer the seat of their personal consciousness from RL to Trans Life? Looked at from the viewpoint of destiny, would it not be necessary for these finite beings to finally participate in Trans Life, where they could continue to develop as individuals and as doers of good?

The exhaustion of all potentials of finite development will equate to the full expression of love throughout the universe and the full personal development of every person to Trans Life. If RL persons did not survive in Trans Life, there would be no path to the inevitable finality of destiny, the complete emergence of the unified consciousness of all mind, standing at the end of time and drawing all events towards its generation and fulfillment.

To summarize this speculation, if free will personalities aren’t going to live forever as citizens of Trans Life, there will be no way to fully populate the finite universe at the finality of destiny, nor would a corps of beings associated with the finality exist to eventuate identities and provide the tools of transcendence to the citizens of the infinite (post-finite) universe that they will construct, beings we imagine might develop a bit like we have imagined avatars in SL.

True Transhumans, everyone who embraces physical, intellectual, and motivational technologies that provide transcendence, are personally destined to serve truth, as the focal exercise of the true will, for eternity. Transhumans experience the joy of participation in creation and continued existence to satisfy love by doing good to others, guided by the spirit of truth.

Survival of the human consciousness in Trans Life is necessary to provide for full realization of all the potentials of the universe, the true multiverse.

 

Becoming and Being an Avatar—Uploading Salvation

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También en español And so we come, at last, to the true meaning of salvation. It is common to think of this word as meaning escape from mortality, resurrection into an afterlife. Yet this also contains the idea of a personal change to observe a higher set of ideals, so that one overcomes bad attitudes and behavior towards others. I think the most basic concept of salvation is, however, salvation from uncertainty—the avatar’s choice. If the avatar makes the single choice to engage the resident’s will, or the output of a higher level cognitive process embodied in AI, then ey knows whatever mess ey gets into subsequently will be something the higher level resident’s mind understands, no matter how it looks to the avatar. If the avatar can’t accept this, then ey will expend his energies in a futile attempt to continue to exist without taking advantage of the higher mind functions of eir resident.

Salvation is freedom from fear, and from the uncertainty of acting correctly (doing good). Salvation is provided by commitment of the will to act in the spirit of truth. And so we strive to live the truth, not just to tell the truth. And by so doing our actions will produce goodness for the benefit of our fellows and make beautiful the harmony of kindred spirits. If our human lives are indeed similar to the consciousnesses we can imagine for an advanced SL avatar, we may face a common experience of existence and mortality.

In discussing the experience of an avatar finding identity escape from SL to RL, we ignored the problem of providing the higher cognitive processes that will support integration of avatar behavior between SL and RL. Were the avatar already controlled from RL, eir identification with eir resident (from whom eir lower cognitive functions were uploaded) would be complete as long as the linkage of will overcontrol is maintained. Avatars without this capability will have to be adopted by some RL service, but we have not identified who or what would do this.

Imagine then a highly advanced self-acting avatar, through learning, recombination of memes, and experimentation with its higher mind functions, at last being able to reach beyond the confines of its original design requirements, learning to perform alone at a new and higher level of cognition. This idea is certainly no more challenging than believing that computers will become so powerful someday they will be able to take over policy functions, rather than simply automating a process. Such an avatar would have proven its value to the community. By progressively qualifying to operate effectively at higher cognitive levels, the avatar would demonstrate its ability, given sufficient computational resources, to function in RL if an RL representation or interface could be provided.

We can imagine providing some sort of physical body in RL for the physical control by the SL mind of the evolved avatar. In effect, the self-evolved SL avatar takes control of a physical “avatar” in RL and, through integrated action of will, becomes a fully functioning physical presence in RL. In effect, an RL personality could be partially embodied in an SL avatar, and a sufficiently evolved SL being could be partially embodied in an RL artificial body. The fact that this transfer can occur in either direction gives hope to the idea that someday a way will be found to achieve full personality within the avatar. On the other hand, it is at least equally possible that the mind of the avatar cannot achieve full personhood without direct engagement in RL.

Why is salvation freedom from error? Because in that way a subordinate consciousness is able to function effectively in its own environment, while self-evolving to be able to embrace higher cognitive functions, yielding still more effective functioning. Such a simulated mind, as in a thinking SL avatar, has the implicit ability to shift its seat of conscious identity from SL to RL or to synchronize with a free RL identity. In either case, the conscious being is no longer dependent on the SL computational substrate to support its continued existence, having moved into RL and begun utilization of RL energy processes. Would the avatar mind think it had been immortalized by the transition, even as we assume humans making a mind transition to an artificial substrate would think themselves immortalized? Perhaps the grass is always greener on the other side.

In either case, imagine what it would be like if the reach for higher consciousness the SL avatars make were similarly performed by human minds operating in RL. The human mind seeks the same kind of salvation as the SL avatar—namely, the certainty of right action. And the human finds this salvation by exploring higher levels of cognition of which ey are initially unaware. As these levels are explored, they become familiar to the person and are incorporated into rational patterns of behavior. And this process leads the individual to progressively improve eir actions in increased harmony with universal ideals until eir seat of consciousness comes to occupy a level of reality that transcends the limitations of a physical brain.

I certainly cannot prove that this higher level of Transcendent Life (Trans Live) exists beyond RL as RL exists beyond SL. If it exists, then there is surely a path of transition from RL to Trans ifeL that is similar to the SL to RL transition, and our destiny is to transcend RL and occupy this new level by following the path of living truth. On the other hand, we also know that, should there be no Trans Life to receive our developed personalities, our lives will not have been in vain, for we will have chosen as well as we could, lived as well as the world provided, and passed on our ideals for the help and uplift of those who come after us. If our destiny is only to be pastfathers, then we shall have been being the best pastfathers we could be. And if a way exists to extend our life experience, whether in Trans Life, RL, or SL, we will grasp it with our customary enthusiasm.

 

Avatars in Second Life?

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También en español You can refer back to our last post talking about Krishnamurti as an example of two concepts of avatar as they played out in the life of one person. Initially, Krishna was publicly identified as an avatar representing a fixed system of belief, Theosophy. When he renounced this role that he had been thrust into, his willingness to sacrifice the false social foundation of his life to honor the truth he found in his own mind made him into an avatar of the living truth, the only thing humans can achieve or become avatars for.

he word avatar has a much more recent meaning in the universes of virtual reality (VR). There are a number of virtual realities in which vast numbers of people cooperate and compete, design and build, and interact with each other in all manner of visually simulated environments and actions. Best known is probably Second LifeWorld of WarcraftMinecraft, and others built on variations of theme and system architecture. Among these, the avatar concept is most fully developed in Second Life.

In Second Life (SL), you are called a resident. Your presence is represented by a visibly displayed 3-D figure, you as an avatar, at a location within the simulated world that is visible to all participants within visual range. Your avatar has a great many basic and inherited characteristics, as well as the ability to accommodate a virtually unlimited number of visible, functional, and interactive augmentations.

When you view a scene in SL, you see the shapes and surface textures of the avatars that are located within your view. When this data is combined with a representation of terrain, including elevation and vegetation, structures and oceans, a composite scene can be rendered that places three-dimensional images of the avatars in a three-dimensional terrain context.

SL avatars are most often humanoid in form, some in animal or human-animal hybrid forms. and are often equipped with alien, gender-variant, and species-variant erotic organs.

One of the virtues of the use of artificially constructed forms for the avatars is the ability to give the avatars any shape, articulation, and surface texture desired, as well as the ability to animate parts of the avatar body or face, given sufficient scripts and code. At all times the avatar is under the control of a human being through a viewer that connects to the SL servers and provides local interfaces and image generation. Your avatar can walk, run, and fly around, observing an entire simulated patch of earth.

As the resident of the avatar, you have complete control over everything it says and does. You can hear what other people say or communicate by text. You can see the world from the avatar’s viewpoint, or from any other accessible place. You can hear ambient sounds in the simulated environment. The avatar is an extension of your self into the virtual world. As such, the acts of the avatar in dealing with the virtual world and its inhabitants are your acts for which you are ethically, if not legally, accountable, to another avatar and its resident (who can be physically located anywhere in the world).

In the relationship of the SL avatar to its resident we find a metaphor for the relationship of the human avatar to living truth. An avatar in SL can have default behaviors which cause them to be in a state of motion appropriate to each situation, e.g., still when seated and in a constant “dance” when standing. This level of behavior is akin to motor and reflex functions of a human body. The avatar performs a great range of simulated actions under the direction of its resident. The human body similarly performs actions in Real Life (RL) under the direction of higher mind functions. This division of mind levels in humans and avatars is conceptually similar, though the actual human mind content is a universe  greater than the most elaborate of all present day avatars.

A major theme of Transhumanist thought is the future emergence of Artificial Intelligences (AIs) that can simulate human thought faster and more accurately than a biological human. Any part of one’s mind that could be accurately modeled in an AI could, in principle, be immortalized by simulation in an artificial substrate. If this can be done, there would be no problem in endowing an SL avatar with the same human mind function.

We have no idea how far this idea might be carried because the first necessary steps to move beyond mechanical mind to minimal cognitive functionality by a machine are not yet well understood in humans. In the meantime, experimentation with AIs in VR interfaces like SL seems likely to help identify “low hanging fruit,” such as augmenting apparent avatar autonomy, while retaining a control link to the mind of the resident. The definition and implementation of such an interface would itself be a major accomplishment.

Coming up: What would it be like to live inside the world of SL?

 

Becoming and Being an Avatar—Choosing the Transhuman

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También en español “I think when one sees something true and beautiful, one wants to tell people about it, out of affection, out of compassion, out of love. … Can you ask the flower why it grows, why it has perfume? It is for the same reason the speaker talks.”                                            —Jiddu Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti was “discovered” at age 14 by Charles Leadbeater, a prominent Theosophist, who proclaimed him destined to become a spiritual teacher and a great orator, likely to be the “vehicle for the Lord Maitreya,” an advanced spiritual entity, according to Theosophical doctrine, who periodically appears on Earth as a World Teacher to guide the evolution of humankind.

Krishna was removed from his family and educated by the Theosophists, preparing him to assume the great role for which he had been chosen. His education in colonial India was followed by the worldwide development of the World Teacher project, of which he was the nominal head. Apparently he had more serious and personal thoughts about this matter than his sponsors in the Theosophical Society, for in 1929, at age 34, he publicly repudiated the project and Theosophy.

The remainder of Krishna’s life suggests that Leadbeater’s recognition of the boy’s destiny as a spiritual teacher and great orator was entirely correct, at least after he was educated and prepared by the Theosophists to be their messiah. Krishnamurti denounced the concept of saviors, spiritual leaders, or any other intermediaries to reality, and urged people to directly discover the underlying causes of the problems facing individuals and society. He declared allegiance to no nationality, caste, religion, or philosophy, and spent the rest of his life traveling the world as an independent speaker. In the end, he came to be recognized worldwide as a noteworthy teacher and advocate of Truth.

Krishnamuti is unique among those who have claimed to be avatars, literal embodiments, of Truth. His story shows us that an ordinary person may become an avatar of Truth if only one’s potentiality is understood properly. Krishna truly embraced the concept, even though it overturned the entire foundation and supposed purpose of his life and education. By refusing to be proclaimed an avatar to serve a human dogma, he demonstrated the very quality of being a genuine avatar in the service of Truth.

But what do we really mean by avatar? The word comes from Hindi and refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth, or a descent of the Supreme Being. In the New Age of sexual freedom we are revealing through VenusPlusX, the supreme ideal of Truth holds a position comparable to that of a deity in legacy human religion and it is entirely reasonable to use the word avatar to describe a person who chooses to become an embodiment of living Truth. An avatar is most definitely not a messiah. True avatars arise as ordinary human beings who become sensitive to the living Truth that is always present in their minds, and resolve to live their lives in service to its direction.

Why would anyone want to be or become an avatar? There are plenty of wrong reasons born of  the temptation to imagine oneself to have been “chosen” by some cosmic force to perform some heroic function, as is the case with the avatars known through the distortions of myth alone. Of course, as Krishamurti’s case shows us, there are two sides to this quest and its personal experience. Krishna received the material bounty and attention of being the publicly recognized avatar chosen to bring Theosophical truth to humanity. But Krishna did not take this on as a label of himself, so much as a life task to be lived out. By rejecting the distorted image of himself, overburdened with Thesophical doctine, he was able to live the Truth.

In effect, the path of personal development for one who would become an avatar is basically the same as the path of one who would transition to become fully Transhuman. The human state is hardly transcended by the installation of new body parts. The human state is also a shared consciousness—a common story of what our life experience is about or if it be about anything at all. Transition of this consciousness from simple reliance upon myth and fact to incorporate vision and truth makes the human mind become more than human, indeed, it becomes Transhuman. And this phenomenon is what separates visionaries like us from the simply human. Initially, this is simply a change of viewpoint, a commitment to a certain way of approaching challenges; however, with experience, as the response becomes automatic, completely new modes of coordination with physical reality are opened up to us.

In the virtual reality known as Second Life, each participant makes their selves visible to other participants in the form of an avatar, a three dimensional model of a human body or some other form that can be manipulated by an operator (who is, of course, a real human being). This experience is a powerful addition to the original avatar concept, which we will explore in our next post.

 

What Happens When Atheists Pray?

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A lot of people seem to think that, by believing in the myths of a religion, they will acquire some sort of privilege above all other people—they can become those chosen by their god to impose his will on the world around them. In return for their dedication, they expect some kind of payoff—a manifold return on their investment. So they pray for what they want. Sometimes they get it. More often they don’t. From this many conclude there is no god. Of course they would be more accurate to conclude that there is no god that fits their image of deity or, if there is, he’s not inclined to give them what they want. At least not just because they want it. And, in the final analysis, if  your god won’t give you what you want, what good is he?

But stop and look at this the other way around. Suppose you were a genuine omni-cubed god, how would anybody know you were around unless there were places and times you weren’t around? But you can’t ever not be around if you are omni-cubed. And how could one ever expect that such a deity would be directed by the personal wishes of one person among the vast number populating the universe? So let’s start by accepting that, if a prayer is going to be answered in a personal way, the answer won’t come from the omni-cubed god, if he exists.

Many people think that, if they only believe in god, then he will exist and solve their problems for them. That is mere magical thinking. Suppose, however, a believer comes to know the existence of god and understand a part of his very nature. Such a knower, self-aware of the power and limitations of divine action in the finite realm, will not seek the unattainable. A knower is aware of how to act efficiently in context to foster destiny and how to accept the enhanced understanding of reality that comes from analysis of each adventure.

Put another way, anything you would get from divine reality must be in accordance with the divine will. It must also be a bonus that can be delivered through the higher functions of mind, emotion, motivation, and experience. Even the Bible says that King Solomon prayed for wisdom and was also the wisest of all kings of the Hebrews. If the human mind indeed contains a spiritual connection through which the more positive attractors of behavior can be illuminated and strengthened, this is surely the domain in which the correct attitude of receptiveness to concepts that will fill a cavern of desire can be translated directly into enlightenment.

But what of the atheist, the person who cannot or will not believe in a personal “god”? And here we come to a basic paradox in the human limited concept of spiritual faith. Just as the individual “names of god” have no meaning in and of themselves, so the individual “beliefs in god” are also meaningless. An atheist who needs and knows that he wants a shot of wisdom is going to get it from somewhere. And it makes little difference whether we believe or science shows us it is from some otherwise imperceptible level of divinity or from the associative capabilities of the human mind. And if it comes from that mind, it does not matter whether it emerges from the physical architecture of the brain or from some inherited or learned cognitive process.

In the final analysis, what happens in life that matters is defined by the satisfaction of basic drives, be they human or divine, to make life better for ourselves and the generations that come after us. And that is a high destiny that all may share, regardless of their imagined or real relationship to some undefined “higher power.”

To truly know what you need is to possess it. And that is the key to true creativity. And that is real magic.

—Dan Massey

Transreligion—An Inspirational Framework for Transgender Transhumans

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Religious myth has only degraded and inhibited human progress. Essentially all contemporary religions are myth based. Christianity fails the test of worth when it relies on Hebrew racial myth (the old testament) and Greek philosophical myth (the concept of the Christos and related ideas) as absolute truths. We know that nothing that draws on such ancient Sci-Fi can be either true, good, or beautiful, except by accident, and thus stands forever opposed to the power of love in the world.

Paul Henri Thiry (click)

There are, fortunately, many people (now and in the past 2000 years) who love others, serve others, do good to others, and make our world more beautiful by their efforts. Some of these people call themselves Christians or Jews or Muslims or Atheists or something else, which is their choice, but their lives have taken inspiration from the universal powers of love and truth in the human mind, not from religious myth or dogma.

Transhumanists continue to debate the appropriateness of any kind of religious faith or behavior as a component of Transhuman life. My own post-transition perspective illuminates many ethical and moral concerns of the Transhumanists. Foremost, if we are to foster the emergence of a genuine Transhuman philosophy of life, we need to create an inspirational framework that justifies and motivates rational behavior. We should evaluate candidate inspirational frameworks according to their individual ability to satisfy essential requirements that must be met by any proposed framework.

In my view, a satisfactory transhuman rationally religious world view ought to address five basic requirements that bridge the gaps of sex and gender and merge the physical, psychic, and inspirational elements of joy into a total personal and socially transforming experience of reality. At the same time, we recognize that a genuinely operational inspirational framework, a true transreligion, can only emerge from the collective unification of individual joyful experience. This list is just a starting point for further thought and discussion.

1) Assure complete freedom from reliance on any myth or backstory. Our beliefs are based on plain observational knowledge and insights of personal wisdom.

2) Demonstrate open and informed attitudes, viewpoints, and experiential training for all of the many dimensions of sex and gender.

3) Practice group communion for collective psychic inspiration and empowerment, through the exploration and experience of sex and gender as acts of communion.

4) Fellowship every transhuman living on this planet. Empower them to know the joy of living, showing how love finds expression in true service to others by doing good and making beauty.

5) Be open to alliance with any cosmic government that may make its presence or influence felt in human affairs, with a willingness to facilitate transhuman emergence. In the meantime dedicate your life to the highest principles of love, truth, goodness, and beauty.

To summarize, we help one another by starting with baldfaced mythless truth and showing each other the joy that is really important and gives meaning to life. A universal acknowledgment of the possibility that some external force will intervene keeps us mutually focused on progression towards our ideals of truth and love, regardless of what the future brings. And our intent to combine free and open acceptance of all forms of sex and gender expression with equally free and open communion, joy, and fellowship guarantees our ability to lead the destined evolution of human affairs.

Transhumans may find something like this just fine as the basis for a way of life and be finally able to leave the god talk to the past. But a religion, the social expression of a community of individuals who share common ideals, is not designed, so much as grown through the social customs of the community. Setting aside old, incorrect beliefs, the inherent truth of principles like these will emerge and cause focused will actions. Through trial and error, the community will gradually discover convenient and innovative ways of serving these principles to more and more people. And that will be the emergence of true Transreligion.

Now is the time for a new inspirational framework to replace the outdated and overly interpreted ideas of our pastfathers. I do not know what will emerge, but I trust that it will necessarily be true to ideals and principles such as those stated here.

—Dan Massey