Throughout my writings, and interactions online, I often place my philosophical opponent systems, such as Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, in a category that I describe as "fundamentally distorted". By saying this, I mean that these philosophies uphold and promulgate "truths" about the world, human beings, and the nature of divinity that I consider distorted, or out of step with the actual organic truth about things.
I thought I might take a moment to address precisely what I mean with this language. My clarification is important for many reasons, but the chief reason is simple: for both an individual human, and for human societies, clear and accurate visions or approximations of "what's going on" out there and inside the self- the nature of the world and the individual- is necessary if a life of peace will ever be achieved, or if a peaceful, wise society will ever be created.
Let me also take a second here to point out that "peace", either in the self or in society, is not a matter of "no violence" or "no conflict." Conflict has always existed and will always exist. When I say "conflict", of course, I don't necessarily mean guns and grenades, as much as personal and interpersonal "difficulties" that must be overcome, and which cause pain and suffering of various kinds. Even people who are at peace within themselves, and have peace between themselves and the world, have emotional trials from time to time, doubts, concerns, and similar natural experiences.
What sets a person who has "peace" apart from those who do not is that a peaceful person has a greater, wiser context within which to place conflicts. That context is itself wisdom; awareness of it is wisdom. When a person- or a society- views itself as singular, alone, and surrounded on all sides by hostile, uncaring fronts, the sense of alienation creates an atmosphere that allows for natural conflicts to become intolerable. Natural conflicts within such a framework become overwhelming, and the isolated "self" cannot normally cope with them. A society is the same way.
Part of the wise truth of our situation in this life is the truth of cooperation and unity within a system. No person or society stands alone. We are not alone. What perspectives and resources we can draw upon when we embrace our greater participation within the suprasystem of life are the very perspectives and resources that endow us with wisdom, strength, and the power to endure with peace.
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Now, I would like to set down some points of reality, perspectives that I think encapsulate a closer approximation of the "Truth" about who and what we are as humans, the nature of this world, and the nature of sentient powers that go beyond the basic experience of humans and the world. Philosophies that teach views that deviate in lesser or greater ways from these particulars are teaching what I consider to be "distorted" views.
My contention is that distorted versions of these views- or the complete ignorance or denial of these views- is fully responsible for the vast majority of the evils that we face in this world, up to and including
-Violence against and repression of women
-Violence against and repression of homosexuals
-Lack of social cooperation, help, and aid
-Alienation of humans from their natural environment, and the litany of crimes we have committed against the natural harmony and health of this world
-Most of the conditions that are called "mental illnesses", including the pervasive and persistent feeling on the part of so many that they are "lost" or out of place, belonging nowhere, and isolated socially.
-Mass persecutions and genocides of people labeled "different" or "outsider"
-Mass starvation and poverty
Other problems facing our world could be added to this list, but these are the primary ones that I believe are created by social teachings, normally revealed religious teachings, that distort the organic truth about things. When I say "organic truth" or "natural truth", I am referring to those truths that we can see demonstrated to us by Nature herself, and which we can reason out or infer based on the appearance of nature's forces and their activities.
Natural truth is both experiential and empirical/demonstrable, and we experience it in the nature of our interactions with other persons in our natural environment, and the environment itself. Some aspects- the very deepest aspects- of natural truth are mediated to us in a personal, intuitive form through the sacred stories and spiritual metaphors utilized by primal peoples worldwide, past or present, in their various sacred and organic cultural expressions.
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What follows is an explication of "organic truth perspectives" which I believe are crucial, in every way, to any hope we may wish to have to obtain peace within individuals and peace within societies. This list serves not only as a list of precious truths that bolster my own life and spiritual reckoning, but a list of measurements from which I determine what is "distorted" or false and what is not.
