Exaltist Ethan
Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
The idea for this thread came from this post I wrote myself on a different thread.
I would like to use this thread for one very specific reason: to explain my religious beliefs, which I call Exaltism. This post that I wrote did some of this explanation, but since my beliefs change, grow, and evolve, I want an entire thread of space to explain my current beliefs.
Right now my beliefs are what I call "trinitarian pantheist". The Omniverse (ultimate reality, spacetime and matter), Entropy and Extropy are at the head of this. I do extrapolating. I believe that entropy exists in every Universe that exists, but extropy doesn't, especially human-centered extropy. The Omniverse is what it is and will always be there, and the reason why there is so much evil is due to the amount of entropy verses extropy. Ideally they should be equal parts, with as much extropy as entropy, but in reality entropy outweighs extropy significantly at this stage.
There are five qualities that The Omniverse possesses: Totality of things, essentiality of its existence, its eternalness in existing, its ubiquity in where it is, and the potency it possesses is unparalleled. That's half of the equation in how I understand God. The other half is possessed by humans: the utilities we possess, the kindness and generosity of each person, and their sagacity, or wisdom, the sovereignty they possess when ownership comes into the question, and the unity sovereign states produce by recognizing each other.
That is the ten divine attributes I consider when understanding God. We are currently at the age between global sovereignty and global unity. Virtually all the land on Earth is owned by someone, but, global unity happens when all the nations of said planet recognize the sovereignty of all the nations of a planet. So far with Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, Taiwan and China and the separation of the Koreas makes this abundantly clear to me that we are not yet at a stage of global unity, and although tensions are high in various parts of the world, there has been more overall peace as of lately.
I call my beliefs Exaltism because of the adherent view of exaltation of reality. While I sometimes say that we are creating God, God already exists as The Omniverse, but what we are doing is creating the extropic output of The Omniverse, thus making it more divine in that process. Our Universe in particular was made with almost an infinite amount of spacetime and entropy, and it is our due diligence as humans to make the Universe better while we are alive to do so. The five attributes I laid out before that are uniquely human - utility, generosity, sagacity, sovereignty and unity are prime examples on how humans create the divine.
However, there will be a time where humans complete global unity and we will start work on the next order of progress - the Kardashev Scale, in short time. In fact, we are already working on that now. The Kardashev Scale is how we measure what type of human civilization we are in. Currently we are stage zero, before there is even enough energy produced to become planetary. Eventually however planetary will become stellar, stellar will between galactic, galactic will become extra-galactic and extra-galactic will become universal.
From our universal force of extropy we will eventually find ways of travelling outside the universe. To the multiverse, metaverse, xenoverse, hyperverse and finally, The Omniverse. The qualities that once were only held by ultimate spacetime, like totality and essentiality, will eventually become part of the post-human paradigm. Many people ask what is the point of life, and I have a very easy explanation of what that is. By humans becoming more self-aware, more generous and intelligent, they will have the ability to create more intelligent, happy, creative beings that will in turn create more divinity within The Omniverse. Hence, Exaltism.
Simply put, the reason why humans exist to create more extropy. More utilities, more generosity, more sagacity, more sovereignty, more unity, not just here on Earth but everywhere in the solar system, galaxy, universe and beyond that. Eventually, just as Teilhard suggests, this overall unity of things will become the totality and we will eventually develop technology that will create life for us, essentially doing our work for us as we enjoy all the amenities and luxuries of life has at that current stage. When we create a technology that creates life and its habitat for us, that technology could be viewed as the final stage in evolution, and the technology will in turn create a monotheistic society and reality, and as we start to harness that technology, we will become Gods ourselves - the omnitheism of a post-Omega reality.
We have been making life on Earth but my idea is that, sometime in the distant future, we will develop technology to make many planets viable for life, by either reducing the amount of heat on one planet or increasing the amount of heat of another. My idea of the afterlife is that by the time we find technology to resurrect people, and Jesus will be the first person they resurrect, we will design our new bodies in a way which each original person that was ever born will have their sovereignty, their own piece of the Universe that they can control and alter as they create more lifeforms, probably with the force of an entire galaxy. If we find "aliens" who are already doing this we can simply divide the spacetime accordingly. Eventually however each person will eventually upgrade to a universe and then a multiverse, being able to shift between alternate realities as we shape increasing amounts of divinity.
This is what I came to realize as the ultimate truth. With infinite amounts of spacetime, entropy and extropy virtually anything is possible. Which is what I came to realize during my epiphany at 14 years of age. Every generation that passes we are making God more Godlike. And thus is my attachment, my creed of Exaltism.
That's my theology. My belief in ethics is that there is a definitive ethical standard that we do not fully understand yet, but, we will, and we will eventually go past that, living in a post-ethics reality, which each and every action that happens in that reality can and will create new dimensions and different realities and the ultimate good will become post-objective.
When it comes to rituals, I really don't have any to speak of. I live my life the way I see fit. I try my best not to make anyone a victim by any means or circumstance, if I understand what not to do. To me, creating extropy is not only a belief but a ritual too. Everything from having and bearing children to understanding the universal theory of everything is included on that premise.
By no means does this mean I am no longer a member of Earthseed. They are still on the same very foundation that I worked to understand so hard myself, being both pantheist and syntheist at the same time. That foundation being, that (1) God is change, (2) shape God and (3) it is Earthseed's destiny to take root among the stars. Earthseed is a lighter version of Exaltism, an easier way to understand the principles, but while Earthseed is the foundation in which I understand reality, Exaltism is the virtual home I created as a result of that.
My signature, that has the small picture of my name, will soon have this thread as a place I can revert people back to if they are interested in understanding my basic principles and foundation of my theology.
Surely as time passes I will add more to this. I've been reading and re-reading what I wrote and it all seems to fit in place right now. While I do not think anyone really knows all the implications of my faith and how it is structured, this is so far a blueprint of how I see things going sometime in the future. The greatest thing about this is no matter how much you agree or disagree with me on this, just by having this discussion, this dialogue between two unlike people, we are starting to understand more and more of what's really going on here, creating the divinity I speak of. And this thread is just a small part of what and where I see things going towards.
If anyone has any questions about this I will surely answer them. I will not claim to know every answer, but I can do my best to explain the phenomena that is life the best I can.
I would like to use this thread for one very specific reason: to explain my religious beliefs, which I call Exaltism. This post that I wrote did some of this explanation, but since my beliefs change, grow, and evolve, I want an entire thread of space to explain my current beliefs.
Right now my beliefs are what I call "trinitarian pantheist". The Omniverse (ultimate reality, spacetime and matter), Entropy and Extropy are at the head of this. I do extrapolating. I believe that entropy exists in every Universe that exists, but extropy doesn't, especially human-centered extropy. The Omniverse is what it is and will always be there, and the reason why there is so much evil is due to the amount of entropy verses extropy. Ideally they should be equal parts, with as much extropy as entropy, but in reality entropy outweighs extropy significantly at this stage.
There are five qualities that The Omniverse possesses: Totality of things, essentiality of its existence, its eternalness in existing, its ubiquity in where it is, and the potency it possesses is unparalleled. That's half of the equation in how I understand God. The other half is possessed by humans: the utilities we possess, the kindness and generosity of each person, and their sagacity, or wisdom, the sovereignty they possess when ownership comes into the question, and the unity sovereign states produce by recognizing each other.
That is the ten divine attributes I consider when understanding God. We are currently at the age between global sovereignty and global unity. Virtually all the land on Earth is owned by someone, but, global unity happens when all the nations of said planet recognize the sovereignty of all the nations of a planet. So far with Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, Taiwan and China and the separation of the Koreas makes this abundantly clear to me that we are not yet at a stage of global unity, and although tensions are high in various parts of the world, there has been more overall peace as of lately.
I call my beliefs Exaltism because of the adherent view of exaltation of reality. While I sometimes say that we are creating God, God already exists as The Omniverse, but what we are doing is creating the extropic output of The Omniverse, thus making it more divine in that process. Our Universe in particular was made with almost an infinite amount of spacetime and entropy, and it is our due diligence as humans to make the Universe better while we are alive to do so. The five attributes I laid out before that are uniquely human - utility, generosity, sagacity, sovereignty and unity are prime examples on how humans create the divine.
However, there will be a time where humans complete global unity and we will start work on the next order of progress - the Kardashev Scale, in short time. In fact, we are already working on that now. The Kardashev Scale is how we measure what type of human civilization we are in. Currently we are stage zero, before there is even enough energy produced to become planetary. Eventually however planetary will become stellar, stellar will between galactic, galactic will become extra-galactic and extra-galactic will become universal.
From our universal force of extropy we will eventually find ways of travelling outside the universe. To the multiverse, metaverse, xenoverse, hyperverse and finally, The Omniverse. The qualities that once were only held by ultimate spacetime, like totality and essentiality, will eventually become part of the post-human paradigm. Many people ask what is the point of life, and I have a very easy explanation of what that is. By humans becoming more self-aware, more generous and intelligent, they will have the ability to create more intelligent, happy, creative beings that will in turn create more divinity within The Omniverse. Hence, Exaltism.
Simply put, the reason why humans exist to create more extropy. More utilities, more generosity, more sagacity, more sovereignty, more unity, not just here on Earth but everywhere in the solar system, galaxy, universe and beyond that. Eventually, just as Teilhard suggests, this overall unity of things will become the totality and we will eventually develop technology that will create life for us, essentially doing our work for us as we enjoy all the amenities and luxuries of life has at that current stage. When we create a technology that creates life and its habitat for us, that technology could be viewed as the final stage in evolution, and the technology will in turn create a monotheistic society and reality, and as we start to harness that technology, we will become Gods ourselves - the omnitheism of a post-Omega reality.
We have been making life on Earth but my idea is that, sometime in the distant future, we will develop technology to make many planets viable for life, by either reducing the amount of heat on one planet or increasing the amount of heat of another. My idea of the afterlife is that by the time we find technology to resurrect people, and Jesus will be the first person they resurrect, we will design our new bodies in a way which each original person that was ever born will have their sovereignty, their own piece of the Universe that they can control and alter as they create more lifeforms, probably with the force of an entire galaxy. If we find "aliens" who are already doing this we can simply divide the spacetime accordingly. Eventually however each person will eventually upgrade to a universe and then a multiverse, being able to shift between alternate realities as we shape increasing amounts of divinity.
This is what I came to realize as the ultimate truth. With infinite amounts of spacetime, entropy and extropy virtually anything is possible. Which is what I came to realize during my epiphany at 14 years of age. Every generation that passes we are making God more Godlike. And thus is my attachment, my creed of Exaltism.
That's my theology. My belief in ethics is that there is a definitive ethical standard that we do not fully understand yet, but, we will, and we will eventually go past that, living in a post-ethics reality, which each and every action that happens in that reality can and will create new dimensions and different realities and the ultimate good will become post-objective.
When it comes to rituals, I really don't have any to speak of. I live my life the way I see fit. I try my best not to make anyone a victim by any means or circumstance, if I understand what not to do. To me, creating extropy is not only a belief but a ritual too. Everything from having and bearing children to understanding the universal theory of everything is included on that premise.
By no means does this mean I am no longer a member of Earthseed. They are still on the same very foundation that I worked to understand so hard myself, being both pantheist and syntheist at the same time. That foundation being, that (1) God is change, (2) shape God and (3) it is Earthseed's destiny to take root among the stars. Earthseed is a lighter version of Exaltism, an easier way to understand the principles, but while Earthseed is the foundation in which I understand reality, Exaltism is the virtual home I created as a result of that.
My signature, that has the small picture of my name, will soon have this thread as a place I can revert people back to if they are interested in understanding my basic principles and foundation of my theology.
Surely as time passes I will add more to this. I've been reading and re-reading what I wrote and it all seems to fit in place right now. While I do not think anyone really knows all the implications of my faith and how it is structured, this is so far a blueprint of how I see things going sometime in the future. The greatest thing about this is no matter how much you agree or disagree with me on this, just by having this discussion, this dialogue between two unlike people, we are starting to understand more and more of what's really going on here, creating the divinity I speak of. And this thread is just a small part of what and where I see things going towards.
If anyone has any questions about this I will surely answer them. I will not claim to know every answer, but I can do my best to explain the phenomena that is life the best I can.