Gospel & Universe 🌎 Many Tribes

Six Versions of Infinity

Unlike 5, Evenly Divisible by 2 & 3 - A Qualification & A Caveat - Daoism - Ideals & Incarnations

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Unlike 5, Evenly Divisible by 2 & 3

I have a friend who says that religious arguments are ridiculous because it’s like arguing over whose imaginary friend is better. Agnostics would modify this statement, given that they aren’t convinced that God is imaginary: “It’s ridiculous when religions insist that their unprovable doctrine is superior to every other doctrine.”

Throughout this section I’ll take an agnostic look at what’s often considered the six major religious traditions of the world: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, & Daoism. Of course, there are more than six religions, yet according to the Mesopotamians, who came up with numbers and base 60, six is a good number to start with 😉.

I see these six traditions the way I see language: full of possibility and light, yet also prey to the vilest of manipulation. In general, however, my agnostic position is a positive-sum one: every religion adds a different aspect to the myriad ways we might see the universe. And because agnostics neither shun religion nor feel compelled to follow the restrictions of any religion, they feel free to explore all religions with complete freedom. They can go deeply into the speculations and mysticisms of all six, without worrying about transgressing the dogmas of priest, guru, or mullah.

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A Qualification & A Caveat

Agnostics would, however, add one qualification and one caveat.

The qualification is that if agnostics come to believe in a particular theistic idea — whether in a specific paradigm, an eclectic or personal mix of ideas, or a global mysticism or pantheism — then they’re no longer agnostics. Not strictly or 100%, in any case. They might say they’re a bit religious or a bit agnostic, unsure how deep their belief is, and unsure if they need to measure this depth in any precise way. Yet they aren’t strictly agnostic, because agnostics are, by definition, people who doubt religion. And if you no longer doubt that there’s even the most nebulous of otherworldly theistic Forces, then you’ve become a theist or an atheist, albeit with wide stretches of doubt and tolerance acting as a buffer against dogma and exclusivity.

Of course, it doesn’t matter to agnostics if other agnostics become believers — or atheists for that matter. Agnostics don’t even really care what exactly they call themselves. They simply see that these people have ceased to doubt. The only thing that would bother agnostics is if those who have stopped doubting stop others from doubting, or from experimenting with different modes of belief & disbelief.

This brings us to the caveat, which is that the experimental freedom agnostics enjoy ought to be shared by everyone. Not that everyone need to doubt, to be eclectic, or to drift from one religion to the next, but rather that everyone should be free to do so if they wish. As a result, agnostics are critical of believers who insist in a coercive manner that only their religion is the true one. Similar to liberals who are intolerant of intolerance, agnostics can’t agree with people who insist that there’s only one way to the Light, Enlightenment, Salvation, Nirvana, Grace, Truth, etc.

Agnostics tend to disagree, even at times vehemently, with people who insist on one and only one version of ◇ monotheism ◇ polytheism ◇ God ◇ gods ◇ afterlife ◇ scripture ◇ prophet ◇ and/or deified exemplar. They also argue against sociological exclusivity, as exemplified in concepts such as the Hindu caste system, the Chosen People, the illuminated or enlightened, the Catholic male priesthood and papacy, and the Elect.

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Daoism

While five of the six major religions have varying degrees of solid doctrine and varying types of exclusivity, Classical Daoism has very little of these. This is largely because it has no clear concept of God, no clear sense of the afterlife, no one sacred text, no clear notion of the soul, no iconic human or mythic figure you must believe in, and no elite priestly class. Some might argue that Daoism’s vagueness would disqualify it from being a religion at all, much less a major world religion. Something similar is sometimes argued about Buddhism, although I would counter in both cases that it would be better to expand the definition of religion than to disqualify open-ended belief systems.

Religions in general tend to include a fair degree of exclusion: the Hindu caste system is perhaps the worst example of hierarchy and exclusion; Islam insists on strict adherence to prophecy and the notion of the one and final revelation; Judaism was founded on the very notion of a Chosen People who have a unique covenant with God; and Christianity is a paradoxical universal version of this Chosen People.

While Hinduism and Islam remain in some ways the most punitive in a political or social sense (i.e. Brahmins disdaining Shudras, Muslims condemning apostates), Christianity has a very profound and unique exclusivity when it comes to the precise object of belief: you must believe in both the historical figure and the divine nature of Jesus. The following four points outline the way Christianity, which is open and inclusive in many other ways, is perhaps the most closed and exclusive in the way it views their core component of belief:

1. All the major religions have beliefs about an Ultimate Spirit as well as ideals about the way we ought to think and behave so that we can be in harmony with this Spirit.

2. Most religions insist on revealed or sacred scriptures as the highest Truth (Daoism and Buddhism excepted; Hinduism partially excepted).

3. Christianity and Hinduism highlight the incarnation of the Ultimate Spirit in a human form (not so with Daoism and Islam; only partly so with Buddhism and Judaism).

4. Christianity requires belief in a single incarnation of the Ultimate Spirit in a historically specific human form.

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Ideals & Incarnations

With the exception of Daoism, the major world religions create specific ideals and paradigms — such as the forgiving son born from a stern father (Christianity), the compassionate soul sitting cross-legged beyond all pain and desire (Buddhism & Hinduism), the just patriarch of a family who has a contract with God (Judaism), and the disciplined recipient of God’s final revelation (Muhammad).

Judaism, Islam, & Daoism don’t focus on incarnations of the Ultimate Spirit as much as they focus on messages and messengers. They believe that heeding certain writings (Dao De Jing & Zhuangzi; Torah; Qur'an & Hadith) will help us to live in harmony with this Spirit. Judaism and Islam also assert that certain historical people play key roles in exemplifying or transmitting the Divine (principally Abraham, Moses, & Muhammad). Daoism, on the other hand, doesn’t focus on messengers or historical messages, yet it does advance a specific message: follow the Spirit within and beyond all things and you will live in harmony with this Spirit. These three religions also share with Buddhism a strong element of iconoclasm, that is, they attempt to get beyond anthropomorphic notions of the Divine. They attempt to see God as beyond iconic conceptions and even at times beyond understanding.

Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity are similar to Judaism and Islam in that they have sacred messages and messengers, yet they also emphasize the notion that the Ultimate Spirit can be embodied or incarnated in human form. Buddhism is the least insistent in this, given that some Buddhists pray to Buddha yet many simply follow the Buddha as an exemplar — i.e., not as a being that needs to be prayed to or always kept in mind. For most Buddhists, if you attain detachment, compassion, and unity with the Absolute, the particulars of how you got there are of secondary importance. Hinduism is similar to Buddhism in that experience trumps belief. Hinduism also has an exceptionally large number of deities, although it doesn’t really matter which one you follow as long as you reach the Infinite.

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Next: The Creation of Outcasts

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