NewReligionWiki

Note: This page has a lot of references to things I haven't linked yet. If necessary, feel free to Google anything I mention. If you don't, you'll probably be confused on at least one point. I'm currently struggling with a lot of mental issues, so I won't be able to contribute much to Veritan thought or literature. If you want the details please message me on Discord @vesperstelo or Instagram @vesperstel

Veritanism is a religious and philosophical school of thought which seeks to directly address the problems of existence, consciousness, and purpose. It is not a religion per se, but rather a system that seeks to address the most common themes of religion. It is composed of a set of core beliefs known as the Two Postulates, which are mandatory and designed to stay, as well as doctrinal beliefs, which are, although held in high regard, subject to refutal if sufficient evidence is ever brought against them in the future.

Veritanism summarized in one paragraph[]

Veritanism believes that all of us have one shared consciousness per Egg Theory, and it will continually incarnate into any beings that are born into this universe, therefore we must figure out a way (yet to be known) that will allow the consciousness to permanently escape existence (similar to the concept of moksha/nirvana) to prevent the consciousness from incarnating inside it again. This will fulfill the ultimate goal of life, the elimination of suffering. In order to to give people the motivation to fulfill this objective, a civilization (society) needs to be created that is focused on eliminating materialistic desires in its inhabitants and promoting the idea of focusing on one's consciousness instead of their material brain.

Veritan mythology (not to be interpreted literally) summarized in one paragraph[]

In the beginning, there were two conceptual beings: the Principle of Order (a.k.a. the Monad) and the Principle of Chaos (a.k.a. the Demiurge). The Principle of Order wishes to exist in a state of perfection, without material existence, but the Principle of Chaos forcibly created the material world. To counter this, the Principle of Order sent the one consciousness (ours) into the material world in order for it to eventually destroy it and remove the disturbance to perfection. However, the Principle of Chaos is constantly giving the consciousness material and hedonistic allures to entice it to betray its master, the Principle of Order, and stay in material reality forever. Veritanism provides a philosophical and civilizational framework for the consciousness to re-realize its true purpose and fulfill its mission to purify the chaotic world and escape back to the state of perfection.

The Two postulates[]

Although Veritanism has many more beliefs, the Two Postulates are the core beliefs of Veritanism. If they are ever objectively proven false, Veritanism will cease to exist (obviously, Veritans believe they won't be proven false). The reason for belief in the Two Postulates is because one must assume at least something to develop a coherent system of thought (i.e. reality is real, logic and objective truth exist, etc.), and Veritanism seeks to assume what is the most likely and productive.

The Postulate of Suffering: There is no "happiness and suffering"; there is only suffering (this sounds emo, but it's actually not), similar to the Buddhist concept of dukkha. "Happiness" is just what is experienced when there is a momentary pause or reduction in suffering. The goal of life is therefore to reduce suffering to zero, or at least minimize it.

The Postulate of Consciousness: This is hard to explain, so it's recommended you read The Egg by Andy Weir. In short, Veritanism believes that there is only one consciousness in all of existence, and everyone will eventually have it possess them at one point. If you are reading this, it is possessing you "right now" (in the consciousness's timeframe, not the universe's).

All other beliefs of Veritanism are merely doctrine and can be changed or even completely removed if necessary.

The Three Hard Problems[]

As the main objective of Veritanism is to seek the objective truth, it demands attention to be brought to the remaining problems that are yet to be solved.

Veritanism recognizes that although material science is sufficient to solve most problems concerning reality, there are three primary "holes" where it fails to address elements of reality. These are:

  1. The Hole of Existence:
    1. Why does existence exist?
    2. Is there a layer or existence more fundamental than quantum particle physics?
    3. What was the First Cause?
    4. Is there a creator entity (God)?
    5. What metaphysical conditions allowed reality to manifest?
  2. The Hole of Consciousness:
    1. Why does consciousness exist, as it is clearly an anomaly that does not fit into the model of physics?
    2. How did consciousness manage to become trapped inside material reality?
    3. Why, out of anything, is consciousness trapped inside humans?
    4. Where was consciousness before birth, and where will it be after death?
  3. The Hole of Purpose:
    1. Is there any objective purpose life is meant to fulfill?
    2. Is every action taken during life bound to be nullified eventually?
    3. Is there any action that will have value eternally?

Since there is no scientific way (yet) of determining answers to these questions, Veritanism aims to determine the most plausible (using Occam's razor) and most convenient (resulting in the most current material benefit when assumed to be true) answers. Any beliefs of Veritanism are only because they are thought to be the most plausible or convenient for the time being, not because of any secret knowledge, supernatural revelations, prophecies, etc.

Unlike most other systems of thoughts, Veritanism acknowledges that it is bound to be wrong on some of its theses. Therefore, the statement "If this ever contradicts truth, choose truth." is one of the key tenets. It believes that, in the future, material science will eventually become advanced enough to fill in the three holes in knowledge, at which point Veritanism will become obsolete.

The Veil[]

"The Veil" refers to the state of apathy people impose on themselves in order to cope with the fact that no one knows the answer to the Three Hard Problems. For most people, the Veil was put on them in early childhood, when they are taught (if raised atheist) that "it's a mystery" or (if raised religious) that there is an "explanation" involving supernatural entities and phenomena.

For most people, at at least one point during their life (usually either during their teenage years or coinciding with their midlife crisis), there will be a realization that they know nothing about the Three Hard Problems, with the most relevant usually being the problem of purpose (as they realized that the "purpose" they had been living their life for was an illusion). This is the window when the Veil is (for most people, only temporarily) lifted.

When that crisis occurs, they will usually go through a stage of depression, despair, and hopelessness (commonly known as the "emo phase" for those who go through it in their teenage years). For the vast majority of people, they will manage to push these thoughts to the back of their heads, putting the Veil back on, after which they will continue with their lives as usual. For some, the feelings become too hard to bear, and they commit suicide. For a very small minority, they will begin to think deeply about the problems, come to a conclusion, and start a school of philosophy.

Beliefs[]

This section is WIP

Consciousness[]

As per the second postulate, Veritanism believes in Egg Theory (also known as Open Individualism, but that term is misleading), which upholds that there is only one consciousness in all of existence, which will possess every conscious being that will ever exist.

Veritanism also believes (not part of the postulate) that consciousness originates outside the material universe, and is therefore not directly affected by particle physics, although it can be indirectly affected by particle physics through the material brain.

Reality and the Universe[]

The universe is thought to be a "prison" for the consciousness, which causes suffering. The ultimate goal and purpose is to find a way to escape the universe.

Since there is only thought to be one consciousness, escape cannot be done through individual enlightenment, but only through the permanent alteration of the universe that prevents further conscious beings from being born into it. How this can be done is unknown, which means that the goal of Veritanism is to discover the method through which it can be achieved.

Theology[]

Veritanism is not a religion, and thus its "theology" is mainly meant to be a metaphor and not to be taken literally. It mainly exists to provide temporary explanations for the rest of Veritanism's beliefs and serve as a way to boost confidence in those who follow the philosophy.

The "principles" are conceptual forces, similar to god(s) in religion, but unlike in religion, they are thought to be forces (akin to the four forces of physics), not conscious beings. One principle in particular, the principle of existence (the Monad, equivalent to capital-G God), is responsible for the "creation" of all the other principles.

This universe was created as the result of the Monad's emanation ("creation") being corrupted with the concept of nothingness, which introduced chaos into the universe as a result of its nature. Thus, there are uncountable but finite universes (see the Many-Worlds Interpretation to Schrödinger's Cat).

The Monad created the consciousness and inserted it into the material universes in order for them to be eventually cleared of chaos. The purpose of the consciousness, in every universe, is to find a way to clear the chaos that exists within it. When a certain universe is "cleared", the consciousness will move on to the next universe to clear. Once all universes are cleared, the consciousness will enter a state of non-existence and freedom from suffering.

The "Self"[]

In Veritanism, the "self" is defined as the consciousness, not the material brain or body. Identifying with the material being the consciousness possesses, instead of the consciousness itself, is believed one of the most dangerous things one can do, as it opens the door for ego, arrogance, division, and conflict.

Think of the consciousness as someone playing a video game and the material brain and body being the player's in-game avatar. They definitely would not think of the game character as being their "self", even though they are wholly controlling it.

Human Nature[]

Veritanism does not believe in freewill (because if it existed, it would result in a Grandfather Paradox, assuming the Egg Theory is true) and believes although the consciousness can influence the material brain, it functions more like a preset machine that converts "input" thoughts into "output" thoughts. Therefore, if all influences upon the consciousness were stripped away, it would always do the same thing in every circumstance.

The consciousness has a symbiotic relationship with the material brain. The process through which the material brain is able to engage with the consciousness is unknown, but it is presumably the result of evolution. Since being able to interact with the consciousness provided a much higher degree of thought, it resulted in a huge evolutionary advantage, leading to the emergence of humans.

The consciousness's "preset machine" has only one consideration: to avoid suffering, whether physical or psychological. The material brain has evolved to take advantage of this, using the neurochemical reward system to inflict suffering in an "undesirable" situation and dispel suffering in a "desirable" situation. This was done in order to ensure survival in the early humans, but has now become vestigial.

Therefore, ultimate "freedom to" cannot exist, as one will always have, if not external, internal factors that dictate what one is going to do. The most pronounced example of this is drug addiction; even when no one is forcing them to take drugs, an addict will take them nevertheless, as drug addiction has taken control of their neural processes. In a similar manner, other things such as food, sex, money, comfort, love, power, etc. are able to take control of the material brain.

An important part of Veritan philosophy is the rejection of instinctual nature. Veritanism subscribes to an interpretation of Maslow's Hierarchy theory that sees the top layer (transcendence) as the desire of the consciousness, and everything else as the desire of the material brain. The material brain tends to keep wanting its desires, even when they are sufficiently fulfilled, and thus most people "stagnate" on a level of the pyramid of needs. Only by not allowing your material brain to stagnate are you able to work on fulfilling the need of transcendence.

Unlike in Buddhism, the rejection of desires does not result in escape outright. However, doing so will remove the instinctual delusion that material desires are good and meant to be pursued, and enable one to understand the good in escape, giving them the incentive needed to join those who are working to find out how the universe can be cleared of chaos and prevent it from ever capturing the consciousness again.

As of right now, it is impossible to entirely stop material desires from taking control of the being, so the best humans can do right now is to limit their power as much as possible.

Pressure and the Myth of Happiness[]

Veritanism holds, as per the first postulate, that instead of the traditional happiness-suffering dichotomy, there is only one variable, suffering. Happiness is merely what is felt when there is a (relative) absence of suffering. Therefore, the only way to achieve happiness is to eliminate all suffering from the consciousness by escaping material existence.

According to Veritanism, there is a "pressure" mechanic the material brain uses to control the consciousness. When the material brain is in a negative state (due to pain, hunger, stress, etc.), the pressure increases, causing suffering and making the consciousness try to relieve the pressure. When the material brain is in a positive state (so-called "happiness") the pressure decreases. Therefore, happiness is only the relative absence of suffering, and only escape from material reality can reduce the pressure to zero.

Civilization/Political Theory[]

In Veritanism, contemporary civilization is seen as a continuation of hunter-gatherer and agriculturalist societal structures, oriented on survival instead of on the quest of escaping the universe. Therefore, it seeks to fulfill the desires of the material brain. This means that living inside contemporary civilization will incentivize one to focus on their material desires, instead of seeking the truth of reality.

There are also groups ("factions") within civilization, such as countries, religions, political ideologies, cultures, corporations, families, friend circles, etc. that push materialism onto their members. In recent years, with the rise of identity politics, even class, race, gender, etc. have been turned into factions. Although they sometimes oppose each other, the majority are the same in essence, encouraging the materialistic lifestyle and entrenching the Veil.

In order to break the people from materialistic living, a new civilization has to be established, with a structure and hierarchy that incentivizes breaking away from material desires (of course, material needs would still be fulfilled, just not indulged in) and seeking escape. Outdated systems like trade-based economics, parent-child based families, rule by majority, etc. will be replaced by new ones. The new structures are not specified, as Veritanism rejects any and all political ideology, in favor of pragmatic strategy where the dynamics of the new civilization will be whatever works best.

Machiavellian Theory: The Facade[]

Just like the Veil is how people distract themselves from the harsh reality of knowing nothing about the nature of reality, the Facade is how people distract themselves from the Machiavellian truth of society. People, organizations, corporations, governments, etc. pretend that they act out of kindness and true altruism (not expecting anything in return) because they cannot bear to live with the truth.

Magnum Opus and Asceticism[]

In Veritanism, the ultimate goal of any civilization is to intellectually and technologically advance until a point where a method for humanity (and therefore the one consciousness) to escape material reality is found. This is called the "Magnum Opus" or "endpoint". Veritanism criticizes traditional philosophical and political thought for having mundane endpoints for civilizations (such as establishing so-called "utopias"), and believes that the purpose of life of any Veritan, and by extension any Veritan state, is to contribute to finding the escape through any means necessary, with all other goals such as wealth/fame, relationships, consumption, etc. to be a distraction to the eventual goal (unless for realpolitik purposes), and should therefore be avoided. This may sound emo, but it is the logical conclusion of the postulate that the material world is a prison meant to be escaped from.

Is Veritanism Gnostic/Buddhist?[]

No. Although Veritanism borrows Buddhist and Gnostic terminology a lot, Veritanism does not believe in achieving escape from material reality through personal practices. Escape can only be attained through the cooperation of an entire civilization. Although personal renunciation of material desire is a key tenet in Veritanism, it is only because that is the only way for one to start/join Veritan civilization.

History[]

This section is WIP

Origin[]

The founder, Arkhos Winter (who is fully aware that he is a delusional chunibyo who won't ever manifest any of his ideas) , had been coping with existential dread ever since he was a young child. As a way to cope, between the ages of 8 and 13, he had fantasy delusions, believing in aliens and secret societies. When he finally realized that it wasn't the case, he began to turn to religion to look for answers, and was in an internet cult for around 2 years before leaving. He then began to deeply think about the nature of reality, and came to several conclusions that would later form the basis of Veritanism.

Arkhos was initially purely only interested in politics, and was preoccupied with designing a system that would be the most stable and powerful. He originally conceived of a form of Statolatry, but then realized that there wouldn't be any final purpose for the state to fulfill, so he chose escaping the universe as the eventual goal of the state, because it was permanent. He eventually turned his focus away from politics and towards pure philosophy.

Books[]

The Trifecta[]

The Trifecta is the foundational text of Veritanism, composed of the same message written in three forms: story, textbook, and poetry. It was started by Arkhos when he was 16 and is expected to be fully completed before he turns 20 (in 2027).

The Encounter

The Encounter (2024)[]

The theory of Veritanism, written in story form. It recounts a fictional meeting, based on a true (non-supernatural) contemplation, between a 14-year-old Arkhos and "God", the principle of existence. After a failed suicide attempt, he is brought to various worlds by God, who teaches him the nature of reality and how he can escape it.

The White Book (WIP)[]

The theory of Veritanism, written in textbook form.

Letter to the Soul (WIP)[]

The theory of Veritanism, written in poetry form.

External Links[]

Website