User:Mobtown Mongrel/geotheism

Geotheism is a work in progress new religious movement. The name Geotheism and, in fact, many of the names documented within this article may not be final; among others currently under consideration for the religion itself are Syncretism, Gaianism, Globalism, Populism, or Pagan Humanism. The religion originated in its creator's alienation from the established religions, resulting research into alternative systems, disillusionment with the non-codification of such as secular humanism, Native American religion, paganism, neopaganism, and pantheism and eventual resolution to create his own religious system from aspects of that which he had researched and his own life experiences. Geotheism incorporates aspects of populism, progressivism, paganism, secular humanism, folklore and folk belief, patriotism, ethical and social philosophy, science, the humanities, Dr. James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, pantheism, taoism, native american spirituality, and the American civil religion.

History
The history of Geotheism can not be documented without also documenting its some of its creators biography as well. The religion's creator was raised without indoctrination into any established religion. He did develop, however, a questioning turn of mind and a desire for a metanarrative that explained the major practical philosophical lessons i.e. how life should be lived, what the meaning of life was, what the setup of the world was, what ethics are right, etc.

The first foundations of Geotheism were built when its creator examined the established religions and found all of them lacking in one or another important ways. The Abrahamic religions were refused because of the necessity of faith, contrariness to science, impractical ethics, service to authority and overconcentration on humanism vs. nature worship. Much of the organization of Abrahamic churches, scripture, rituals, holidays, and other practices would be the model for the Geotheistic versions of the same. The taoic religions, though tempting, were also denied a place in his mind due to the complacency about society and denial of a philosophy of betterment, though significant philosophical ideas within the taoic religions, particularly taoism, would be assimilated into the new religion, albeit in a slightly altered form. The Indian religions were not acceptable to the creator for a similar reason as the Abrahamic religions; the necessity of faith in a pantheon of deities; though, like the taoic religions, Geotheism has appropriated some key concepts from the Indian religions as part of its worldview.

Once his research into the major religions proved inconclusive, Geotheism's creator turned towards the less-mainstream religions and philosophies. These included, but were not limited to, political philosophy, sociology, science, the humanities, various philosophy, secular humanism, paganism, neopaganism, pantheism, folk belief, and civil religion. Many key ideas were adopted from these as well though, like the mainstream religions, they all contained some dealbreaking lack in the creator's eyes. For most, the lack was in the lack of codification, organization and cohesiveness among its members, property, and practice while a few also held idealogical flaws as in paganism and neopaganisms overemphasis on nature worship vs. humanism and reliance on faith in supernatural magick, and secular humanism's overemphasis on humanism vs. nature worship.

Finally, the creator concluded that the metanarrative he was looking for did not, as yet, exist, and that his only choice was to either let his search for a metanarrative and, by extension, a religion go, or create it himself from the bits and pieces of that which he had previously researched.

Deity
In Geotheism, there is one material goddess, Gaia, but also an additional primary god named Culturnos and a full pantheon (gods) of lesser gods, known as either Gaiic or Culturic Aspects, depending on which of the primary deities they fall under. Culturnos and the Aspects, however, do not exist in the material world; they are admittedly metaphorical and symbolic personification and representations of important things, personified as symbols in order to be acknowledged and respected as valued Geothistic icons for ethical, practical, and aesthetic reasons.

Gaia
Building off of the Gaia Hypothesis of Dr. James Lovelock, the one real goddess of Geotheism is Gaia. The Gaia hypothesis states that the combined systems that form the Earth function as a defined living organism does. Geotheistic reasoning extrapolates this with the reasoning that the primary definer of something being a living organism is that it functions as one, therefore, Gaia is a living organism. Given the fact that humanity is one of the parts of Gaia, that makes Gaia a de facto higher organism or, in other words, a higher power or, in yet more other words, a deity. Note however, as Geotheists do, that, though Gaia is personified for similar reasons as Anthropos and the Aspects, she is not able to be communicated to, except through our actions and cause and effect, and not able to communicate, except through our understanding of the processes that form her. As such, she is not a person in the sense that most humans understand personhood to be. Her identification as female is due solely to her place as nurturer.

Culturnos
In addition to Gaia, there is another primary deity of Geotheism, albeit a less material one. Named Culturnos, after a dog latin of the word culture to fit the naming patterns of Greek and Roman deities, this god is modeled after the sociological idea that, in a mirror image to the Gaia hypothesis, the combination of the systems that comprise human society, up to and including global society, at their best, function as a living organism. Culturnos takes the place of a dual primary deity of the geotheistic religion due to humanity's collective capacity to harm Gaia; although to destroy Gaia before humanity achieved terraforming and settlement of other planets would be to destroy humanity itself, hence Culturnos is portrayed as subtly weaker, though challenging, of Gaia. Additionally, because of the existence of humanity's individualism, the fact that society only reaches the capacity to function as a living organism when it is at its best and the fact that there are no consistently enforced laws that govern human society, Culturnos is also depicted as a somewhat sickly god.

Aspects
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