8.0.0 Exploring a Natural, Rational Way

Version 1.1 December 2016                                         (Previous Version)

This reasonable global way is a comprehensive philosophy of life, or world view, addressing our ultimate concerns, providing core values reflecting the choices we make based on global beliefs:

i)   It is adopted with a minimal degree of faith; subject to being refined as we learn more.  A core part of this way is the process by which we reach conclusions and adopt values.

ii)  It accepts the mystery of existence, a sense of reverence, wonder and awe, of nature’s majesty and of our insignificance, and our longing for connectedness and ‘spiritual’ experience.

We have examined each of the domains of knowledge, explaining what we reasonably believe are the known knowns (what we think we know) and the known unknowns (what we know we don't know), and accepting that there are unknown unknowns (we don't know what we don't know).

Given this analysis, we come to the reasonable conclusion that the outcome of this process – i.e. the beliefs and values we have – constitutes a satisfying whole, which we phrase as follows:

This perspective, this way of looking at the totality of the conclusions we have reached and the values we have adopted, enables us to understand and act in the world in a coherent way.  The choices we thus make reflect that we value hope.  We choose to continue to act in the world, to experience the struggle, to discover, to be connected.  These choices again reflect that we value life over death.

This approach shows that there is no need for “meaning�, “purpose� or “value� to be imposed by some external God(s) or the supernatural.  We find these for ourselves in our natural, rational Way.

These global beliefs and values address our ultimate concerns, because they:

●  provide a sound, philosophical, scientific, and historically valid view of the world;

●  provide realistic guidelines on how to behave well and be good global citizens,

●  provide a universal narrative in which we can see the parts that we can play;

●  allow for rituals, ‘spirituality’, and public expressions that reinforce our commitment;

●  reduce our fear of death and give us hope for the future;

●  give us meaning and purpose that is more satisfying than unreasonable faith;

●  are more fulfilling, more real, than those from any traditional religion.

in a non-parochial, natural, life affirming, humane and Reasonable Global Way.

Our final ‘gold’ level conclusion is that we can view this Reasonable Global Way as our religion – or at least our equivalent of a religion – depending on how we interpret the word religion.

  more                                                                             Statement 42

This choice doesn’t put us on a path to a life of bliss: such promises in this life or the next are not based on the truth.  This life is still a struggle.  But this Way minimizes major sources of guilt, fear, dread, confusion, alienation, hopelessness and despair that is associated with traditional religions.