Of all the organized religions, the one which rings the truest for the future of humanity, and aligns most closely with the creed with which I am building, we are building with our knowledge and beliefs in science, advanced information, and the natural world, is Buddhism, and the eight steps, or the Buddhist Principles, which are::

1. Right Understanding: The world is conditional and impermanent.

2. Right Intention: You are What you Think. 

3. Right Speech: Speak honestly, compassionately, and well of others.

4. Right Action: Behave selflessly, constructively, and harmlessly to all living things. 

5. Right Livelihood: Choose a livelihood that enables you to follow the Way.

6. Right Effort: Use discipline and control to overcome difficulties.  

7. Right Mindfulness: Be present in the moment. 

8. Right Concentration: Develop the focused state found in meditation, one-pointed, and calm. 

In studying major organized religion, to incorporate and weave through the teachings which save humanity into a natural, science based creed, I have come across the following quote, which brings reflection upon me::


The Anglo-Irish historian and philosopher Gerald Heard (1889 - 1971) paraphrased the Eight Steps (Buddhist Principles) in the format of a treatment or a rehabilitation:

    "First, you must see what is wrong.
    Next, you must decide that you want to be cured.
    You must act and speak so to aim at being cured.
    Your livelihood must not conflict with your therapy.
    That therapy must go forward at the “staying speed” that is, the critical velocity that can be sustained.
    You must think about it incessantly and learn how to contemplate with the deep mind."

INTERNAL REFLECTION:: HOW DO WE THRIVE, IN LIEU OF JUST SURVIVE, IN TODAYS SOCIETY?????

  • We as a society can start to slow down to thrive when we have enough. Enough shelter, enough food, enough clothing, enough medicine, enough water, enough educational opportunity, enough artistic opportunity, enough stimulation of the consciousness and mind. There is inherent struggle in surviving, in attempting to meet our biological imperatives, in a manner in which can become competitive. If you have that, what will I have? This is the wrong attitude, of course, because only when WE win do I win, collectively WE and any random individual as I. It is not a coincidence that every successful, organized religion contains a component of philanthropy or charity. Of course, most of them have so much money, especially with the lack of applied property tax on their real estate holdings, that there would be no homelessness if all of them put together even 10% of their gross income each toward housing and food for those in need. There is a paper I did for Regis College, which is a private, Catholic university I attended for a semester in a pre-law program, which enumerated what it would take to house the unhoused in the United States, and I came to the conclusion that if the churches in the U.S. contributed to property tax collections, 89 Billion dollars would be available to use for whatever purpose deemed necessary. If each district used such collected monies toward homelessness, we would be left with a surplus of 8 Billion, as the homeless crisis in America would only take 81 Billion dollars to solve immediately, in thorough and full fashion, with homes, utilities, food, clothing, medical care, and opportunity to rejoin society.
  • As an individual, with limited control over the entirety of the system which rules the zeitgeist of our country, one can make an immediate difference to the extent that the individual is not overextended. As an individual who is awaiting a financial settlement, and one who is not flush, financially, at the moment, I can offer a night or two for a friend, a shower, a shared meal. I can offer a shoulder to cry on, or an ear to lend in listening to ensure that one does not feel alone. What I do not have is money to solve these problems en masse. Of course, if I do, and when I do, when S-MMassCo Corp. takes off, and the boutique rideshares make the kind of money predicted by the businessmen I have spoken to, and my own projected income reports, I may have that kind of money. When I do? Tiny home communities every so many miles for the unhoused with shelter, utility, food, clothing, medicine, referrals, addresses, and educational and artistic opportunity. Employment opportunity naturally follows because people like to be busy, when they are healed, people do not want to be lazy, it is naturally the human condition to do, to try, to create, to make, to build, to evolve, the way every mammalian community does, on this Living Organism we call Earth.
  • It is enough to do one's best, in every area of living, and the eight principles upon which Buddhism is founded, are the closest one will come to the right path within a major, organized religion. This creed, based on nature, science, psychology, and philanthropy is close to the Buddhist creed, out of all the comparisons which might be made. Of course, there is more specific and personalized teaching here, and that is because we are in a new age, as humans, as a society, with technology and options which were not available before. We may use these advances to our advantage as a species, and if we are to do that, it is possible we need a creed to bind us together, as humans, to achieve such goals. 
  • To achieve internal reflection and enlightenment is to think, realize, and act. 
    • THINK of the problems, difficulties, encumbrances, happinesses, goals, etc. 
    • REALIZE what the next steps are, and what you need to do to achieve the next level of surviving to thriving as an individual, and within your local community, and larger society. 
    • ACT to achieve all of these goals, in step by living toward the goal along the path of this creed, with the energestic and practical considerations along the way toward thriving, not just surviving.