The Divine Presence and Neo-Christian Humanism

The Two Commandments of Love, summarizing God's Will for us as human beings, were developed during eons of man's quest for the meaning and ends of existence. They are:

1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and the second is like the first:

2. thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

How are we to understand these commands in our day? Looking at the first Commandment, we see that it is, given our developed human nature, equivalent to a definition of God that is necessary and sufficient. It is necessary because God does not manifest himself to us directly. It is sufficient because we know that what we can love with our whole hearts, souls, and minds must needs be as loving, wise, creative, strong and perfect as we can imagine. Further, we have in us the power to extrapolate what we can imagine in this wise to infinity.

The Divine Being which we thus envisage can be loved by us in a way that is different from loving humans. We can love God by giving loving homage to his attributes, by trusting him and by turning to him in prayer which is purposeful and meaningful.

Furthermore, as given, we can also love God by loving each other and ourselves, for according to the statement of the Two Commandments, loving our neighbor as ourselves is synonymous with loving Divinity. It is here that we are called upon to love God in the most active way. To love others as ourselves is a task which takes up most of our energies and involvement since by this labor we mean above all striving to save the lives of all who are endangered by premature death, and to alleviate dire pain. Such work is challenging in the extreme, yet uplifting and fulfilling. For this reason our praying should be brief and to the point, and, if possible, joyous.

We should say that we can honor the attributes of God without acting on his Will as dictated by the Two Commandments. In that case God is for us only a distant possibility, an object of sometime belief.

However, if we do his Will we can assert that the very fact of our ability to do so is the metaphysical sign that he is with us--this because to do his Will is to direct, transform and create our availing reality manifestly and definitively to the good of all out of the spirit of our love for him and for us.

In this way we have increasing proof of his sentience in our midst. Thus God is evinced to us by love, active love, which we can freely tender from within the depths of our being. The fact of his presence is implicit in the possibilities of the nature given to us as men. It is up to us to elicit this fact by what we do.

On Battling Death

Throughout human history men have, in dominant numbers, lived for the most part insouciantly in the face of the reality that they will have to die. Their nature is such that they existentially, with brief exceptions, ignore death. Their fear of death is instinctive and, in those not suffering from mental disorders, transient--often assuaged by a blind trust in fate or blind faith in deity. At other times they may accept death with a distanced equanimity or resignation. As a result human beings live largely on a plane of concerns which is very remote from death and dying, as if, indeed, they had already become immortal. This obliviousness is most likely a protective shield provided by nature through evolution. It is, however, a harmful state which leaves us and those we love unprotected against death.

According to the Two Commandments of Love we should all protect each other and ourselves against untimely death. As we evolve, we must become increasingly aware of death as our enemy and prolong life as much as possible. Clearly that is the Will of a wise and loving God.

This is not to say that we should spend time brooding and despairing over death. Instead, we should regard it with maximal vigilance aimed at action against it which is wholly global, systematic, strategic and in every wise concerted and harmoniously integrated into our proceedings. If we assume this posture we will become truly loving, mature and enlightened, for we will gain all possible control over existence in the most compassionate way. Such a posture will sublimate our fear of dying and make of us sapient beings who live nobly, reconciled to their God and their destiny.

Toward Post-Materialistic Culture

Neo-Christian Humanism requires us to seek consciously a global culture that strives to become post-materialistic. Such a development is singularly timely in our present situation: The "advanced" societies of Earth are drowning in a vast morass of material wealth possessed by a numerically significant minority to the detriment of resources needed for prolonging lives and assuaging intolerable pain in general populations. It is not rationally apparent what is the purpose of this untrammeled glut, nor is it evident that it fulfills some ultimate need in those who own it. Indeed, affluent societies are characterized by emptiness, boredom, disquiet, and existential despair in spite of their alleged state of well-being.

At the root of this covert weltschmertz and desperation is a lack of unifying vision as to the meaning or purpose of life. It is here that Neo-Christian Humanism comes into play, focusing human existence on Love as rendered in the Two Commandments, which realizes our nature's best potential and makes for its optimal gratification.

There will be those who will protest that de-materializing human culture in this way is either impossible or economically unfeasible or even dangerous. Such people are not willing to understand that any transformation of humanity to a more sapient level and mode of operation must take an appropriate amount of time. In our case it must first of all take the time to transfer economies of random and haphazard consumption to those that are in much greater measure--and much more purposively--human survival and pain assuagement intensive. These emergent economies would contain new industries, non-profit institutions, and, possibly government echelons replacing at least some spurious kinds of consumption and production in societies. It stands to reason that the demand for such initiatives would be supreme.

All this transfer time must allow for a sufficient number of human beings to (a) change by assuming Neo-Christian Humanist values and to (b) organize and implement a plan such as that suggested in this Proposal. These developments would be evolutionary, not revolutionary in nature as dictated by the Two Commandments, and therefore would not constitute any cause for alarm.

It must be said that the de-materialization of the most affluent spheres of societies could be expected to bring them the liberation personified by the Teacher in his mission on Earth, as recounted in the Testaments.

Christianity, in all its positive and hopeful tenor has been a strength and a bulwark to countless human beings for the last two thousand years. Its human dimension has been dominated by the figure of a loving and merciful Jesus as the Son of a loving and merciful God. However, it suffers from one grievous fault. This fault is the doctrine of hell. As Neo-Christian Humanists who profess God to be Infinite Love we have every reason to oppose it and cast it out in his name. For indeed, hell is a traumatic wound on our consciousness. It provides an underpinning for all existence that is darkest despair, terror, and untold ruin. It makes of God a monstrous and primeval death's head deity in a fiat that is as sacrilegious as it is blasphemous.

It is ironic that Christianity, which expressly worships God as a loving Father and fosters love among men, also embraces the doctrine of hell. This doctrine, so contrary to the entire spirit of Christian Love, can be a veritable poison, decimating the will of good men to do good, for it often constrains them inexorably within the limits of an unreasoned dread that foils their positive judgment and free and generous impulse. Thus the religious formation which should be the most compassionate and creative in its compassion, is frequently one of the most forbidding and legalistic instead. It can also make the working of human conscience a tortured and blighted effort to satisfy impossible standards set by a punitive and unforgiving God. This travail in turn can lead to a distorted world view in which the person dwells on lesser transgressions while he fails to see and face down the real evil before him.

Hell also diminishes the integrity and dignity of life, forcing many broken, hapless human beings to see themselves as derelicts and odious, unlovable rooks without a redeeming worth. That crippling vision of the self devolves on others, causing a lack of trust and devotion between men. Such estrangement can create a temptation leading to hate and vindictiveness whereby the individual wishes the tortures of hell on his transgressors. This is a tragic outcome for a religion which was to uphold all that is good and forgiving in the human condition. It is an insupportable pity and waste that this gross error should still be sustained by Christianity.

In addition, for many people who are mentally ill the idea of hell is particularly cruel and calamitous. Such people periodically go through episodes of exceedingly acute organic fear. Those in particular who have been taught to believe hell exists may think that in fact they are fearing a wrathful, condemning and impersonal deity. This can rob them of their remaining courage and exacerbate their already indescribable pain. Moreover, if they are plagued by obsession with taking their own life or that of others, they might find they cannot approach such a fearsome god at all. For those that survive, the rift can continue during their periods of well-being and may even lead them to complete estrangement from religion, which they clearly need most urgently. It takes all the caring of solicitous and compassionate souls trying to bring them God's Love to redeem their plight by nurturing their ravaged selves.

This example shows how dangerous and harmful belief in hell really is, and gives us an idea how much suffering it has caused mankind over the ages. In summary, the doctrine of hell is a totally unacceptable, inhuman tenet which is an anachronism dating back to primitive and somber times in our development as men.

It has taken thousands of years for men to determine that God is pure goodness in a way which is understandable to the beings we are. We can now apprehend that he loves us by making us as self-sufficient as possible. To this end he gives us his gifts and his inspiration which we can honor and exult in, using them in a manner that fulfills our nature and brings us closer to his Majesty.

First and foremost, he gives us, in the Two Commandments of Love, the gift of Agape, or sacred love, by which we can discern his sapient and infinite Caring. Gone are the days when religion was a contradiction, and hell gaped ever before us. We can now worship and trust God, knowing that he embraces all our human qualities, including our ability to think freely and courageously about our religiosity.

Further, he gives us our many talents and abilities with which we can create our personal happiness as individuals. Likewise, he gives us the gift and the unbounded joy of loving others and using our capacities to foment that love, particularly when he calls upon us to help those in dire straits. The Mission is his Will and, as we have seen, it is a sign that he is with us.

Finally, he offers us the marvel of our cultural expression, to his glory and ours. Having been given so much, we can look ahead to a future in which we will ascend to new heights, seeing new vistas of glad endeavor, glad triumph over adversity, and glad achievement. We can imagine ourselves there busy, venturesome, purposeful and giving, fully alive and fully ourselves, with our selfhood in harmony with All Things. We have so much to be thankful for and to exalt him by!

In the course of launching the enterprise of Neo-Christian Humanism, and particularly the Mission, we can expect a great deal of opposition and criticism. Such criticism and opposition can be expected in the case of any innovative movement, let alone one on the scale we have envisioned. People in general tend to be afraid of changes which affect their systems of belief, and their fears can make them truculent, aggressive and defensive. It will take all our faith, fortitude and trust in the Almighty to persevere, in spite of the probable barrage of condemnation, anger, scorn, and, most likely, ridicule we will endure. We must pray for strength and inspiration, so that we do not succumb to despondency and doubt.

However, besides the power of our prayer, we will have the conviction that we are dealing with an evolutionary progression in which most people have not yet arrived at our vision of God's goodness and the goodness of his Will. Keeping that in mind will save us from reacting with anger and vindictiveness. Moreover, we will be able to keep our dignity and not assume an adversary position when we realize that our detractors are still toiling under the burden of their belief in hell and for this reason need to be pitied, not disparaged.

We know that renunciation of the doctrine of hell should in due time prove to be their liberation. Through all our striving with negativism and disbelief we will have the Lord of Lords at our side. The radiance of his inviolate power to be Pure Love, Pure Mercy and Pure justice will be with us. In our own personal dimension we will take courage and cheer to think that we as finite human beings have attained to Truth in our living, and that we can share that Truth with each other as the enduring Bread of Life.

On Neo-Christian Humanist Heroism
by Steven Hiller

There are many kinds of bravery known to men. There is the bravery of endurance in pain and painful effort. This is the bravery of heavy labor, torture and childbirth. There is also the bravery of calmly facing approaching death in terminal illness or combat. Such bravery is truly heroic. There is the bravery of persevering through loss of loved ones or of the achievement of one's life's work, or of other treasures.

All these are kinds of bravery common to our lot. There is, however, one type of bravery that is not often spoken of, yet it is the most basic of all. It is a stance which answers one of the deepest needs we have, being at the root of our nature as men. This is the will to fight for the survival of others and of ourselves. The destructive variant of that will inflicts death and pain. However, its positive form is the heroic urge to do battle with death without destructiveness. This urge leads to the highest reaches of fulfillment, as embodied by the archetypal triumph of the sapient Archangel Michael over the raging insensate Worm.

Neo-Christian Humanism involves this very kind of heroism and fulfillment, leading us to follow the Teacher in his practical courage, his decisiveness and his persevering Love, which requires a special kind of valor. It is the valor of those who become selfless and in their selflessness lose their concern for themselves. Such people grow to be indomitable. Their resolve to serve others causes them to undertake monumental effort to save life and redeem pain. There is nothing they will not attempt or conquer for the sake of this aim. That is their hey-day and their joy for all time to come. May we venture to share in their glory, knowing that the Teacher is ever with us in all our lofty venturing.

We can expect that there will be many people of modest means who will not be able to contribute to the Mission in money terms. Such people can, at a minimum expense to themselves or a small stipend from the Movement, act as its messengers, representatives, and communicants. They can take part in campaigns to institutions and governments in Mission matters, they can publicize the work of the Mission, and above all announce urgent Mission action to would-be contributors inside and outside the organization.

It stands to reason that those taking part in activities of this kind would have to develop communication skills befitting their role. Fortunately, when it comes to being literate, practice makes perfect, and the kind of writing required in Mission proceedings needs to be forthright, brief, reasonable and civil, with a modicum of pleasantries at the end (if appropriate). People who try to develop this mode of writing usually attain to it quickly, and find it to be satisfying work, especially considering the Cause for which it is performed.

As the Mission expands, they will gain stature and self-esteem as the statesmen and stateswomen of the Neo-Christian Humanist enterprise. In time, some of them will learn foreign languages and the rudiments of diplomacy. They will become emissaries to other countries. Others will train in public speaking and become advocates, taking the Mission's petitions to the political and economic echelons of their country. Still others will compose short speeches and formal orations.

As the Voice of the Movement they will all be honored in their role and will serve as an illustrious example to young and old alike. The Teacher will be with them in their efforts on behalf of the Word that lives to become Flesh.

For an appreciable length of time scientifically minded men have been aware of the likely possibility that human beings have been developed from lower life-forms by natural biological evolution, which appears to have a direction tending to the more complex and more sapient. The societal evolution of the human race is harder to establish: in spite of countless astounding intellectual and creative discoveries and accomplishments, there are also instances of regression and destruction which make the pattern of humanity's progress much more random in nature without a clear tendency to enlightenment and circumstantial improvement.

However, for at least the past two thousand years the state of advancement of the race has been sufficient for men to attempt directing the course of societal evolution by making conscious choices in the stewardship of their earthly estate.

We believe Christ's epochal mission was such an attempt. Neo-Christian Humanism is a global attempt, based on Christ's exegesis of the Two Commandments of Love. The possibility of attaining to such conscious evolution has been created by progress in knowledge and control over the physical and social domain. We therefore deem that it is time for man to start "inheriting the earth".

Accordingly, we see in our embracing of Neo-Christian Humanism the initiation of an irrevocable moral commitment to further the positive rise of the civilization. This commitment in conscience is personal and communal. It is the focusing of our resolve and our will upon the betterment of all humanity in the name of our own selves and of God.

We are now at that point when, professing Neo-Christian Humanism, we can begin to envision the directed ascent of the Race. We aim to do this first by concentrating on the work of the Mission. In order to attain to this purposeful evolvement of humanity we will have to develop ourselves as beings whose rational and emotional powers are trained on the most fundamental realities of their lives. Thus we must endeavor to understand the workings of our enterprise in its spiritual, social and creative dimensions. This task will demand our very best abilities and perseverance.

May Neo-Christian Humanism ever lead us on our freely chosen Way to that which is the Immortal Loving Will above.

Youth is a treasure and joy to the Neo-Christian Humanist cause. When handled using verve and imagination it can be idealistic, courageous, enthusiastic and full of energy. The adults of the movement should consider young people to be vital to the success and propagation of the Mission, and should therefore treat them with respect for their contributions. It must also be kept in mind that these young people are even more important to the future development of Neo-Christian Humanism. As mentioned before, Neo-Christian Humanist elders should have a special bond with the emergent younger generation, for there is a natural felicity between these two groups which lends itself to the handing down of values and experience from the older grouping to the younger.

It is very important that young people be given status, acclaim, and rewards for their work in the Mission. These awards should not be monetary. They should, instead, be inspiring and highly gratifying. An example might be an award of the title: "Cavalier of the Rose of Peace" with an appropriate medal for outstanding work in contributing monies or service to the cause of World Peace. Another such item might be: "The Redeemer" medal for work in redeeming people in crises such as famine, with an emblem of the Teacher feeding the multitudes.

We have briefly mentioned that teenagers should have their own rites of passage. These ought to be treated with appropriate celebration as graduation into adulthood. Neo-Christian Humanism is a school of living which makes for early maturity. However, it is the flowering of the human potential. It is right and befitting that such a flowering should come so early in life.

Human pain is an issue which we have to resolve in the whole context of our life and system of belief. It is clear that in general God does not relieve our pain. The only possible conclusion for those who believe in his Love is that he will give us as men the intellectual, emotional and practical capacities to combat pain by ourselves. To think that God wants us to accept our suffering out of humility or subservience is a sin and an insult to his omniscient majesty. For Neo-Christian Humanists, therefore, pain is a challenge and an obstacle in our evolutionary ascent. It is to be overcome with courage and perseverance. If we suffer dire pain we should learn from the experience to treat others who suffer with compassion, growing in maturity and valor thereby.

This brings us to the duty we have to fight pain as Neo-Christian Humanists. Our campaign to free human beings from insupportable pain must be broad, exacting and persistent. We must support the development of all scientific research on drugs which assuage pain, including those that are not yet part of the "legitimate" category. We should press for a compendium of all the reliable pain-killing drugs from all the world's societies. We should develop a like compendium for other methods of controlling pain--methods such as yoga, breathing exercises, etc.

Lastly, we should honor with titles and other rewards those who battle pain, emphasizing the value of their role in society. This is particularly important because, while saving life is at least in part acknowledged and acclaimed, saving people from untenable pain does not get the appreciation it deserves. As pain is conquered, life on Earth will flourish and people will live free and happy, trusting in their God and their fate.

Marriage in Neo-Christian Humanism is a very special gift. It is a commitment of two people who have pledged together to serve the Race of Man by taking part in a saving Mission transcending all other human enterprise. This Quest brings them together with the best that their nature can command. Whatever their other life's work, whatever their creative capacities, it is here that they can join their talents for the sake of themselves, their fellow human beings and their God.

In that common and unrelenting effort, their friendship and love will wax, tempered as fine steel. Their daily Mission experiences will teach them to strive together, grieve together, triumph together and laugh together in a way unparalleled by ordinary living.

Their awareness that they are battling death and pain will give them both the courage of warriors and the devotion of inseparable companions. From the battle they will learn to value their children as their greatest respite and delight. There will be no end to the joy their small ones will bring.

From their own deep relationship they will acquire the strength and ability to give other friendships steadfast loyalty and unfailing generosity. Their bond will be visible to all that surround them, giving proof of Love's power, and they will impart good feeling at every turn. They will relish their living for in it they will find their truest selfhood.

Above all, they will come to live Agape, the Everlasting Love of God and Man taught by the Teacher, their Guide and their Friend. He will lead them to the Inner Truth of his Ways and bless them, united upon the highest plane of existence, two Lovers whose generation will rise up to inherit the Earth.

We have said repeatedly that the work of the Mission will be challenging and difficult and for this reason should be accompanied by the development of Neo-Christian Humanist culture. In particular, we have stipulated that prayer for Neo-Christian Humanists should be brief and, for the most part, personal.

This, however, does not apply to religious or humanist musical offerings. Such offerings should be of any desired length and kind. In fact, it would be most wonderful if there was a completely new development in music based on the thematic material contained in the Mission. This music could reach new heights of threnody and drama, or heroic and lyrical outpouring of joy. There could also be music which is a progression from established styles--classical, jazz, contemporary and native.

Another innovation in music for the Neo-Christian Humanist venture could be a much more extensive participation of women. This would be in keeping with earlier traditions such as the Renaissance when women took an especially active part in instrumental and vocal ensembles. Perhaps women could even become involved on a par with men in composition and conducting. All this would provide a very exciting cultural foil for the Mission effort. There is little else that could be more inspiring than harmony raised to the heavens for the Love guiding us on our Quest.

A Final Invocation