Tag: belief

Religions in the World of Pillar

D. Michl LoweLeave a comment

As a scholar of Riggleman Manor Archives, in good standing with the scientific and religious communities of Warrington. I, Nicodemus Pandit would like to present this general summary of the religions of Pillar and Bolster Heart to the community at large. I do this in order to bring about a basic understanding of them and lead the good peoples of this world into a way of belief that suits their interests and morality. As such, here is my list of the known religious beliefs of our world.

Akolian Religion: This is the religion where peoples worship the God named Akol, often referred to by His full name Akol Ramous. In this religion, they believe that Akol is the creator of all things and that he resides in a spiritual realm called Afterlife. From this realm, he is said to rule all beings. He is said to be nearly all-powerful, and nearly all-knowing, but is not considered omnipresent. Because He is not completely powerful, His adherents believe him to be a much more personal God than the Nameless. He is closer in relation to His creations and therefore much more involved in their day-to-day lives. Often people will pray to Akol hoping to gain his favor and hoping to call his attention to their plight or issues.

It is often important for the Akolian devotees to give thanks to Akol when things go well. Akol is most often considered male, even though He is not ever depicted as having a physical body. Several examples of scriptures from the long past have been found in archives and in these Akol is referred to as male, so that is how He is most often referred to. Adherents to this religion believe that when they die, their bodies will combust into flame (that much is not debated) and then their souls will go into Afterlife (the spiritual realm) and be with Akol for all time. This is achieved through good works and following the scriptures of Akol. The Smoke of a person who dies and goes up from the flames of their consumption is what they believe carries the person’s soul to Akol in Afterlife.

Worship of the Nameless: The Nameless is a deity to which the peoples of Pillar often worship when they reject the deity or belief of Akol Ramous. The Nameless is believed to be an all-powerful deity who has yet to make themselves known but is believed to exist due to the logical nature of there being some form of causer for the beginnings and endings of all things. While there are no scriptures per se about the Nameless, there are many philosophical writings about their nature. When considering the Nameless, it is believed they are all-powerful, all-knowing, and omnipresent.

As such, they are believed to be the creator of all things and the beginning and ending of all things, including life. The Nameless is not considered male or female, but a separate type of being with no gender at all. Believers of the Nameless say that one’s actions should be governed by an internal compass of morality. As such, each person is accountable for the good they are aware of. In this way, the amount of good a person adheres to within life will determine their afterlife and the good they experience there. If they are evil, they will experience evil. If they are good, they will experience good. This is no direct place peoples go to, but just an experience they will enter after death.

Enlightenment Worship: The worship of the Enlightened beings of Pillar. The enlightened beings of Pillar and Bolster Heart are the beings with the capacity to be aware of themselves and actively think about morality and others. As such, believers in this philosophy espouse that the greatest amount of good is seeking what is good for the most enlightened beings in any given circumstance. As such, they believe that debate and argument are some of the chief ways to understand morality. When in a debate, their rationale is not to change the mind of the person they are arguing with, but to win the argument and then to influence the people hearing the argument. When the greatest number of people are influenced, they see this as the greatest and rightest form of good and morality. While this might not seem like a formal religion, but more of a philosophy, the adherents would agree with you, but still consider this their religion. They do not believe in an afterlife for enlightened beings, believing that their current life is the only life they are able to live and as such should make this life as good as they can, given it is all that there is. Because of this, they are often given to excess and hedonism as well.

Flame Adherents: This is an off-shoot religion of the Enlightenment Worshipers which was discussed above. The Flame Adherents religion is one where the peoples worship the fact that all enlightened life comes to an end in the Flame of Consumption as they call it. If you will remember, in the world of Pillar, whenever an enlightened being dies, fifteen seconds after death, their bodies burst into flame and are completely consumed by this flame until only ash remains. This is a normal end to enlightened life on Pillar and is distinct to only enlightened beings. Non-enlightened or as they are often called, “wild” beings who are not thinking and rational beings are not consumed in fire upon death.

Their corpses remain intact. They believe that because only enlightened beings are consumed in flame at the time of death, this makes those beings special in a divine sense. Many of the precepts of the Enlightenment Worship are maintained here, believing in the utmost good for the most enlightened beings, but a large difference between the two religions is the belief held by the Flame Adherents that the combustion in flame at the end of life is a signifying event that the enlightened beings will be brought into an afterlife of some sort, either good or bad.

Dragon Worship: This is the religion that exalts the worship of the Great Dragons who sleep throughout the world. There are four known Dragons who sleep within Bolster Heart and a rumored two others that sleep on top of Pillar, but no one knows where they reside. However, the people of this religion believe that one day the Dragons will awake to lead the enlightened peoples of Pillar and Bolster Heart to a promised land; a land where they will live forever with the Dragons in complete harmony.

Believers in this religion often pray to the Dragons by name, believing that they can hear them in their dreams and will cause favorable outcomes. Believers of this religion believe that upon death, they will enter an afterlife made up of the Dragon’s dreams, awaiting the time they will awaken with the Dragon and be led into the promised land with all those still alive. Upon death, they believe the Smoke from a person’s body after combustion is what transfers their soul to the Dragons.

Superior Humanism: This is a racist cult where the adherents believe that the human race is superior to all other enlightened peoples on Pillar. Races such as the Flemi (rabbit/human hybrids), Kyoten (sheep/human hybrids), and especially Brown-dogs (intellectually equal, but physically similar to wild dogs), are seen as less than the human race. This religion is not currently widely accepted in most regions of Pillar. The island country of Rathen is the only known place where this religion is openly practiced freely. As such, other races present in this country are often enslaved or outright killed in the name of Superior Humanism. 

Soulism: Throughout the world, this cult is largely seen as evil and perverse. While this cult might seem similar to Humanism, it is very different. The adherents to this religion see themselves as an offshoot of Superior Humanism. Their beliefs line up with Superior Humanism completely save for one main difference. They do not believe that other races should be enslaved, but only that they should be killed. Along with that though, they see the smoke from those deaths as something that the other enlightened races stole from humans. As such, they often slaughter numerous peoples at a time and believe that breathing in their Smoke allows them to consume those beings’ souls and therefore restore balance to the world. They do not believe in an afterlife of any kind but believe that breathing in the Smoke of other enlightened beings will bring about power, wealth, and social status to them personally.

Atheism: This is the belief that there is no such thing as God or any form of the divine. As such, people who hold to this belief allow their own moral compass to guide their actions believing their personal beliefs and morals to the guide to right and wrong. They do not believe in an afterlife of any kind.

Nicodemus Pandit, Head Librarian for Riggleman Manor Archives

Taken from Religions of Pillar and Bolster Heart, by Nicodemus Pandit, Chapter 2, Section 1, Year: NL20317

Maybe I’m an Imposter, Maybe I’m a Fraud

D. Michl Lowe1 Comment

Those of you with kids should be aware of the now receding fad surrounding a little indy video game called Among Us. It’s a very simple game of tag, where you don’t know who is “it” until it’s too late. The idea is that you are on a spaceship that needs to be repaired after an alien attack, but secretly one of your shipmates has had their body taken over by an evil alien. As such, while everyone who is playing is running around the ship trying to fix it, one of them is hunting the other players and when they get one of them alone, they can kill them. It sounds worse than it is, the art style is cartoony and the “killing” honestly is lighthearted, if such a thing can be said. See below for the art style.

The “red” space person from Among Us

At the end of each round, after the alien kills someone, the game pauses, and each other player votes on who they think the alien player is, and then that person is thrown off the ship. If they are right, then they win the game, if they are wrong, then the game continues and the alien can kill again. If the alien kills all the other players, he wins. The kids like to call someone they believe is the alien “sus”, short for the suspect. However, this idea of someone being an imposter has been on my mind lately. I recently had a conversation with a friend about the idea of Imposter Syndrome. For those who are uninitiated to this idea, let me help you self-diagnose this by providing you with the wiki definition.

Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological occurrence in which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud.

-Wikipendia-

If that doesn’t immediately make you start to question yourself or your qualities, then I’m sure you are safe from what I am feeling. Let me be clear here, I am not looking to denote myself as a victim, or as truly being inept. I know my value as a person, but doubt is something that I have dealt with in the past and still deal with today. Recently, I have been frustrated with myself because of a lack of progression in my professional endeavors. Not that I believe I am no good at what I do, but straining financial stress, lack of upward mobility, and a general feeling of persecution (which is unfounded I know) have led me to a generalized belief that I am not enough.

All that being said, let me tell you what has made a huge difference in my thoughts and feelings. As a man, the idea of respect is hugely important to most of us. My wife is an amazing woman, she supports and loves me. However, I can tell you that just recently I was reminded that a good friend of mine (a man), believed I was smart. He didn’t know I would read what he had written about me to another person, but in reading that, tears came to my eyes. It was a moment of clarity for me, I was able to be a fly on the wall in someone else’s conversation and hear something about myself that was free from bias or flattery; just an honest statement. It was just a comment in passing, not even the subject of the conversation, but to me, it was like someone reached down and ripped off my mask of fragility.

My friend, who I deeply respected and thought to be wildly smart, believed I was smart as well. Men, how much power we have over each other; the power to embolden and uplift. I have to say, I am working in my own life right now to make sure I let my friends and family know that I believe in them and that they are capable and competent. I know how badly I have needed to hear those things, and I always want others in my life to know how I don’t view them as imposters. They are not SUS!

D. Michl Lowe

The Christians Have Failed

D. Michl LoweLeave a comment

Christians have failed. I speak to you now as one of them, the failures. All “Christians” are not Christians. It was the pagans at Antiauk that first called the apostles “Christians” (Acts 11:26; 26:28). They used it derogatorily because the apostles didn’t follow the religious and philosophical thoughts of the pagans.

Christians have failed. We are often still despised by the world, but honestly, not enough. If we truly believed, the disapproval would know no end. I say if we truly believed… and I mean that. IF we truly believed. Because I’m not convinced many of us do; believe I mean. We say we do, but often, I question that belief we claim.

Belief without a changed life is not belief in the truth of what you are claiming, but belief in the benefits of believing. I can sit in church on Sunday morning and say I am a good person for doing so. I can shake my head when the Pastor condemns sin and feel high and mighty for not going down that road in my own life, but when I am full of my own piety, where does that leave me?

We are often truly arrogant.

There’s a Zen teaching that says, “Look at everything with a beginner’s mind.” We, as Christians, have to continually empty our cups so that Christ can fill them with himself. We are so very good at filling ourselves… of filling our lives with nonsense, pride, selfishness, and patronization. So what does it mean to be a Christian? What should I expect from Christians? There was a man who asked Jesus a similar question, he said, what must I do to get eternal life? Jesus asked the man to tell him what the law said,

“He (the man) answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

And Jesus basically says that this is exactly right. Now I don’t agree with everything he says, but Creflo A. Dollar said,

“In order to love God, you must first renew your mind where love is concerned. When many people think of love, they think of human, emotional love, which is basically selfish because it has conditions—it loves when the conditions are right, or when it feels like loving. This is the type of love many people demonstrate toward God. However, God is not interested in you loving Him with your feelings. When we choose what we want or desire over God’s Word, we demonstrate that we love ourselves more than God. We must get rid of our own selfish desires and replace them with the desires God has placed in our hearts. When we love God, we will submit to His plan and purpose for our lives.”

According to Romans 5:5, the Holy Spirit has poured the love of God in our hearts, and that love gives us the ability to love with a God­kind of love, an unselfish love. God’s love is unconditional. Unlike selfish, human love, God’s love puts the needs of others above its own. This is the love God wants Christians to demonstrate.

Every day, you have to make a decision to allow the “you” inside to die and the (unselfish) God Love to live.

That means in order for the love of God to be evident in your life, you have to make a quality decision to allow your thoughts, desires, emotions, and feelings, that oppose the Word of God, to die daily. It is impossible to love God, or others, when you have plans, purposes, and desires that are contrary to the Word of God. How often have you seen Christians who continue to live for themselves? How often have you seen the hypocrisy in one of them? How often have you looked at their lives and thought, “dang, I am a better person than them.”

The interesting part about your thoughts on them… is that you are right. They aren’t any better than you. They aren’t any better, or moral, or anything else. The only real difference between them and you is that they have given their lives over to Christ and are attempting to allow him to lead their lives.

I say attempting because that’s exactly what it is, attempting. Time and again they struggle to live according to his will in their lives and time and again they fail. They fail, and fail, and fail, and fail, and fail. They cry out to him for his help. They say in church and in songs that they believe, but secretly when they are alone in their rooms at night, they pray for God to help them with their unbelief.

I’ve said it before, Christianity is the fantastic fantasy that we as adults are allowed to keep believing in beyond childhood. The Bible tells this beyond belief tale of resurrection from the dead and heaven and entities of evil that angels fight against and we are allowed and privileged to continue believing in.

We have never told Kat (my daughter) that Santa Claus was real. When she would ask about it, we tell her he was a man who lived a long time ago who gave children presents and they called him Saint Nicholas and that he is who all the people we see around Christmas are dressed up like. However, she continues to believe in Santa because she WANTS to believe, regardless of what anyone says. Christians want to believe and because of the truths they see in their own lives, the truth they have seen revealed in scripture, they have the benefit of belief, even if sometimes it’s hard to believe.

I know the truth of the Bible. Sometimes it’s hard to believe. Sometimes it’s hard to live even with all the personal evidence I’ve seen in my life, but I choose to continue my belief because I know it’s the truth.

D. Michl Lowe