--Carl Jung
--Alan Watts
The Children of the New Sun Ecclesia, Enclave and Collective is an attempt to merge two otherwise disparate belief systems: pagan-based New Age spirituality, and liberal, neo-gnostic Christianity. In addition, it seeks to incorporate a positive outlook, use, and incorporation of technology and science, thereby forging a holistic spiritual path that transcends the stagnancy of postmodernism.
Ultimately, this project will comprise three major functions:
> a network of intentional communities, interdependent yet co-operative farm- or townhouses where people desiring to live in a committed social household with 10-20 similarly committed adults, take up a home together and hold everything in common;
> an ecclesiastical program, where like-minded spiritual seekers of enlightenment, self-knowledge and the understanding of consciousness can study their arts in an encouraging and caring environment;
> and a not-for-profit small business, in which its members devote a significant portion of their time contributing to community service programs, such as soup kitchens, meal programs, mentoring or tutoring.
These areas would be connected, as three interlocking circles in a Venn diagram. Participation in every area is not required, or even necessarily encouraged. One's level of commitment to the ideals expressed by the community can only be ascertained by oneself.
What are the general ideals of the community? Imagination. Play. Wit. By these ideas we become and remain alive. Jesus implored us to become like children if we were to enter the Kingdom of God. That kingdom is all around us, here physically on Earth; it is all a matter of returning to that childlike state, where one is so rapturously enthralled with the beauty and the wondrous improbability that is life itself. Wisdom. Confidence. Love. These are ways to live within yourself by which you can directly influence the world in which you live.
We have an open mind. We are not rooting for any one religion. Many paths can lead one to what one ultimately seeks. The Children of the New Sun Ecclesia follows a syncretic belief system. All religions and spiritualities have something to offer. We should recognize wisdom where it is found. The source of that wisdom, truly, is irrelevant.
We are all capable of love, compassion, understanding, and wisdom. With these four traits, the human species should be able to rise up out of its adolescence and enter into a new phase in its development. We are on the horizon of a new stage in thought, and in community: what it means to exist in a world populated by billions.
This spirituality isn't for everyone. If you disagree with what is presented herein, please do as your nature tells you and turn away. This is a spirituality, not a religion; I seek not to evangelise or proselytize, but rather to put forth another point of view from which to choose. I implore you to not feel obligated to adopt this if it goes against your very being. But if you seek a New Age, theosophic Christianity with a gnostic view of the Holy Spirit; if you desire to wed Western living to an Eastern philosophy; are interested in an ethically sound, transcendental, (techno-)shamanic, meditation-intensive spiritual path; and are ready for the next step in your personal development, you may be in the process of becoming a Child of the New Sun.
--Bayazid Al-Bistami
