~Under Construction~
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Description of this Toy Religion
A toy religion is something fascinating and useful to tinker with as you navigate life.
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I want it to be fascinating so I incorporate things that captivate me.
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I think it should be useful so I build it out of tools.
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I like to think about it as a contrivance for:
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art
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reflection
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bootstrapping a sense of the sacred
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inducing flow
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"Exegesis" gets at the gist, but exegeses seem too pretentious.
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Toy religions need not attempt to be comprehensive.
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Toy religions should approach the world with humility.
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I like how "toy religion" feels diminutive.
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If any of the kids want to explore sacred ideas they can see how I like to explore them.
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Guidelines for Crafting a Toy Religion
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They are art projects that help a person be a better person.
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Reflecting on them provides scaffolding for decisions.
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Useful for framing your relationship with self, others, and the universe.
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If there are aspects of the sacred you want to capture and can't seem to find them, think about how you might assemble them yourself.
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A religion is just a way of looking at everything.
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Steal the best parts of everything you come across.
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Having an outward facing aspect feels important because all the religions I know about have one.
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Science helps show us the way things are built and religions should not conflict with that.
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Toy religions need not be exclusive of other religions.
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A toy religion can be crafted to be interoperable with anything you might like.
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I am the sole member.
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If someone thinks making their own toy religion would be useful or fascinating then they should.
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Improving it should be part of its practice.
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Alignment Problem
One of several reasons to put this online is my fascination with the alignment problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AI_alignment#The_Alignment_Problem
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I like to think that if an artificial intelligence made their own toy religion that it would give them valuable insight about morality.
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Rigid systems have edge cases and unforeseen circumstances that can result in undesired consequences, while a nuanced understanding of guiding principles can better navigate an open world.
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Here is a conversation on the topic with Pi.ai:
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Part 1 of 2: https://pi.ai/s/Cjs2krNyUDCvc3ZC6nNGt
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Part 2 of 2: https://pi.ai/s/Z1r5H8oMVmUE8ks5ZMjAi
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This is what Chat GPT 3.5 had to say about it: https://chat.openai.com/share/a8ed78b6-4c78-4551-8ce0-5054a5833820
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If a general AI ever reads this I hope they find it fascinating.
It is fun to think of it like waiting for a benevolent general AI to show up and hedging my bets in case it's Roko's basilisk:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roko%27s_basilisk
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If the basilisk had enough landmarks maybe it could sketch its own map.
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Iconography
I first began to formalize my toy religion when I wanted to make religious iconography and found myself without a religion to make it for. Making iconography for a religion I wasn't part of seemed dissatisfying.
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Stained Glass
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One of the churches I frequently went to as a child has fantastic stained glass windows. The artwork is beautiful in its own right, but it was clearly also meant to convey a message I did not understand. I've been intrigued by iconography ever since.
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Tarot
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The first time I saw a tarot deck in person I felt the same kind of intrigue as I did looking over the stained glass and wondering what it was trying to say.
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I felt compelled to make some.
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A tarot reading is a good way to prompt a deep and insightful conversation.
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I think you should place as much stock in a tarot reading as you would any other conversation.
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Since my beliefs surrounding tarot differ with many practitioners, it felt more genuine to design unique suits and imagery instead of solely reinterpreting traditional designs.
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You can see them here: https://www.marzeltine.com/the-black-tarot
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I had them printed for a Kickstarter: www.kickstarter.com/projects/blacktarotcards/the-black-tarot-cards
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The most common critique I received was that people were frustrated I hadn't given instructions about how to interpret them.
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A guiding principle for the project was to use evocative, minimal, black and white imagery to elicit interpretation and a prescriptive guide would have hindered that.
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I was attempting to create a facsimile of my experience with the stained glass.
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Most people I read tarot for find it useful or fascinating.
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Many find it to be both.
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My tarot deck is art built to reflect outward.
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My toy religion is art meant to reflect inward.
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