There are a number of responses I can come up with.
I will include some of them below.
However I really should not be creating a whole new religion.
That is sort of a ego trip of mine to do something important with my life.
The truth is, I just have one major idea.
And then I make too much out of it.
It seems to be a common human tendency
to come up with a single good idea
and then try to build a whole system out of it.
I'm no exception.
I fall into the whole system trip too.
Please forgive me.
Our modern understanding of the world around us often clashes with entrenched belief systems. It seems this clash has the potential to tear us apart. Leaving people to have to choose one side or the other.
How are the established religions responding to this?
Most religious belief systems originate from some Divine Revelation. This does empower the system with the ultimate authority to impose external structure on the individual. But such systems are very rigid. If the God who authored it does not change, then the belief system can not change either.
Yes, such Divine Inspired systems do offer a clear and simple framework for understanding the world and one's position in it. Just follow the tenants and one has the assurance they are following God's plan. But are these tenants compatible with the modern world? Are they able to adjust? Or does their rigidity require increasing tensions between it and the modern world.
Are we facing a point that some will tear down the modern world just to get back to the point where their entrenched belief systems will work?
This struggle between new and old has repeated many times. It often seems to be framed in terms of
What if it was not such a binary choice? What if there were other ways? Other ways that slowly met people's needs. Other ways that slowly built a reputation of being good.
I propose to you, that the struggle between new and old will continue to repeat. The old will continue to rise up and tear down the new. Until there are new belief systems that are more compatible with the modern world.You can't replace the well established spiritual traditions with modern secularism. We have a religious, spiritual nature. We want to believe in something. If the modern world does not meet that need. Then many will seek to downgrade the world until it does.
In short we need a new spiritual tradition, to fill Godless Abyss many are afraid we are falling into.
The modern world does many different things to fill people's lives. One area it is not good in is religion. The modern world tends to diminish religion. Replacing it with other things.
But humans have a religious shaped hole. Leaving it open creates a empty space. A space for established religions to fill.
Religious faith builds a power, passion, presence That a non-religious modern world can not match.
New religions have replaced older religions. It can be a brutal transition. But it does happen. And when it does, there usually isn't much going back.
Whereas trying to end a religion without giving a replacement has been tried and failed several times. Well, China is giving it a good try. But look at Russia as an example of how it does not last.
Thus this attempt to build a system that is religious enough to satisfy that longing to believe in something Yet is modern enough to avoid conflicts with the modern world. So people can have passionate faith and scientific understanding.
It takes so long to understand ourselves and figure out how we should adjust to the world around us. Some of us spend our whole lives just getting to a point where we are operating well. Some people don't even bother with growing. They pick a way and stick to it.
I propose that one of the reasons we are so poor at understanding ourselves, is that we are discouraged from doing the work of personal growth.
Religions with Divine Inspiration have it all worked out. All you have to do is follow. In these systems too much personal growth and understanding is a risky thing. You risk being lead astray by following your own heart.
Thus I want to build a system that requires personal growth. That the whole purpose is personal growth. Care, Growth and development of one's own soul and character. So exploring yourself, your likes, dislikes, light sides and dark sides is the purpose of your life. To work on what is bad, and make better what is good.
To build a framework that is open to personal tweaks.
If the purpose is to make sense out of your self, and work on improving it. Then there is room for people to explore what that means to them. The individual can pick and choose things that work for them (within limits)
The individual can use the framework to build belief systems that work for them. They can construct a system to build the system they need. If they know they need more discipline, they can build their own system to institute that. And they can externalize that belief, that doing such work is a desire of Life itself. Thus gaining the strength and fibre of an external system.
But yet it is an external structure that they themselves created. So if it is not working, they can change it. Sort of like incorporating a business entity to separate a business from the individual. But yet the individual can maintain a controlling interest in the separate business entity.
The individual can incorporate their own belief system. They can go on a life long journey of exploring other belief systems. Seeing the good and the bad. And seeing if they can assemble a system that does their own soul and character good.
It seems that several of the established religions are about their God, their special revelation. And because it is set in the unchangeable external nature of their God. The point is to maintain it, as-is, not change it.
If we didn't start from that base, If we didn't start with a hierarchical system, If we didn't start with a single all-everything being. If we started by seeking how to live our own lives. What could we build?
If we set out with a goal of improving our soul and our character, what kind of system/beliefs/religions could we build that aim for that. If the system was not cast in stone But flexible and adaptable Where each passing generation could improve it. What could it develop into. where things that are problematic or not working well enough can be changed, without violating the faith/dogma.
Could it become a system that helps future generations understand themselves sooner, and know how to live more meaningful and fulling lives. Regardless of a static cred?
Who knows what kind of system could be built?
The worrisome part of this. Is that such a system could be hijacked. It could be twisted into all kinds of undesirable ends.
Is it possible to build a framework that would only work for good and not ill?
I think it would take generations of soul work to produce a new generation of souls with a different basis for power and wealth. A different perspective personal power, wealth, and life itself. Hence the main point of this belief system is to spend generations doing that work.
What if we could analyse different belief systems. What if we could measure the results or affects of different systems. What if we could see which systems are more prone to abuse. What if we could see which systems lead to a better view of power. What if we could see which systems lead to kinder and more tolerant people, and which lead to more critical and judgemental people.
What if we could open up a whole new field of study. Studying different belief systems, breaking them down into components and re-assembling them in new ways. Ways that help us be better people and at the same time help us feel more fulfilled in the life we have. Would that not be a worthwhile pursuit. Certainly if we can study weapons of mass destruction, If we can study business to gain a competitive advantage, If we can study demographic to gain a electoral advantage, then certainly we could study belief systems.
The worrisome side of this, is that such knowledge could be used to control people. Various nations have used such knowledge to shape their people into who they wanted them to be. Probably all nations do this.
So it is likely that a knowledge base of what religious beliefs lead to what outcomes would be used to produce the desired outcomes for the purposes of the state, not individual fulfilment.