by Max Barry

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State Religion of Laka Strolistandiler, Part 1.

This may sound ironic, but in the "socialist" state of Laka there is a state religion called Glyton, which receives direct funding from the budget and is actively promoted among the population. Even stranger is the fact that this religion appeared long even before the establishment of the Order, and it is just as strange that it was equally loved and fed by everyone from the Order’s regime to the IBM-3000 government. To some extent, without doing absolutely nothing for politicians, this church still managed to get its stable % of GDP. So what is this religion and what are its tenets?
At the heart of Glyton is the worship of a transcendental being, commonly called the Creator, the Almighty, or simply Him. Altruism, asceticism and curiosity are at the heart of their teaching. In principle, other gods besides Him do not exist in Glyton, although the possibility of supernatural forces existing within the framework of elements of physics, mathematics, etc. unknown to us so far. allowed.
Their object of worship is something that has reached a completely different level of existence, in principle not subject to comprehension by the human mind. This is due to the fact that the human mind itself is arranged and judges on the basis of very limited human senses. Therefore, it is impossible to prove the existence or absence of God through scientific research, logical operations, and so on. Nevertheless, this religion by no means denies the possibility of "interference from above" in the deeds on earth, primarily as a reward for good deeds pleasing to Him. Religion admits the possibility of the appearance of difficult-to-explain phenomena as a result of the actions of the Divine, although it excludes the possibility of the appearance of something absolutely impossible from the point of view of science. However, with the development of scientific progress, their point of view on what is possible and what is not changes quite often. So, for example, before the discovery of quantum dualism, the possibility of spontaneous combustion was considered absurd, but now it is allowed, albeit with a very small, literally miniscule percentage. Separately, it is worth talking about the afterlife in this religion. According to it, the human mind is to some extent a transcendental being in itself - to some extent it is separated from the physical body. Death here is not considered "physical death" - but the death of the mind as a set of information. It is also interesting that individual subdenominations believe that, based on the law of conservation of energy, the set of elements that once made up the human brain can be recreated even billions of years after its death - accordingly, the death of the individual mind as such will not be possible until the complete destruction of the universe - some believe by this is the heat death of the universe. Throughout life, the human mind prepares itself for the opportunity to prove to Him that it is worthy to join it in transcendental existence. This test, to some extent, is the “last end” in the “life after death” in this religion - it is believed that in the event of its passing, the human mind is either thrown down in one form or another back into the material world or becomes similar to Him.

So what does this test involve? Considering a bunch of different smaller views on this, let's dwell on a more or less "standard" point of view. According to it, in order to move to a different stage of existence, it is necessary to go through six circles, of course, the concept of "pass" is used here exclusively in an allegorical sense - reason is an essence bordering between our world and transcendence, just like the "six circles" The first circle, which there is a soul-circle of Greed to go through. In it, on both sides of the walking (again in an allegorical) sense, there are whole mountains of wealth. Diamonds the size of an apple, palladium and gold bars, other wealth. What's even more surprising is that everyone sees in it his own, someone sees mountains of extremely profitable exchange-traded bonds, someone sees patents for inventions ready to make their owner the king of the world, and so on and so forth. And, of course, you have the opportunity to return with the typed "back" - all this time there is a "door" not far from you, which seems to be ready to give you the opportunity to return, one way or another, to our material world. However, one has only to touch, and in some confessions even think about taking lying riches - as they become heavier than a stone and drag you down - back into the material world. The second circle is the circle of natural needs. Various types of satisfaction of their needs simply lie there in heaps - here is the delicious food, here is the most interesting, but stupid to unbearable television series, but here are just gallons of alcohol. Take it and enjoy - everything is yours! However, if you just try to follow your natural instincts and take at least a sip, at least one bite, your subconscious mind will immediately begin to prevail up your mind. You become a primitive animal that soon jumps, purely out of animal instincts down into the material world. Those who survive this circle fall into the circle of pleasures (yes, this is a separate topic in this religion from natural needs). Deprived of any logical and sublime meaning, pictures of enticing pleasures will be spread out in front of you. Graceful sexual partners, ready to immediately take you into a passionate embrace! Mountains of soft and hard drugs offering pleasure here and now without any harm to health! However, one has only to touch this all, and your mind will be filled with pleasure so much that you simply stop thinking and collapse with a lifeless, foam-blowing body down. Finally, the fourth circle is the circle of power. There you will be offered power over everything, no matter what you wish. Company? You are welcome. Town? Please, take it. What? The whole universe? An unusual choice, but there it is. At the same time, you realize that you will not be able to use power for the good of someone besides yourself you loved, but you still go for it. In this case, responsibility literally takes a physical form - and falls on you. You, being unable to keep it, fall into the material world. The fifth circle is the circle of vanity. Before you appear pictures of what kind of great you have become - whether as a commander, a scientist or a politician. In the material world, everyone admires you, kneels before you, you are like a god on earth to them. And although these awards are not deserved, you will still get them! - so it seems to the traveler. And if he dares to try to accept the offer, he will be immediately slain. Struck down, again by the responsibility that comes with titles.

Finally, the last sixth circle is the circle of happiness. It is very simple - they offer you a choice between simple, absolutely sinless happiness in the material world and an unknown transcendental existence. And only in this circle do you really have a choice, since reaching it is already an achievement in itself. You can go astray and find happiness in the material world, or you can go far and ascend to a different stage of existence. It is for this path that the followers of this religion are preparing all their lives. However, how is it organized?

This religion is very centralized from an organizational point of view - there is a Supreme Collegium, to which representatives from each of the regional districts are elected by the flock, which are primarily divided by the prefectures of Laka and also by other countries and geographic associations. This body deals primarily with organizational and financial issues, quite often leaving the religious side of the issue somewhat "overboard." This is partly due to a more or less scientific attitude to faith as such, which leads to the fact that not the most important religious postulates are constantly being examined, disputed and rewritten, as in any real science. Directly questions of theology are in charge of a body separated from the Supreme Collegium - the Main Theological Council and its subdivisions. At the same time, the revision of theological dogmas resembles traditional scientific disputes with the publication of research in specialized journals, the defense of diplomas and scientific papers, and so on. To become a cleric in this religion is not an easy task, for this you need to have at least a STEM diploma (or its equivalent), work experience in the science-intensive industry for at least 15 years and, of course, the purest criminal records in government agencies. Only after that a specially assembled commission will choose a topic on which the future cleric will have to prepare and read out a very voluminous essay. If the commission likes the abstract, the person becomes a member of the church. His duties, in addition to conducting divine services, include, if not being the main task, the study of theology and philosophy - given the physical and mathematical orientation of religion as such, it is quite expected that most of the studies are devoted to proving the reality or impossibility of certain miracles. Representatives of both sexes can become clerics, this religion is against discrimination with both hands. Also, the tasks of the cleric may include more utilitarian tasks (for example, accounting work), or even military affairs - during the years of the World War there were “moral units” formed, which were engaged in raising morale in penal units, if, of course, in household work it is generally needed. Clerics are obliged to live in fairly moderate conditions, which, incidentally, does not mean radical asceticism at all. The churches are made in about the same style - inexpensive but tasteful.

Speaking about the age of reaching maturity, in this religion it is 21 years old and requires, to confirm moral maturity, passing a series of tests that check a person's character and mental abilities.

Family and family relationships

Based on the need to give as many people as possible the opportunity to move to a different stage of existence, this religion encourages large families, however, large enough so that parents have the opportunity to develop themselves and provide children with a decent life, without fanaticism. At the same time, the role of a woman is not diminished in the least - no one obliges her to do housework or sit with a child, although this is not prohibited. This usually leads to "controlled chaos", when at first glance, tasks are distributed in families in an absurdly chaotic manner, but nevertheless, despite the seeming chaos, both partners perform them on time and on schedule. Religion condemns same-sex relationships, to some extent because it condemns most psychological illnesses in general. Any kind of sexual intercourse outside of marriage or marriage with multiple partners is even more condemned. It is believed that this inclines a person to sin, deprives him of dignity and does not work at all. Perhaps it is from this that the roots of the cult of monogamy and loyalty in Laka Strolistandiler grow.

Sacrifices and rituals

Sacrifices are practically absent, based on the transcendental nature of God (nafig surrendered to him that you are burning something). Nevertheless, from time to time you can find something vaguely reminiscent of a sacrifice in the form of a dedication to something "higher powers", however, usually this is done only for the sake of popularizing religion. Human sacrifice is terrifying to this religion at its mere mention. Rituals, however, are present - usually they are strictly organizational in nature and their task is more likely not to worship but to unite the masses, which, of course, is not hidden. Moreover, it is customary to economize on their organization, which sometimes reaches the point of absurdity.

System of values.

This religion has its own "set" of mortal sins, which is very, very wide - it includes cowardice, gluttony, dishonesty, selfishness, envy, irresponsibility, greed, blasphemy, indifference, frivolity. Most of this is tested in one way or another in the "six circles". In turn, the positive characteristics that this faith glorifies are: wisdom, self-control, mercy, altruism, tolerance, moderation, chastity, diligence, transhumanism and piety. It is quite understandable, given its enormous cultural influence on the mentality of the Strolistandilererians, why none of the country's leaders attempted to "overthrow" them - from the point of view of each of the governments, religion taught the right things, and given its enormous popularity, it is extremely and extremely indecent to deny them funding... The main taboos, excluding the above, are excessive alcohol consumption, any drug use not for medical purposes in general (this also includes "recreational drugs"), and the slave trade.

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