First A Little Reminiscing
I looked back today to the beginning of COTF today. It surprised me. It’s been visited nearly 400,000 times, There are new likes on the FB page every day. I see it dropped in conversations all the time from people I don’t even know. Hell, there are even people wanting to vote for the Fridge as president!!
Ok, the Fridge for president idea honestly wasn’t mine, but it is a sign that the time of chill is nigh! The Fridge is coming into it’s own. My best friend keeps telling me I need to monetize this venture. “Especially now that you’ve lost your moral center!” he jokes. I can’t say I haven’t thought of it. It would be nice to not have it be a drain on my own time and resources. But part of me likes it being pure, no ads, no cash flow. Just a place for people to share truth as they see it. I even created Fridge magnets thinking about it but so far all I have done is give them away not even trying to recoup the cost to make them.
Someday, But Today Is Not That Day
If COTF ever gets crazy popular I realize that me funding it all isn’t a workable solution in the long term, especially if it has a chance of living on past my own mortality. But I figure we can jump off that bridge when we get to it. So if you really want a Fridge magnet, send me a message on the COTF FB page or comment on this post, I’ll hook you up till I run out. It’s on me. I value the fact that you think this whole stream of consciousness I write is even worth reading. Call it my thanks to you and an outward effort by me to keep this a donation free, ad free, product free zone as long as I can keep it up. It might the one bit of goodness I leave to the world as my legacy. At least that is my hope.
Time To Get To The Point Already
So what is faith good for? What can it give us other things can’t? Relevant to that question I have been pondering the value of religion recently. Religions, pretty much all of them, have something in common with video games. They have a process in which you ‘level up’. A person moves on to great and greater achievements celebrated by the religious community.
Mormonism as one example is loaded with them. Boy’s move up through priesthood levels to greater and greater responsibilities. Granted, girls don’t get quite as much attention but their organization has steps of achievement as well. Ultimately a goal celebrated by all is a temple marriage and the endowment given to all that measure up to the tenets of the faith.1 Other religions have analogues, bar mitzvahs, confirmations, baptisms and so on. Scientology has tiers of awareness and the poor guys that rode that comet were just getting to the ‘next level’.
To Level Is Human
This is a lot like Pokemon go, not to mention every other video game I have played. Do what you need to and you level up. This idea of progression must feel good to us. It must satisfy some internal need. After all video games can be as addicting as porn or ice cream. The reason things are addicting is because they trigger deep emotional responses in us, overloading them even. To progress and level up feels good. It doesn’t need to be ‘real’ it just needs to impress your peers. I think this idea goes hand in with hope. By leveling up we make progress to what we hope for, what we want to achieve. So religions, even fake ones2 need a leveling system and something to hope for. I’d love your suggestions on how to level up in the COTF. They can be serious, sarcastic, funny or whatever all are welcome.
Hell, I will even give away free Fridge magnets3 (shipping included in the free part :)) for every idea! Tell us what you hope for, what you want to achieve and the steps you would like to celebrate while getting there. How are you gonna Level Up?
- There is even a more secret second anointing or endowment for the super duper faithful. Google that and Tom Phillips for some interesting reading ↩
- Technically they are all fake, just some are willing to admit it! ↩
- Did I mention these magnets double as bottle openers? Ironically awesome right? ↩
lets make up a level up ceremony after meeting a number of books
How about setting a book-reading goal for a three- or six-month span of time? It will be different for everyone, since some of us have more time to put toward the endeavor, so it will be self-directed. Once we have reached the goal, we’ll level up. The bonus to us is the new knowledge we will have gained.
I personally level up by asking questions and learning not accepting the status qo .There is a whole big world out there to learn about.I do not have time or interest to cling to bronze age theories or rituals that are pointless.
Even the rat race that is the corporate world has level-ups. I believe you to be my prophet in that just this week I was contemplating on how to climb back down the corporate ladder without scaring the boss. I think I’m ready, finally, to let go of leveling up.