Additional help in understanding the Goal and Principles
The founder only cares about all humans having individual rights. The founder understands that their view of individual rights might be wrong by about 5-10%. They do not think they are wrong, but it would be irrational to not factor in some room for errors. The founder also wanted to cast as wide a net as possible to attract all the people who value individual rights correctly and those that are within 10% of being correct.
Freedom Fellowship is secular but it is different from other secular groups. This principle makes it clear that there is no “interactive god” interfering with objective reality. This principle says, “The world is the way it is.” Objective reality does not care about emotions or desires, so it’s irrational to spend any time on these wishes. This group is for atheists and agnostics. This group is also for “hands off God” believers. At the end of the day, we don’t have any information outside of the big bang, so we cannot say anything for sure. It is possible that the universe is eternal and matter and natural laws have just always existed. It is also possible for a “hands off god” to have created it but does not interact with it at all. These members 100% know and accept that they have no evidence for this, which is why it plays no role in their life functionally. This person accepts physics as the law of reality and most importantly, this person accepts the fact that they are 100% in control over their life. This person knows there is no god saving them and that it is up to them to make things happen in their life. This member’s foundation is objective reality.
This principle makes it clear that each member is 100% in control over their mind. Cults tell their member what character or person is in control over their mind. Freedom Fellowship is not a cult and it wants that perfectly clear to each and every member. You are in control over your mind. You get to choose what moral hero you listen to in life that helps you be reason based and moral.
Humans are social animals. Loneliness is lethal for humans. Due to the nature of life, an individual is the only person who spends 100% of time in their own life. This means that you are the only one who gets to experience everything in your life. This can be lonely, which is one reason humans created gods and other fictional characters. Having a moral hero character helps an individual be their optimal self. The character acts as “bumper lanes” for a bowling alley. You can look at life on a scale of 1% to 100%, where 1% is rock bottom and 100% is perfect. In order for a human to be optimal, it might be best to imagine 1% and 100% as your “special characters” domain. The individual member owns 2% to 99% area of their life. If the member is really ever down to 2% then their character will be with them as they go get help somewhere, because they clearly need it, now. If the person is experiencing 99% level of life, then it is good for them to still see their special character as someone who can out pace them, so that it helps them keep their nose to the grind so that they can maintain that 99% level for as long as possible.
Humans have been using characters to help guild them, motivate them, etc.. for as far back as we have recorded, which means that this practice of having heroes to look up to is central to being a human. It would be very irrational to try and do away with this life strategy, instead we should use it, but make sure that it is reason and moral based.
Humans have the “primal brain” which is where instincts and emotions are stored and come from. Humans also have a frontal lobe that is used to reason though the information we absorb and take in from life. The primal brain is more fundamental and central to a human’s core, so you can view it as level one. The frontal lobe evolved later and you can view it as level two. The special character acts like a sheep dog guiding our instincts and emotions to our frontal lobe in an efficient manner so that our brain can use reason to think through the situation. Only when a human is guided by reason can they be moral.
The special character provides the member with fun and entertainment, which is something that is very important to humans.
Characters allow members to be vulnerable without being exposed. It is a meaningful experience to tell others about your favorite stories and characters. You can tell a lot about a person by the characters and stories they enjoy.
Humans can find connections to other humans through their characters, especially if they are similar or from the same story.
Each member decides how much backstory to develop for their character. Some future member may be a writer and decide to create an entirely new Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. type story universe centered around their special character. This is not for everyone though, which is perfectly fine. It is strongly suggested to have a still image of the character in your head so that it helps you to stay focused in your life. It is easier to use the character to help you be reason based and moral if you at least have a still image to help guide you through the tough times in life.
A member had an image of their character drawn for them. The character is in the center of the room. The character is a hybrid between a Dragon Ball Z Sayian and a Harry Potter witch. To the left side of the room is an unlimited pile of logs. The logs represent any insult the member receives, any hardship from life, and any other life annoyance. Instead of dwelling on emotions and past pain, the member turns it into a metaphorical log for their character to burn. The character burns the fire to whatever temperature the member needs, depending on the life moment. It burns hottest during depression. To the right of the picture is the character’s bed and spaceship. If the member ever hits rock bottom again, then they could metaphorically lock themselves in that spaceship until they can find someone real who can help them get through it. The picture of the monkey flying a kite represents the member being mortal but working each day to be their best self. The kite gives them a focus point moving forward and when they feel stalled in life, the kite pulls them forward.
3. This principle is self-explanatory.
4. Human interaction is only moral if it is voluntary. We need permission to engage with others in their life and they need permission to engage with us in our private lives.
The founder pointed out that socialism is immoral because it uses violence to control people’s labor and lives. Socialism is government group slavery that violates individual rights.
The founder 100% wants a society that looks out for each other and helps one another (principle 6), but it has to be done morally, which means voluntary. Socialism is immoral because its force from the government. The founder envisions a world where a de-centralized block chain of Freedom Fellowship churches and other organizations work to take care of the issues that socialist claim to care about. Charity will be done efficiently and morally by Freedom Fellowship organizations and members.
5. This principle makes it clear that there is no official central organization or leader that all others have to listen to. Each leader is their own central organization or point of interest for Freedom Fellowship principles. No Freedom Fellowship leader has magically special say over anyone else. Leaders do not have equal influence or number of followers, but whatever amount they have is due to their own actions/words and others voluntarily interacting with them.
6. The founder says that in the “social math equation” for a reason based and moral life, a person has to have charity as part of their equation. The founder does not say how much charity is right nor do they say what form the charity must take. The founder simply says that charity needs to be at least 1% of the persons life and it is 100% up to each individual to decide how they are going to incorporate charity into their life.
7. Love is important to a good life. A person must have love for themselves and others. It is important to remember principle 3 though, which is “reason.” Unconditional love is irrational and always leads to immorality and suffering. True love is conditional. There are boundaries that people can cross that would make me no longer respect or love them. Love is important and necessary, but we must be reason based about it.
8. Selfishness is a must whether people want to admit it or not. Everyone is selfishly based, regardless of what your morals are. The only option we get is whether we are “irrationally selfish” or “reason based selfish.” There is no starting place other than selfishness because all human action comes from an individual desire for something. We have a desire and then we selfishly act based on those desires. There is no option but selfishness. We can be “irrational or reason based selfish” but that is the only choice we get. Freedom Fellowship only endorses reason-based selfishness. The only option we can choose that leads to correct morality, is reason-based selfishness.