The Double Triangle: Secular Alternatives to Religion

By Aleron Zemplin

The Double Triangle shows how each of us is a genetic, intellectual and cultural gateway between a vast past and an expansive future. It is a positive symbol for a secular outlook in which original thought is the most sacred act of humanity. This series of ten short essays, accompanied by original artwork, expounds a novel view of the world and each individual's place in it. The essays explore three underpinning ideas: the unknowablity of ultimate truth, randomness as a builder of structure and a driver of change in the world and in our lives, and the implications of the Double Triangle for our ideas and for our afterlives.

This work expands on ideas first expressed by Aleron Zemplin in his book An Accidental God: The Evolution of Religion, or How a Boy from the Dawn of Civilization Became the God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Double Triangle Press LLC
• Release date: Oct 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9780984104543

Aleron Zemplin

Aleron Zemplin lives, with his wife and two children, in the United States where he teaches at a major university. Over the past decade he has developed the secular humanist philosophy of the Double Triangle, which appears in his first book, An Accidental God.

Book preview

The Double Triangle

Secular Alternatives to Religion

Aleron Zemplin

Published by the Double Triangle Press LLC

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2013 Double Triangle Press LLC

Text and Images

All Rights Reserved

ISBN 9780984104543

Foreword

People long for purpose and meaning in their lives. Over twenty years ago, a graduate school apartment-mate asked me about my thoughts on the purpose of life. I answered that there is no purpose and there is no meaning. What is, just is, and what happens just happens. Nothing more. She found this assertion very disturbing. There must be something more, she insisted.

Over the intervening years, I came to understand that we do not need to settle for a meaningless life; rather than looking for a purpose imposed from on high, we human beings can make our own meaning and our own purpose. In fact, people that believe in a higher purpose imposed by their God are actually doing this as well, since God is the product of human thought, and the Will of God is really the will of the believers. We should not, however, look to Bronze Age notions of God for our higher meaning; we should instead develop our own meanings based on what we know about our world and our existence. It is the essence of secular humanism to find meaning, perhaps even a higher power, in human ideas and human activities. Each person must do this for themselves.

My message is about looking for positive ways to find meaning in life and in the world without resorting to unrealistic ideas about supernatural beings. Atheist literature is centered on debunking religion and exposing the foolishness of religious faith. There is too little emphasis on coming up with ideas that might replace religion as guiding lights to humanity. Secular humanists and atheists are like an insurgency that defines itself predominantly in terms of opposition to a corrupt regime. In the rare instances when such an insurgency gains the upper hand, it is often unready to lead, its structure and psychology having been developed for opposition. Stated another way, one can have more influence by standing up and shouting Follow Me! rather than sitting back and saying Don’t follow the other guy. This volume is about new directions.

Aleron Zemplin 2013

Contents

The Three Pillars

Foreword

I. UNKNOWABILITY

Divinity and the Unknowable

What If We Were Computer Simulations?

God’s Will or Man’s Will?

Faith is not a Virtue

II. TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF RANDOMNESS

An Agent for Change

Structure from Randomness

Computer Simulations II

III. THE DOUBLE TRIANGLE

The Double Triangle

Original Thought

The Afterlife

Refences & Notes

About the Artwork