Religion is to God as Sci-fi is to Science

With this, I very largely concur. However, I do still disagree with your proposition as originally stated; I don't think it reflects what you actually mean.

I'm certainly open to any suggestions you could offer about stating the proposition. But a detail occurs to me that I would like to run past you first, it might help me to clarify my position.

I believe that world religion and myth has two layers - the outer exoteric layer and the inner esoteric layer. The exoteric layer is comprised of people who take the religion at face value. In a traditional culture, that amounts to factual, historical interpretation of myth. In our culture, that amounts to a face value interpretation of sci-fi and comics as entertainment. The exoteric layer is the straightforward man-on-the-street view of the dominant mythology.

In a traditional society, the esoteric layer is the layer of the mystic. The mystic makes a process and practice out of the dominant myth, and goes past it, in a specialized environment. A monastery, a hermitage, a retreat, ect.

In our society, the esoteric layer of the dominant myth is practiced in a science lab. Scientists are the mystics of the space-age mythos. Among other things, they are the ones who look to and listen to the heavens for sign of the mythologem of the space-age - ET.

But they aren't going past the dominant myth in quite the same way mystics do, because our dominant mythology is dysfunctional.
 
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Yes, and Herbert was also into 'magic muchsrooms'.

For every Frank Herbert and Philip K. Dick who lets their experiences or mystical interest be known, there are probably many who don't. It's a private thing that can be difficult to expose to the public.
 
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Here is a little somthing of interest.

"The Day the Earth Stood Still”: 1950's Sci-Fi, Religion and the Alien Messiah

Abstract

The Day the Earth Stood Still is a unique film for its time. From a secular point of view, it was one of the first to not portray aliens as the enemy. From a spiritual point of view, it has many similarities to the gospel accounts of the public life and teachings of Jesus. This essay will consider the religious significance of this film (both in its historical context and the present), comparing it to similar works and contrasting it with the beliefs of a number of New Age movements. The main character, Klaatu, will then be considered as a possible archetype of the 'Alien Messiah.'

[...]

George Adamski became the first real contactee, when he meets Orthon from Venus on the 20th of November 1952 (Ellwood, 1993, p 84). The conversations that Adamski had revolved around culture and religion of the Venusion people (Ellwood, 1993, p 86). The religion of the people of Venus is about "... the power of the mind over the body and relations with the cosmos ...” (Ellwood, 1993, p 86). There are two major points of interest here. Firstly the relationship between religion and the mind/body sits well with the resurrection of Klaatu by the "All Mighty Spirit.” Here the spirit has re-animated the mind and body of Klaatu. This demonstrates the significance of UFO-based religion having direct mental and physical effects on believers, which is also what is shown inThe Day the Earth Stood Still. Secondly, and possibly more important, is the year of the first contact by Adamski, one year after the release of The Day the Earth Stood Still. This, coupled with the belief by many that the teachings that the aliens gave Adamski sound very similar to previous teachings that Adamski had made in the 1930s and novels he had written in the 1940s (Ellwood, 1993, p 85), could indicate that The Day the Earth Stood Still, could have directly contributed to the formation of the background of Adamski's religious beliefs.
 
The Superhero's Mythic Journey:
Death and the Heroic Cycle in Superman


Abstract
Superman, the original superhero, is a culmination of the great mythic heroes of the past. The hero's journey, a recurring cycle of events in mythology, is described by Joseph Campbell. The three acts in Superman: The Movie portray a complex calling to the superhero's role, consisting of three distinct calls and journeys. Each of the three stages includes the death of someone close to him, different symbols of his own death and resurrection, and different experiences of atonement with a father figure. Analyzing these mythic cycles bestows the viewer with a heroic "elixir.”

 
I'm a big fan of Grant Morrison - loved his Invisibles when I was younger. Supergods is a good read, going through the history of comics and GM's own spirituality.

His "magic mirror" substance is actually an interesting idea for a Neutral Monist conception of reality.

Reminds me a lot of Bernando's various liquid and reflection metaphors.
 
I would like to discuss with skeptics and proponents alike why I think that religion is to God as Sci-fi is to science. It will touch on critical analysis of religion, science fiction, comic books, and of course the paranormal.

I made a thread of the same title on JREF, but the thread got hacked to pieces by mods and hecklers, and I was suspended by mods who are in my opinion very biased, who I think were offended and threatened by my claims. I found that very few JREFers were up to the task of understanding where I am coming from. There was really only one opponent I found worthy of debating. The others were idiots.

I have a higher opinion of the skeptics here, and so I would like to start that conversation over. Plus, I have no reason to think the mods here have it in for me, like they do at JREF.

There is a fascinating, mostly secret history to the sci-fi/comic book genre and it directly involves the paranormal, just as the paranormal is directly involved with religion. It has to do with the paranormal experiences of many great sci-fi and comic book authors, and it has to do with UFO phenomena.

Sci-fi/comic books inspire us, and sometimes that inspiration influences science. We write sci-fi, and sci-fi writes us. Our secular culture has a modern mythologem - ET. Stories about it are the domain of sci-fi and comic books.

It can be shown that the great iconic sci-fi of our culture -for example Dune, Star Wars, Stranger in a Strange Land to name a few- contain within them the monomyth skeletal structure. This same structure is found throughout world religion and myth.

Since the skeptic population here is low, I'm not sure of any of you would be interested in this kind of discussion. If not, that's ok.

So, I can show that sci-fi / comic books is a modern secular mythology. The mythologem is in the ET.

I can show that the paranormal has strongly influenced that mythology through the experiences of authors and readers alike, as it does throughout the rest of world religion and myth.

I can show that this mythology influences science, which ties the process of science in to the influences of the paranormal.

Any takers?

I have always looked at religion as a bit of a lens. Sometimes you need a layer between yourself and the larger reality. That has always been kind of intuitive on my part...
 
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