''This was a session at [[Sol 2012]].''
* Ben: '''Supernatural''': a system that includes a supernatural entity that provides absolute meaning
** Hank: Lets you explain things that you can't explain with science
* Brandon: '''People''': ex. cultural/ethnic Jews
* Brandon: '''Calling''': anything that drives us powerfully to value something
** Science itself doesn't say to value science ... the drive to value science is a religious impulse
** Eric: The practice of art can be an expression of a sort of religion of art
** Lion: It should be possible for people with different callings to connect religiously ... they may be expressions of higher levels: truth, love, caring
** Eric: What distinguishes a fetish from a religious calling is whether it's about self-gratification or about reaching for something higher
*** Brandon: Selflessness (even if it's not about other people) ... there may be a fuzzy line between the two
*** Lion: Carl Sagan had a genuine concern for other people as well as truth, but was unable to identify that
*** Eric: I used to think caring about other people was a kind of fetish, a form of selfishness, to make you feel good
**** Brandon: There's some truth to that, but there's more to it
**** Eric: Like Paul Krafel's two levels of thermodynamics/flow
**** Brandon: Or more like the first and second solutions to the problem of the Second Law
* Lion: '''Opiate''' (Napoleon's view)
** Brandon: About controlling people ... but Hell is also used that way
*** Lion: Some people find enormous comfort in the concept of Hell
** Eric: Using comfort
** Brandon: Jonathan Haidt quote: "Religion blinds and binds"
*** Hank: A kid asked whether I really believed the scientific story of the origin of Crater Lake, and I described the Native American version ... the kid didn't get any of it because he was taught young-Earth creationism
* Eric: '''Theocracy''': uses both carrot and stick ... Opiate is a subset of this
* Ben: '''Moral Compass'''
* Brandon: '''Aspiration''': Conservatives believe we need practice to push ourselves to overcome our baser nature and realize our aspirations
** Hank: I debated "are humans naturally good or bad" once, saying that society has degraded our natural goodness
* Eric: '''Choice of Goal''': covers the whole gamut, distinguishes from philosophy, science, art, politics
** The choice may be made by theocrats
** SolSeed chooses respect for life and the Destiny ... not all religions need these
* Brandon: '''Ritual, Language, Metaphors and Stories'''
* Lion: '''Lineage''': Project that is carried across generations
** Maybe not really a religion in itself