Miralicism

Miralicism is a monotheistic religion that began spreading through Arov's academic communities shortly before the Great Civil War that overthrew Communism in the nation, the founder being the Atheist physicist-turned-religous-mystic Gregory John-Jones, known by the religion as the "Miral". When religion was legalized after the war (Gregory John Jones had died in the fighting when a mortar fell on his house; both sides deny having shot the mortar), Miralicism spread rapidly throughout Arov and became Arov's fifth largest religion after just thirteen years in existence, next to Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam; making up 13% of the religious population (Pure Buddhism, 30%; Christianity, 24%; Judaism, 16%; Islam, 14%: the total religious population makes up 62% of Arov's population). In its thirteen years of existence, however, Miralicism has generated an incredible amount of controversy and outrage among religious and non-religious alike, as it is seen as either a scientific corruption of religion, or a religious corruption of science. Scholars have defined it as the point where science had stepped out of its physical boundaries, and have noted the incredible influence of Buddhism and Nietzche's philosophy.

Precepts

Theology and Cosmology

Miralicism holds as its basic theological tenet that God himself is the polar opposite of creation, a point of contention with many other religions (therefore, it is not universally assumed that Miralicists worship the same god as the Abrahamic religions). The universe, being the "creation of God", is inherently creative, meaning that on its own without God, nothing changes, meaning anything "creative" is formless. According to Miralicism, God "put a form" to creation by harnessing destructive forces to "conform to his will". The universe was created in six days even though science proves to be otherwise because more destructive force was needed to shape the world in larger blocks. Since time is relative to work (Einstein proved this with his Theory of Relativity), a greater amount of work used to create the universe would have shortened time to the point where the entire universe was created in a contemporary period of six days, though it may have been millions of years at the time (accepted on a basis of faith). Miralicism teaches that time is constantly expanding from the "point of creation", so a second now would have been longer than the second before it, though we wouldn't detect it since, according to Miralicism, we move along with time by observing its effects. Every action, therefore, is inherently destructive because it helps to shape the universe outward, and consequently, this brings more possibility for destruction (shaping the cosmos) into being. Thus, with every action, Miralicism states that we destroy and create the universe at the same time (parallel to Nietchze's description of how humans destroy an old social order while creating one). Miralicism also teaches that humans were the first intelligent race in the universe, and thus, the human race owns a greater part of God (destruction/creation) through their intelligence than anything else that might evolve after them, because the highly-charged electrons that constitute neural communications speed up the energy that causes time to expand, "spreading God's power". Generic physical action, however, doesn't constitute nearly as much energy as meditation and prayer, so acting without thinking causes the universe to slow down its expansion. Praying to and thinking about the Miralicist conception of God is the "highest form of spiritual sustenance and energy prodction in the human mind" according to the dogma, speeding up the expansion of the universe while "becoming one" with it, while other religions do not have nearly as much power, and Atheism is the absolute lowest. Thus, Miralicist attitudes towards other religions are hostile (the Arovian government is closely monitoring the spread of this religion as a result of this hostility, for the Arovian government is worried that Miralicism might spawn extremists and terrorists).

Miralis

If one achieves a perfect state of mind that "considers the state of the cosmos in every action", and achieves "perfect knowledge" of the cosmos in general, that person had achieved "Miralis," hence the name, "Miralicism." So far, the only person who has achieved Miralis was the religion's founder. Miralis is the highest form of spirituality and energy one can achieve according to Miralicist teaching, and when everybody on Earth attains Miralis, God's "true will" for the human race will be known as the universe will have reached a point of expansion when it is time for God to give this knowledge to the human race. The Messiah as foretold by Gregory John-Jones will herald the day when Miralis is a universal human consciousness. On Judgement Day, God will reveal the "True Meaning of Life" to all mankind, known as the Revelation. The Messiah will have been the last person on Earth to attain Miralis (drawn heavily from Nietchze's "Last Human") and his prescence would be marked by the brief changing of natural law to cause the earth to flatten into a two-dimensional elipse, "binding everything onto it" according to the scripture. Those who continue to stay three dimensional by sheer mental will would become the Messiah's chosen guardians and the rulers of the Miralicist Millennial Kingdom. Their purpose would be to "guide the human race according to the precepts of the Revelation," while the rest of the human race is stuck two-dimensional and flat against the earth (without realizing it). All this would take place in "time allotted to the blink of an eye." The moment of Revelation would occur and everything would go back to three dimensions. In the meantime, the teachings of Gregory John-Jones, the Miral, have allegedly revealed the true way for life to pave the way for the Revelation, not the Revelation itself.

Larolis

A lesser cosmo-spiritual consciousness is known as Larolis, and was the highest spiritual achievement before Gregory John-Jones. After Gregory John-Jones, however, Larolis was rendered obsolete and no one can achieve it any longer. Miralis is the new goal for mankind, since the entire human race had achieved Larolis when Albert Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity and provided the impetus for Gregory John-Jones' teachings. According to Miralicism, the main cosmo-spiritual events leading up to the advent of Gregory John-Jones were the birth of polytheism, the birth of monotheism, the birth of Buddhism, the birth of the Enlightenment Age, and the secular events that lead to these transformations. The figures who lead these transformations are considered to be Hammurabi, Plato, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Lao Tzu, the Buddha, Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, Max Planck, and Niels Bohr, culminating with Einstein. The people listed are the key figures in the Miralicist interpretation of history and holy book the "Theopleisiad" (intended to mean the Five Stars of God), and are portrayed as semi-divine beings who guide human affairs even after their death "so the cosmos has a clear path" when they are frozen into the universe, (regular human beings only are said to "guide" the universe into expansion, rather than their own affairs on a large scale). The aforesaid Five Stars refers to humans, semi-divine historical figures, the broadly-defined "cosmos," meditation, and the broadly-defined "time". The Five Stars can be likened to the Trinity in a theological sense.

Afterlife

The Afterlife takes the form of "direct communion with God" and all the other souls who came before you. Rather than having a life after death in heaven, souls are frozen into the cosmos and the energy they produced in life stays constant and keeps the universe in motion, each getting the same amount of "divine protection" as other souls. According to Miralicism, the soul does not need a physical paradise, it only needs spirituality and meditation. However, Miralicists who are frozen into the after death cosmos produce more energy than others, existing in "a state of eternal bliss and understanding of God", while other souls aren't nearly as happy. Reincarnation is against Miralicist teaching, as a main tenet is that time only travels outward rather than goes in cycles, rendering the energy produced by the human consciousness/soul of any "previous life" obsolete, and the human race would not achieve its ultimate goal of bringing forth the Revelation.

Worship and Ritual

Worship in Miralicism is radically different than conventional worship. It involves simple meditation when alone, but invocations to God can only be said in groups as individually, one is "prone to individual feelings, consciousness, and thoughts that are separate from God and the benefit of the entire human race". The invocations are either said at the home or in a Miralicist Temple.

Miralicists stress that both meditation over Miralicist dogma and prayer is needed to achieve Miralis, as "one cannot exist without the other."

Twice a year, Miralicists hold a pilgrimage to the tomb of Gregory John-Jones, which is essentially a polished marble dome built into a mountain which contains a sarcophagus. Pilgrims bring the works of the Miral, known as the "Theoplasiad" (the religion's holy book) to the tomb. Once at the tomb, followers rip out the title page along a preforated line and tape it to the outside of the tomb. If it is an official Miralicist League copy, the title page displays a gold leaf embossment depicting the tomb itself with the letters (and punctuation marks) "MIR,AL." captioned at the top. Nobody knows what the letters stand for, but they were allegedly given to the disciples of the Miral the day before the prophet himself died, and have become the symbol of the Miralicist faith. The pages themselves are cleaned from the tomb and ceremonially burned the night after each pilgrimage.

The pigrimage is state-sanctioned because it boosts Arov's strongest industry, the Book Publishing Industry, and boosts commerce in general due to the movements of the pilgrims through tollbooths.

Clergy

Miralicism already has an advanced infrastructure despite its short history. The World Miralicist League (WML; so-called because Miralicism has plans for worldwide expansion) approves copies of Gregory John-Jones' writings by adding the official title page used for pilgrimages, as well as approving and deciding any new doctrines, or interpretations of doctrines, that may come up. The WML also has jurisdiction over the Temples and operates its own court of law for clergymen who are accused of heresy. A branch of the WML that has aroused alot of controversy is the Theodemocratic League of World Miralicist Ideology, an organization dedicated to the "refutation of the veritability of useless religious doctrine". A main institution is also the Miralicist Conversion League, whose main job is to bring new adherents into the faith.

Ritual

Miralicist ritual is focused on "promoting pure meditation and prayer," according to the World Miralicist League. All rituals were invented after Gregory John-Jones' death, but the WML says it is for the best and will preserve the religion in the long-term.

Miralicists are, as a rule, forbidden to wear anything black, as black absorbs light energy that could be used to keep the universe in motion in a Miralicist view (Miralicists are encouraged to wear white), and thus it is said to encourage evil thoughts by discouraging meditation. Miralicists are also forbidden to eat anything containing black pepper or cloves for the same reason, as well as black-eyed peas, black beans, or anything containing meat from an animal that had black on it in life. The list is expected to grow then the WML finds more black foods to forbid.

Holidays are forbidden except for secular ones (holidays are seen as a secular concept as they "focus in their entirety on celebration rather than meditation and prayer"), and the pilgrimage.

Controversy

Miralicism has seen a bombardment of controversy for its theological beliefs, its contempt for other religions, and its growing clergy that is seen as benefitting by secular means. Many religious accuse Miralicism of being molded around secular scientific and psychological beliefs than actual divine revelation, and accuse it of taking people away from the positive by saying that God is meant to destroy an old state of being rather than creating one. Many Atheists have a contempt for Miralicism because it places them at the absolute bottom of the human race, and also sees it as dangerous to science as a field due to its mystical interpretation of science and its great names. There has been much discussion over what role Miralicism will play in Arov's future.

Yet, Miralicism is growing at a rapid pace due to its blended interpretation of religion and science. It serves as a refuge for people who refuse to accept a typical religious view of the world as truth, but do not care enough about science to take a totally scientific worldview either.