The functionality of
Governance
 in the Paradigm of Transcendent Reality

Outside of Transcendent Reality governance may be barely discernable, as in loosely aligned primitive family group or clan with infrequent gatherings or interface.  Governance may be very pronounced and complex, as in a modern state with multiple levels of political systems, extensive bureaucracies, and codified laws and regulations.

Governance within Transcendent Reality must promote and enforce unity and common action in our membership.  Without a system of governance, internal discipline cannot be maintained, and the common will evaporates into internal chaos and conflict.

Our system of Governance must be responsive to, and interactive with, our Science, Philosophy and Religion if it is to guide us in directions that serve the greater social good, and lead to greater chances of survival, continuance-in-kind, and prosperity for the greater social unit.

Evolution and Governance

Transcendent Reality does not promote a particular form of governance, nor necessarily promote a unified humankind under one governance.  While Transcendent Reality necessarily began as a single, unified, organized endeavor, in time daughter groups may splinter off from the main group and evolve separately.  In fact, every major organized religion has splintered into schisms and sects which over time have drift farther and farther apart, until former allies in thought have become bitter enemies. Such is the nature of natural social evolution.

Evolution appears to demonstrate that human survival might be enhanced by the existence of many societies and cultures, with many different forms of governance.  These different forms may vie with one another for power or dominance, all competing and proving their mettle within an environment fraught with chaos and catastrophe.  Just as new traits within an animal species may appear and accumulate over time, to ultimately diverge into a competing new species over many generations, a similar evolution may take place with human societies over time. 

As human societies diverge into diverse forms (morphological social evolution), there is another force we call transcendent social evolution that may result in the eventual loose amalgamation of a few complementary and cooperative, societies.  Eventually, some of these loose amalgamations may merge into a single society of higher order. 

The theory of the transcendent evolution of higher forms of human society begins at family and clan.  Some cooperative families and clans may amalgamate together and transcend into a tribe.  And some cooperative tribes may amalgamate and transcend into a political state.  Modern states are associated with a defined and unique territory.  All the inhabitable land on the planet Earth is now completely claimed as the territory of one state or another.  There are no unclaimed land territories.  Many of these territories are given status as a "state," but in fact are under the protection an direction of a stronger state.

[The term "state" as used in social evolution, means a self-governing political unit occupying and controlling a unique land area or territory, such as France or England.  A "state" may also be a collection of such areas under a single rule, such as Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland), or the United States of America (and its subdivisions of fifty states and territories.)  The term "nation" is commonly used interchangeably with the term "state." However, the term "nation" might be better used to describe a stateless ethnic group without their own, unique territory, such as the Kurds, whose ethnic tribes occupy parts of Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. These Kurdish tribes maintain their unique identity and resist being assimilated into the populations of their "host" country, much as the Jews maintained their ethnic identification prior to the creation of modern Israel.]   

Opposing the transcendent evolution of societies into higher levels of being (family, clan, tribe, and state) is the morphological evolution of societies that changes the forms and structures of societies over time.  Societies appear to suffer the same fate as individual humans, going from infancy to maturity, enfeebling old age, and death.  Human lifespan seldom exceeds a century, while a societies lifespan may span several centuries, though seldom exceeding a millennium. 

Both morphological and transcendent evolution occur simultaneously throughout humankind.  While some societies are waning or morphing into different forms, or being assimilated or absorbed into more aggressive societies, others are amalgamating into cooperative structures. For amalgamating societies, Transcendent Reality holds that the transcendent evolution of human society is entering into the seventh transcendence -  a stage in which several independent political states may conglomerate to form themselves into a single, unified entity that represents am evolutionary step above a state.

Conglomerations of states have already formed (and disintegrated).  Examples of such formations in various stages are: The short-lived United Arab Republic (between Egypt and Syria), the former Soviet Union (USSR) and its conquered vassal states, the present European Union (EU), and the United States of American (USA).  The former Soviet Union has collapsed and disintegrated, and is unlikely to ever reform.  The EU has as of yet no central constitution, and may never have.  Even the USA, which has survived some 200+ years, recently is showing such severe internal political polarization that it may split, rather transcend.  It is an open question, however, as to whether these examples represent a transcendence higher than a state, or are merely more complex forms of a state.

In Transcendent Reality, religion is the special philosophical construct that defines, protects, and promotes morality.  In this sense, religion, in its generic sense, is differentiated from established religious faiths, doctrines, denominations, schisms, or sects.  Morality is nothing more, and nothing less, than a determination that a decision or action helps or hinders the welfare of the greater social organism.  If an action helps the common or collective good, than it is moral.  If an action hurts the common or collective good, then it is immoral.  Morality is the choosing of actions that benefit the greater social organism over those that only benefit the individual or a lesser group within the greater social organism.

A moral choice is created when we can choose among alternative actions. When we choose that which serves the greater social organism, we are moral. When we choose that which serves our self at the expense of the greater social organism, we are immoral.  If there is no alternative, then no morality issues arise. If an action neither harms nor helps the greater or collective society, then it is neutral, and is neither moral nor immoral.

It is the choosing of the proper moral action that can enhance our collective chances for:
-  survival - as an entity in this world;
- continuance-in-kind - as a human being (in our children), and as a family, clan, tribe, state, or unnamed group; and our
- prosperity - as an individual, family, clan, tribe, state, or unnamed group.

The consequences of our actions very often do not just affect us as an individual, but propagate through our family, clan, tribe, state, and unnamed group, even to yet unborn generations.  And because the combined consequences of our actions as a family, clan, tribe, state or unnamed group, propagate on in time through generations yet to be born – in fact, often determining who is to beget, and who is begotten – the very fate and continuance of the social grouping and order depend on the nature and quality of the moral code practiced.

So, it is this morality that is the meat of religion.  All other trappings in religious institutions deal with instilling loyalty and fealty to the moral code.  The proper role of religion is to define and promote what is moral and immoral.  There is, however, no universal morality - because there is no one-world society.  Rather there are many societies competing for survival, dominance, continuance-in-kind, and prosperity for themselves (but not necessarily for their competitors.)  Those societies that are amalgamating into cooperative social structures, however, have a pronounced need to have aligning and complementary moral codes, that might eventually merge into one code if transcendence into a single transcendent social entity is to be achieved.

Established religious institutions outside of the Paradigm of Transcendent Reality often promote a moral code that is fettered to fantastical claims of an omnipotent and omniscient being called God, who lives in a mystical heaven that is populated with subservient angels that serves the souls of dead humans who died in the grace of that God.  And in the contrast there may exist an evil counterpart, sometimes a fallen angel, popularly named Satan, that lives in a fiery hell populated with subservient demons that go about torturing the souls of dead humans who have fallen from the grace of that G0d.

In the age of scientific investigation, such mystical fantasy is appropriately rejected, but all too often the associated moral code is also rejected.  We must take care, when rejecting superstition and fantasy, that we examine our moral code and replace it with a code that enhances our collective, survival, continue-in-kind, and prosperity.  For without morality we will not long survive as an identifiable collective.  Nor can we arbitrarily declare moral tenets free from natural consequences.  Choose unwisely, and consequences that follow may imperil our personal survival, continuance-in-kind, and prosperity, as well as that of the greater or collective society.