Theism in the Empire

From the Xenotheology Departments of ancient, lauded universities on Terra to untold hundreds of thousands of famous Ctarl-Ctarl philosophers, there is no shortage of discussion and debate as to the nature of religion in the Ctarl-Ctarl Empire. When simplified into a useful form for the Space Forces, it has two major tenants, that I will address directly: ideological origins, and present cultural relativity.

First—it must be understood that, no matter how similar they may appear physically, psychologically, or ideologically, Ctarl-Ctarl are not Terrans. They did not evolve on Terra over thousands of years, and even the uncanny genetic similarities they hold today, reflected earlier on my sections address Ctarl-Ctarl biology, they are fundamentally not humans. One major difference is reflected in Ctarl-Ctarl theism: in the words of the ancient Terran scientific thinker and philosopher, Richard Dawkins, Terrans are inherently dualists. They were tens of thousands of years ago, going back through recorded history, and even the Torward Star period, a comparatively small portion of Terran history, still possess a tendency to dualism. Ctarl-Ctarl are now, and have been throughout recorded history, monists.

What does this mean? Grossly oversimplified, a dualist believes in a fundamental distinction between matter and mind, that an organism, say, a Terran, is not fully defined by physical existence. Most relevantly, the conscious mind is a sort of disembodied spirit that inhabits the body and, conceivably, could exist separate of a physical form. By comparison, a monist subscribes to the metaphysical view that things that exist are reducible to a single substance or reality, and this is reflected throughout the universe, but perhaps most relevantly, in the organism itself, say, an individual Ctarl-Ctarl. In dualism, there is an innate, even instinctual tendency, to personify inanimate objects. Dualism is built into our brains, the reflection—according to academia anyway—of a useful tendency that assisted survival.

Rather than dragging on the extremely popularity of this idea through our history, consider the obvious: even today, Terrans across religious and cultural lines tend to distinguish between the physical form and the conscious one. Why is this? For the sake of this text, we subscribe to the so-called Moth to the Flame Hypothesis: the behavior of a moth is defined by millions of year of evolution, but why would such an organism engage in the self-destructive behavior of flying into a flame? In actuality, we are asking an incorrect question, just as we incorrectly define Ctarl-Ctarl faith. Moths, and many insects, have benefitted from navigation based on moon and starlight. Being at optical infinity, distant light travels in parallel, allowing for a useful form of navigation, particularly for an organism with compound eyes like moths, which can navigate by maintain a source of light at a particular angle versus the horizon. By comparison, candlelight or any other small, portable light is a relatively recent phenomenon and a minority at that: for each moth that commits suicide, untold numbers successfully carry on their lives, as demonstrated by the continued existence of moths. Candlelight rays, however, do not travel in parallel but diverge from a common source, causing a moth obeying instinct to travel in a logarithmic spiral to its eventual demise, burn by the flame. What does this have to do with dualism? Dualism has likely had a plethora of useful traits to early Terrans, who more than any other species on ancient Earth, depended on transmission of useful knowledge to their offspring for survival. Such a mindset was beneficial to early hominid survival, and was thus carried on though most, if not all, of our evolutionary history. Among other things, dualism conditioned children to be receptive to unquestioning wisdom, particularly from their elders. Following this notion, a consequence of dualist thought is the particularly spiritual nature of Terran religion. Nor is this limited to Terrans: a similar dualist hypothesis is postulated, and widely accepted, for Silgrians, and conveniently, Siligranian faiths much more closely resemble our present religions than those of the Ctarl-Ctarl.

Returning to the point: what does monism mean for the Ctarl-Ctarl? Why Ctarl-Ctarl are monists is not evident: a popular indigenous theory, based on the simple common sense approach popular in the Ctarl-Ctarl intellectual tradition, points to the early Ctarl-Ctarl dominance of their own environment on their evolutionary homeworld. Ninety-nine percent of their traceable history has seen the Ctarl-Ctarl as the most capable, and dangerous, organism in their environment. For an early Terran, the ability to ingrain discipline in children, or from a different approach, easily associate certain evidence to certain threats ("Regardless of actual reasons behind it, this tiger is dangerous in essence and will kill me.") is useful, but not a universal constant. As already mentioned, Ctarl-Ctarl imperatives for loyalty and discipline are fundamentally different, and ancient Ctarl-Ctarl had certain luxuries not available to humans when it came to survival in their environment ("I am aware that this tiger, or any other wild creature, cannot seriously harm me, thus the absolutely minimum of information about it does not necessarily need to pertain to its survival. For example, how does it taste?"). Terrans did not become apex predators until comparatively recently in their existence, since about the time the early hunter-gatherers mastered the more advanced use of weapons and tools. Ctarl-Ctarl were almost certainly apex predators since before thy learned to use tools; other dangerous species (few of which still exist, and those which do are often endangered) were destroyed as Ctarl-Ctarl overcame the numerous geographic barriers in their ancient world.

(Figure 16: A textbook illustration of a prehistoric Ctarl-Ctarl woman. Despite intending to represent the earliest Ctarl-Ctarl, living just under 200,000 years ago, she uncannily like a modern Ctarl-Ctarl in incomplete metamorphosis. Notice her physical build: comparatively short, long legs, large breasts and wide hips, intended to represent both an active hunter and a mother having recently had a litter. As a dangerous predator, she has little need for a spear or weapon of that sort.)

Again attempting to return to the point: Terrans, on the most basic level, are dualists—the core essence of a sentient organism, a soul, is separate from the physical form. Ctarl-Ctarl, most basically, are monists—the core essence of a sentient organism is the physical form. And if you can say Terrans are obsessed with matters of the soul, it is possible to infer a Ctarl-Ctarl obsession with the physical form; it is very convenient to point consider the perspective from a Ctarl-Ctarl, endowed with physical supremacy over much of the rest of biology the way Terrans consider themselves intellectual superior to the rest of life through much of history, and understand their appreciate of the physical form as a the apex of perfection, or something close to it, the way the Terran soul—the cornerstone of beauty, philosophy, art, strategic, intellectual feats and all Terran creation—is the apex of what it is to be Terran. The Ctarl-Ctarl have a word for soul (Shen-shen), in the sense of awareness or conscious enjoyed by higher organisms like themselves, Terrans, Corbanites, etc., and in ancient times, it did have some supernatural attachment to it. But in Ctarl-Ctarl philosophy and theology, it is secondary to the physical form, to which it is a near homonym (Shén-shén). It is a reverse of the Terran tradition of valuing the spirit over the body, and in all likelihood, it has cascading effects on the Ctarl-Ctarl so pervasive and incalculable they cannot be fully appreciated.

This is both grossly simplified and highly speculative: as in philosophy, we cannot be totally certain of this understanding. We can, however, point to demonstrations of this difference in history, like a different perception of slavery (ownership of another being) than in Terran history. A popular method of consoling Terran slaves, particularly hereditary chattel slavery that was pervasive in Earth's western hemisphere for centuries, was to emphasize the physical nature of slavery and the promise of a just existence after death. Such a philosophy runs in direct contrast with Ctarl-Ctarl though, and religion. It may not be coincidental that slave revolts among the Ctarl-Ctarl were not only more common, but exceeding more violent.

(Figure 17: A pair of Ctarl-Ctarl scientists observe the latest Space Forces mind-machine bio-computer at the Proxima Industrial and Military Trade Show, not far from Earth. More familiar with self-contained bio-organic computers, one observed "This is one strange interface. It won't work if you're not wet?" She was referring to the liquid intermediary critical to conscious transmission in such a system.)

In common dialog, across cultures and language, the Terran or Human Spirit is universally celebrated among the people of Earth who left their cradle for space—our intelligence, our flexibility, our compassion, dogma and piety. Among the Ctarl-Ctarl, their physical form—their infamousand nonliteral immortality, the capability of some Ctarl-Ctarl to engage in metamorphosis (the so-called Beast Form), their unparalleled eyesight and ability to detect vibrations in the subspace ether that are only detectable through instrumentation by other species, and the like. Of course, the average educated Ctarl-Ctarl is probably not more likely to consider philosophy than the average educated Terran, but this does form the basis of Ctarl-Ctarl theology and philosophy.

Of course, we miss the elephant in the room: Terrans can claim Ctarl-Ctarl have souls, as they are apt to, alongside themselves, and that synthetic life lacks them. Androids can claim they have souls, if they are not recognized as such by the mainstream currently. Ctarl-Ctarl can claim the soul is indistinguishable from the physical form, and by extension, a nonissue. But as in Dawkin's time, science nor theology have proven in a sufficiently convincing matter that such a thing as a soul exists or doesn't exist.