New Atenism

How do we achieve progress, prosperity and purpose in our own lives? How can we move humanity towards a more just and equitable world? How do we embrace the helpful aspects of religion, like building community, fostering empathy and becoming part of something larger than ourselves, while rejecting harmful aspects like the divisions which arise from dogmatic belief in conflicting supernatural narratives? In this thought-provoking book, Matt Ward claims humanity is ready for a new kind of religion, one based on what we know and how we know it rather than myths and legends that purport to explain the unknown. Ward begins with the God of Spinoza, defined as all of reality, everything that ever has or ever will exist. Spinoza claimed that divine revelation can only be accomplished by creating more reality-aligned beliefs through reason. Ward synthesizes what we’ve learned about the universe and ourselves into a belief system, a religion, rooted in reason. Ward argues that reason is humanity’s truth-finding superpower and can therefore unite us far better than the vast array of conflicting religious narratives. Reason is the true source of individual and collective progress and prosperity.

Going back 3,300 years, Ward tells us the story of an Egyptian pharaoh named Akhenaten who founded a religion, Atenism, based on that “sphere in the sky” that emits “life-giving rays.” Citing Akhenaten as a rare, and Ward argues singular, founder of an ancient religion whose claim of divine power has been confirmed by reason. Aten, aka the sun, really is a sphere that powers life on Earth. Ward goes on to dissect what reason has revealed is false about Atenism. The “New” in New Atenism is what reason has revealed and will continue to reveal. Ward tells us that the most important reason-revealed update of Atenism is that near-Earth space’s filtration and regulation of Aten’s immense power is required to make those rays life-giving rather than life destroying. Human activity is upsetting that balance and threatening the biosphere’s ability to support life. A foundational belief of New Atenism is that to venerate Aten for the life it brings us we must respect and repair the damage we are doing to its balance with near-Earth space. Ward argues that we must focus the power of reason on resolving the conflict between human progress and the Aten/near-Earth space balance.

Near-Earth space’s embrace of that which facilitates life and rejection of that which harms it provides a model for how we can use reason to thrive individually and collectively. This book will show you how to prosper in your own life by employing reason to increase self-knowledge and how to make your contribution to human progress by supporting reason’s collective use.