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The Five Pillars of Yo: 
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We believe it is possible to harness our deepest desires—our desire to live in a just, fair world—and our love (love for ourselves, our families, our friends, our communities, and even for humanity). Furthermore, we believe that when these harnessed motivations are then guided by intelligence and reason, we can create (imperfections notwithstanding) a veritable paradise, right here in the Real world in which we live. Though human shortsightedness, divisive identifications, and limited understandings have always worked to keep us from coming close to such a goal, there are no known limits to the wonders that we can achieve; we can be sure that astounding, unpredictable human accomplishments will occur. Thus, we begin by believing in the Possibility of creating Heaven on Earth. |
Because of our concern for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for the world in which we all live, we commit our lives to realizing this Possibility.
We do this without self-abnegation! By such a statement, we remind ourselves, that—despite the cost of negotiating conflicts and working out agreements with others—there is no work that is more self-enhancing than joining together in community to do exactly what one believes is right. Though compromises are always necessary when people work together, rather than suppressing ourselves when we commit our individual lives to this superordinate, overarching goal, we are also expressing some of our deepest desires and most cherished aims.
In Devotion to this sacred task, we have made our life's work the realization of the possibility of Heaven on Earth.
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But today the world is as it is, not as we will someday make it. In order both to create and to partake of Heaven on Earth, we realize we must rise above the universal obstacles that have prevented the realization of our long sought after goal. We must rise above wishful thinking, impulsiveness, laziness, and selfishness.
In our own selves and in our communities, we must maximize the expression of positive human traits, such as wisdom, delaying immediate gratification in order to pursue greater gain, discipline and diligence, honesty, generosity, cooperation, and, above all else, love.
It is in the expression of the best of our potential—in the Embodiment of that which we are trying to create—that we bring Heaven on Earth into existence, for our loved ones and for ourselves, today.
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Knowing that any significant realization of Heaven on Earth will require the coordinated effort of many, many people, we work to motivate others to join us in our efforts. Because we embrace Reality and also want to encourage others to do so, the most effective invitation we can offer is a loving demonstration of Embodied Possibility.
People are irresistibly attracted to "a good thing." Rather than a promise of a reward in an unseen afterlife, we must present what we are creating to the scrutiny of the world, in the faith that, "If we build it, they will come."
In pursuit of the necessary concerted effort required to create Heaven on Earth, we place our faith in the power of human Recognition. |
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Our ability "to become/embody that which we are trying to create," and the power of others to Recognize the Embodiment we present, are both far from perfect. Because of this imperfection, there is a continual need to listen to the full range of ideas of all those who wish to create Heaven on Earth. Together, we must thoroughly explore the differing ways in which Reality can be directly experienced by all parties to the discussion.
As we search for the common ground between human subjectivities, we can find the intersubjective Reality that we can all experience directly. It is within this "intersubjective field" that we must search for ways to improve our vision. If we fully engage one another in this ongoing dialog leading to continual modifications of our understandings, we will have created a self-correcting process built upon what could be called "co-recognition."
Our ultimate faith in the power of Recognition tells us that, if our efforts continue to be unrecognized, there is some inadequacy in what we have achieved and are presenting to others. In order to join others in the self-correcting process of co-recognition, we must have the patience to listen carefully to the truth that is contained even in those viewpoints with which we disagree.
Thus, we need to immerse ourselves in a thoroughgoing Engagement with others, if we are to be able to discern the ways in which we can more effectively Embody and create Heaven on Earth.
Yo
Finally, the Five Pillars surround, embrace, support, and are based upon the Divinity of Yo.
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