Levels

In Sciencism, we have a system of "levels" to categorize information and people. It is a way of matching information of whatever complexity with people who can understand that information.

To begin explaining how the system works, I must first say something that might not make much sense at this stage: you, dear reader, are now "Level-0".

With that out of the way, now I can explain what "Levels" means. You see, we all differ in our abilities and talents. For example, my special talent is computers and programming. And you might be a very talented piano player. Your friend Tom plays tennis very well. And so on. Those who have a talent in something have a superior level of ability in it that others who don't have the talent can't reach.

But what about hard work? Hard work is important, but a hardworking person without talent will never accomplish what a hardworking person with talent can. And most of the time, a person with a talent also enjoys using it. I love computers; you love playing the piano. Even if I did take piano lessons and worked very hard at it, I wouldn't enjoy playing the piano as much as you do.

If you understood all of the above, then you're Level-1. Gee that was easy! And you didn't even have to pay me anything! (If you were wondering if there was more to that last sentence than met the eye, then don't worry about it. You'd need Religion-5/Scientology-2 to understand that.)

Actually, earlier I said that you are "Level-0" and "Level-1". That's not entirely correct. It should have been "Levels-0" and "Levels-1" respectively. No, that is not a grammatical error. The word "Levels" is meant to be the "on the topic of Levels" or "on the subject of Levels". So, read in full, "Levels-0" means "Level 0 on the topic of 'Levels'". If you understood that, you're Levels-2.

Now, having talents are actually a good thing, because they allow us to specialize. Instead of being jacks of all trades, we can focus on the few things we are good at and master them. Thus in a society, we all complement each other. When you have a problem with your computer, you come to me. When I want to listen to piano music or take piano lessons, I come to you. This is better than both of us having a mediocre ability in computers and playing the piano. If you try to do too many things, you'll spread yourself too thin and won't be good at any of them. If all of that made sense, then welcome to Levels-2.

Now, just like computers and playing the piano, there are other things like science, architecture, the stock market, languages, and so on that people can be talented in. There are also other things that you'd think don't require talent, such as being a good person, living a healthy life, and being happy. But these things actually do require talent. This is one of the reasons why atheism doesn't actually work. Most people don't know how to be good, live healthy, and be happy. They turn to religion, because atheism doesn't tell you how to do any of these things. You're on your own. The atheists instead point to the big book of science and say, "All your answers are in there." But that doesn't help those who are searching for simple answers to life's questions.

Atheists like to point out that there are no easy and simple answers to life's questions. They are wrong. There is nothing that is so complex that it can't be simplified enough for ordinary people to understand. Why did Wikipedia feel the need to have a separate Simple English wikipedia? I rest my case. So, by not getting satisfactory answers to life's questions, the seekers turn to religions, who are only too happy to provide simple answers. And the answers that the religions provide without doubt do enable their adherents to live successful lives. It is the reason why religion is important and will never go away.

If you understood all of the above, then you are Levels-3. You'll find that the ideas are getting more and more complex. At some point your mind just won't be able to accept any more. The last Level of information that you understood will be your Level number. Let's suppose that the last Level you understood was Levels-4. You would therefore be "Levels-4". This, incidentally, is Levels-4 information.

The basic idea is that not everyone has the time, energy, inclination, or talent to be high Level in everything. So we try and learn just enough from those who are at a higher Level, in order to lead our lives successfully. Doing this frees up time for ourselves so that we can focus on the things we are high Level in, and help those who are lower Level in those things so that they learn just enough to lead their lives successfully. This is also approximately Level 3 information.

Now, the Level numbers I've been using to explain the concept of Levels here are arbitrary. In other words, I just made them up. In reality there could be thousands of Levels per concept, or there could be 15. Just assume for a moment that I'm "Levels-10". But there are others out there who have the potential to be higher level than me in the study of Levels. Perhaps Level 15 or 20. I imagine that these people would be experts at categorizing information. Sort of like librarians on crack. I'll call them Levelizers. Now, what I've just said is Level 5 information. Again, that number is arbitrary, but serves to illustrate the concept. And if you understood that, you're now level 5 in Levels. Congratulations.

Now, these Levelizers - potential Levelizers actually, because they're not Levelizers yet - they don't actually know that they have the potential to be Levelizers just yet. They don't know, because right now, they don't have the pre-requisites, one of which is "Sciencism-10". Right now, they might be "Sciencism-2". They just need someone with a high Sciencism level, me for instance, to "activate" and teach them until they are Sciencism-10. Once that happens, higher levels of "Levels" will start to make sense and they can proceed to properly Levelize Sciencism. Once that happens, I won't need to use arbitrary level numbers any more. It's similar to how in a course of study at University, you need to do Math 101 before you can do Computer Programming 102. And you need Computer Programming 102 to do Software Development 203.

I think you, dear reader, understood the basic concept of Levels, so I won't make up arbitrary Level numbers to illustrate my point any more. So you see, in real life, we need people who are Morality-10 to help those who are at Morality-1 live their lives successfully. And in turn, these people who might be Plumbing-10 or Law-10 can focus their time and energy on those who are Plumbing-1 or Law-1 live their lives successfully. In the Church of Sciencism, you who are at Music-10 could play music during worship, thus helping those of us who are at Music-5/Singing-4, to worship more effectively. It's specialization again, just like I was saying before.

You see, most people don't have the capability to develop their own life philosophy. Non-religious people develop a life philosophy by reading many books on numerous subjects, reading countless articles on the internet, discussing endlessly with others, and so on. Most people have simply got better things to do. Which is why they turn to religion, because religion gives them a life philosophy, nice and pre-packaged, one-size-fits-all, so that they can focus on more important things. Religious leaders specialize in one religion, and they break it down so that ordinary people can understand. For science to be a viable option for people, it has to be transformed from "the big book of science" into something that gives people simple answers that people can immediately use and then go about their business. But that's not all. Science also needs to give satisfactory positive answers to metaphysical and spiritual questions. If there is no satisfactory positive answers to these questions in science, they will turn to religion.

The surviving religions of today were recorded at some point in the past and have been passed down through the years in this recorded form. For example, the Torah and Talmud, the Bible, the Bhagvad Gita, the Pearl of Great Price, Hubbard's writings and recordings, and so on. If your knowledge of these things isn't great, don't worry about it. It's not very important for you to know what they are at this stage. Now these texts I mentioned are too dense for most people to read and understand by themselves. In fact, the majority of religious people have never read their religion's scriptures. Instead, they rely on their religious leaders to break it down for them. Those who are able to read the scriptures without assistance may choose to go on to become religious leaders themselves. This is why we have a heirarchy in all religions. In Catholicism for example, there is the Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Nuns, etc. The Pope might be Catholicism Level 15, cardinals might be Level 13, bishops might be Level 10, priests might be Level 8, and nuns might be Level 6.

No catholic would describe it that way, because they've never looked at it from this angle before. You see, Religion Level 7 is required in order to understand what I've just said. The Pope might be Catholicism Level 15, but he's not yet Religion Level 7. I suspect that he would find it easy to reach and surpass Religion Level 7 if he wanted to quite easily. In any case, even if he did know, it would be in his best interests to not show it. That's essentially how it works.

In Sciencism, we believe that not everyone has the time or inclination or capability to know and understand everything about everything. This is easy to see everywhere in society you look. Doctors must spend 8 years or more studying for their profession. This doesn't leave sufficient time to learn other subjects such as astronomy in depth. That is why in modern society we all specialize in a field that (hopefully) we have an aptitude for. We become experts in our chosen fields, but have only a basic understanding of other subjects.

In my own case, I have chosen software development as a career. I like to think that I am quite proficient at writing code. It is the field that I have the most aptitude for. I also have an aptitude in other fields, especially science ones such as biology, chemistry, etc. I have no aptitude for sports and politics, and my knowledge in those fields is very limited.

Now, if you are trying to educate someone about something, it is important to give them only the amount and complexity of information that they are able to handle and no more. There are 3 problems that occur if you try to give a person more information than they can handle or information that is more complex than they can handle.

1. They can't retain the information for very long. As an example, if you gave me a blizzard of information about the current political situation, I would only understand a little of it and remember even less. There have been many times when I was trying to explain some technology to a non-techie person. While they understood most of what I said with great difficulty, they could never remember any of it an hour later and I had to explain it all over again. The problem is that our brains are like the children's toy that has several holes of different shapes, through which go blocks of different shapes (I can't quite remember the name of that class of toys). Our brains have "holes" of different shapes and sizes, and only information that's the right shape will go through and stay in.
2. Their stress level increases. When we are in an unfamiliar environment, we feel stressed. We feel like we've lost control. This is exactly what happens when people are confronted with information that they cannot process (yet).
3. They will seek simpler answers elsewhere. This is the biggest problem in the creation vs. evolution debate today. Scientists and atheists, lacking empathy, cannot conceive that evolution is impossible for lay people to comprehend as is.

The problem is that in trying to convince someone about the truth of something, be it evolution or the age of the universe, it is easy to forget that not everyone thinks in the same way that we do.

This is why, in Sciencism, all knowledge and scripture is categorized into levels. Level 0 information is the least complex and the vast majority of people should be able to understand it, even non-sciencists. Level 9 is the most complex information and only a very few people would be able to understand it. Between those two extremes is a continuum of other levels.

Scientology has a similar system of levels, but Scientologists are required to purchase materials (often at high cost) to advance up the hierarchy. In Sciencism, one only needs to learn information upto a level at which they still feel comfortable. They can learn information at a higher level than that if they choose to, but doing so is not recommended.

[edit] Levels of information

Information is categorized into a 2-dimensional structure.

• The 0th dimension is the information itself (subject or topic).
• The 1st dimension is complexity of the information, a continuum from low to high.
• The 2nd dimension is the field, such as astronomy, evolution, politics, levels, etc.

[edit] Levelizers

You may have noticed that in the list above, the 2nd dimension included "levels". Yes, even categorizing information is a (huge) topic requiring specialized skills. NSD is not a levelizer and has no aptitude for it. It is important that Sciencism attracts those with the skills to categorize all the information in Sciencism.