Urianism

Urianism is a religion founded in 1993. Although Urianism is considered a religion, it can also be seen as a sociopolitical ideology and framework of itself, as adherents to the Urian faith are required to become theocrats. Urianism is based upon and heavily influenced by Abrahamic and other monotheistic faiths, especially Gnostic and mystic forms thereof. It also has inspiration from ancient Gnostic cults, sects, and mystery schools, such as Mithraism and Orphism, as well as from now-extinct religions such as Akhenatonism and Anuism. Urian teachings are rooted in a work known as the Elyon, which is believed to have been handed down to a human scribe named Uriyah by the archangel Uriel.

Introduction
Urians believe that God is one, and that God revealed it, him, or herself to mankind wearing various masks throughout history. Urians also believe that Urianism is a revelation for the contemporary era of humanity, and that the Urian revelation is the purest form of monotheism where others seemed to have failed.

Religious concepts and practices include the seven daily devotions, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship. Urians consider the seven daily devotions as forms of passionate worship to God, forbidding any forced worship as lifeless and meaningless.

The open goal of the religion is to create a global and galactic mysticratic and theocratic empire over the next 1,120 years, beginning in 2012. During the thousand year period following the founding of the nation, the intention would turn to uniting the monotheistic religions and peoples of the earth, and reach out to explore space, terraforming, mining, and expanding.

At its first height, Urianism had around 100 interested affiliates from locations such as New Zealand, India, the Middle East, and Africa. Sighting non-participation and disinterest, the primary online group was deleted, effectively excommunicating most of the community. The faith currently exists as a handful of devout disciples spread throughout the United States and Europe; this group is considered "The Seeds of the Faith". Its thought that Urianism is intended to come into fullness after a future global crisis referred to as, "the Chastisement".

Etymology
Urianism is a noun, derived from the Hebrew word "Urian", meaning "From Heaven". In a religious context, it means "The Religion which came from Heaven." Urian, the word for an adherent of Urianism, means "From Heavenist". This asserts the ideal of striving to be heavenly, transcendent, and overcoming what Urians believe to be the "trap of reincarnation". A secondary meaning of Urianism is rooted in the ancient Sumerian city-state called Ur; the term is also related to Patriarch Abraham who was from the city of Ur, used as a way to tie Urianism to the Abrahamic religions.

God
Urianism's most fundamental concept, like Islam's, is a strict form of monotheism, except with modalistic teaching. God is described in the Elyon as an amalgamation of the high gods/old gods of varied times, cultures, and theisms, baring similarities also with henotheists. They also consider God as being above gender, which can be called androgyny or, in the faith, "non-gendered'ism". God is also seen by Urians as being panentheistic (within and beyond all things).

The deity of Urianism is one, and the Christian doctrine of a triune deity is fiercely rejected.

In Urianism, God is viewed as having worn or projected many masks which they believe God has worn throughout the ages. Such masks are numerous, but out of all the masks, Urians usually refer to the Semetic-Babylonian king of creation, Anu, the Zoroastrian-Persian deities Ahura Mazda and Zurvan, El and El Elyon of the Canaanite and Semitic pantheons, Yahweh of the Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian religions, Aeon-Ouranos of Greco-Roman esotericism, the Etruscan Saturn, Baha of Bahai, Okankar of Sikhism, Allah of Islam, Wakan Tanka of the Native Americans, and the "Agape-Divine Love" in the contemporary era among many others. The most common and de facto mask of the religion however appears to be El Elyon (God Most High).

Urians hold strong to the teaching that the creation of everything, seen and unseen, has been brought into being by God's thoughts, words, and will. They revere God as a personal god who reaches out to those who willingly reach out to him/it/her, reflecting back and magnifying the relationship that its creations express as a desire to have.

Angels and Christ
Belief in angels is fundamental to Urianism. Urians believe in similar angelic hierarchies to that of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. The angels are seen as mighty warriors and servants of God. Many ideas about images of angels and archangels in Urianism differ from the New Age Movement, and have much more in common with the angels of the ancient world, namely Judeo-Christian and Islamic concepts, although New Age images have been used in the religion regarding artistic expression and visions, respectively.

In Urianism there are seven primary and local archangels who are concerned with humankind and planet earth, and the solar system as a whole. Their names are Sandalphon, Raphael, Gabriel, Hanael, Tzadkiel, Sariel/Sarakiel, and Michael. Other non-local archangels referenced in the teachings of Urianism are: Metatron, Uriel, Tzaphkiel, and Raziel.

The seven archangels, collectively known as Immanuel, who is viewed as the "Lamb with Seven Eyes and Seven Horns" in Revelation 5, are the rulers of the seven orders of Urianism and founders of the seven monotheisms (Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Bahai). The seven archangels are thought to have incarnated as the founders of the seven monotheisms, suffering from the amnesia of being in human form, but knowing their mission on an unconscious level while on Earth.

These angels are not just seen as the founders of the seven monotheisms and rulers of the seven orders, but they are also seen as part of the Lamb of God, who Urians believe to be the earthly emanation of a "Cosmic Christ Spirit" that seeks to bring all spirits and souls to the feet of God. Jesus himself is viewed, with Melchizedek, as the two greatest manifestations of the Lamb. On the other hand, the Lamb is also viewed as more than just one person, and the Christ Spirit is concerned with bringing all races and worlds to God, not just humanity and the planet earth.

Integration
A central tenet of Urianism, is the goal of integration, through authenticity and self-realization, with similarities to the ideas and practices of Jungian psychology, in which every Urian is asked to work on self-reflection and practices of very blunt self-honesty, examining their real motives and underlying truths of their nature, in order to bring conscious and unconscious into greater union, and thereby unite soul and spirit (symbolically described as a marriage of the soul and the spirit, or the mortal nature with the immortal nature).

Urian Priesthood
Urian priests and priestesses are said to be called to a path akin to that of the ancient magi, mystics, paladins, and arcane masters. In the Elyon, the training of priests and priestesses is laid down in a step-by-step fashion. This training is comprised with various rites and the learning of skills akin to the training of shamans and medicine men, or ancient mystic priesthoods.

Priests and priestesses within Urianism practice magick, however, they consider this magick as Holy Magic or "Theurgy". Such forms of magic have been criticized by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as witchcraft or sorcery; however, according to Urianism, there is a difference between holy and unholy practices of magic - that is sorcery and priestly arts In a nutshell, Urian priests and priestesses are mages, practicing holy rites through using magic for holy purposes (this can be referred to as white, gray, or the "Divine Magic"); Christians and Messianic Jews have compared this to Haitian Voodoo or Kabbalah.

Many Heavens
Urianism views the subject of the afterlife as more than heaven and hell, black and white, saved or damned, but insists that there are levels of salvation and damnation, that damnation need not be permanent, and that there are possibly infinite numbers of heavens and hells (fractal), as well as accepting the general ideas of the modern M-Theory and Quantum Mechanics, and applying such ideas to their spiritual cosmology.

Urianism also teaches that 99.9% of people, no matter their religious path, will be reincarnated on Earth repeatedly. In such reincarnation it is only the spirit (divine spark) that returns, while the soul (human personality/identity) becomes nothing more than data or information, inherited by one's "personal god". This is a view consistent with the Old Gnostic view of imprisonment in the material world, until achieving liberation through personal revelation of the divine (a peak transformative personal experience of God). In Urianism such salvation is achieved through integration and a personal relationship with God (through personal daily devotions).

Futhermore, priests and priestesses are encouraged to creatively visualize and anthologize their own personal heaven or world, in detail, as part of their training. This is seen as a way to draw close to God through the work of co-creation, promoting the creativity of God's children, as well as deep consideration of creation itself and the interconnectivity thereof.

The Urian afterlife is generally referred to as Pryzmea (the "Mansion of Uriel" or "The Prism Plane"), and is considered the universe where dreams (fantasy, fiction, imaginations) are realized and manifested. Each monotheistic religion and sect is thought to have its own angel or archangel, with its own rules/principles, and its own heavenly abode or mansion, where the believers in its sect or religion will reside in death (until being reincarnated).

The personal heaven idea is rather unique to Urianism, though the idea was explored in the Robin Williams cult classic, What Dreams May Come, and in the New Age Movement's 2012 "Three Days of Darkness" teaching, respectively.

Seven Daily Devotions
Urians are taught to practice the seven devotions every day, as a way to establish a personal relationship with both God and their own spirit. They can be practiced at any time during the day. These practices are said to strengthen the relationship between God and man. The seven daily devotions are:
 * 1) Worship, submission or surrender to God's will. It is a expression of love and loyalty to God.
 * 2) Prayer, talking to God, pouring out one's heart and all of one's desires.
 * 3) Meditation, listening to God in silence and even in chant of the divine names (invocation).
 * 4) Studying, asking questions about God. Studying to show oneself worthy.
 * 5) Contemplation, to seek God and look for God's hand at the work in the world around oneself.
 * 6) Fellowship, uniting in God's spirit and mutually edifying each other in the light of God's truth.
 * 7) Works, to do and obey God's will and word.

Scripture
The religious scripture of Urianism is called the Elyon, or Book of the Most High. The work began in 1993, when Uriyah (Victory Myel) was delivered a spiritual message from what he'd call the Holy Spirit. The scribe claims that the Elyon is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel 12 and Revelation 10 (the hidden scrolls revealed), and the revealing of the hidden manna.

Teachings found within the Elyon are related to a wide range of subjects: monotheism, panentheism, mysticism, Gnosticism, shamanism, syncretism, theism, deism, emanation, solipsism, intelligent design, technocracy, theocracy, morality, and ecology.

The first section (Dialogues) addresses the struggles of the scribe himself, and his conversations with God. The next portion (Monologues), is the greater part of the scriptures, addressing first the individual's relationship with God and teachings that every Urian needs to understand and accept. This is followed by a section specifically for the formation of the Urian Temple and the training of its priests and priestesses. The last part of the book is, more-or-less, a constitution or plan to establish a global and mysticratic Urian Empire within the next 1,120 years, laying out a step-by-step path to acheiving the manifestation of a "Kingdom of Priests" on earth, and the system of holy government that would be instituted.

There are also sections of commentaries and angelic symbology. In the sections, the book's readers can have a small in-depth study of the seven monotheisms and their history from the Urian perspective. The Names of God in Urianism are also listed in the appendix.

Other Faiths
Urians are taught that they should study the sacred teachings of the other seven monotheistic religions, or "Seven Tribes United in an Eighth". They are to strive to understand and mediate between the different socially-conservative sects and religions of monotheism, working toward a united front in the face of what many monotheists consider a godless, immoral, neo-pagan, occultic, secular, humanistic, and materialistic New World Order agenda, which seeks to destroy and undermine the monotheistic religions of the contemporary era and rid society of monotheistic moral values. In this sense, Urians believe in bridging the gap, agreeing to disagree, and being ecumenical, without compromising their own views and values, for the greater good as it were. They tend to teach that there is an original and pure form of each monotheistic faith, that those monotheists should seek to find and practice. Moreover, Urians look favorably upon Taoism, Cheondoism, the Druze, Yezidism (as a form of Zoroastrianism), Zurvanism, Mithraism, Kabbalah, Martinism, Gnosticism, monotheistic native indigenous spiritual teachings, and religious theurgical practices. In a nutshell, Urians support looking to a core ideal of one God and traditional/conservative social values.

Evil
Evil exists as a consequence of freewill according to Urianism and other Abrahamic religions. Moreoer, Urianism focuses on the idea of the false-gods, or Vanities. These entities, seen in Urianism as originally the Watchers of the Book of Enoch, are seen as "living archetypes," who feed upon the souls, emotions, experiences, and drama of humanity. By the greater sum total of one's thoughts, feelings, words, and actions a person determines whether they serve God (or an aspect of this deity), or a false-god or devil (a Vanity). This is seen as in keeping with the ancient struggle between polytheism and monotheism: one God verses many false gods, rather than about God verses a single devil. The archangels of Urianism are much like the Gnostic notion of Aeons, even as the Vanities are much like the Gnostic idea of Archons.

Secondarily, there is intense concern among Urians with the merger of mankind with machines, or transhumanism, which is seen as the ultimate satanic agenda, and related to an interpretation of the Christian prophecy of the Mark of the Beast (RFID chips or microchips placed in hands or on the forehead) among other monotheistic and non-monotheistic faiths. The Vanities are viewed as being behind and directing the plan to merge all mankind into one great collective false-god or "Great Mind", seen as "the Singularity". Refusal of any sort of microchip or RFID tag into the flesh is therefore mandatory for Urians. Reception of such a chip would constitute permament inalterable allegiance to the forces of evil, being alienated from God. This is much like the Gnostic view of matter and spirit, in that linking your mind and body to an artificial intelligence and human collective mind, would then be to merge with matter more fully and separate from God to an ever greater degree than is already the condition of mankind.

Law and Governance
Rather than waiting for divine intervention from some messianic figure, Urians are tasked with each working to establish of a holy nation, hypothetically called "Celestia" (or "E-krania"), which is then to focus on spreading globally, forming alliances with other monotheistic religions and political-religious factions, and eventually forming a global, and even an interstellar, sacred empire. Monologue 43 in the religious text states: "As the modern state of Israel was founded, so also an eventual Urian nation shall rise through infiltration, migration, consolidation, covert preparations, and then a general uprising (once you have key people in key positions of any given government and military structure)."

Education
When the desired nation is established, all will be required to learn a universal language and women won't be excluded from education. Discrimination is prohibited and secular-humanistic educational institutions will be forbidden. Virtual reality schools are also something that is suggested within the Elyon itself, as well as things like vocational training, and mandatory martial arts training, and segregation of boys from girls during formative years.

Morality
Urians are instructed to hold traditional Judeo-Christian social values, and taboos; yet emphasize equality and cooperation between men and women, and discourage cruelty and torture, as well as having a strong emphasis on environmentalism and animal rights. In this frame there are both conservative and liberal elements within Urianism; though it generally rejects and considers as evil, the current views of popular culture in regards to matters such as gay marriage and abortion.

Economics
The Urian nation state envisions a civil-driven free market economy, rather than an economy dominated by multi-national corporations. The proposed tax system is a bracketed fixed flat tax, dividing citizens into nine tax brackets, in which each bracket pays a specific and permanent set tax ranging from 5% up to as high as 35%. All tax would be income tax, that is to say, any money that one takes in, as income, is taxable, while money spent by businesses on worker payrolls is non-taxable.

Theocracy
The Urian nation state is envisioned as a pluralistic theocracy, but has socialist, democratic, and even chivalric-militaristic elements. This plural theocracy aspect would involve the formation of an ecumenical religious council, to which predominant monotheistic faiths of the state would send elected representatives, to act as the "Conscience of the Nation," dealing with issues of morality, society, and social programs. The predominante structure is strongly democratic, yet term cycles are longer than in most democratic nations (7 to 10 years), and candidates will be held to a standard of merit and must be thoroughly vetted (investigated, questioning with lie detection, psychological evaluations, etc).

Technocracy
The Urian country would be very fixated on the unification of science with spirituality, metaphysics, and even things considered paranormal; in that, Uriel, according to Urian priests, priestesses and scribes has mandated that Urians seek to take charge of their own genetic development and evolution (for all citizens equally) and strive to reach space and colonize other worlds, and even open interdimensional portals to travel the universe more easily and enter other planes of existence.

Cyborgism, or transhumanism, is forbidden in the Urian view, yet genetic medicine is embraced as a non-cyborg/non-mechanical path to human transcendence, with the goal of becoming homo-angelicus, or human angels.

Empire
There is a chivalric-militaristic and imperialistic aspect to the vision of the Urian country, conjuring images of holy knights and mystic priests, and the ideal of reaching out to the universe with a theme of unapologetic imperial grandeur and martial majesty; i.e, making life more than the mundane. With humorous irony, there are similarities between the Urian vision of the the future, and the Amaar of the popular video game, EVE Online.