Hear Me Out: What If We Made Lifelong Learning a Religion?

A philosophical exploration of the potential benefits of integrating religious elements into lifelong learning for critical thinking and societal cohesion.

People worldwide seem less open to talking with those holding opposing viewpoints. In conversations, some give one-line responses, others interrupt mid-sentence, and the rest nod, avoiding engagement.

Most people don't even question their beliefs. Socrates famously explored why people believe what they do, questioning answers until reaching 'aporia,' or point of puzzlement. Centuries later, our willingness to think critically—beyond the first thought that comes to mind—seems to decline. If someone tweets something, we conclude it must be true.

Social media amplifies this phenomenon. The world spends an average of 143 minutes per day on social media. Algorithms determine what we see based on our actions, likes, and thoughts. The more time we spend on a platform, the better it predicts what will keep us engaged, often showing us the information we agree with. Over a year, most people spend 52,195 minutes reinforcing their existing beliefs rather than challenging them.

If critical thinking were a habit, we could spend those minutes refining, discrediting, or dropping our ideas by exposing ourselves to contrasting ones. But a world that doesn't question its beliefs won't question an algorithm tailored to amplify them.

I believe we are in a worse position now than in the past, but we have never been great thinking critically. For most recorded history, we let religions, governments, and the media tell us what to believe. These institutions have lost their monopolies, mainly due to the internet's offer of infinite plausible answers. Instead of using this chance to think on our own, we let movements resembling religions tells us what to think, value, and strive for:

• Wellness gurus promote rituals for health.

• Harry Potter makes people more open to immigrants.

• 'Red pill men'—driven by the belief in male oppression—blame 'female nature' for their mating failure.

I mentioned that we are now worse off despite our historical lack of critical thinking because the abundance of endless belief systems in a society that does not question them leads to new consequences. Today, people within the same household often have opposing meanings and purposes in life, rituals, and community practices. This fragmentation makes social cohesion, cooperation, and collective action more difficult. Combined with a lack of critical thinking, the challenge seems insurmountable.

I'm not quite ready to tackle the issue of social cohesion, but I'm considering the idea that if people are searching for alternatives to traditional belief systems, we could promote critical thinking and avoid the negative consequences of not using this skill by incorporating elements of religion into lifelong learning. This integration might have benefits in promoting critical thinking and improving societal cohesion.

I will first expand on what I mean by turning education into a religion and then dive into its potential benefits and how it could look.

1. The New Religions

To establish common ground, I will use Emile Durkheim's 1912 definition of religion:

"A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community."

This definition remains relevant today:

• Judaism has a unified belief in the Sabbath.

• Christianity holds the cross, the Bible, and the Eucharist as sacred.

• Islam identifies with the Ummah, a global community of Islamic believers.

In her book Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World, doctorate in Theology

Tara Isabella Burton

argues that new religions fulfill four recurring needs that traditional religions have satisfied:

1. Meaning: They offer narratives that help individuals understand the world and their place in it, providing coherence and significance similar to traditional religions' explanations of existence and the human condition.

2. Purpose: Modern movements provide individuals with a sense of mission and direction, aligning followers' actions with broader goals and ideals, much like traditional religions' moral and spiritual missions.

3. Community: These movements create strong, supportive communities where individuals can find like-minded people, similar to traditional religious congregations.

4. Ritual: These movements establish rituals and practices that unite people and reinforce their shared beliefs.

Burton labels social justice, techno-utopianism, and wellness culture as new religions. For instance:

• Social justice unites people in the fight against racism.

• Techno-utopianism builds communities in tech hubs.

• Wellness culture incorporates ritualistic cold plunges.

These movements exhibit the characteristics of new religions by providing meaning, purpose, community, and ritual to their followers.

2. Wellness Culture as a New Religion

The components of new religions are meaning, purpose, community, and ritual. Let's further show how these movements resemble religions by deconstructing the wellness movement:

1. Meaning: The wellness narrative suggests we can achieve a higher state of existence by controlling our bodies and minds. Focusing on self-care, detoxification, and holistic health provides a framework for understanding how to live a meaningful life.

2. Purpose: Wellness promotes self-optimization, encouraging constant striving to become better, healthier, and more successful. Whether through counting calories, waking up at 6 a.m., or avoiding cheat meals, wellness offers principles to guide our actions.

3. Community: Wellness culture fosters a strong sense of community through shared activities and spaces. Fitness classes, wellness retreats, and online wellness communities offer venues where like-minded individuals unite, support each other, and share their journeys toward better health.

4. Ritual: Practices such as yoga, meditation, and detox challenges serve as rituals performed with dedication and reverence. These rituals are personal health practices and communal events that strengthen participant bonds. The repetition of these activities and the shared experiences they create reinforce the community's values and commitments, echoing the role of religious rituals in fostering unity and purpose.

Wellness culture is a new form of religion. It guides individuals in their quest for health and fulfillment while offering a sense of belonging and purpose.

3. Lifelong Learning as a Religion

Lifelong learning is the continuous process of acquiring, challenging, and refining knowledge and beliefs. This process demands critical thinking and openness to new perspectives. The term "lifelong learning" suggests a pursuit that lasts a lifetime, making it more suitable to turn into a religion than critical thinking.

Given that I aspire to lead global education reform, I will refine the following elements as I think about them. My ideas serve as a philosophical exercise to visualize the plausibility and benefits of transforming lifelong learning into a religion.

Meaning

"New religions offer narratives that help individuals understand the world and their place in it, providing coherence and significance similar to traditional religions' explanations of existence and the human condition."

Lifelong learning could be framed as a spiritual quest to understand life, the universe, and our existence. This quest could be tied to truth, integrity, and ethical guidance, echoing the moral teachings of religions.

Traditional religions offer progress and hope. Christianity's narrative of redemption gives us a reason to live despite sinning. Similarly, Judaism's Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) encourages improving the world. The lifelong learning religion might frame learning as the most effective solution to the world's biggest and most neglected problems.

Ritual

"New religions establish rituals and practices that unite people and reinforce their shared beliefs."

The rituals of this new religion would promote bonds, mark significant milestones, and engage people spiritually:

• Daily rituals: Reflective learning sessions such as journaling, close reading, and guided meditations could sanctify learning, akin to prayer in other faiths.

• Weekly rituals: Regular opportunities for communal engagements, such as "Writing Sundays," where individuals discuss ideas, similar to 17th-century French salons.

• Seasonal and annual rituals: Celebrations like a "Knowledge Festival" for breakthroughs, "Wisdom Solstices" to honor the cyclical nature of learning, and "Achievement Ceremonies" to recognize educational milestones.

• Rites of passage: We could mark transitions in learning journeys with symbolic ceremonies, such as a "brain baptism" at age 25 and awarding symbols like a lightbulb medal for significant discoveries.

Purpose

"Modern movements provide individuals with a sense of mission and direction, aligning followers' actions with broader goals and ideals, much like traditional religions' moral and spiritual missions."

Lifelong learning could be framed as the path to unlocking an individual's full potential, enabling them to improve their and others' lives. This journey would likely demand moral and ethical development, paralleling religious narratives like the Buddhist journey to enlightenment. The religion could also tie its purpose to neglected causes such as reducing worldwide poverty, inequality, and literacy gaps, mimicking religious calls to action like the Christian mandate to serve others.

Community

"New religions create strong, supportive communities where individuals can find like-minded people, similar to traditional religious congregations."

A lifelong learning religion could promote the idea of people coming together as a community to enhance the world through continuous learning and critical thinking. Individuals would take on various roles, such as researchers or interpreters, each symbolized by unique emblems or attire. Regular communal activities, akin to Sabbath meals, would help maintain community connections. Additionally, international events like knowledge pilgrimages to historically significant sites, such as the tombs of Greek tragedians and comedians in Athens, could also be a part of this new religion.

Support networks would be essential, with a mentorship hierarchy resembling religious clergy where experienced learners guide novices. Technology could facilitate digital learning sanctuaries offering real-time support. This religion would, in theory, accept people from all backgrounds, moving beyond traditional educational canons to foster innovation, understanding, and collaboration.

4. Consequences of Not Turning Lifelong Learning into a Religion

I will not hastily propose models to turn lifelong learning into a religion. Each model needs its own research, expert council, and detailed examination. Instead, I will present the potential consequences of not integrating religious elements into lifelong learning:

1. Erosion of Critical Thinking: Without clear countermeasures, technology would continue to undermine real-life interactions, lower analytical thinking, and feed our delusions. People would passively accept information without questioning its validity.

2. Deepening Social Divides: The internet will keep creating echo chambers, exacerbating political and social divides. People would be less likely to bridge the gap between differing moral foundations, leading to increased polarization and societal fragmentation.

3. Stagnation in Personal and Societal Growth: If the small percentage of people seeking knowledge cannot compensate for the majority who do not, growth would stagnate. As echo chambers increase, future generations might become less willing to step out of their comfort zones and learn through experimentation.

4. Continued Influence of Harmful Ideologies: Without critical scrutiny, harmful ideologies would persist and spread. This situation mirrors Orwell's 1984, where dominant ideologies perpetuate stereotypes and biases that people blindly accept. Propaganda and media manipulation would become more persuasive and pervasive.

5. Failure to Address Global Issues: Cooperation is essential for solving global problems. Without critical thinking, understanding and challenging power structures becomes near impossible. Even if we could, increasingly divided societies would struggle to collaborate on global issues.

6. Loss of Social Cohesion: Vastly differing senses of community and purpose would erode social cohesion. Isolated societies would become more politically divided, and social bonds would weaken due to a lack of shared narratives. Without shared cultural knowledge and practices, efforts to achieve social cohesion would falter.

Like the potential solutions, each of these consequences warrants thorough discussion and research. For now, I invite anyone who sees these scenarios as plausible and harmful to engage in a dialogue about how integrating religious elements into lifelong learning could help mitigate these issues. Together, we can imagine a new framework for education that fosters both critical thinking and societal cohesion.

5. What's the worst that could happen if we promote a future where lifelong learning and critical thinking are the most valuable pursuits?

Socrates' method of questioning until reaching 'aporia,' a state of puzzlement, seems a lost art in a time where critical thinking seems more necessary than ever. Society appears less willing to engage with opposing viewpoints, reinforcing potentially harmful beliefs. The internet, once a symbol of knowledge freedom, often traps us into an environment where we only encounter what we believe in. 

Movements like wellness culture demonstrate how "modern religions" provide meaning, purpose, community, and ritual. They may not be as enduring as traditional religions but are persuasive enough to inspire collective action.

I work in branding, so I inevitably evaluated our lack of critical thinking through this lens. Branding involves associating a company or product with outcomes or traits that appeal to a specific audience. I chose St. John's over Harvard because I associated St. John's with critical thinking, intellectual inquiry, and the seminar method—attributes that aligned more with who I wanted to become. Others might find Harvard's associations more appealing and enroll there.

Beliefs are like brands. People might prefer to take information at face value rather than question it because they associate more (quantity) or more valuable (quality) outcomes with letting a third party tell them what to think.

But what if, like wellness, we turned lifelong learning into a religion? If successful, this new religion could improve critical thinking, social cohesion, personal and societal growth, and address global issues, social fragmentation, and the spread of harmful ideologies. Without integrating religious elements, we risk the opposite of these benefits.

Venture capitalists fund products sold through exaggeration. Wellness gurus persuade people to eat raw liver for breakfast. Andrew Tate exists. What's the worst that could happen if we promote a future where lifelong learning and critical thinking are the most valuable pursuits? This seems like the opening question of a documentary on a lifelong learning cult. I am not advocating for the creation of one, but if such cult seems plausible, perhaps the idea is worth tinkering one. 

For now, I choose to dream—focusing on the potential upside. I envision a more considerate, connected world where learning, intellectual openness, and progress are communal.

There may be challenges, but we can always think critically about how to solve them—that's what a good cult leader would say. 

If you are a theologian, sociologist, educator, or anyone interested in casual yet profound pondering this idea, message me. I'm assembling a group of experts to imagine this future.