The Three Bodies of NUC
In order to create the most accurate facsimile of the Novel Universe Model on Earth, the Cult is split into three facets: the Water (Love), the Rocks of the riverbed (Power), and to balance their mixture, the River itself. Our metaphorical facets are made up of River sites, or literal Rock or Water Bodies. Symbolizing the state of solid “matter” in the universe, Bodies are organizational structures based on a common set of “Pillars.” Symbolizing the universe’s state of “energy,” River sites are organizational structures based on a set of administrative duties. A Pillar is an organizing concept, a Body’s priorities and goals, including its form of governance. Although each Water “Community” or Rock “Tribe” venerates their Primary Organizing Pillar (POP) in their own way, all are united under the River’s oversight and support, the way matter is organized by and subject to the flow of energy.
Like emergent levels of biology – atoms coalescing as cells, cells grouping into organs, and finally, organs becoming organism – each Cult Body functions as one level of complexity (Higher-Order Conductor) built upon its constituent parts (Lower-Order Bodies). For Bodies of Power (Rocks), members make up a Clade, Clades constitute a Tribe, Tribes assemble a League, and Leagues network as an Alliance. For Bodies of Love (Water), members make up a Sphere, Spheres collect as a Community, Communities coalesce as a City, and Cities form a Federation. No matter the level of complexity, every Cult Body is united by their Primary Organizing Pillar. Furthermore, individual members do not directly belong to any higher-order Body but their Sphere or Clade, thus following the principle of emergent complexity’s hierarchy of scale (HOC / LOB). Click here for further details and an example of how this works, or click here to read TOE: The Emerging Novel Universe to understand our view of the topic in general.
Technology is not strictly required for any aspect of the Cult, but as an organization with the future in mind, wherever possible, computer applications are designed to enhance a Community’s neural-democracy, a Tribe’s marketplace, and management of the River’s duties. To enhance portability and seamless communication among Bodies, our tech both maintains as many basic programming elements in common as possible, while also being tailor-made to assist each Body’s veneration of their chosen Primary Organizing Pillar, or the secure activities of the River Sages.
Through either a political structure based on neural-democracy, hierarchy, or anarchy, Bodies work with the River to determine their own laws, rules, and procedures bottom-up. For the most part, the cells of living tissue follow their own set of rules, with their own drives and community goals. They have a limited understanding of their emergent organ’s purpose, but even less so, the motivations of the larger organism to which they all belong. Similarly, what binds NUC Bodies (laws, rules, regulations, etc.) are formed at the most granular level possible, with fewer restrictions on or definitions of “unacceptable behavior” as Bodies emerge in complexity. Instead of a strong, overbearing, top-down “Law of the Land,” the bulk of what an individual member must accept as religious / social adherence arises from within their, two immediate emergent levels – Clade / Sphere and Tribe / Community. Therefore, our members have the best chance at affecting the creation and definition of such mandates – the more involved a person is with a thing, the more one cares for it, and the more one is willing to ensure its success.
Without self-determination, the expression of authentic preference becomes impossible. The Novel Universe Cult relies on our two spiritual frameworks (Love and Power) to guide our membership in crafting the girders of their own social cohesion. NUC is not a monolith, and our great value is our variety of Bodies – how members choose to express the Novel Universe Model through their Body’s Primary Organizing Pillar. The laws / rules / policies / procedures / etc. any Body might create will address a range of issues, from the moral implications of gender, cohabitation, and use of psychedelics, to more functional ones, like ownership, cultural expectations, and methods of enforcement. In this way, each Body is a diverse, adaptable, living experiment, gauged to enhance humanity’s spiritual journey, both at the individual and societal level.
For NUC, the theory of morphic resonance – how bodies form a common language of form and behavior through a process of communal trial-and-error – rests at the heart of our bottom-up political structure, further implying that when individual Cult Bodies find similar patterns of success with some common goal, the remaining Bodies will, as well, adopt the new behavior in a natural, spontaneous manner. Forcing everyone to adopt “best practices,” just because they seem to work for most, isn’t how NUC or nature operates. We don’t rely on some committee of experts or panel of politicians. We rely on morphic resonance’s “common sense” to spread good ideas, because widespread, authentic adoption of successful solutions enhances long-term stability, allowing for lower-level predictability to assembly higher-level forms of diversity and complexity – the foundations of novelty.
Read our philosophy to better understand our Creed.