Editing TROS in the Hammer:Setting Religion (section)

==The Way of Yesukrishna==
The Way of Yesukrishna is the religion of those that follow Yesukrishna.  It is the religion of the vast majority of the People, but can also be found among other cultures to the North and South of the Gezag.  It was also once a common religion among people to the West, including the Valongo, but has since almost dissappeared there and been replaced by the Informatio.  Followers of the Way of Yesukrishna are called Yesukrishnans.

===Where did it all come from?===
The People believe that all thought and consciousness, both human and spirit, lies on a continuum.  Humanity lies at one end of this continuum; complicated, confused, unable to see clearly.  Thought then progesses along this continuum through stages of "concentration", that is, having fewer qualities.  It also progresses through stages of "amplification", that is, having qualities that encompasses more concepts.  The qualities of spirits are an embodiment of this process; the simpler the spirit, the more concentrated that spirit is; the broader its qualities, the more amplified it is.  As an example: a Weather spirit with the qualities of create, magnify, wind, sun, rain, cloud is less concentrated than a weather spirit that has create, wind.  Both are less amplified than a spirit that has create, weather.  

The People believe that if you follow this process far enough, you enventually arrive at a spirit who is completely concentrated (it has only one quality) and completely amplified (that one quality encompasses all of thought).  This spirit, the People believe, is God, the source and center of all existence.  

At some point in the past, all thought was God; there was no thought separate from God.  But then, into the World came a new thought, a thought that was not God, from outside of time and space.  This thought is called by the People the Enemy.  The Enemy came to the World with evil and fire and destruction from heaven, and sundered all thought, so that the unity of God was shattered.  The Enemy in fact sought to wipe out God, so that only the Enemy would exist.  But the Enemy failed, and was itself shattered.  Now, both God and the Enemy are locked in a war to concentrate and amplify themselves again.  Humanity was born in this conflict; pitiful diffuse and narrow fragments of God's thoughts, corrupted and suffused with the thoughts of the Enemy.

===What's the point of it all?===  
The only rational goal of humanity, therefore, is to strive to become one again with God, and purge all elements of the Enemy away.  The Enemy stands between humanity and God.  But, sadly, we cannot, on our own, purge out the Enemy's thoughts from ourselves.  We are simply too weak.

So, long, long, ago, before recorded history, God came into the World, into its own thoughts as it were, and merged with matter to become a human being.  This human being was born from a woman in a distant place called Virginia.  He was called Yesukrishna.  As Yesukrishna, God was able to experience life locked within a form of matter, and in the process create a method by which humanity could free their thoughts from the grip of the Enemy.  Yesukrishna taught many people this method, and the Enemy was furious.  The Enemy caused its agents amoung humanity, the Pharisists, the Saduccists, and the Communists, to take Yesukrishna and kill him by crucifying him on a cross.  Little did the Enemy know, however, that this was exactly as God intended; freed again from the form of matter, God was all thought again, and implanted in every human the Holy Fire, which burns there, and which gives all humans the strength, should they choose it, to purge themselves of the Enemy.

But this is still not a simple matter.  It may literally take thousands of lifetimes to fully free oneself from the Enemy and enter into full communion with God, as the spirits are.  Each life, therefore, is still a struggle.

===Why does bad stuff happen?===
The People have two answers to the problem of bad stuff, because they believe there are two different kinds.  The first is "natural suffering".  This is the kind of suffering and pain caused by the fact that humans are thought creatures trapped in matter, and therefore at the mercy of matter.  Things like tornados, floods, disease, accident, etc., are all simply the consequence of matter and its interactions.  They are not ''caused'' by anything in particular, they are just the cost of being trapped in matter.  Natural suffering simply has to be endured, but it can be alleviated by the help of the Spirits.  

"Evil" however, is something different.  "Evil" is thought which is contrary and alien to God, and is a product of the Enemy.  The principle form evil takes is disharmony.  God is one, united.  So whenever there is discord or disharmony, it is a sign that the Enemy is making its presence felt.  Yesukrishna spoke much on what is evil, and his words have been carried down to the People through the Wisdom (see below).

===What happens when I die?===
When a person dies, their shade is released back into God.  If it is sufficiently concentrated and/or amplified, it remains there, becoming a Spirit.    If not, it cannot remain with God and instead "falls back" into matter, becoming a new human being.  This new human has no memories of its previous existence due to its mingling with God.  Hence, a person may go through a number of lives before finally leaving matter behind.

As to the so-called "Ancestor Shades" that the Informatii revere, the People believe these are little more than reflections of former lives in the mind of God at best, or corruptions of the Enemy at worst.  They most certainly are NOT the actual loved ones who once walked among us.  Contact with the Shades is absolutely forbidden among the People as "Witchcraft", and is one of the few crimes punishable by death among them.

===How should I live my life?===
Yesukrishna spoke a lot on this matter, and his words have come down to the People in the form of the Wisdom; a hodgepodge of stories, anecdotes and sayings about Yesukrishna.  The basic ideas, though, are as follows:
* Harmony is a sign of God.  Therefore, each person should strive to live in harmony. Yesukrishna said "You should be to your neighbor the good neighbor you want him to be".
* Evil is those things that prevent harmony, or sow discord.
* Yesukrishna was very pragmatic regarding actual behaviour, and what was evil or good about it.  He provided many parables regarding people in various situations, which are often used by the wise ones of the People to make judgements.  For example; a person who steals food from a poor family to make a feast would be considered evil, but a person who steals food from a greedy rich family to save his own from starvation might not be.
* There were some behaviours/attitudes that Yesukrishna said ALWAYS lead to disharmony, and are therefore always evil; murder, sexual immorality, witchcraft, greed and covetousness are examples.