Author Craig Chalquist on Lamplight, the religion of his Assembling Terrania Cycle of stories:
Even more than readers, writers find themselves astonished by unexpected plot twists. In the story “Ten Lamps,” a mysterious philosopher named Simeon writes down ten cosmic operating principles that work at any scale, even inside us. One of these Lamps declares the universe to be in a state of constant creativity; another describes diversity as a cosmic dynamic, or as philosophers might say, ontological. Yet another Lamp refers to care for self, each other, and Earth as basic values.
According to the tale, a movement springs up as the Lamps circulate. But it’s not a movement of zealots who think they possess the only real Truth: historically, always a reliable formula for intolerance and division. Instead, these seekers treat the spiritual paths they weave around the Lamps as a kind of playful fiction filled out with activities, rituals, and reflective practices. The Lamps offer the practical visionaries who like them a sense of being part of an unfolding story larger than themselves but including their own creative actions in the world. They see themselves as a community for restoring the damaged world by restorying how we live here.
Eventually, this movement evolves into a religion. But what an unusual religion.
