Parareality Games - A New Way to Religion

All religions worthy of the term can be understood as games of make-believe that enable and condition experiences of the Sacred while simultaneously creating community in which those experiences can be anchored.

A parareality game is deep-played make-believe that fulfills the same functions but also serves as a program for achieving superhuman self-actualization.

'Deep play' is an ecstatic form of play that combines adventure, fun, wonder, real-world risk, and ordeal...It requires daring, discipline, concentration, a tolerance for danger, the ability to live with uncertainty, and a desire for transcendence.

Parareality games are a new way to religion. The fun, wonder, real-world risk, etc. they can engender is in large part due to the fact they are designed to be played while in a psychedelically-altered state of consciousness.

A parareality game is initiated by pretending to believe something is true (i.e., play make-believe) in order to have a certain kind of experience. The more complex that something is, the more profound the experience, and the harder you play, the more convincing the experience, until eventually it becomes indistinguishable from--until it becomes--reality. You no longer believe; you know.

Parareality games are similar to role-playing games such as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. However, in a role-playing game, you create a character in order to go on adventures in an imaginary setting. In a parareality game, you go on adventures in an imaginal setting in order to create your character.

Phonomancy and its entheotainments constitute a parareality game and its modules.

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