The Center

The Center is not a religion, yet The Center is defined by its boundaries. 

The Center is interested in creative thought, yet mostly in productive thought, and certainly not imaginary credos passed off as facts that only hurt people and fill their heads with harmful nonsense. 

The Center is for the poor and the rich, the weak and the strong, the big and the small, the lazy and the busy, the young and the old, and those in between and beyond.

The Center acts on valuable virtues, does not merely stand on principle.

The Center does not value afterlife above current life.  It is not concerned with make-believe to the detriment of knowledge.

The Center is pragmatic and apatheistic.  Valuable ideas lead to valuable results.  There is no God, god, or plurality thereof which concern The Center.  That which may or may not exist is secondary to that which does exist. The Center does acknowledge good ideas as attributed to known religious figures. The Center is not concerned with religious ideas which have been disproved, shown to be unfair, or plain wrong. 

The Center is not open to all – it welcomes those who need help and want to help.

The Center is open to generating profit, therefore will pay taxes.  The profit gained by The Center will be handled responsibly and within the guidelines aforementioned. 

The Center is committed to physical, mental, and emotional health. 

The Center will make mistakes from time to time.  These will be dealt with within the fluid law.

The Center is open to mystical and paranormal thought and discourse.  Yet such are treated as they are and not as facts if not proven to be such.

The Center will hold meetings, provide services, create ceremonies and other micro-social events aimed at the private and public good. 

The Center wishes to acknowledge the good and condemn the wrong done by other religious and governmental organizations. 

The Center supports scientific research and discoveries which assists the well-being of living beings.  Priority is given to the already-born.  Cruelty to animals is not considered good behavior. The Center does not support harming animals for the sake of greed nor vanity. 

The Center will aim for unanimous agreement in creating and maintaining bylaws and regulations. The Center aims for a dynamic cooperative, using a hierarchy only for efficiency and clarity. 

The Center is an academic environment for the learned and those who wish to learn. 

The Center will charge at least one dollar for every service provided.  Money is a useful fact.  Nothing will be provided without monetary cost.  Attendance, labor, and other services may be traded in addition to the one dollar.

The organizers, motivators, and other maintainers of The Center will not receive more than three times each the poverty line in salary and benefits from the coffers of The Center.

The Center will politely challenge all other organizations to prove their usefulness and demonstrate honesty. The Center will hold itself to the highest of these standards.

 The Center will distinguish between belief and knowledge, between ideals and proof. 

The Center will be a charitable organization, yet will expect reciprocity. 

The Center, while not believers or non-believers, will support the good works of religious groups, such as the christians, jews, muslims, gnostics, et al.  The Center will respect as respected.

The Center will seek out monetary sources to support The Center.  The rules The Center applies to others will apply to The Center, i.e. The Center will pay at least one dollar for every opportunity given.

The Center does not penalize anyone based on gender, economic status, race, age, health, homo- or heterosexuality. The Center does not tolerate threats nor other actions which cause harm to people. 

The Center wishes to help heal the conflicts between all human races. The Center will provide forums in which various peoples may speak openly and fairly with Others towards catharsis and health.

The Center will examine and debate morality and ethics. 

The Center is not “The Center” (a polite nod to Lao Tzu).

The Center is not “The Centaur” (humor is funny).

The Center is an artistic community as well.  All artistic expression which does not harm will be encouraged. 

The Center will challenge and contribute to existing laws and penal systems, including mental institutions. 

The Center is prone to semantic incongruities.

The Center will strive to avoid pettiness and maintain consistency.

The Center aims to embody and practice the Taoist phrase Wu Wei.

The Center examines and exemplifies human nature.

The Center treats the spiritual as unclear.

The Center does not believe that there is good in everybody.  Then again, The Center is unclear about what is good.

The Center does not tolerate blatant inaction on the part of bystanders as an excuse for criminal behavior.

For further information, contact Matthew Burrier via email at thecenter@earthlink.net or by phone at 319-361-5375 or visit http://home.earthlink.net/~mburrier/