Religion Through the Coherence Framework: Aligning Humanity with Infinite Patterns

Religion, viewed through the Coherence Framework, reveals itself as a system born out of the inherent tension between the infinite—the timeless, unifying patterns of reality—and the finite—the constraints and diversity of human existence. Its role has always been to reconcile this tension, helping individuals and societies navigate misalignments and align their actions, beliefs, and structures with the larger patterns that sustain coherence.

As humanity evolves, the same underlying drive toward coherence that birthed religion continues to operate. It is not confined to religious systems but emerges in other ways of reasoning about and participating in the infinite patterns that structure reality.

Religion as a Mediator Between Infinite and Finite

Religion can be understood as humanity’s early attempt to align finite existence with infinite coherence:

• The Infinite: Represented in religious thought as God, the Dao, or Brahman, this is the boundless source of unity and the origin of all patterns.
• The Finite: The lived realities of individuals and societies, marked by fragmentation, choice, and contingency.

Religious systems arose to bridge these realms, encoding infinite patterns into myths, rituals, and moral systems. This encoding allowed finite beings to intuit, reflect upon, and integrate the infinite’s coherence into their lives.

Religion and Coherence Across Scales

Through the lens of coherence, religion’s function becomes apparent: it fosters alignment at multiple levels of existence.

1. Individual Coherence

Religious practices like prayer, meditation, or sacred rituals align thoughts, emotions, and actions with universal patterns. Myths and teachings provide existential meaning, connecting individuals to something greater than themselves while addressing the dissonance of mortality and suffering.

2. Social Coherence

Religious systems create shared values, norms, and rituals that bind communities. They reduce friction and division by emphasizing principles of reciprocity, justice, and compassion, fostering alignment within diverse groups.

3. Cosmic Coherence

Through concepts of the divine or sacred, religion links human life to the larger cosmos. Practices like honoring natural cycles or contemplating creation myths reflect humanity’s instinctive desire to participate in the infinite’s unfolding.

Religion as a Reflection of Infinite Patterns

Viewed through the Coherence Framework, religion is not arbitrary but emerges from the same principles that govern all systems:

• Unity in Diversity: Religion encodes universal patterns of coherence in culturally specific forms, reflecting the infinite’s ability to manifest through multiplicity.
• Dynamic Adaptation: Religious systems evolve, adapting to the needs of their time while maintaining their alignment with overarching patterns.
• Feedback and Misalignment: When religious systems fail to adapt or become rigidly dogmatic, they fragment, inviting realignment with the infinite’s unity.

Religion and the Modern World

In the modern era, humanity faces challenges that strain traditional systems of coherence. Fragmentation manifests in ecological crises, social division, and existential disconnection. The symbolic and institutional structures of many religious systems, tied to historical contexts, often struggle to address these globalized, complex realities.

This does not diminish religion’s role but highlights the need to recognize its essence: the drive to align with universal coherence. This same drive underlies all efforts to sustain harmony, whether they are explicitly religious or not.

Reasoning About Infinite Patterns

As humanity continues to evolve, the ability to intuit and reason about infinite patterns persists. This reasoning is not bound to specific doctrines or symbols but reflects a universal principle of coherence:

• Systems that foster relational harmony, feedback, and integration reflect infinite patterns, regardless of their form.
• The drive toward alignment with these patterns remains a fundamental characteristic of human thought and action.

While religion traditionally provided this function, the underlying process is broader than any specific system, emerging wherever coherence is sought.

Coherence Without Prescription

The Coherence Framework implies that humanity’s alignment with infinite patterns is not dependent on religious structures alone. The same principles of coherence that shaped religious systems continue to operate in other ways:

• Alignment with infinite patterns is visible in systems thinking, ecological interdependence, and relational ethics.
• The search for coherence appears in science, philosophy, and art, all of which reflect humanity’s instinctive participation in the infinite’s unfolding.

This is not a departure from religion but an extension of the same underlying process, revealing that coherence transcends any one method of alignment.

The Timeless Drive Toward Coherence

Religion, in its essence, reflects humanity’s participation in the infinite patterns that structure reality. Its forms and symbols may evolve, but the underlying drive to restore harmony, integrate diversity, and sustain unity remains constant. The Coherence Framework offers a way to recognize this timeless process, tracing its presence across scales and contexts, whether through religious traditions or broader expressions of alignment with the infinite.