Who Am I? What Do I Believe?
Alan Davis wrote down what he believes in one short document. This page is a summary of it, with selected quotes in his own words. Everything else on this site grows out of it.
Who he is
Alan begins by keeping it very simple:
- Species: Human
- Gender: Male
- Ethnicity: White Jewish
The purpose of a life
“Purpose of My Life: Acquire & Dispel Knowledge (helps the species prosper)”
— Alan Davis
Learn what you can, then pass it on. Knowledge is not for keeping — it is for sharing, so the species prospers.
The goal of every human life
“Climb the ladder towards Conscienceness, Enlightenment, Heaven, Nirvana, One-ness, Peace (all synonyms)”
— Alan Davis
Different traditions use different words for the top of the ladder, and Alan treats those words as one and the same goal. A human life is the climb.
The prophets
“Great prophets were great human beings because they assembled strategies and tactics for (a) achieving the goal of every human life, and (b) the peaceful co-existence of humans and peaceful co-existence of humans and our Earth.”
— Alan Davis
His list includes Baha'u'llah, Gandhi, Guru Dev, Jesus, Mohammed, and many others. What makes them great is practical: they worked out how to climb, and how to live together in peace.
The “Great Books”
“Bible, Koran, New Testament, Tao Te Ching, Upanishads, and Vedas are collections of strategies and tactics for (a) achieving the goal of every human life (see above), and (b) the peaceful co-existence of humans and peaceful co-existence of humans and our Earth.”
— Alan Davis
Of both the prophets and the books, Alan is careful with one word:
“All are divine (meaning ‘extremely good,’ not ‘sacred’)”
— Alan Davis
Where the practices come in
Beliefs, for Alan, are only a start. His document ends with eight practices for climbing the ladder — paths and journeys, in his words, and “almost never perfected.” They have their own page: the Eight Practices, and the wisdom he gathered under each of them fills the Common Wisdom Library.