THE NAME OF THIS BLOG

If you haven’t read The Creed Room, you are undoubtedly wondering how this blog got its name. I’m willing to answer the question, but only up to a point.

The Creed Room is part story book, and part work of philosophy. As a novel, it focuses on a group of characters who are brought together by a man who refuses to reveal his identity. They come to know him as the “Benefactor” because he pays each of them tens of thousands of dollars and asks in return only that they meet once a week in his old Victorian house and work together to formulate a new creed for humankind. The book charts the lives of the “Creed Gang” both inside and outside of the Victorian until, eventually, it reveals the Benefactor’s identity, the hidden agenda that prompted him to sponsor the group, and the way that the Creed Gang -- quite unintentionally – changes history.

The Creed Room is also a vehicle to express a philosophy. That philosophy begins to emerge in the classroom of Sam Kramer, the book’s narrator and main character, who teaches history and philosophy in a public high school. It is reinforced through the action of the book, most of which teaches the reader lessons about the goals and consequences of human behavior. But most importantly, the book’s philosophy is expressed through the “creed” that is presented in the Victorian when the Benefactor finally shows his face to the group. The name of that creed, in case you can’t tell by now, is Empathic Rationalism.

Want to know more about it? Sorry. You’ll have to go to my webpage – www.danielspiro.com – and click on The Creed Room page. You won’t find there an explicit definition of Empathic Rationalism, but if you look at the responses I gave to various interview questions, you’ll get a good sense of the book’s underlying philosophy. Who knows, perhaps you’ll even grow curious enough to pick up the book and discover the meaning of Empathic Rationalism for yourselves.

In this blog, I hope to remain consistent with the spirit of Empathic Rationalism. When I vary from it, I’ll try to let you know.