Across families
Religious Daoism and Shaktism
Different families with 10 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.11 (0 would be identical).
The same cosmology, staffed: a vast celestial bureaucracy, an ordained priesthood, liturgy, talismans and the pursuit of bodily transcendence through internal alchemy. Practically the opposite of its philosophical sibling on ritual and authority.
The Goddess as the power that is the world, not a deity who made it — the highest immanence value in the matrix. Ritual is central and the body is treated as a site of the sacred rather than as a problem to solve.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.00.
D2 Centrality of ritual
Both sit at essential and prescribed — a gap of 0.00.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.00.
D3 The body
Both sit at leaning to be celebrated — a gap of 0.03.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Both sit at leaning beginningless or natural — a gap of 0.04.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at leaning clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.04.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at between one true path and many valid paths — a gap of 0.04.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound — a gap of 0.06.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at between a people, inherited and an individual choice — a gap of 0.10.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Religious Daoism | Shaktism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | a personal being one can address | 0.20 |
| A3 Plurality | many powers and spirits | between strictly one and many powers and spirits | 0.37 |
| A4 Locus | leaning fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.13 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | between revealed and fixed and reason and direct experience | 0.20 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.15 |
| B3 Institutional authority | leaning clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.04 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.00 |
| C2 Shape of time | between one life, then judgment and cyclical return | cyclical return | 0.35 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.06 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning achieved by effort or insight | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.20 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.00 |
| D3 The body | leaning to be celebrated | leaning to be celebrated | 0.03 |
| E1 Exclusivity | between one true path and many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.04 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | leaning beginningless or natural | leaning beginningless or natural | 0.04 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.10 |
| E4 Standing of nature | animate and itself sacred | animate and itself sacred | 0.00 |
Positions for Religious Daoism rest principally on Daozang liturgical corpus and Quanzhen/Zhengyi practice; for Shaktism, on Devi Mahatmya and the Shakta Tantras. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.