5 March 2024:

Using the pen-name Anseynol, on the evening of 7 July 2004, I created a blog at the Google spot:

http://laruunash.blogspot.com/

I consider myself fortunate to have lived long enough to state, on a website, some of my core beliefs and values. I was also able to upload a summary to:

https://archive.org/details/Laruunash_A_New_Nontheistic_Religion

As I state there, Laruunash is a new, nontheistic religion which invites human beings to recognize the need to serve what they understand to be goodness, even if it entails going against their perceived sense of their self interest. Even though I favor a modified version of consequentialism, I acknowledge that many acts in the service of good, even if they are implemented properly, can bring suffering or huge costs to the (well-intentioned and competent) actors. With that acknowledgment, I urge my contemporaries (of whatever religion) to try to make the world a safer place for those who sacrifice their interests in the service of goodness.

At this URL (blog site), I hope to offer some of my newer writings, and updated versions of my previous writings. As I keep repeating, I am a fallible person who has made many mistakes in the past. I am open to correcting what I may later perceive as mistakes. I hope some of the readers will offer me their criticism. (But I cannot promise to read or respond to each such criticism.)

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Anseynol is a name that I had invented for myself in 1980, and I had been using it for most of my political writings. It has no etymology, and it was not meant to sound similar to any word that I knew. I used 'Seyn' as a shortened form of that name, even though Anseynol is syllabized thus: An-sey-nol. The last letter is meant to sound like the French 'l' in 'le' (and the Turkish 'l' in 'lamba'). The tongue should touch the upper palate a few millimeters above the front teeth.

I have been in the U.S. for more than 35 years; and I had much difficulty making people pronounce Seyn properly (exactly like 'sane'). Several people also assumed that it must be spelled as Syen (don't ask me why!). Also, Anseynol may sound like many drug or chemical names (like Tylenol, ethanol, methanol, etc.). To this day (5 March, 2024), Anseynol does not sound bad to my ears. Even so, I choose to 'retire' it.

The inspirations that led to my decision to explicitly state my religious views occurred to me on 16 June 1998. I did take down notes about my experience, decision, and feelings starting that day. However, I had not yet invented the word Laruunash at the time. (I chose that name on 7 December 2000.)

Since 2023, I decided to choose as my pen name Seyn Lapröyen Laruuni. I am the first Lapröyen, as well as the first Laruuni. If  some other people choose to use any of my invented names, they are welcome to do so, as long as their names include some other names to distinguish them from mine.

One of the reasons why I choose to use a pen-name (which, I intend to turn into my official name) is that I do not wish my name to suggest to anyone about my 'ethnic origin'. I chose to distance myself from the kinds of nationalism that surrounded me in my childhood and youth. I also 'fell out' of Islam in 1980. My given first name is Faruk, an Arabic name. As far as I know, it is an adjective that is meant to refer to someone who can "tell the difference", supposedly between right and wrong. My invented name does not include such a claim.

I also do not think that parents should be given the legal right to name their children. Later, I intend to write in some detail about my views regarding a newer set of children's rights.

Note: The button image above was designed, upon my request, by Vicki Rovere (who makes political buttons for War Resisters League, etc.). I would have preferred a different font; but I remain grateful to Vicki Rovere. She is ~ 18 years my senior, and shares my commitment to "reduce, reuse, recycle" and upcycle.