Where each way of life was born
The Atlas
Spin the globe, or let it play. Switch layers to plot the 45 traditions by origin, the standard historical timeline, or the Hindu chronology — the table beside the map animates in step.
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0 of 45 traditions have emerged by this point — the timeline plays on its own; drag it to explore. Dates for ancient traditions are approximate and contested; where a tradition's own chronology differs sharply from mainstream academic dating, we favour the tradition's own account.
45 traditions
- VaishnavismHinduism · from the Vedic era onward; ~400 million followers todaythrivingHinduism's biggest denomination and arguably the world's most successful civilization project: a framework whose superpower is absorption, letting diverse peoples join without giving up their own identity, language or folk traditions. Avatars, the four Yugas, the Bhakti movement, Diwali and Holi all flow from it.The Surrenderers-30
- BhaktiHinduism · devotional path running through Hindu history; the Bhakti movement itself began within VaishnavismthrivingThe path of devotion: surrender yourself emotionally to the divine, give God a concrete form -- an idol, an image -- and relate to him as a person: a friend, a child, a master, a lover. You play the game with your heart rather than your mind.89
- Purana-based HinduismHinduism · the 18 major Puranas, 'old/ancient stories'livingThe lore-based path: 18 major texts carrying the game's mythology -- gods, demons, heroes and side-heroes -- from the Bhagavata Purana's Vishnu avatars to the abstract Shiva Purana to the Skanda Purana, the longest, which touches almost every sacred place in India. Not dusty stories only: they teach enlightenment, karma and reincarnation.90
- Karma YogaHinduism · one of the four main Hindu paths to enlightenment, taught in the Bhagavad GitalivingDo your duty without fuss and without expecting rewards -- the ultimate 'just do it' mentality. Seen as the easiest path because it requires no special skills or knowledge, only willingness to work hard with a sense of duty.93
- JudaismJudaism · c. 1800 BCElivingThe oldest Abrahamic faith, defined by a covenant with a God you can negotiate with: Abraham haggles God down over Sodom, and Jacob physically wrestles the divine and earns the name Israel for it. Unlike Islam's final, undebatable Quran, in Judaism disagreeing with God is acceptable and even encouraged.The Pragmatists25
- Rigvedic HinduismHinduism · Rigvedic eralineage-absorbedThe raw early phase of the culture -- 'a lean startup whose survival wasn't guaranteed' -- centered on Indra, who on a close reading represents desire, appetite and abundance, not merely rain. Vedic people didn't ask for moksha; they asked for cattle, power, glory, and shravas akshitam: imperishable fame.The Conquerors85
- ZoroastrianismGreco-Roman & Ancient · c. 1000 BCElivingZarathustra scrapped the polytheistic ritual system of his people for a stark cosmic duel: Ahura Mazda, the Wise God of Asha (truth/order), against Angra Mainyu, force of Druj (falsehood, chaos, decay). The whole philosophy distills to one line: Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta -- good thoughts, good words, good deeds.The Conquerors83
- Greek HeroismGreco-Roman & Ancient · Homeric through classical eralineage-absorbedGlory in the eyes of others: Achilles chooses a short life at Troy over a long forgotten one because his name will live for thousands of years. Unlike the Vikings, remembrance is not left to fate -- in your own lifetime you ensure your story is too beautiful to ignore.The Warriors60
- CharvakaIndian Heterodox · ancient India's first materialistic schoolextinctRadical materialism: only what can be perceived is real, this life is your only life, and heaven, hell, karma, rebirth and the soul were all made up to control you. Pursue pleasure, avoid pain -- that is all there is.The Balancers20
- ConfucianismEast Asian · 6th century BCElivingA system designed to manage chaos, answering 'if every man does whatever he pleases, who will build civilization?' Ren (humaneness) is engineered into a full operating system: five relationships with mutual duties, plus meritocracy -- if you deserve it, you must get the reward.The Balancers5
- JainismIndian Heterodox · c. 6th-5th century BCElivingExistence itself is violence: every breath, step and bite wipes out microscopic organisms, and you are the perpetrator. The answer is to minimize -- eat less, speak less, walk less -- and burn off negative karma through embraced hardship.The Extinguishers-73
- TaoismEast Asian · 6th century BCElivingThe universe has a pattern, a flow, a rhythm called the Tao -- not a god, not a cosmic law, just a way. Never fight the flow; move with it. This is wu wei, effortless action: learn from water, which forces no one yet can cut through a mountain.The Balancers-5
- AjivikaIndian Heterodox · c. 5th century BCEextinctAbsolute fatalism: everything is decided by niyati (fate), so karma, prayer and meditation are all pointless. Liberation arrives automatically after 8.4 million passes through wombs, regardless of anything you do.The Extinguishers-100
- Theravada BuddhismBuddhism · c. 5th century BCE (closest to Buddha's original teachings, preserved in Pali)thrivingYou are not a fixed point but a process, like a river whose water changes every second yet is still called the Ganga. There is experience but no experiencer (anatta); the goal is nibbana, which literally means to be snuffed out.The Extinguishers-66
- Aristotle & Patanjali (Virtue Ethics & Yoga)Greco-Roman & Ancient · classical antiquitylineage-absorbedAristotle: happiness (eudaimonia, human flourishing) is not a feeling, mood or destination but a daily practice -- the human function is to reason, attain virtue and pursue excellence, and 'you are what you do repeatedly.' Patanjali runs the same engine in India: Ashtanga Yoga's eight steps specify what is optimal for body, mind, ethics and breath.The Pragmatists30
- Fajia (Legalism)East Asian · 4th-3rd century BCElineage-absorbedTrying to reform humans is pointless -- human nature is bad and changing it takes a lifetime. So don't fix the people; fix the system: design society so that even a bad person becomes a strength of society, with one law above everyone -- the king's son who steals is punished like a farmer.The Warriors80
- EpicureanismGreco-Roman & Ancient · 3rd century BCErevivingGods exist but do not care about you, and nothing happens after death, so fear -- of death, God and the future -- is the real source of sorrow. Remove fear and happiness is already available: a small garden, a few close friends, simple food.The Extinguishers-59
- StoicismGreco-Roman & Ancient · Hellenistic era through 170 CErevivingThere are two kinds of things: those in your control (your thoughts, reactions, judgments) and those not (weather, illness, others' opinions). Put all your energy only into the first. 'Waste no more time talking about what a good man is like. Be one.'The Balancers10
- ShintoismEast Asian · indigenous traditionlivingKami -- divine spirit -- dwells everywhere: in the river, the mountain, the trees, your breath. There is no idol, priest or holy book required; sacredness is experienced by staying present in every action, and the act of creating something is itself spiritual.The Pragmatists40
- SamkhyaHinduism · classical Hindu darshanalineage-absorbedDualism: the world is an interplay of purusha (consciousness) and prakriti (matter). Prakriti, woven of the three gunas -- sattva, rajas, tamas -- is drawn to purusha like iron to a magnet; from their interaction arises buddhi (intelligence), then ahankara (identity), then 23 tattvas. The world is real, and cause and effect are one unit.96
- Viking PaganismGreco-Roman & Ancient · governed the region for thousands of yearsrevivingA worldview that tells you upfront: your gods are going to lose. Odin knows Fenrir will swallow him at Ragnarok; Thor will kill Jormungandr but die of its venom; even the sun will be devoured. And yet you still pick up your sword.The Warriors55
- NyayaHinduism · classical Hindu darshanaacademicThe school of logic and epistemology -- the study of truth. Nyaya developed an algorithm of deductive reasoning to infer universal truths, the nature of knowledge, and even the existence of God, pioneering logical axioms like inference.94
- VaisheshikaHinduism · classical Hindu darshanaacademicThe atomic theory of Hindu philosophy: where Nyaya does epistemology, Vaisheshika does ontology, breaking physical reality into its smallest components (paramanu) and studying how they combine into the world we experience -- with new entities emerging from combinations (samyoga).95
- MimamsaHinduism · classical Hindu darshanaacademicThe school of Vedic interpretation: understanding the deeper meaning behind the rituals and hymns of the Vedas, with elaborately developed rules of interpretation.98
- Mahayana BuddhismBuddhism · after Buddhism's split into major pathsthrivingThe 'Great Vehicle' redesigned Buddhism around the Bodhisattva: one who reaches the doorstep of nirvana but stops, turns around, and vows not to enter as long as even one person is stuck in samsara. Yes there is suffering, but you can do something -- compassion becomes an active force.The Balancers0
- CatholicismChristianity · ~2000 years, perfected over centuriesthrivingYou are born already stained by Adam and Eve's original sin -- born with a debt -- and you cannot pay it off DIY: you need the Church at every moment, from baptism at birth to weekly confession, coordinated by a strict hierarchy of priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope.The Surrenderers-8
- TantraHinduism · ancient tradition shaped by Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and even SikhismlivingAn ancient current emphasizing the divine feminine power, Shakti, with its own mantras, yantras and rituals. By tapping the fundamental energies of the universe, practitioners believe they can mold reality itself -- and by using shocking or taboo methods, they collapse the wall between sacred and unsacred.99
- Vajrayana BuddhismBuddhism · medieval tantric periodlivingThe 'Thunderbolt Vehicle': where Mahayana says transcend desire gradually, Vajrayana asks why you are wasting nuclear fuel. Anger, lust, pride are not trash -- poison can be used as medicine if you know how to transform it; the very thing that binds an ordinary man becomes a yogi's path to liberation.The Balancers15
- Sunni IslamIslam · 7th century CE; spread from Arabia to Spain, India to Indonesia in under 200 yearsthrivingIslam literally means submission -- to Allah alone, not to any king or caste. Practically it was a rebellion against exploitative old orders, bringing radical equality before God: no priest is needed in namaz, and you read the Quran yourself.The Surrenderers-12
- Advaita VedantaHinduism · systematized 8th century CElivingAtman and Brahman are one: you are the whole universe, a single consciousness experiencing itself through infinite forms, and your individuality -- name, body, face -- is Maya, an illusion to see through.The Surrenderers-35
- SufismIslam · formally developed 8th-9th century CE; rooted in the Quran and the Prophet's teachingslivingIslam's mystical dimension: a separation exists between you and God, and Sufism's project is to erase it through fana, the annihilation of the ego, so that between you and God only God remains.The Extinguishers-52
- SmartaHinduism · founded by Adi ShankaracharyalivingThe synthesis strategy: Shankaracharya looked at the philosophies and practices scattered across India and streamlined them -- Vedanta philosophy, a bit of yoga, a pinch of Bhakti -- into a user-friendly Hinduism anyone could get into.91
- Kashmir ShaivismHinduism · 9th century CE (Trika tradition)revivingConsciousness, out of its own absolute freedom (svatantrya), creates the universe -- and being infinite and omniscient, it wiped its own memory just to feel the thrill of limitation. God put on the garb of identity and began playing a game, and that player is you; the goal is pratyabhijna, recognition, like an amnesiac king begging in the streets of his own kingdom.The Conquerors84
- SikhismSikhism · founded 1499, initially a subculture of the Bhakti movementthrivingForged by centuries of invasions, Sikhism fuses saint and soldier into the sant sipahi: a direct, middleman-free connection with the one supreme being (Ik Onkar), plus the duty to fight so that dharma itself survives -- while keeping the saint inside you alive.The Warriors63
- Calvinist ProtestantismChristianity · 1500s ReformationlivingIf God is omnipotent, He has already decided who goes to heaven and who rots in hell -- predestination. Since worldly success, discipline and wealth might signal election, people began working like maniacs to prove they were chosen, birthing the Protestant work ethic.The Surrenderers-15
- DeismModern & Secular · late 17th-18th centurylineage-absorbedGod created the universe as a perfect, consistent, rational set of laws and then slipped away -- no prayer-answering, no miracles, no new prophets. Truth is not held by priests or scriptures; it is already present in nature, and any human can access it through reason.The Pragmatists45
- MormonismChristianity · 1820s; ~17 million followers todaythrivingWhere mainstream Christianity puts an unbridgeable gap between creator and creation, Joseph Smith declared: 'As man is now, God once was; as God now is, man may be.' God was once a human who exalted himself through effort -- and so, potentially, can you.The Warriors67
- ExistentialismModern & Secular · 19th-20th centurylivingExistence precedes essence: a human first exists, then decides his own essence. Life has no innate meaning -- and that's totally fine, because you can give it meaning; giving life meaning may itself be the meaning of life. Nietzsche's Ubermensch doesn't consume meaning, he creates it: his own law-giver and his own judge.The Conquerors81
- MarxismModern & Secular · 1840s Industrial RevolutionacademicThe misery of workers is no accident but capitalism's core feature -- inequality is built in by design. So workers of the world must unite, wake up, and break the system: 'Philosophers have only interpreted the world. The point, however, is to change it.'The Pragmatists35
- PentecostalismChristianity · 1906 (Azusa Street revival)thrivingChristianity's fastest-growing form: through the Holy Spirit, the same powers that are in God can come into you. In other denominations you plead before God; in Pentecostalism you give commands -- 'In the name of Jesus I command it to go.'The Warriors70
- Critical TheoryModern & Secular · 1920s onwardacademicPower operates not just through police, kings and money but through your culture and your desires: the 'culture industry' of media, advertising and entertainment decides what your needs should even be. It gave people a lens to expose invisible power structures in race, class, media, gender and institutions.The Surrenderers-45
- ObjectivismModern & Secular · 20th centurylivingReality is objective and reason is man's only method of knowing it -- faith, mysticism and devotion stand dismissed. Your own happiness is your moral purpose; sacrificing your life for others is not virtue but sin, and civilized relationships are those of traders exchanging value by free consent, never victim and oppressor or master and slave.The Conquerors86
- PostmodernismModern & Secular · 20th centuryacademicYour name, identity, beliefs and preferences were all constructed by society; gender, caste, capitalism, media and democracy are constructs, and so are you. It teaches you to deconstruct everything but not how to build anything.The Extinguishers-80
- TranshumanismModern & Secular · 1960s onwardlivingDeath is no cosmic law -- it is a technical bug that can be solved. Don't treat biology as a limitation: edit your genes, embed consciousness into silicon, merge with machines, and export your consciousness across the universe to colonize the cosmos.The Conquerors88
- Effective AltruismModern & Secular · c. 2009livingIf you want to help people, don't help emotionally -- help mathematically. Your money and time are finite, so to help the world maximally you must optimize: literal spreadsheets ranking how many lives malaria nets or vitamin A supplementation or AI-safety funding will save.The Pragmatists50