Cometan is a British religious leader and the first Astronic philosopher. He is famous for founding the religion of Astronism as well as organising the Astronic tradition of religions and philosophies. Cometan's public life or ministry began at the age of fifteen when he had the initial idea to form his own religion and receiving number of intensive revelations regarding the future of humanity and the importance of The Cosmos. These revelations were written down by Cometan from the age of seventeen to form the founding book of Astronism known as the Omnidoxy which became one of the longest books in history at around two millions words.
He worked towards the dissemination of Astronism as a newfound religious and philosophical tradition which is firmly cosmocentric in its beliefs, theme and worldview. He has also become a prominent space activist although he is the first person to base his advocacy for space exploration on religious grounds. Cometan is also responsible for the organisation of the Astronic tradition of religions and philosophies. This is a tradition which proclaims to trace its lineage of thought back to the astronomical religions of the Stone and Bronze ages.
Cometan completed a degree in Business and Marketing and received first class honours from the University of Central Lancashire where he graduated from 15th July 2019 with a university prize and a placement on the prestigious Dean's List for he received a further two certificates.
Early life
Cometan was born Brandon Reece Taylor on 1st July 1998 at approximately 5:30pm in the Sharoe Green Unit close to Royal Preston Hospital in the city of Preston in the English county of Lancashire in the United Kingdom to Sean Taylor (b. 1970) and Louise Counsell (née Warbrick) (b. 1970), two business owners themselves born in Lancashire. The only sibling he had at that time was his older sister, Lucia Richardson (b. 1989), who was nine years his senior and the offspring of his mother from her previous marriage.
His parents had been together since about 1991, but after falling out of love with one other, Cometan's parents split in 2002 when their only offspring was four years of age. Cometan would later never remember a happy moment between his parents during that time; he would remember only the tumultuous arguments between them while his sister attempted to shield him from hearing the rows that occurred in the household. Cometan's parents were never married and were together a total of eleven years.
Cometan lived in a few different villages and towns around the city of Preston in his early childhood including Bamber Bridge and Eccleston, but later, the young family of four returned to Bamber Bridge where they bought 10 Maple Drive. This is the house that Cometan would call home for the majority of his pre-revelational life up to the age of fourteen. It was in this house that his parents' relationship bitterly imploded. Cometan would remember his father sleeping on the floor of his bedroom as his parents battled for their equal share of the property. His parents eventually came to an agreement, after which Cometan's father moved out and after this, Cometan would not ever live with his father again.
Not long after his parents' separation, his mother found love again in a young man named Julian Counsell (b. 1978) who moved into the household a year or so after Cometan's father had left. Unlike his sister's father, Cometan's father continued to have a role in his son's life, albeit it a small and disjointed one.
Childhood
In reaction to the split of Louise and Sean, Cometan's two sets of grandparents, his grandmothers, Hilda Warbrick (b. 1937) and Irene Taylor (1932-2015), a mother of ten children herself, and his grandfathers, William "Bill" Warbrick (b. 1937) and Derek Taylor (1930-2011), came together to put the needs of their grandson at the forefront. It was from this moment onwards that Cometan's grandparents would play a particularly pivotal role in his life in different periods with profound influence later in Cometan's life.
It was his grandparents' intention to reduce the amount of trauma and disruption to their grandson's upbringing as much as possible; to deflect away from him the tumultuous separation of his parent's relationship. It was his paternal grandparents that Cometan would remember as playing a particularly dominant role in his childhood while his maternal grandparents would play a greater role in his adolescence after the death of his paternal grandparents.
Cometan began his attendance at St Mary & St Benedict's Roman Catholic Primary School at age five in 2003. On his first day there to which his grandmother, Hilda, took him, she would reminisce later that Cometan had naively said to her as they approached the school gates, "Grandma, let's not bother. Shall we go home?" Little did the young boy know then that he would continue his formal education until his twenties.
Cometan spent the majority of the weekends of his childhood at his paternal grandparents' residence at 222 Longmeanygate in Leyland, a six bedroom detached house surrounded by three acres of land. Cometan would remember much of his youth at this home having sleepovers with his many cousins, one of whom, Thomas Taylor (b. 1994), he was particularly close, so much so that when together, people often thought they were brothers rather than cousins. Cometan found comfort in the home of his grandparents and it acted as a sanctuary far away from the traumas of his parent's separation.
Cometan's paternal grandmother, Irene Taylor, was an ardent and devout Roman Catholic who imposed an observance of Traditionalist Catholicism onto her grandchildren, particularly Cometan and Thomas, and their older cousin, Martin. The entire house was cloaked in a deeply religious theme and atmosphere with Catholic relics and paintings draping the walls, statues and icons of Jesus and Mary in every room, and Cometan even contributed to the building of a Mary garden with his grandmother in the grounds of the house. Cometan attended Latin Mass every Sunday throughout his childhood alongside his grandparents and cousins and although he would not pay much attention to the religious beliefs, symbols, and practices then, this potent religiosity would hold a significant influence over his destined vocation.
It was Irene's intention for her grandsons, whom she was highly protective over, to become priests. Cometan would spend much of his Saturdays as a child going from church to church across the county of Lancashire and beyond visiting various Catholic priests and organisations with his grandmother, later leading to speculation that his grandmother was in fact a member of the lay religious organisation, Opus Dei, and the Latin Mass Society. It was Irene's devotion and dedication to her faith in Traditionalist Catholicism that made her a well-known figure in the local Catholic community. Although Irene's ambition was for her grandsons to become priests, she would not know then that her grandson would in fact found his own religion, the creation of which Irene would most likely not have approved of.
Later, Cometan would look back in fond memory of the time he spent at his grandparents' home during his childhood and although he disdained his grandmother for forbidding video games and computers instead opting for playing outdoors at the time, he would later thank his grandmother posthumously for her efforts to keep his mind pure and young. However, the life that Cometan had known for all the years of his childhood would change one night when he made a decision with life-changing consequences.
References
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