About nanuri

What it does

It gathers 10 passages from several religions and philosophies that read as calls to help one another and live well together, taken from public-domain editions, and places them side by side under a theme chosen by the date. Which tradition speaks changes every day.

It does not claim they say the same thing. The original texts are left as they are, and it is up to the reader to decide how to read them. Differences across region and era are not hidden either.

Classical Chinese originals (the Analects, Mencius, the Great Learning) are not given a translation. A gloss would itself be a translation and carry its own copyright, so the original is left as is, and an explanation in our own words is added instead. The screen marks it as “explanation, not a translation.”

Besides the passages, there is also Looking back, a place to write down something you did today. Not writing on a given day is never treated as a failure. There is no streak and no ranking.

Others are here too only shows how many people wrote a reflection today. There is no competing over who wrote more, and no ranking.

How far the evidence goes

That several traditions have long carried a call to help one another and live well together is something this app can show you directly, in the original texts. Whether that call actually makes life better is a separate question, and from here the size of the evidence is stated honestly.

There is research on people gathering around others like themselves (homophily), on cooperation continuing when reputation can become known (indirect reciprocity), and on cooperative behavior spreading among people who are close to one another. A few studies pointing in this direction is as far as this app can honestly go.

No one has proven that doing good always leads to a better life. The person who made this app believes it does. What is believed and what is known are kept separate here.

What it does not do

It does not tell you what to believe. It does not say one tradition is right or better than another. It does not say you must come every day, or that this is the only place you can find an answer.

Not writing on a given day is never held against you, and no one is compared to anyone else. This is a place to stop by when you need it.

It never says that paying anything brings something back. This app does not yet accept donations.