Two today; I'm in a writing mood.
One of the common misconceptions most people have when they first hear about Satanism, even if they understand the core values presented in The Satanic Bible, is that Satanism is a reaction to Christianity. This is something I also assumed, though the connection never implied to me that this was the sole reason The Church of Satan was established in the first place. This is something people spend a lot of time harping on about, especially Christians, who try to defend their viewpoints from Satanists on occasion, as if the Church of Satan was specifically on the attack for them.
For any Christians who stumble upon this blog accidentally someday; Satanists appreciate your symbology in spite of you, not because of you.
For someone like Doctor LaVey, who had a very tongue in cheek sense of humor and a far reaching knowledge of the human condition, Satan was the absolute perfect symbol for his religion due to the connotations behind the figure, and what Satan means to people living in the Western world. I can't profess to knowing much about Doctor LaVey apart from his writings, but I am convinced personally that if he had sprung up in any other culture, he would have chosen the symbol of rebellion most suitable for the condition of that culture. Satan happens to be the most feared, diabolical character in Western folklore, and is presented, at best as an antihero in even the most subversive of classical literature.
There are so many more obvious points about why Satan was chosen as the basis for Doctor LaVey's rationalist, Darwinian philosophy, but this is one that sums up the whole "but I thought you believed in the devil" argument which happens to come up from time to time. The Christians who say that "Satanists couldn't exist without Christians" are laughable, ill informed idiots; Satanists, at least the personality type so many prominent figures can easily be categorized into which Satanism embodied, has existed throughout history. It was a coming together of ideas which occurred when Satanism was finally codified, but the core principles have always been there.
There are obviously some Satanists who are more ill-willed towards Christians than others, usually because they have a background of religious indoctrination in their life that was painful and difficult for them. But for myself personally, Christians have always been completely irrelevant in my life. I didn't come to learn about Satanism through some deep seated hatred of Christianity; I came to learn about it through a general disgust for the human population, their moralistic ideals, their unrealistic and superstitious viewpoints, and their rejection of the carnal nature of the human animal.
I have had almost zero contact with Christians throughout my life time, and a part from the occasional irritating or idiotic conversation with someone who is a "true believer", most of my own experiences with them were actually fairly positive - or at least, completely inconsequential.
The REAL problem I have with Christians isn't that they are Christian; it's that most of them adopted their worldview on a whim, in a moment of weakness, or through indoctrination. I have never met a single Christian who has even read the fucking Bible, which considering it is the core text from which all of their ideas and faith is derived, is pretty fucking important. I have read the Old Testament, and I have to say; I can understand why most of them don't bother. God as he is presented in there is a mean motherfucking twisted SOB, and only the clinically insane would ever profess to worship someone so consistently bi-polar, murderous, and psychotic.
Satanism has always existed in some form. The world needed to change substantially before someone could be brave enough to define and codify what had already been going on in secret for centuries. Satan just happened to be the best man for the job so to speak, but realistically, just about any figure of rebellion could have been chosen in his place. He just happened to be the most well known, the most feared, and the most dread inspiring among all of our cultural figures.
These are just my opinions, they will likely change over time as I become more educated on the subject. And for the record, I refer to Satan as a person in the article for effect; not because I believe in scary voodoo bullshit and actually think he is a real dude.
Hail Satan!
Saturday 30 June 2012
E - Taking Out the Garbage
"Satan represents responsibility to the responsible, instead of concern for psychic vampires!"
When I was a kid, like most kids, my weekly "rite of passage" into manhood was taking out the garbage.
Every week, on Wednesday morning or the night before I would have to take all of the bins from behind the shed and put them in the front lawn. I hated doing it because, especially in the summer time, spiders practically infested the undersides of the handles so I would usually spray them with a hose first, or failing that, wear a pair of welding gloves I had from school.
Every week I would dread carrying those fucking things from the back to the front, as if it were some major chore. And there were a few times where I wouldn't be quick enough; where the garbage would just pile up for another week. On those weeks I never forgot; with bags spread out everywhere and usually, the neighborhood cats having torn into a few of them, what could have been relatively easy turned into a major task of cleaning up garbage. It was a real nuisance.
Life is like that, too. We are creatures of mass consumption, and the excess waste we produce as a by product of our everyday lives is heavy, and piles up quickly. It is the little stresses that accumulate; the harmful people we meet, the problems that we face every day. But after awhile, it gets to a point where you have to deal with it, to clean it up. You can only hide it so long before you have piles of shredded bags, bones, and dirty diapers littering your lawn.
My life has become a perpetual series of waste removal tasks. There was a time when I would allow harmful people to be, and stay in my life; either because of some misplaced sense of altruism, or because I thought they could change. But you can never expect people to change, especially as adults; people aren't good enough for change, at least not the ones who would take from your existence to begin with.
On that basis, it can only be said that people come in essentially two flavors; the useful and the useless. You can't attribute direct value on human life because there is far too much of it to go around; instead you need to identify people with utility, those from whom you have something to gain, to embrace them, and to eliminate all other imposing entities from your life.
Self preservation is the highest law. Just like forgetting a week to take out the trash, I learned the consequences of keeping people in my life who had no value to me, from whom I could gain nothing. The people I bother talking with at all, the people who I spend any of my time with: they don't realize just what a rare thing that is. It would be immensely arrogant for me to call them lucky; they are only lucky insofar as they enjoy actually having me around as well. But the fact of the matter is, if I for one second doubted their trustworthiness, or had any reservations about their quality, I wouldn't take a second look at them. In fact, upon my calculation of just how toxic they could potentially be, I may even be openly hostile to them just so I am clear on my intentions of staying away from them at any cost.
Quality is all that matters in life. Quantity means jack shit in a world with close to ten billion human beings running around on its damaged surface.
Take the things in your life which harm you, and smite them hip and thigh. Take out the fucking garbage.
When I was a kid, like most kids, my weekly "rite of passage" into manhood was taking out the garbage.
Every week, on Wednesday morning or the night before I would have to take all of the bins from behind the shed and put them in the front lawn. I hated doing it because, especially in the summer time, spiders practically infested the undersides of the handles so I would usually spray them with a hose first, or failing that, wear a pair of welding gloves I had from school.
Every week I would dread carrying those fucking things from the back to the front, as if it were some major chore. And there were a few times where I wouldn't be quick enough; where the garbage would just pile up for another week. On those weeks I never forgot; with bags spread out everywhere and usually, the neighborhood cats having torn into a few of them, what could have been relatively easy turned into a major task of cleaning up garbage. It was a real nuisance.
Life is like that, too. We are creatures of mass consumption, and the excess waste we produce as a by product of our everyday lives is heavy, and piles up quickly. It is the little stresses that accumulate; the harmful people we meet, the problems that we face every day. But after awhile, it gets to a point where you have to deal with it, to clean it up. You can only hide it so long before you have piles of shredded bags, bones, and dirty diapers littering your lawn.
My life has become a perpetual series of waste removal tasks. There was a time when I would allow harmful people to be, and stay in my life; either because of some misplaced sense of altruism, or because I thought they could change. But you can never expect people to change, especially as adults; people aren't good enough for change, at least not the ones who would take from your existence to begin with.
On that basis, it can only be said that people come in essentially two flavors; the useful and the useless. You can't attribute direct value on human life because there is far too much of it to go around; instead you need to identify people with utility, those from whom you have something to gain, to embrace them, and to eliminate all other imposing entities from your life.
Self preservation is the highest law. Just like forgetting a week to take out the trash, I learned the consequences of keeping people in my life who had no value to me, from whom I could gain nothing. The people I bother talking with at all, the people who I spend any of my time with: they don't realize just what a rare thing that is. It would be immensely arrogant for me to call them lucky; they are only lucky insofar as they enjoy actually having me around as well. But the fact of the matter is, if I for one second doubted their trustworthiness, or had any reservations about their quality, I wouldn't take a second look at them. In fact, upon my calculation of just how toxic they could potentially be, I may even be openly hostile to them just so I am clear on my intentions of staying away from them at any cost.
Quality is all that matters in life. Quantity means jack shit in a world with close to ten billion human beings running around on its damaged surface.
Take the things in your life which harm you, and smite them hip and thigh. Take out the fucking garbage.
Friday 29 June 2012
A - Michael Sowa
Just thought I would share some art this morning. I have the "Fowl with Pearls" on my wall...my wife and I both like surrealist pictures. Michael Sowa has almost a Far Side sensibility...real fun stuff.
Thursday 28 June 2012
N T P - Circumcision Laws
Oh, that was a good idea; let's talk about Jews right after we make a post about how the Nazi aesthetic wasn't all that bad. No sir, nobody is going to peg me as being an anti-Semite for that one!
To be clear, and not cowardly; I AM an anti-Semite, but only by the Jewish definition. Because from all the news stories I read about Jews getting upset over X, anytime somebody doesn't agree with their bizarre voodoo ritual practices and batshit crazy beliefs, they are an anti-Semite, too. But to be truthful, religions, ALL religions are crazy nonsense to me. It is people who come up with this shit, people who follow it, so by proxy it is people who are nuts; but in all the funny cap wearing, reading out passages while standing on one foot, and yes, even bodily mutilation, I see nothing of value or beauty which deserves to be preserved culturally. It WILL be, and I am definitely fine with that, but don't ask me to nod my head like a Republican on tour in a Mosque and try to come off as being "open minded" by occasionally whispering "hm, that is interesting."
What is interesting to me is the aerodynamics of a plane, the properties of mercury, the birth of the universe. The only thing interesting about people is just how absurdly fucked up they all are, but that's enough about defending myself from some angry Jews who might come across this.
German court rules against religious circumcision.
This was posted on Facebook by a Jewish friend of mine, and the first thing I immediately said to myself was "Uh oh, Germany? Well here we fucking go." Every single goddamn comment there and a good portion in the body article itself was an immediate attack on the German court for being made up of "Nazi's". These intellectually lazy windbags couldn't see past their own built in xenophobia from events which transpired before they were even born, created and executed by a Fascist regime which no longer exists in any substantial form except by balding southern American idiots who probably would have been good candidates for the chambers themselves had they lived in that time period. But enough about people throwing out the name "Hitler" as an easy way out of any kind of real discussion, let's take a look at what the article said.
So backwards, permanent ritual mutilation was seen as being unfavorable by some secular minded Germans, and should be withheld until the child is of an age to consent.
The court also believes that, *gasp*, religious rituals causing permanent disfigurement are - wait for it - a form of involuntary indoctrination? Oh the logic here...it's astounding!
Yep, an archaic ritual that has been "practiced for centuries" can't be wrong, right? Like female circumcision, disallowing blood transfusions, Sharia Law. If a trillion idiots say it's right, how can it be wrong?
My viewpoint on this is very clear; there are certainly arguable clinical benefits to circumcision, and ultimately it IS such a commonplace practice that at this point in our history, it isn't a big deal. I get that. What I don't get is how other religions are currently being forced to evolve because the general population has more and more recognized that some of their precepts and practices are bizarre, and outdated. It isn't so much an argument against Jews that "well, they should just shut up and be happy about it." A reaction is certainly understandable, and it behooves anyone really to fight for their own beliefs which is what they are doing.
I do find it bizarre how this is being singled out, but logically it makes sense to me. Kids don't deserve to have their dicks cut up over something they don't care about, don't understand, and frankly may not believe or follow once they grow up. There is nothing in the new law which says that circumcision ITSELF is illegal, just when being done for religious reasons. That alone makes it something of a paper tiger, if it even sticks at all; these guys can still have their kids circumcised they just can't cite their beliefs as a reason to do it.
It's a fairly complex issue, but what it boils down to for me personally is very simple; circmcision is not something I agree should go hand in hand with ritual. Sugarcoat it all you want, but the fact of the matter is, you are pushing your own beliefs and practices on your male children in a very tangible way which literally changes their anatomy for the rest of their lives. That is far worst than making your kid sit through boring Bible passages or go to church on Sundays; people can forget about all that awful crap and move on, but they can't get their hood back. Period.
This is forcing Jews and Muslims in Germany to take a more progressive turn in their "evolution", if it really is possible to evolve from worthless voodoo bullshit. In this case it is protecting the doctors as well.
And once again, just to be clear:
It's great not be a Jew or a Muslim because my opinions don't have to be set at a standard which exempts me from any possible anti-Semitism. I'm anti-religion, anti-mutilation certainly...oh, and I guess, an anti-Semite, too.
..oh well. That's their standard, not mine. I just can't help but to call out a sacred cow, from time to time; sacred or not, they all produce bullshit.
To be clear, and not cowardly; I AM an anti-Semite, but only by the Jewish definition. Because from all the news stories I read about Jews getting upset over X, anytime somebody doesn't agree with their bizarre voodoo ritual practices and batshit crazy beliefs, they are an anti-Semite, too. But to be truthful, religions, ALL religions are crazy nonsense to me. It is people who come up with this shit, people who follow it, so by proxy it is people who are nuts; but in all the funny cap wearing, reading out passages while standing on one foot, and yes, even bodily mutilation, I see nothing of value or beauty which deserves to be preserved culturally. It WILL be, and I am definitely fine with that, but don't ask me to nod my head like a Republican on tour in a Mosque and try to come off as being "open minded" by occasionally whispering "hm, that is interesting."
What is interesting to me is the aerodynamics of a plane, the properties of mercury, the birth of the universe. The only thing interesting about people is just how absurdly fucked up they all are, but that's enough about defending myself from some angry Jews who might come across this.
German court rules against religious circumcision.
This was posted on Facebook by a Jewish friend of mine, and the first thing I immediately said to myself was "Uh oh, Germany? Well here we fucking go." Every single goddamn comment there and a good portion in the body article itself was an immediate attack on the German court for being made up of "Nazi's". These intellectually lazy windbags couldn't see past their own built in xenophobia from events which transpired before they were even born, created and executed by a Fascist regime which no longer exists in any substantial form except by balding southern American idiots who probably would have been good candidates for the chambers themselves had they lived in that time period. But enough about people throwing out the name "Hitler" as an easy way out of any kind of real discussion, let's take a look at what the article said.
Circumcising young boys on religious grounds amounts to grievous bodily harm, a German court ruled Tuesday in a landmark decision that the Jewish community said trampled on parents' religious rights.The regional court in Cologne, western Germany, ruled that the "fundamental right of the child to bodily integrity outweighed the fundamental rights of the parents", a judgement that is expected to set a legal precedent."The religious freedom of the parents and their right to educate their child would not be unacceptably compromised, if they were obliged to wait until the child could himself decide to be circumcised," the court added.
So backwards, permanent ritual mutilation was seen as being unfavorable by some secular minded Germans, and should be withheld until the child is of an age to consent.
"The body of the child is irreparably and permanently changed by a circumcision," the court said. "This change contravenes the interests of the child to decide later on his religious beliefs."
The court also believes that, *gasp*, religious rituals causing permanent disfigurement are - wait for it - a form of involuntary indoctrination? Oh the logic here...it's astounding!
The head of the Central Committee of Jews, Dieter Graumann, said the ruling was "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in the right of religious communities to self-determination."The judgement was an "outrageous and insensitive act. Circumcision of newborn boys is a fixed part of the Jewish religion and has been practiced worldwide for centuries," added Graumann.
Yep, an archaic ritual that has been "practiced for centuries" can't be wrong, right? Like female circumcision, disallowing blood transfusions, Sharia Law. If a trillion idiots say it's right, how can it be wrong?
My viewpoint on this is very clear; there are certainly arguable clinical benefits to circumcision, and ultimately it IS such a commonplace practice that at this point in our history, it isn't a big deal. I get that. What I don't get is how other religions are currently being forced to evolve because the general population has more and more recognized that some of their precepts and practices are bizarre, and outdated. It isn't so much an argument against Jews that "well, they should just shut up and be happy about it." A reaction is certainly understandable, and it behooves anyone really to fight for their own beliefs which is what they are doing.
I do find it bizarre how this is being singled out, but logically it makes sense to me. Kids don't deserve to have their dicks cut up over something they don't care about, don't understand, and frankly may not believe or follow once they grow up. There is nothing in the new law which says that circumcision ITSELF is illegal, just when being done for religious reasons. That alone makes it something of a paper tiger, if it even sticks at all; these guys can still have their kids circumcised they just can't cite their beliefs as a reason to do it.
It's a fairly complex issue, but what it boils down to for me personally is very simple; circmcision is not something I agree should go hand in hand with ritual. Sugarcoat it all you want, but the fact of the matter is, you are pushing your own beliefs and practices on your male children in a very tangible way which literally changes their anatomy for the rest of their lives. That is far worst than making your kid sit through boring Bible passages or go to church on Sundays; people can forget about all that awful crap and move on, but they can't get their hood back. Period.
This is forcing Jews and Muslims in Germany to take a more progressive turn in their "evolution", if it really is possible to evolve from worthless voodoo bullshit. In this case it is protecting the doctors as well.
Holm Putzke, a criminal law expert at the University of Passau, told the Financial Times Deutschland that the ruling was "enormously important for doctors because for the first time they have legal certainty.""Unlike many politicians, the court has not allowed itself to be scared off by charges of anti-Semitism or religious intolerance," added Putzke.
And once again, just to be clear:
The court specified that circumcision was not illegal if carried out for medical reasons.
It's great not be a Jew or a Muslim because my opinions don't have to be set at a standard which exempts me from any possible anti-Semitism. I'm anti-religion, anti-mutilation certainly...oh, and I guess, an anti-Semite, too.
..oh well. That's their standard, not mine. I just can't help but to call out a sacred cow, from time to time; sacred or not, they all produce bullshit.
Wednesday 27 June 2012
W A - Königgrätzer Marsch
When I was a kid, one of my favorite series of films were the Indiana Jones movies. I still like watching them from time to time. But the best of all for me was The Last Crusade, and one of the things that stands out in my mind the most from that film was the book burning scene, and the famous Königgrätzer Marsch playing in the background.
Back then of course, there was something inherently "wrong" about liking the song - it belonged to evil Nazis, after all! A perfect example of people today who throw the baby out with the bath water.
Having an interest in military history today, there is absolutely nothing offensive to me about the Nazi aesthetic. In fact, I like having elements of it on my own site for effect, the red, black, white and gold colors used so prominently by the Nazis. The Germans did so many things right in their propaganda, and their music is certainly no exception, even though this particular march is pre-Nazi anyways.
Hell, I just love military marches in general, nevermind this particular one. It is a fantastic kind of inspiring music, and I often listen to them when I am writing. I don't know how you could be in a bad mood when you are listening to a badass march.
So keep your acoustic guitars and your songs about love, and fuck yourselves in the mouth with them. Real men listen to real music and masturbate themselves with a claw hammer.
And so ends my pumped up morning rant about something or other.
Tuesday 26 June 2012
P R - Yes, the Zoo IS a Zoo
My family and I took my daughter to the Zoo for the first time the other day. We showed her as many animals as we could; elephants, peacocks, gorillas, lions, bears. But there was a far more interesting specimen of animal there, and for some idiotic reason, nobody seemed to consider locking them up.
The place was really busy, and the clientele consisted mostly of mothers with strollers. For the most part, the crowd was generally inoffensive, but when you see several thousand people in a day, it is almost a guarantee that you will witness something both simultaneously depressing and horrible. On several occasions, not just once or twice, I saw parents struggling to push their strollers along - with their fucking ten year olds slumped in the seats, feet dragging across the concrete. The strange thing is, none of these people had an additional brood of failure with them; they had brought the strollers specifically for the purpose of intensely coddling their pre-teen children. At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought, "hey, maybe their kids are retarded." But the distinct lack of corner-lip drool and a perfect awareness of their surroundings betrayed my meaningless proposition of giving them the "benefit of the doubt."
On at least one occasion I also saw a mother and her four hell spawn watching the peacocks run around the zoo grounds, while allowing them to throw sticks at the poor creature and pull on its feathers. It didn't last long though before the mother of the year told them to stop, not because she had the common sense to understand what little assholes her children were being, but because a passer by lectured her himself on the matter. I had envisioned an ideal scenario of the bird leaping out of the grasp of those undisciplined little shits and tearing into the mother herself just to teach her that it isn't polite to let your kids fuck with nature.
There were some other instances of irresponsible behavior, much more subtle, but equally offensive. I saw plenty of babies having sugar, hot dogs, and french fries shoved into their fat little faces by overweight mongoloids who probably thought deep fried potato sticks qualified as a nutritious vegetable. One kid had a sippy cup full of cola firmly in the grasp if his little claw; a fairly common sight in malls and promenades around this filthy city of mine. I literally saw a pow wow of children, about twenty of them, perched on benches in a rest area, all glued to their fucking iPads, watching CG movies about digital cartoon animals rather than the real ones all around them who were clearly not as interesting because they weren't voiced by Tom Hanks or Patton Oswalt. And of course, parents shoving their way in front of children - including my own child in a fucking stroller - so they could get a brief glimpse at sights they had clearly never seen perched in their usual position in front of the television with a bag full of Cheetos nestled snugly in the crook of their arms.
Oh yes, and at least a hundred and fifty goddamn times, some genius comedian would point out to a random passerby that "Man, the Zoo really is a Zoo today, huh? HAHAH." Christ, what are these people doing at the Zoo? Their talents are being wasted, and I demand that they go on a blue collar comedy tour immediately to help subsidize their current day jobs of putting a gun in their mouth and being too scared to finally just pull the goddamn trigger.
Not that I'm bitter or anything.
The place was really busy, and the clientele consisted mostly of mothers with strollers. For the most part, the crowd was generally inoffensive, but when you see several thousand people in a day, it is almost a guarantee that you will witness something both simultaneously depressing and horrible. On several occasions, not just once or twice, I saw parents struggling to push their strollers along - with their fucking ten year olds slumped in the seats, feet dragging across the concrete. The strange thing is, none of these people had an additional brood of failure with them; they had brought the strollers specifically for the purpose of intensely coddling their pre-teen children. At first I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought, "hey, maybe their kids are retarded." But the distinct lack of corner-lip drool and a perfect awareness of their surroundings betrayed my meaningless proposition of giving them the "benefit of the doubt."
On at least one occasion I also saw a mother and her four hell spawn watching the peacocks run around the zoo grounds, while allowing them to throw sticks at the poor creature and pull on its feathers. It didn't last long though before the mother of the year told them to stop, not because she had the common sense to understand what little assholes her children were being, but because a passer by lectured her himself on the matter. I had envisioned an ideal scenario of the bird leaping out of the grasp of those undisciplined little shits and tearing into the mother herself just to teach her that it isn't polite to let your kids fuck with nature.
There were some other instances of irresponsible behavior, much more subtle, but equally offensive. I saw plenty of babies having sugar, hot dogs, and french fries shoved into their fat little faces by overweight mongoloids who probably thought deep fried potato sticks qualified as a nutritious vegetable. One kid had a sippy cup full of cola firmly in the grasp if his little claw; a fairly common sight in malls and promenades around this filthy city of mine. I literally saw a pow wow of children, about twenty of them, perched on benches in a rest area, all glued to their fucking iPads, watching CG movies about digital cartoon animals rather than the real ones all around them who were clearly not as interesting because they weren't voiced by Tom Hanks or Patton Oswalt. And of course, parents shoving their way in front of children - including my own child in a fucking stroller - so they could get a brief glimpse at sights they had clearly never seen perched in their usual position in front of the television with a bag full of Cheetos nestled snugly in the crook of their arms.
Oh yes, and at least a hundred and fifty goddamn times, some genius comedian would point out to a random passerby that "Man, the Zoo really is a Zoo today, huh? HAHAH." Christ, what are these people doing at the Zoo? Their talents are being wasted, and I demand that they go on a blue collar comedy tour immediately to help subsidize their current day jobs of putting a gun in their mouth and being too scared to finally just pull the goddamn trigger.
Not that I'm bitter or anything.
Monday 25 June 2012
F - Learning to Read
(F is for anything related to Project Faust/Deep Satanism, a sporadic journal of my self education.)
Project Faust as outlined in Essays in Satanism by Magister James D. Sass is a comprehensive program of learning which exists in order to provide a deeper look into the broad scope of what Satanism entails through the continuous study of relevant source materials touching on a far reaching range of subjects, and in its very brief outline, a few hundred works of great importance, starting with the Epic of Gilgamesh and moving onward through a history of classic literature.
It is something I have largely been interested in, but being on such a grand scale, it was not an aspiration that survived the myriad of other goals I was accomplishing upon the time I discovered it. Over the past couple of years, my interests have changed significantly, and after something of a long hiatus, I eventually got back into reading - lots of reading, covering plenty of different topics of interest.
Part of the reason I became interested in Deep Satanism was the birth of my daughter. While many Satanists lament the mediocrity of the public system, I actually see merits there - though education may not necessarily be one of them, ironically. Being put through the hell of the public system is what forged my personality, toughened my softened exterior, and really allowed me to see the full scope of human stupidity and build a long lasting perspective on the human condition which has helped to dictate how I handle the human race as a whole on a daily basis. This is experience that I don't feel I could have ever had in the confines of home schooling, which for me, would have been a perfect disaster; many children flourish this way but become social invalids, and like it or not, that is a major part of success in later life. I can certainly talk to people, even though I enjoy doing it about as much as a slug enjoys a bath in salt water.
I suppose I could double categorize this particular entry since it is as much about parenting as it is about Project Faust itself, but I want to keep a future log of my own progress as I further explore the possibilities of cultivating knowledge using the methods presented in Magister Sass' book. To clarify, I have no intention of EVER "indoctrinating" ANY religion to my children, Satanism or otherwise. But in becoming knowledgeable about a wide variety of relevant topics, I feel I will be better equipped to nurture my daughters own personal education in addition to whatever she happens to learn as she goes through school. If the opportunity becomes apparent, and she is ahead of the class, I would certainly choose alternate schooling, something which would be more readily equipped to help her explore her own potential. But the public system, if anything, acts as the perfect filter separating the gifted from the mundane, so I feel it is likely a good place to start.
Currently, I am reading a few books on varying topics, but when it comes to Project Faust specifically, I am starting from the first book on the list, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Before I do that I am boning up on my knowledge of Satanism, doing another plow through the core materials before attacking them more thoroughly, because quite honest, there are a few books of Doctor Lavey's which I have not read for various reasons. As well as that, I am quite literally learning to read again, the process of Active Reading specifically. I consider this to really be my starting point when it comes to a more thorough understanding of Satanism. I obviously have a rudimentary understanding from reading The Satanic Bible, The Devils Notebook, The Satanic Scriptures, and yes, the aforementioned Essays in Satanism, but I cannot profess to having the entire picture, as it were. Apart from my official affiliation with the Church of Satan, which was done rather hastily in retrospect even though I have yet to find a single thing I disagree with, I do have much to learn yet.
Much to learn about Satanism, much to learn about the world around me. It scares me to think I am twenty six and am only now becoming seriously invested in my personal education. But since it is something that has consumed a massive amount of time these past couple of months, time I feel was actually WORTH spending, I am confident I will yield some positive future results, either way.
A quarter of the way to "the end", and I feel like my life is really just beginning.
Project Faust as outlined in Essays in Satanism by Magister James D. Sass is a comprehensive program of learning which exists in order to provide a deeper look into the broad scope of what Satanism entails through the continuous study of relevant source materials touching on a far reaching range of subjects, and in its very brief outline, a few hundred works of great importance, starting with the Epic of Gilgamesh and moving onward through a history of classic literature.
It is something I have largely been interested in, but being on such a grand scale, it was not an aspiration that survived the myriad of other goals I was accomplishing upon the time I discovered it. Over the past couple of years, my interests have changed significantly, and after something of a long hiatus, I eventually got back into reading - lots of reading, covering plenty of different topics of interest.
Part of the reason I became interested in Deep Satanism was the birth of my daughter. While many Satanists lament the mediocrity of the public system, I actually see merits there - though education may not necessarily be one of them, ironically. Being put through the hell of the public system is what forged my personality, toughened my softened exterior, and really allowed me to see the full scope of human stupidity and build a long lasting perspective on the human condition which has helped to dictate how I handle the human race as a whole on a daily basis. This is experience that I don't feel I could have ever had in the confines of home schooling, which for me, would have been a perfect disaster; many children flourish this way but become social invalids, and like it or not, that is a major part of success in later life. I can certainly talk to people, even though I enjoy doing it about as much as a slug enjoys a bath in salt water.
I suppose I could double categorize this particular entry since it is as much about parenting as it is about Project Faust itself, but I want to keep a future log of my own progress as I further explore the possibilities of cultivating knowledge using the methods presented in Magister Sass' book. To clarify, I have no intention of EVER "indoctrinating" ANY religion to my children, Satanism or otherwise. But in becoming knowledgeable about a wide variety of relevant topics, I feel I will be better equipped to nurture my daughters own personal education in addition to whatever she happens to learn as she goes through school. If the opportunity becomes apparent, and she is ahead of the class, I would certainly choose alternate schooling, something which would be more readily equipped to help her explore her own potential. But the public system, if anything, acts as the perfect filter separating the gifted from the mundane, so I feel it is likely a good place to start.
Currently, I am reading a few books on varying topics, but when it comes to Project Faust specifically, I am starting from the first book on the list, the Epic of Gilgamesh. Before I do that I am boning up on my knowledge of Satanism, doing another plow through the core materials before attacking them more thoroughly, because quite honest, there are a few books of Doctor Lavey's which I have not read for various reasons. As well as that, I am quite literally learning to read again, the process of Active Reading specifically. I consider this to really be my starting point when it comes to a more thorough understanding of Satanism. I obviously have a rudimentary understanding from reading The Satanic Bible, The Devils Notebook, The Satanic Scriptures, and yes, the aforementioned Essays in Satanism, but I cannot profess to having the entire picture, as it were. Apart from my official affiliation with the Church of Satan, which was done rather hastily in retrospect even though I have yet to find a single thing I disagree with, I do have much to learn yet.
Much to learn about Satanism, much to learn about the world around me. It scares me to think I am twenty six and am only now becoming seriously invested in my personal education. But since it is something that has consumed a massive amount of time these past couple of months, time I feel was actually WORTH spending, I am confident I will yield some positive future results, either way.
A quarter of the way to "the end", and I feel like my life is really just beginning.
Sunday 24 June 2012
M - Something To Hate
( For a future update, I am categorizing all of my blogs with a letter prefacing the title of each. A legend will follow on the sidebar of the page so that users can easily see what topic is being addressed. I have more ideas for this blog than are currently being utilized due to time constraints, but I want to create the material so that there is actually something worth reading before I worry about indexing, or presentation. M, for example, is for Magic, and the idea behind the blog is that I will have topics about decidedly "average" things, the types of topics you might read about on an MSN homepage (parenting, romance, etc.) but with a decidedly Satanic slant, in keeping with the "average Joe" theme. )
Never give them something to hate, unless it is your modus operandi to simply be hated.
A friend of mine came over the other day for dinner. We were sitting around the table, and my wife pointed out that he had cut his hair; the long greasy ribbons which he used to pull back into a ponytail were missing, as was his beard, and this made him look very uncharacteristically "normal". When probed, he told us he had cut it off, himself, with a box cutter. Coming from most people, this seems rather outlandish, but this is the same person who eats nothing but Irish soda bread, purposely avoids showering, and lives in the type of Eastern European household where they wrap their remote controllers in plastic. Par for the course, but the explanation was much more interesting.
"I was kind of slacking off at work lately, taking the company van home, and otherwise doing things I wasn't supposed to." He told us. "So I thought I should go in and make an impression. I cut my hair, shaved my beard, and bought a grey golf shirt and jeans. Essentially the idea was to look more professional, because if you look decidedly average, you may not be giving people a reason to necessarily like you, but there is nothing external about you for them to hate."
He was able to systematically explain my own lifestyle in a straightforward, simple to comprehend way. He was explaining Lesser Magic in essence; the only person I have met in real life who is a practical Satanist in almost every regard, but whose constant projects and self involvement would deny him the time to even feign interest in anything as "pointless" as personal philosophy. This is a man who carves guitars from scrap wood, whose finished product rivals that of any bought in a store.
For he and I, this kind of behavior has always been well known, though he was more attuned to it earlier on. I use similar tactics in public, mostly to avoid small talk. I systematically omit parts of my personality when I am out of home in order to avoid having to talk about them. When asked questions, I will answer politely, followed up by an inquiry about the person asking in order to divert their attention. This kills the "mystery" factor, and immediately diffuses most peoples interest in me. Then I can go about my day NOT hearing about some new TV show or having to talk about books and movies with somebody who reads Twilight, and thinks that Taxi Driver is "that movie with Queen Latifah."
My friends story went on, however. After changing his appearance, he went to work the next day. His boss didn't look happy, and gave him a long stare when he got in before finally telling him, "I was actually going to fire you today. But you seemed to have cleaned up your act, so I'm going to let you off the hook for now." Anyone else telling the story would have sounded like a fucking liar, but I know better; this definitely went down, and all it took was a new shirt, a box cutter, and a razor blade.
Anything about my friend that could get him "hated", he effectively dissolved. And this is just one example of the many times I have seen this fucker unknowingly use the power of Lesser Magic to his advantage, and acquire literally anything he wanted as a result.
Never give them something to hate, unless it is your modus operandi to simply be hated.
A friend of mine came over the other day for dinner. We were sitting around the table, and my wife pointed out that he had cut his hair; the long greasy ribbons which he used to pull back into a ponytail were missing, as was his beard, and this made him look very uncharacteristically "normal". When probed, he told us he had cut it off, himself, with a box cutter. Coming from most people, this seems rather outlandish, but this is the same person who eats nothing but Irish soda bread, purposely avoids showering, and lives in the type of Eastern European household where they wrap their remote controllers in plastic. Par for the course, but the explanation was much more interesting.
"I was kind of slacking off at work lately, taking the company van home, and otherwise doing things I wasn't supposed to." He told us. "So I thought I should go in and make an impression. I cut my hair, shaved my beard, and bought a grey golf shirt and jeans. Essentially the idea was to look more professional, because if you look decidedly average, you may not be giving people a reason to necessarily like you, but there is nothing external about you for them to hate."
He was able to systematically explain my own lifestyle in a straightforward, simple to comprehend way. He was explaining Lesser Magic in essence; the only person I have met in real life who is a practical Satanist in almost every regard, but whose constant projects and self involvement would deny him the time to even feign interest in anything as "pointless" as personal philosophy. This is a man who carves guitars from scrap wood, whose finished product rivals that of any bought in a store.
For he and I, this kind of behavior has always been well known, though he was more attuned to it earlier on. I use similar tactics in public, mostly to avoid small talk. I systematically omit parts of my personality when I am out of home in order to avoid having to talk about them. When asked questions, I will answer politely, followed up by an inquiry about the person asking in order to divert their attention. This kills the "mystery" factor, and immediately diffuses most peoples interest in me. Then I can go about my day NOT hearing about some new TV show or having to talk about books and movies with somebody who reads Twilight, and thinks that Taxi Driver is "that movie with Queen Latifah."
My friends story went on, however. After changing his appearance, he went to work the next day. His boss didn't look happy, and gave him a long stare when he got in before finally telling him, "I was actually going to fire you today. But you seemed to have cleaned up your act, so I'm going to let you off the hook for now." Anyone else telling the story would have sounded like a fucking liar, but I know better; this definitely went down, and all it took was a new shirt, a box cutter, and a razor blade.
Anything about my friend that could get him "hated", he effectively dissolved. And this is just one example of the many times I have seen this fucker unknowingly use the power of Lesser Magic to his advantage, and acquire literally anything he wanted as a result.
Saturday 23 June 2012
Average Joe Satanist
I love a good oxymoron; right from the get go, implying that you can even be an "average" Satanist makes little sense out of context, so I'll keep my explanation brief; outwardly, I am a regular Joe. I have a wife and a kid, I spend a lot of time hamming it up for my family, and almost nobody knows about my inclinations, my affiliation with the Church of Satan, and how that has helped to shape my worldview. If you can even have an "Average Joe Satanist", I would be a good example of that.
Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out I am different. My obsession with knowledge, the fact that I spend most of my time in front of a book or computer absorbing as much information I can on topics of interest, the fact that I can't name more than one or two sports teams and haven't had cable in years, and the fact that I didn't know who Kim Kardashian was until just a few weeks ago because irrelevant bullshit like that is specifically what keeps me away from magazine shelves in the grocery store.
Yes, I do go to the grocery store. I don't have a room full of esoteria, or an extra room full of anything, for that matter. For as blatantly materialistic as I am, I am also something of a minimalist. I spend most of my time on the computer in my living room when my wife is home looking after our daughter, and anytime I really need to concentrate, I go to our bedroom which has all but been abandoned, and is used (only some of the time) for sleep. Piles of papers and receipts, books and old magazines are stacked around the room making it difficult to even get to the bed. The rest of our home is spotless but the bedroom is a disaster. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference either way.
I'm also a stay at home Dad, which many people find immediately strange since there are apparently so few of us. Even fewer of us are anti-social, and even fewer still are Satanists. It was a conscious decision made long before we had our daughter and it is a role I am happy to fill. I am as obsessed with furthering my daughters own personal education as I am my own, and that was a large part of why I volunteered for the job. My wife agrees that I am ultimately more suited to this role. My own aspirations are there of course; I am planning to join the reserves next year, and am self-educating for a career as a nutritionist to be prepared for such a time when I might be able to take the actual schooling required to get a degree in that field.
Perfectly average, but perfectly strange. A father, an obsessive nerd, a Darwinist, a Satanist.
Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out I am different. My obsession with knowledge, the fact that I spend most of my time in front of a book or computer absorbing as much information I can on topics of interest, the fact that I can't name more than one or two sports teams and haven't had cable in years, and the fact that I didn't know who Kim Kardashian was until just a few weeks ago because irrelevant bullshit like that is specifically what keeps me away from magazine shelves in the grocery store.
Yes, I do go to the grocery store. I don't have a room full of esoteria, or an extra room full of anything, for that matter. For as blatantly materialistic as I am, I am also something of a minimalist. I spend most of my time on the computer in my living room when my wife is home looking after our daughter, and anytime I really need to concentrate, I go to our bedroom which has all but been abandoned, and is used (only some of the time) for sleep. Piles of papers and receipts, books and old magazines are stacked around the room making it difficult to even get to the bed. The rest of our home is spotless but the bedroom is a disaster. Doesn't seem to make much of a difference either way.
I'm also a stay at home Dad, which many people find immediately strange since there are apparently so few of us. Even fewer of us are anti-social, and even fewer still are Satanists. It was a conscious decision made long before we had our daughter and it is a role I am happy to fill. I am as obsessed with furthering my daughters own personal education as I am my own, and that was a large part of why I volunteered for the job. My wife agrees that I am ultimately more suited to this role. My own aspirations are there of course; I am planning to join the reserves next year, and am self-educating for a career as a nutritionist to be prepared for such a time when I might be able to take the actual schooling required to get a degree in that field.
Perfectly average, but perfectly strange. A father, an obsessive nerd, a Darwinist, a Satanist.
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