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To: Satanist-L@necronomi.com
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nocTifer)
Subject: (Z) Evil, God, Satan and Rationality (was Evil)
Date: Mon, 13 Apr 1998 19:09:25 -0700 (PDT)

49980413 aa2 Hail Satan!  (bcc'd to JBRussel, whose work I admire)

re "ultimate evil", I said that one rational example is:
# > impossible things, things which bring repercussions from
# > the cold hard reality of the material world.  sumpthin
# > that Mama Natura doesn't like.

examples of evil from this perspective would include:
	a) trying to lift up the planet
	b) walking through brick walls  
	c) wishing fishes into loaves of bread
	d) turning water into wine
	e) turning lead into gold
	f) walking very slowly across a very busy 
	   freeway in rainy weather at night wearing 
	   black, running toward the headlights, and
	   not getting harmed in some way
	g) surviving without air for an extended duration
	h) living totally *on* air and nothing else
	i) an old Creatorgod sitting in the clouds judging us
   and  j) a baby's arm, holding an apple.

explanations:
all but the last 2 (that's a joke, son) appear to operate contrary
to known physical laws.  they might not all be impossible with
technological know-how or gadgetry, but right now, and especially
without technology, they are so, and those who attempt them will
be told that they are "evil" by Mama Natura when Her repercussion
hits us square in the face.


about evil, I said that it:
# > ...is never felt, it is always projected.

explanation:
the term 'evil' is a projection upon something or someone which
one fears and/or opposes.  the term's usage implies that for 
whatever reason and based on whatever intensity of fear and 
revulsion, we find the object to be worthy of our condemnation 
and opposition.  

as I see the cosmos at this time there is no ULTIMATE evil in that
there is no over-arching cosmic Judge who determines which acts
and objects are absolutely to be opposed (unless it's impossible,
in which case the phenomena of the world oppose it and there is
no need for any sort of moral condemnation, it constitutes merely

a technological boundary).
 

re whether someone "feels evilness":
I think revulsion and disgust are intense feelings of evil.  there
are common acts (e.g. coercive torture of innocents and the weak)
that are considered 'evil' for this reason (not because they are
against the cosmic dictate but because we have empathy and at
least a modicum of compassion and some commonalities as humans).

it seems relevant to me to point out that Satan as described by 
Christians is the CENTER AND SOURCE OF ALL EVIL.  that is, Satan
is, to the traditional Christian culture, typically cast as the
responsible party for the fact of evil in the world.  first some
Jews and then many Christians could not stomach (even after the
horrors of the Old Testament which are often explained away)
attributing to Jehovah, their God, the (present or ultimate)
responsibility for the existence of evil in the world.  far from
being willing to take on the role of its PROJECTION ONTO THE
WORLD themselves, they instead created a goat-golem upon which 
to load the responsibility for miseries and cosmic nasties and 
then proceeded to condemn it in place of Jehovah.  

this was a kind of pacification move which simultaneously made
them feel better about worshipping their (One!) God, considering
it (fallaciously) omnipotent, and yet (illogically) perfectly 
kind.  Russell lays it out nicely:

	The problem of evil is particularly acute in the
	monotheist tradition of Judaism, Christianity, and
	Islam; this tradition's efforts to justify God's
	ways to man are called theodicy.

	Four logical options exist in theodicy: (1) God is
	neither all-good nor all-powerful (an option usually
	excluded on the grounds that no one would call this
	God); (2) God is all-good but not all-powerful; (3)
	God is all-powerful but not all-good; (4) God is
	both all-good and all-powerful.  The last option,
	usually adopted in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic
	tradition, is a difficult one requiring some
	concordance of the existence of God with the
	existence of evil.  A perfect solution still evades
	us, for we have usually ended up either saving the
	goodness of God at the expense of his power, or his
	power at the expense of his goodness.
	-----------------------------------------------------
	_Satan: the Early Christian Tradition_, by Jeffrey
	  Burton Russell, Cornell University, 1981; pp. 16-7.
	_____________________________________________________

this all seems to presume the foolish notion which Russell
and his books may be used to perpetuate: that "evil" (as a 
cosmic and ultimately phenomenological object or energy) 
*exists* and is not merely a human projection.  

the options when evil is understood as a projection of the
deluded are really: that their God

	a) does not do they want and is not capable of doing 
	   what they want 
	b) does what they want but can't do everything they want
	c) can do what they want but doesn't do everything they want
	d) does what they want and can do everything they want.

of COURSE for the best face, option 'd', is the preferred target,
except that they continually find that the cosmos is NOT how
they would like it (those ungrateful Judeochristians!).  

now rather than come to the rational conclusion (ignore for the
moment the likelihood that their God simply doesn't *exist* :>) 
that "evil" is a projection of human bias and limited, subjective 
understanding and, determined to save the image of the God in 
question, the only option left was to create some sort of 
opposing power (Satan) which was responsible for evil, forgetting 
that the God created it, too, and providing it with a role in the 
Grand Scheme to test and weed the human race.

now if all this were understood as is then there would be
little argument over the issue.  however, ironically the
Christians *themselves* become confused over the matter,
beginning to believe that their omnipotent God might somehow
"lose" in this fictitious battle, and therefore using this 
as a justification for engaging all manner of travesty in
order to 'win the war' (the means become unimportant in the
face of the ends, therefore they can commit acts which would
otherwise be considered 'evil' in order to serve the God).

this is the rationalization (if not the motivation, though
these usually include monetary considerations) behind most 
holy wars and jihads, inquisitions, witch burnings, and 
turning a blind eye to a growing problem of molested altar 
boys while exclaiming loudly over fictitious "ritual 
Satanic abuse".

when Satan is seen as a Cosmic Scapegoat protecting the weak
image of a fictitious 'God', and the notion of 'evil' is
understood as the misapprehension of cosmic processes based
on futile anthropocentric bias, suddenly the "problem" of
evil can be seen in the light that it deserves: as a tarbaby,
exploited out of proportion to preserve political and
economic advantage through confusing, irrational propaganda,
the likes of which haven't been seen since the various
'proofs' of the existence of this fantasy 'God' by 
reputedly intelligent churchmen.

both are a waste of time to discuss beyond learning of their
fallacies, insult the intelligence to consider them more than 
as an oddity of human myopia and/or manipulation, and are, 
ultimately, the echoes of the futile notion (the anthropo-
morphic deity) that lies rotting in the grave where Nietzsche
and others have scrawled their epitaph.  the electricity of
'evil' will never revive this frankenstein in the minds of
thinking humans and no amount of hand-waving will change this.

blessed beast!
________________________________________________________________________
nocTifer: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com  ---  http://www.abyss.com/tokus
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