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of Satanism and Suicide

To: Satanist-L@necronomi.com
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (boboroshi/CoE)
Subject: (Z) of Satanism and Suicide (was Tamara's "ignorance"...)
Date: Sat, 22 Nov 1997 12:03:31 -0800 (PST)

49971122 aa2 Hail Satan!  (Xposted to Zazas-L and exerpted to the LemmingLounge)


of Satanism and Suicide

re _The Satanic Bible_ by Anton LaVey and coming to understand Satanism:
this is generally a poor source for understanding Satanism, as this was a 
manifesto bringing into popular media a Satanic current.  it is better to 
delve into the writings of poets and philosophers who inspired LaVey and 
many before him (Baudelaire, Michelet, Nietzsche, Blake, others).


re LaVeyan Satanism and its condemnation of Satanic virtues:
it is true that LaVey and his church has unconvincingly condemned as 'stupid'
the Satanic virtues of psychoactive-ingestion and suicide.  this is exemplary
of herd-influenced religious cults and only poses a problem for those who
believe that all Satanism must be the same or that LaVey has somehow offered
substantive arguments in this regard (he has not, nor have his followers).

LaVey attempted to present his Satanism along the lines of popular American
traditional values (heavily inclusive of an outmoded Christianity, despite what
LaVeyites will claim to the contrary) because he wanted his movement and church
to gain in popularity.  he thus renamed what was coming to be 'Americanism' as
'Satanism' (later responsibly retermed 'LaVeyan Satanism' or 'CoSatanism' by
the more knowledgeable).  in this way he was able to back into a claim to
leading a social current while essentially being its follower.  it was quite
deceptive to the herd and therefore of Satanic character, though its heavy
emphasis on conformity betrayed it as a sham and farce.


re 'true Satanism':
we are gradually breaking free of the false and facile religious notions 
foisted upon us by our forefathers.  the Neopagan ideal of syncretic
polytheism has become a reality in the movement known as 'Satanism', within
which individual interpretation not predisposed to the worship of history
or addiction to lineage are accepted as viable and exemplary (cf. the
admirable 'Discordians' on this count).  

in this sense the 'true Satanist' is she who conforms most closely to hir
own ideals and stated principles of hir Satanism, regardless of its character
or content.  those who argue for limitations here do so politically and 
without the Protestant spirit of liberation which has infused Satanism of
various sorts from the start.
 

re Satanism as a philosophy finding a positive character of Satan:
generally true, though for many Satanism is not just 'a philosophy', but
instead trespasses into religion and all this entails, from liturgy and
ethics to cosmology, however materialistic and psychological of basis,
including such things as spirits or demons.


re the Satanist and praying to or worshipping Satan:
the Satanist does what she wants to as regards Satan, from adulation and
blatant worship within the most heinous inversion of Christian cosmologies,
to the serving of Satan as she understands Hir through pact and rite, to
considering Satan to be a temporary caricature within rituals to effect
particular results.  only the deluded require that all Satanists believe
or practice the same things.


re rejecting the values of the herd by becoming anti-life, anti-love, etc.:
being driven and determined by the herd in any capacity, whether through
conformity or perpetual opposition, is still to be hamstringed by the mass.
the Satanist is an individual, and while recognizing that the herd has some
standards, she does not oppose the herd on account of their *being* the herd,
but due to other, more personal considerations (ethical, philosophical,
aesthetic, etc.).

this is, in part, what draws us into the tangled web of confusion surrounding
Satanism as a whole and its relationship to life and death.  while CoSatanist
arguments surrounding suicide and psychoactives may easily be bypassed on 
account of their trite lack of substance, there are many other Satanists who
should be carefully considered on this score, inclusive of those of the Temple
of Set (a limited form of Satanism which accepts transphysical cosmological
presumptions) and The Ordur of Kaos Under Satan (a subset of the Church of
Euthanasia who are re-emphasizing the value of death to human beings generally).


re suicide and its relation to Satanism:
self-termination is the ultimate act of self-expression, the Satanist
simultaneously relieving hir Mistress of hir parasitic burden while
setting a valiant example of discipline.  the fear of death is the result
of transphysical religious cosmologies which simultaneously provide a vision
of post-mortem life-judgement, as the Egyptians, and the subsumation to the 
will of the herd.

associating Satan solely with life-*affirmation* is a kind of fundamentalism.
the noiric and death-oriented imagery and activities of known Satanists easily
counterargue the presumption, despite protestations from those who prefer the
more light-oriented and easy-to-consume procreationism foisted into obsession
by Western religious.

what is considered 'healthy' is colored by modern stereotypes and biases.  today
being suicidal is considered an 'illness' because it does not fit in with the
procreationist creed.  even hippocratic standards have been co-opted to serve
the Judeochristian pro-life values.  beware of those (LaVey, some otherwise
very reasonable Satanists) who have bought into procreationism completely.

the medical establishment is not usually to be trusted as regards Satanic
virtues like suicide, psychoactives and masturbation.  too often these 
societally-accredited individuals are deluded in their condemnation of 
self-serving and purposive activities that extend beyond their limited and 
heavily-biased dreams of 'mental health'.  consider that until the turn of 
this century masturbation was presumed to 'cause insanity'.  today we have 
these people telling us that desire for self-termination -- a natural and 
valuable message from the Mistress -- is best treated by running electricity 
through the body or the intervention of their favored psychoactives (these
latter they otherwise condemn, funny enough, esp. when not serving herd-
conformism).

suicide is a perfect discussion topic for Satanist forums, as it forms the
basis of some types of Satanism (my own, if not others), and in that it is
rejected by most religious and politicals as 'unacceptable' it should therefore 
be asked why this is the case (wranglers don't want the herd to begin to
accept the notion that their lives are somehow theirs to do with as they see
fit, lest this lead to revolution and a loss of control).

those who proclaim suicide's lack of topicality with respect to Satanism
apparently haven't studied the long history of association betwixt the two 
at least in Christian culture.  as a basis to weed the herd of the weak it
is unparallelled, and as a mark of self-determination (crucial to Satanic
virtue) it is unmatched.  as I know Hir, Satan is wild nature, and this
being sees a definite benefit to human population reduction.  suicide is
merely one method of such a culling which ought be seriously considered.
as always, consensuality and choice are paramount.


re the 'right to die' movement and a Satanic perspective:
have a look at the predominant arguments against the right to die as, when,
and how one pleases.  when it is not dismissed by the faithful on the basis 
of being 'against the Word of the Lord Our God' and 'contrary to the 
desires of the king' (as Blackstone, who is cited by antagonists to this 
movement like Meilaender), then it is considered 'unethical' because 
the individual should not be autonomous but instead ruled by the herd,
dominated into submission and enslaved by the surrounding society.

the notion of 'rights' is founded on the liberation of the individual, and
Satanism as I know it exascerbates these to the maximum, protecting hir 

from the society which would otherwise compromise hir integrity and value 
to the norms established by the herd.  

Nietzsche, quoted by right-to-die advocates because he addresses the
insanity of prolonging life beyond its endurability, says:

	In a certain state it is indecent to live longer.   To go
	on vegitating in cowardly dependence on physicians and
	machinations, after the meaning of life, the right to
	life, has been lost, that ought to prompt a profound
	contempt in society.

just as the right to choice of religion should also include the right
to abstain FROM religion of any sort (an atheist assertion) so ought the
right to life (as Nietzsche above) should include the right to abstain 
FROM life of any sort.  to require that an individual live is, in the 
case of those who will be soon ending their lives anyway, ridiculous.  in 
the case of those who desire the technological or physical assistance to 
take their own lives based on their own determinations and desires, it is
disrespectful and egregious of the dignity of their character.


re how much suicide 'helps' and our responsibilities to family and friends:
for those experiencing interminable pain of either psychological or physical
type, suicide can be a perfect and immediately effective remedy.  as life
stops, so does the pain.

the Satanist does not necessarily set up friends and family as the determinant 
forces in hir life.  this is the traditional method of the herd.  instead, the
Satanist does what pleases *hir* foremost, considering and perhaps rejecting
the reactions of others as inconsequential.  repercussions surrounding death
are largely the result of foolish presumptions on the part of the living.  
those who resent the successful suicide do not fully respect that the 
individual is the best judge of whether and how to go about living and dying.


re Nietzsche's "Whatever does not kill me, makes me stronger.":
he also is said to have wanted to "die proudly when it no longer possible
to live proudly."  his text does not over-emphasize the value of life, 
instead putting it in its proper context.


all this in mind, I would say that most under the age of 25 who contemplate
their demise would do best to study some shamanism and information about
initiation.  modern Euro-American cultures typically neglect the maturing
individual (esp. young men) in this regard, leaving them desirous of a death
experience they tend to interpret literally rather than symbolically.  the
act of taking one's life is glorious and indeed of Satanic character, though 
I do not recommend it for the young.

blessed beast!

			SAVE THE PLANET, KILL YOURSELF!
_________________________________________________________________________
boboroshi: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com --- http://www.hollyfeld.org/coe/
TOKUS-COE Office: 408/2-666-SLUG --- Mother Church (CoE): coe@netcom.com
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