The death that awaits establishment

Thinking about my time in university leads me to another train of thought as well: I read a post from Summer Thunder, a blog from a friend and fellow Satanist Mo, and I read about how bounded groups are losing the authority they once claimed they had to dictate spirituality and losing the monopoly that they had over the right to interpret belief and practice, and how independent spirituality seems set to claim a new world for itself and leave the old order of things (at least, that’s how I felt reading it). I got a very clear sense in my head that the age of dogmatic forms of authority and order were dying, and it didn’t seem unreasonable to me that this might apply to all manner of cultural structures besides religion and occultism. To me, the world of tightly wound norms is slowly dying, and only base ignorance stands in the way of the end of the old order of human beings.

One question I have when I think about it, though is why does academia still hold on to notions of restrictive and bounded up order? In the world today it feels to me like going through the traditional pathways to academia is the way to success and to prove your talent, and I don’t think I hear much about people learning on their own without going through any expectations and rules. Not to mention, academia seems like it’s more about getting you into a job than about making you great and talented, which is weird considering in academia you have freedoms (and restrictions) that from what I’m told do not necessarily apply in the career world. How often you will have to conform to the standards put to you in academia in the world of work. And I certainly don’t see you writing dissertations and following rigorous rules for doing so outside of university. Sometimes it feels like we think little of people rising from almost literally nothing, achieving their dreams without following any rules as to how, and I always think about how in the world of metal, and the old days of game design, you had to do without the established channels and you could still be successful if you applied yourself.

Also, in general, there are other questions I have about the world. Why do we hold on to this idea that in order to prove yourself in the world and advance yourself in terms of having a career and a name you have go through institutions that ultimately have you go through sets of unwritten rules? Why is it that in our world people always follow patterns? Why do we confine each other to roles and limitations that we don’t really want to observe? Why do we gravitate towards idols and call upon them to save us? Why do we value numbers over the individual? Why do we always try to put each other in boxes? And why is it that this is all at the expense of the human spirit when we do it?

I have a feeling that the world of numbers and putting people in boxes and assigned roles will be around for a long time, long after the time when I leave this world. If we’re not chaining people down with organized religion, we’ll still be doing it with politics, and we’ll also do it with memetic popular culture, with technology, with science, and even with relationships. But I can’t abide by it, because the world I believe in is different.

The world I dream of is a world ruled by freedom, a world where truly we live by our own feelings, passions, desires, and values over the expectations of others, uncorrupted by ignorance; a world where we remember we have a choice and never succumbing to patterns set before us, nay where there are no patterns set before us that we blindly follow; a world where people can put imagination and creativity over any rules except the ones they devise, and not even the need to survive and compete, or the need for structure, would stop that; a world where fear and ignorance are always defeated by a noble and powerful spirit, no matter how much they rise and grow; a world where humans don’t ever become cogs in a much larger wheel, peas in a much larger pod, or anything like that other than individuals act as themselves and operate on their own will and that which propels their lives; a world where freedom is immortal, and dies for no one, no God, no fear, and no other ideals, not even the desires in people’s hearts and minds; a world where there’s always some reason to have fun without being obnoxious about it. Truly, this is not a world for everyone, truly this world is too good for humans in our world. As such, this is probably a world I would deem as my vision of heaven, and as a vision that I suppose lies chiefly in my mind, and perhaps that means I won’t really be separate from it either.

A world without patterns, a world without a wheel to turn the people, a world with no boxes to put people in, a world where human life is principally characterized by choice, freedom, imagination, creativity, and our desires and passions. Most people might have a word for this vision: Chaos. And I suppose, I would embrace that term, because that’s perhaps where the meaning of Chaos really lies: it’s about the vision for the world at large, something that runs deep in me ever since my initial enchantment and enamorment the Megami Tensei series of games. At the very least, how gratifying this Chaos feels to envision and imagine. I know there’s a value to structure and order in our lives, but most of the time we have to but don’t want to, because we have some semblance of order and pattern crammed down our throats or attached to us, and we kill ourselves to conform to it. Besides, when I think about it, all forms of order and structure, at least in human terms, are derived from the imagination, will, and the capacity of the mind, not from some great laws ordained by the outer world or by any great Logos embedded in humanity. In a sense, it’s probably true when we think of the formation of order out of chaos, not order out of order.

I am Chaos by Followers-of-Eris on Deviantart; something I kind of feel like as I write this.

In a weird way, I sort of feel like I know where my roots are when I think about this, and perhaps with a slightly better understanding to go with it, or it just relates to some of the things I really want in life. That’s why even if it seems radical I can picture myself shouting “Holy Chaos, death to Order” (and then that’s pretty because it sounds like the start of Holy Hell), and if I say that I would salute the death of establishment and the reign of freedom and the chaos of the human spirit.

Freedom has no value in religion

Isn’t it ironic that Christians, especially in America, talk about freedom? Why? Because Christianity, and religion in general, has no value for freedom. All that freedom Christians talk about is probably just them trying to justify Christianity and make it compatible with the American philosophy, which, otherwise, it isn’t (but that’s a later topic).

In most, if not all religions, freedom has no meaning or no value at all. You live, or are expected to live, by predetermined standards, and whatever you do is already pre-ordained by a god who supposedly knows what is and what will be. There is virtually no such thing as freedom in religion.

Really, the only freedom religion values or cares about is the freedom to spread the word, follow the faith, or worship the god, as well the false freedom called “freedom from sin” or “freedom from desire” (as it is in Buddhism), which in reality simply means being an uptight, over-moral, religious drone, or an empty husk who has cut himself from his humanity. Also, the Bible seems to mention the freedom to choose to be slave.

“Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a covering for evil; live as God’s slaves.” – 1 Peter 2:16

Yep, the Christian Bible actually says we should live as God’s slaves. And Christianity wouldn’t be the only religion. Pretty much all religions require submission to a god, law, or perscribed doctrine (the latter two especially if a religion is atheistic, but all religions require submission to a doctrine). That is a commonality in all religions. And this is how religion cannot and does not value freedom.

Why I hate religion as a concept

This is about religion in general, as you can guess. I am anti-religious, that much is already clear from previous posts (that doesn’t make me an atheist). Though I respect some religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, pagan religions, and even Satanism to a small extent, along with other religious ideas, I still very much hate religion as a concept. Why? I’ll tell you.

It turns virtues into moral obligations

Virtues, by definition, are characteristics that make one admirable in people’s eyes. They are characteristics of moral excellence, not necessarily laws of morality. What religion does is socialize, if you will, virtues and turn them into codified moral laws outline how you should behave or not behave.

It turns mythology into doctrine

Mythology and religion are not the same. Mythology is great. At it’s heart it’s about storytelling, an art form as old as mankind himself, right down to when we first started gathering around fires and telling each other stories, long before the English language had been invented. Religion, on the other hand, is designed around creating a moral doctrine or dogma for you to follow in hopes of acheiving salvation or so-called spirituality (religion doesn’t real spirituality, but rather uses spirituality as a hook to lure fools in). To do this, it transforms mythology from almost spiritual storytelling to a matter of faith.

It socializes tradition into law

Traditions are customs that different people have and that have been passed down by enough generations. Religion, however, turns that into a religious law for all people to follow. Even little beliefs among religious people become full on doctrine, such as when the belief in the Assumption of the Virgin Mary became dogma, and thus mandatory.

It furthers social control and the power of the state

It seems as though religion has always had a special relationshop with the state, the authorities, and the ruling classes. Those sorts of people have always use religion to falsely justify their authority, especially when their authority unjustified. Popes, Lamas, Ayatollahs, and other such religious leaders have attempted to impose their dogma on whoever they see for ages now, and they work within secular authoirty. Religion has been in bed with state for so long, that separation of religion and state is an important issue of modern times.

It ruins war

War is always spoilt and corrupted when you try to use religion to support it. I’m not saying that war is never right, but I’m saying wars can be unjust if religion is used to support it. Through religion, war is turned into a campaign of religious cleansing on the part of both sides (if both sides are religious), with only the religious viewing it as “fighting the good fight”.

But in the end…

All religion ever was is a mass cult

All religion has ever consisted of as a concept is the idea that if you worship our god, follow our dogma (moral or othwerwise), and believe what we tell you, you’ll get into heaven, achieve enlightenment, or some other form of salvation or spirituality. In fact, salvation has always been the hook to lure in those who aren’t strong or wise enough to save themselves or forge their own path. It’s nothing but a cult-like entity, with no worth other than to the desperate, the weak, and the gullible. The sad thing is, even if we get rid of religion, what’s stopping other dogmatisms from replacing it, as long as people are weak and in need of a voice telling them what to do so that they can save them, rather than take the initiative to save themselves. I wonder what the next religion will be?

That sounds likely, don’t you think?