Enjoy! Or rather be appalled by my insights into the universe's hideous impersonality and into the consequent grotesqueness of our delusional self-image!
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Ninth PDF Installment of RWUG
Enjoy! Or rather be appalled by my insights into the universe's hideous impersonality and into the consequent grotesqueness of our delusional self-image!
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Hey Ben, I came across some recent interviews with Michael Aquino from the Temple of Set. I thought you might find some of this interesting. He has written a book called Mind War that he discusses, as well as other metaphysical/philisophical topics.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0EN65XLv94
https://soundcloud.com/darkcityfm/dr-michael-aquino-on-psyops-satanism-ritual-abuse-scandals
Interesting discussions, Bill. It's a little hard to take Aquino seriously when he's sporting such explicitly diabolical eyebrows, but he certainly has some thought-provoking things to say.
DeleteMy interest in satanism is more limited, I must say. I'd interpret all of that stuff about "magick" a little differently. As I say in "Artificiality: The Miracle Hiding in Plain Sight," that which is supernatural is simply that which is artificial; the magic isn't hidden in secret spells, it's staring us right in the face in the form of our replacement of the wilderness with our artificial habitats. The supernatural is that which comes after the annihilation of nature. We would annihilate all other species and the whole natural universe as well our natural selves, if we had the chance; we'd replace the animals with genetically-engineered creations, the cosmos with technology-infused worlds, and our naturally-selected bodies with transhuman, godlike ones. So magick becomes everything we do that brings about such ends. Sometimes we get so used to something, we take it for granted and it takes outsiders to remind us what's been going on...
What interests me most about satanism is the esoteric meaning of the literary (biblical) character of Satan, that meaning being that Satan develops from the adversary who works with God against sinners, into the adversary in general, that is, the undoer of everything God made. Humans are plainly satanic in that respect. We aren't mere stewards who look after God's creation. We undo that creation, preferring a world that's genuinely the product of intelligent design, as opposed to the robotic, undead, impersonal and lifeless world that was allegedly created by God. The whole theistic mythos is a foreshadowing or a reflection of what we've been doing for thousands of years. We're the only gods and intelligent designers there are and our cityscapes and thoughtscapes (worldviews) are the heavens and hells, the rest being that which cosmicists speak of as so many monstrosities (inhuman others which we feel compelled to humanize).
Interesting discussions, Bill. It's a little hard to take Aquino seriously when he's sporting such explicitly diabolical eyebrows, but he certainly has some thought-provoking things to say.
DeleteMy interest in satanism is more limited, I must say. I'd interpret all of that stuff about "magick" a little differently. As I say in "Artificiality: The Miracle Hiding in Plain Sight," that which is supernatural is simply that which is artificial; the magic isn't hidden in secret spells, it's staring us right in the face in the form of our replacement of the wilderness with our artificial habitats. The supernatural is that which comes after the annihilation of nature. We would annihilate all other species and the whole natural universe as well our natural selves, if we had the chance; we'd replace the animals with genetically-engineered creations, the cosmos with technology-infused worlds, and our naturally-selected bodies with transhuman, godlike ones. So magick becomes everything we do that brings about such ends. Sometimes we get so used to something, we take it for granted and it takes outsiders to remind us what's been going on...
What interests me most about satanism is the esoteric meaning of the literary (biblical) character of Satan, that meaning being that Satan develops from the adversary who works with God against sinners, into the adversary in general, that is, the undoer of everything God made. Humans are plainly satanic in that respect. We aren't mere stewards who look after God's creation. We undo that creation, preferring a world that's genuinely the product of intelligent design, as opposed to the robotic, undead, impersonal and lifeless world that was allegedly created by God. The whole theistic mythos is a foreshadowing or a reflection of what we've been doing for thousands of years. We're the only gods and intelligent designers there are and our cityscapes and thoughtscapes (worldviews) are the heavens and hells, the rest being that which cosmicists speak of as so many monstrosities (inhuman others which we feel compelled to humanize).
Aquino's recommendation that we replace war with guns and the like, with mind war that targets certain ways of thinking is quite interesting. Scott Bakker talks about how scientific knowledge of the biological underpinning of mind will likely be apocalyptic and possibly dystopian. Aquino argues from a pragmatic, humanistic perspective, the point being that traditional war is now too dangerous since modern weaponry is highly destructive. Bakker would point out that the cognitive science that would be employed in the sophisticated manipulation of minds undermines the liberal view of morality, since the very concepts of right and wrong become archaic and superstitious. I think naturalists are left with aesthetic judgments, so one danger of mind wars would be that uncreative minds might be engineered to maintain the dominance hierarchies.
DeleteI personally find the idea of Mind War a bit far fetched. It reminds me of the idea of pumping classical music into violent neighborhoods, to calm people down. A lot of the Setian thought seems quite religious to me, and comes off as New Age optimism. The likelihood of a dystopian outcome seems very possible. I can't help be be reminded of Ted Kackzynski's manifesto, where he postulates that humans will have to be engineered in the future in order to quell their natural desire to control their own lives. I did interact with Mr. Aquino in the comments section a bit, and I think in reality he is a bit less optimistic than he comes off in the interviews.
ReplyDelete