The Dark Force In Nature
Description, Justification, Philosophies Satanism index page
By Vexen Crabtree 2002 July 22 | Read / Write Comments
The Dark Force In Nature By Vexen Crabtree 2002 July 22 | Read / Write Comments
Satan is the dark force in nature. Satanists do not see that nature contains a dark and light force, the dark force is nature. Nature is uncaring, part of its natural processes is death. Satan is death, a returning to the Earth of one's own elements. Good is derived from chaos and evil and not from will or motive. Altruism is long term selfishness and the recognition of this forms the Satanists' reverence for the dark force in nature.
Satanism is called dark or evil by many because unlike white-light religions (such as Christianity, Islam, Paganism, Wicca and most other religions) it does not try to isolate what is "good" from what is "evil". There is no cosmic struggle between good and evil; all is gray and natural goodness is dependent and the same as natural evil. This is an essay about The Dark Force In Nature symbolized as Satan.
Attacking your own behaviour is a bad thing ... it leads to a worsening of your mental state, even if you gain temporary control over what you were unhappy with. Satanism advocates more strategic, psychologically sound methods. Instead of suppressing that which is bad, lingering on it and twisting it, it is far better that you merely accept that you will never be a perfect person, and concentrate on doing the things that you feel are good. If you remain aware of your ulterior motives and analize your own actions you will be respected as an honest, mature and good person by those around you.
"It is no good casting out devils. They belong to us, we must accept them and be at peace with them"D.H. Lawrence (British Novelist), Pheonix, 'The Reality of peace'
"There is a demon in man that needs to be excersized, not exorcised"
The Dark Force as seen by a Satanist cannot be avoided, tamed, ignored or resisted against. We create it as we view the world. Every Satanist defines it differently. We feel it all the time - it is our ego, our intelligence and our errors all warping to form our observed reality. It is the potential for nothingness that exists wherever there is something. It is real life, necessity and materialism.
"Nothing resists. Nothing can resist the force that drags man into conflict. [...]Thus it is worked out from maggots unto man the universal law of the violent destruction of living beings. The whole Earth continually steeped in blood is nothing but an immense altar on which every living thing must be sacrificed without end. Without constraint. Without remorse. Until the consummation of the world, the extinction of evil and the death of death."
The Electric Hellfire Club
Track "The abattoir eternal" from the album "Kiss The Goat"
Some people equate Satan with the mathematical and physical concept of entropy.
Altruism
Nature is not good by default. Only recognition of evil and respect for it allows altruism to be honest. Altruism is either dishonest when a creature thinks it is altruistic and doesn't admit its ulterior motives, or based on an acceptance of evil when a creature knows its ulterior motives.
Life as we know it is evil
Nearly all species rely on the death of other species in order to stay alive. Not only the obvious ones like carnivores and parasites. Some species like single cell life may survive on sunlight and resources that would be available without death, but above that the food chain and eco system is based on death, on darkness. Animals and living beings are violent and kill each other. Human Beings are no exception. We kill insects, animals, each other.
"There are millions of mammals on this planet. We are all on the top half of the food chain; under us are billions upon billions of subjected life forms from bacteria and mould to insects and fish. The higher up the food chain you are, the more multiples of creatures have died to provide you with sustenance. Nature is violent, amoral, uncaring, deadly and dangerous. Simple survival is not a luxury afforded to many creatures for very long.
What religion, in the name of truth and honesty, reflects the violence and desperation of the natural life? What religion upholds the symbols that nod a head to the sacrifices of brutal reality? Real life, below the surface of our noble conscious existence, is so immoral, short, pained and traumatic that not many face it. They turn away and look towards distracting figureheads of love and happiness. They deceive themselves. Real life; the life of the world, is not often represented or illuminated by religious texts or preachers. People want religion to be an escape from the truth. Satanism is not a religion for such people.
Our enlightened sciences and our religious zealots do well to remember that all our accomplishments are a slap in the face of all the lower species. A sombre altar to truth would include symbols of blood, struggle, love and violence. Only species that sit atop this carnage have the peace of mind to devote time to philosophical questions and love. Only as a result of bloodshed and violence can the higher species enjoy their most noble emotions and concepts. Only upon an unholy altar of pain and sacrifice can sit the values of intelligence, love, compassion and sorrow. Only at the top of the food chain can we look down and judge life, and feel superior because of our "understanding" of the world! Only a hypocrite can talk about love, and not also revere the death and sacrifices that go on in nature in order to provide us with food! All should hail Satan and take a moment to reflect on the cold realities of life: Fangs, Flesh and Fucking are the three pillars of all goodness and to deny them prominence is to embody self-deception and wishful thinking."
We classify things as "good" and "evil" according to our own perceptions. We say that conscious things that cause suffering and kill Human beings are evil. Yet from an objective, universal point of view of course this is not true. If we consider life from a sheep's point of view, we are the evil ones. We kill sheep, herd them, breed them in poor conditions, etc, as we do with many animals, and we do it for food. Our very life, as a result of the way biology and nature work, is based on what we define to be evil! Satanism is the recognition of this hypocrisy. To purge the delusion, we must admit that life itself is a product of evil, and therefore no longer claim to be "more developed" as in ontologically based upon something "more good" than the poor Earth and animal species that are slaughtered by us.
"It has become necessary for a NEW religion, based on man's natural instincts, to come forth. THEY have named it. It is called Satanism"
The Satanic BibleThe Satanic Bible, Book of Lucifer 3:para 14
"Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours, who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all!"
Anton LaVey. Number 7 of the 9 Satanic Statements
It is handy that in Christian doctrine, the animals were created for mankind to abuse, and that in Islamic doctrine, the animals willingly suffer and are humbled because they have fully accepted God and renounced all pride, but although handy, it is not the truth of the matter that we are better than animals. We are worse. Nature proves that life itself is based upon evil and death. Without recycling of life, there would be no more life. Life is based on death. From the primordial soup, life has always rose from inanimate chemistry and from the death of other life: Life itself is, cosmically speaking, an evil.
But it is not an evil that we can reject, it is therefore one that we must embrace in order to attain an honest world view on the way things are. Accepting Satan as a representative of nature and the Universe appears to me, now, to be the most suitable and honest symbolism possible.
Nature is violent
Volcanoes, earthquakes, fires, and floods are all natural events which cause destruction and disorder on a large scale on Earth. Galaxies collide. Goodness only exists as a veneer. The Dark Force in nature represents the deepest reality, that life is death, good is evil. All life dies, and all good is derived from evil. Out of the chaotic, uncaring, cold and destructive forces of the physical world comes life, struggling against the environment and evolving to suit whatever climate the cold darkness of the Universe temporarily provides. Life comes from darkness. Satan is not the dark half of nature, where the other half is good, Satan is the natural processes of the Universe, and these natural processes all ultimately lead to death, destruction, irreversible entropy: Death wins.
The Dark Force in Nature is the correct symbolism for such a cosmically evil state of affairs, that such evil is the source of life and all that is good, means that the source of goodness should be represented by something evil, something chilling, cold, by something that represents ultimate death. Needless to say such symbolism is exactly what I embrace in Satanism.
To a Satanist (normally quite a cynical person!) that human goodness is based on selfishness is common sense; but it is not nihilistic or even pessimistic. The acceptance of the dark force in nature allows us to build citadels of grace. Hope, power and happiness lay within ourselves.
If God is the source of Good then we are all our own gods and our intellect and ego are our saviours from the negative hell that can result from materialism and existentialism. Many people escape the existential hell through their own personal philosophies on life. My description of Citadels Of Grace are only my attempt at describing the negation of hopelessness using Satanic vocabulary. I was inspired to use the word "citadel" by the following comment by High Priestess Barton:
"...and that we can see so clearly the mechanics of our own destruction, is a terrible realisation. Most people can't face it. They'd rather retreat to the comfort of New Age mysticism. That's all right. All we want, those few of us who have the strength to realize what's going on, is the freedom to create and entertain and share with each other, to preserve and cherish what we can while we can, and to build our own little citadels away from the insensitivity of the rest of the world.""The Secret Life of a Satanist" by Blanche Barton
quotes Anton LaVey as he talks about death; pp220"Every superior human being will instinctively aspire after a secret citadel where he is set free from the crowd, the many, the majority..."
"Beyond Good and Evil" Friedrich Nietzsche, 1978, p39
"Ymir in Germanic mythology was the first living creature. He was a frost giant who emerged from the ice in 'the yawning emptiness'. He was evil and the mother and father of all frost giants. [When dead] his flesh became the Earth.""Norse Mythology" by Arthur Cotterell. 1997 "Ultimate Editions" version
"This accords with my belief that all apparent goodness is based on evil. Counting the Earth as good because it supports Human life (my life!), Ymir is an aspect of mythology that, like Satan, can be seen to be a mechanism by which the Earth is dependent on Satanic power.
This ties in roughly with the Islamic view of Satan. The Earth was created because Satan wished to create a secret domain away from God in order to have power. Although Satan is evil, we consider the Earth good and without the effects of this evil force the Earth would not exist."
"World Satan" by Vexen 2003 Jan 30
Barton, Blanche
"The Secret Life of a Satanist". 1990. Published in UK 1992, by Mondo, Titan Books, London, UK by arrangement with Feral Press.
LaVey, Anton [Who Is?]
"The Satanic Bible". 1969, Avon Books Inc, New York, USA.
Nietzsche, Friedrich
"Beyond Good and Evil", 1886.
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