By Vexen Crabtree 2002 Jan 20 | Read / Write Comments
"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful"
Anton LaVey
"There is no sin except stupidity"
Oscar Wilde
"There are problems in today's world that cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them"
Albert Einstein
"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former"
Albert Einstein
[Penguin Dictionary of Modern Humorous Quotations (amazon.co.uk)]
"It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
Sammuel Clemmens (Mark Twain)
"The only good is knowledge, the only evil is ignorance."
Diogenes Laertius (3rd century CE)
"1. Stupidity
...The Cardinal Sin of Satanism. It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable. Satanists must learn to see through the tricks and cannot afford to be stupid."Anton LaVey, The 9 Satanic Sins
Stupidity can cause personal and social evil and contribute to:
As the cardinal sin, Stupidity is seen as the cause of other sins in Satanism:
Also I include other obvious sins such as lack of self criticism, failure to look after yourself, self destruction. In the Satanic Statements, more can be learnt of the long-term strategist that is the Satanist.
Stupidity causes stupidity and is self promoting. The more stupidity there exists in a society, or person, the harder it is to remove. Ignorance looks pale in comparison! Ignorance can be countered easily, but the ultimate stumbling block of personal well being is stupidity. The causes and cures of stupidity are not obvious, do not seem to be easy.
Satanists are not self deceitful
"The biggest weakness of all is not knowing your weaknesses"Vexen Crabtree, "Satanic Power"
Simply because Satanists' hold stupidity up as the cause of all that is bad in the world does not mean Satanists all consider themselves free of all stupidity! To think this would be self deceitful, immature and stupid.
Satan represents an enemy of stupidity
Satan, our intellectual muse and inspiring Patron Saint is the symbolic banner of intelligence and success in life. Utmost important is placed on inner thought, reflection and thinking. Although not all people are highly intelligent (including successful Satanists), such people should always know this, and work around it. The essay on Satanic Power concerns the adaptability and success that is achievable as long as you know your own short comings.
Stupidity Versus Satanism
Most criticism Satanism attracts is based on both stupidity and ignorance. Satan represents freethought, thought without dogma, absolutes or herd conformity. The promotion of rational free thought is something close to my heart, and my entire site (www.Vexen.co.uk) is geared towards stimulating thought.
The Enema Image: Shock factors in Satanism are aimed towards making people think, through any means necessary. Shock is one of those means. Subjectivism is most likely the philosophy/epistemology that causes most thought and doubt in its adherents. Making people think for themselves intelligently is perhaps the highest moral order; the effects are a long lasting spiral of goodness.
Friends of stupidity
And therefore enemies of Satanism, are:
Lack of doubt can appear in people who become confident they're on the right track, etc. It breeds stupidity and complacency, leading to what amounts to counterproductive pride, where they end up defending an erroneous stance. Stupidity can return. A strong emphasis on continual doubt and personal development will hopefully reduce stupidity.
Errors, their causes and solutions according to the world...
All systems develop a primary "cause" of error. The Christians' first explanation for error is sin, the atheists' explanation for errors is psychological, the solipsist explanation is that he looses touch with himself. Systems come to rely on a particular imperfection or method of error as the best explanation to the exclusion of other explanations. In Satanism, the explanation for error is that it is caused by Stupidity. As such, all systems generally promote one particular cure. Fundamentalist Christians want us to obey the Bible literally, normal Christians want us to do whatever God wants us to do, psychologists want us to look at our problems and tell ourselves how to solve them and solipsists want to get in touch with themselves and our own subconscious so that mistakes are impossible. In addition all such groups say it is impossible to avoid error. Satanists say that most of all this is stupidity... it is indeed impossible to avoid error, but the way to reduce the number of errors is surely the same methods you use to reduce stupid actions!
But this cannot be taken too far. We do also have to look out for psychological and medical causes of stupidity, and in this no Satanist will claim that the atheist is wrong in his materialistic approach.
"The best symbol of reality is Satan. In order to be true to my beliefs, I must seek out the truth, to know. In Satanism, the self is God. Out of the self comes ones own experience of life. This experience of life is sacred. A Satanist does not pollute this life with skewed perceptions of reality. To have a skewed perspective on reality is, for a Satanist, to worship a falsehood. Satan is the worshipping of truth and reality, and the abolishing of falsehood, deceit and lies."
Satan is our Saviour Against Hoary Falsehoods
Satan is our symbol. It is a choice to stand against stupidity, the cause of all that is bad in the world, in mankind, the cause of counterproductive pride, hate, evil. Stupidity is the true source of traditional evil in the world, beckoned into existence by lazy minds and anti intellectual muses, stupidity is the power of the herd; it is brutal unreasonable failure.
We choose the opposite to this human evil; the thinker, the intellectual, the productive or successful, the strategist and the source of all that is good. This is represented by Satan, Lord of the Inferno, and any other personal religious icon or god is seen as a lesser symbol, a symbol of self deceit.
Related Essays:
LaVey, Anton [Who Is?]
"The Satanic Bible". 1969, Avon Books Inc, New York, USA.
Notes: