Hey guys,
I woke up before midnight the other day, kept lying in bed for some time. About two hours later I got up and thought about the plan I had that made me start working on "Struggling with time...". That one I assume won't be finished in the time scheduled cuz I'm quite clueless these days. Even when I go out to run my own errands, the light is on and nobody's home. "Struggling with time..." will transfigure completely until I deem it done.
Since I don't get much or no feedback at all about my writings, I always have to pause, let thoughts settle and maybe even months later continue what I started. I'd actually like to finish each and every post that got a "Work in progress" icon; but work without decent feedback pretty much sucks after a few paragraphs. Very often I start certain works and after a few hours feel mentally paralyzed. Then I procrastinate a lot until I find my way back on track. The "Struggling with time..."-post is supposed, first, to structure my mind for the months to come
and, second, to create something everyone else but me can laugh about once
it's finished. But that's a different kettle of fish.
The post you're about to read briefly outlines to what extend Howard LaVeys "The Satanic Bible" is speciecist material. It's Sunday, the 18th of May, about two hours before midnight and I feel confident to publish the first paragraphs. But before you call the officials, be assured; this post is quite harmless. So don't feel frightened or shocked by the title. Just take your time and read it carefully without expecting shiver, tirades filled with hate or illicit Satanic propaganda, and the like. No, nothing of that sort; it's still a blog for lazy readers and I'll keep everything simple and understandable for whoever actually reads me. So, enjoy and be informed.
Hail Satan,..
for a start
When we find orientation and safety in a belief system, our own religions are always the right one; yes. But they are also always the good ones opposed to at least one other bad one. Most people in my environment – in case they have a religion – are Christians. That usually means God is all good and Heaven is the perfect place to dwell in for eternity. Then Satan is all evil and Hell for eternity is what you'd have to fight against throughout lifetime in order to not get there in the end. When you read LaVeys "The Satanic Bible" you wouldn't come to conclude that Satan was evil; and LaVey also mentions that the word "evil" is used to manipulate and control others (which, in my opinion, is absolutely correct. We always should keep in mind every time we think we have the right to judge). If you understand certain aspects of LaVey's ideology, you'd feel invited to become a Satanist in the LaVey-ian sense. The reading, however, doesn't fully promote the belief in something evil but in mankind as one species among all the others in the world we're living in (unlike the Torah/Pentateuch, which--per definition--is speciecist propaganda).
In his writing LaVey is having a struggle with Christianity, the Catholic Church being the questionable counter institution of his own church. That's why I'm with him in many ways, at least when it comes to animal rights, even if his fundamental ideology has other flaws that make it outdated in our contemporary Western world. I'll put the scope of this post on animal rights and, that way, leave the rest of the reading to yourself, so that my opinion about it isn't that thought-consuming.
Like the Jewish community and the Christian bastards have ethical sentences such as the ten commandments, LaVey Satanism is based on the Eleven Rules of the Earth and The Nine Satanic Statements that shall provide orientation within the belief system. I'll go step by step and outline those ethical sentences of the Satanic Bible that put animal life in the equation and/or are relevant sentences for the work of animal rights activists. So, I'll stop being unnecessarily wordy and keep my comments in italic letters. The post is pretty much designed like a written version of those YouTube reaction videos in which HipHop afficcionados comment on songs of genres they've never listened to before. Seems to be the best option to keep an overview. So, enough introduction--let's go:
The Eleven Rules of the Earth
in the eye of the animal rights activist
1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.
If you've ever been engaged in animal rights activism you've already found out that you make not the slightest step forward for the animals when you're not eager to fight [in the metaphorical way, of course] and step on some speciecists feet. You sometimes have to be pushy and you lose all of your battles most of the time if you don't start them yourself; cuz speciecists tend to throw around self-indulgent allegations and utterances that promote ignorance when they talk themselves into believing that they were right. For instance, they tell you why they "think" it's okay to regularly consume meat or dairy.
So, #1 of the rules is not quite helpful and feels pretty much as if your priest simply tells you to shut the fuck up. So, my advice no one ever asked for is that you should make sure your voice gets heard; and for that you definitely need the right setting and the right medial representation. That, by the way, is the only reason why I'm presently pausing my being an animal rights activist on the streets; it can be quite exhausting. In the past year, I permanently saw long-time animal activists being sad and maybe even frustrated when they feel they're not making a difference....
2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.
That's right. I had the experience that you're better off finding good friends for such occasions and not shrinks you have to pay for. The same sort of people--yes, friends--are necessary for animal rights activism; don't pay too much people to help you achieve your goals. Find idealists who can actually give something of their precious time. Not everyone is always having much resources to support your case, even if they wanted. Search less for money, ask for more time, if you want success as an activist. You're not asking for my opinion? Well, bad luck, I'll tell you anyway; you won't get that fixed. #1 is still dog poop :D
5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.
Yeah, fair point. Guys, if you want to fuck your animal like so-called dog moms might do, be assured that what you think are signals--are definitely signals. As animal rights activist we always encounter the problem that animals can't talk and it needs experts who did proper research on animal behavior to not get things wrong. I personally only popped my parrot once cuz he repeatedly said "I wanna do you so bad, you little fucker". After our intercourse he went back to the cookie sentence and never asked for sex again. That made me think.
8. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for food.
Well,.. If you haven't read The Satanic Bible you wouldn't fully grasp that LaVey Satanism would be the ideal religion if each and everyone of us would live in cages or lairs, as LaVey usually calls his residence. Since I'm back on track with my vegan lifestyle I myself count on bringing back certain elements of the Stone Age--when it was on its peak thousands of years ago. But rule #8 is fully outdated when we take into account that we're living in a completely transfigured world where most people never meet threatening animals--not even in our woods. Of course your best beating the shit out of an attacking kangaroo when you roam around in the AUstralian bushes; and of course, it's you and not the animal whom you'd want to survive in a winter with only few resources of food. But hey, on the other hand, the LaVey Satanist tells us that we have to respect life and that we should be true and honest at least to ourselves. Now, take into account that everyone actually knows how animals are treated before they get slaughtered. Take into account that we surely know that in sum their lives aren't necessarily treated with respect or dignity in the world we're living in today. Take into account that in the Western world we do not live in the bushes where we would have to hunt in order to survive. So it can only be a sign of ignorance, hypocrisy and falsehood combined if we trade the hitman's business to our butchers and in the end buy our meat in the supermarket. (You get that one:) Then the informed contemporary Satanist [--if she ever respected life the way LaVey wants us to,... if she was ever true and honest to herself,... Then the sophisticated modern Satanist--] is vegan.
11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.
Yeah, the first sentence of this rule could have been an excerpt from an animal rights activist's book: Most animals would live in peace and quiet if humans hadn't given themselves the rights to manipulate nature for their own ends. Bother no one, guys. The world was never ours to control. We made up every single one of our own rights and fully forgot that non-human animals can't do that for themselves. The first line of #11 is quite helpful. Forget the rest, by the way: Everyone can be annoying and we bother each other every single day. We call such phenomena discussions, having issues, having fights, and the like. Socializing is never easy but most of the time worth a little quarrel. The least helpful attitude in LaVeys Satanism is his controversial straight-forwardness combined with ignorance. If you follow LaVeys eleven rules blindfolded, you end up driving your Mercedes against a wall cuz you don't know any better...
I'm presently working on a few posts simultaneously; and the hardest one to manage currently is a post in which I outline how I intend to reobtain quality time with a friend that felt [and in some ways still feels] like my last remaining soulmate...
I might have done many things wrong in the past that led that person to stay away from me; and it might have been my own ego that was constantly driven by a diabolically motivated, brutal and straight-forward approach that eventually kept her away from me. So, what I'd like to add here is that I might have ruined a great deal of my life by myself, when I yelled at the wrong people or when I "destroyed" the wrong fellows I was dealing with in the past. On top of that, I misinterpreted LaVey when I concluded that his teachings promoted honesty when he was actually just playing it straight. In other words, the Satanic Bible is definitely an open book; and I might simply have turned into a living copy of it when I played with an open hand every time I thought I could gain trust among fellows of more or less the same belief system. It is not that easy, I figured; and up to this day I'm still the worst liar I can think of--which is hardly ever beneficial for myself. Eventually I have to conclude that honesty shouldn't be mixed up with naivity; and that LaVeys Satanism provides only a few good ideas that are worth sharing; it's definitely not the best or at least not the only guide to walk through life. But let's have a look at the other ethical sentences and then get back to the speciecist questions. Shall we? Yes? Great.
The Nine Satanic Statements
in the eye of the animal rights activist
1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence!
You're not helping, Satan; not helping at all! That particular message people got far too often. There is no point in emphazising on that one: There are millions of fat people in this world, losers that watch five porn movies each day for decades, rich people that drive around their loud, environment-polluting cars just for fun each and every day. Abstinence once in a while can be quite virtuous, sis.
#1 of the Statements is in so far noteworthy in the case for anti-speciecism cuz people really can't get enough of their daily pleasures and a counter movement of slight asceticism might come in handy for all of us, sometimes,.. I think: We do not only eat meat, we definitely still eat too much of it, telling ourselves meals such as a Wienerschnitzel, a BigMac or chicken wings are worth the mass-killing; horrible... The most detrimental animal torture humans create through mass-producing meat. "Producing meat" is harsh enough to utter since it implies that we all treat animals as commodities and, thereby, exclude almost all of other species from lives that could otherwise be full of dignity, balance and harmony. A well-balanced minimal lifestyle is the answer--not indulgence, suckers, at least not the way your friend Howard puts it.
2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams.
Yes, Satan. That's the one. I'd be your whore for lifetime if that was the only thing you'd conduct. Let's come to grips with reality and don't tell people fantasy stories that make them believe that snakes are evil creatures when in fact they are simply aggressive and appear cruel when they are hungry as hell and definitely need to eat. Be a scientist, Satan; I love that one.
3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit.
Again, yes Satan, Hell yeah; you're driving home the point.
WORK IN PROGRESS
