[excerpted from http://www.cris.com/~Amon1/satanism/watcher2.txt (reformmated by tn)] SATANISM & MORALITY (no author credited) "My friends are into evil spirits and messing with Satanism. The boy who is the leader of this is a good friend. He is into heavy metal and has satanic symbols on his bedroom wall. He is leading my friends astray. I've told him that he shouldn't mess with that kind of stuff and he says, 'I know, I won't do it again', but it happens all the time. My friends are all I've got. I've had dreams of them dying and me left behind. I'm terribly scared. My friends have started drugs and drinking. Is there someone out there who cares? We're only 16. I ask for prayer to give me strength with God to get them out of this mess, before it's too late. I beg you." name withheld, New Zealand. The above lament appeared in the letters columns of The Plain Truth (March 1990), published by the Worldwide Church of God. Note how 'Satanism' is linked to alcohol, drugs, death, and heavy metal. Contrary to Christian hysteria, the predominant negative influence impacting upon the youths mentioned in the above-quoted letter, and thousands of other throughout the Western world, is not genuine Satanism. It is rather, a spurious Christian concoction which they have turned to as a rejection of the repression, hypocrisy and unreality of Christianity, which has failed to give them a positive lead. It is to be expected that many youngsters would turn to what they perceived as the 'adversary' of Christianity - albeit an 'adversary' of the Christians' own formulation, as a means of rebellion. Since heavy metal, with its pseudo-satanism, is the only form of 'Satanism' which is readily assessable to most young folk, it is understandable that the rebellious and the alienated, the bored and the discontented should glean their 'Satanism' from these high-profile, mass-marketed groups, although none of them are genuine adherents of Satanism, as Arthur Lyons has pointed out in his book Satan Wants You. In reality, what is being propagated by heavy metal, and solely for profit, is the antithesis of Satanism. In a way the negative values being instilled in youth are more akin to the teachings Jesus than of Satan: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth; take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on; If any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Are not these anti-life, nihilistic teachings, akin, at least in attitude, to the negativity and irresponsibility being propounded by heavy metal and other modes of expression, from which youth are gleaning their erroneous conception of 'Satanism'? And why is it that they are swallowing such concepts as 'Satanic'? The answer is simply because the Christians have been defining Satanism since at least the time of Kramer and Sprenger. The Christians have thus formulated their own brand of Satanism, which is the type being propounded by heavy metal, and adopted by alienated and disillusioned youth. It is the type of 'Satanism', ironically, that stands parallel to the Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of the demented Nazarene, as quoted above: an anti-social disregard for family loyalties, responsibilities, personal appearance and thought for the future. This is precisely the road which many young people have been travelling, 'giving no thought for the morrow', as Jesus would have it. The result is the dishevelled and unhealthy appearance and nihilistic outlook of so many youngsters, but it has nothing to do with true Satanism. SATANIC MORALITY This subheading may seem a self-contradiction, since the popular image of Satanism is that of anti-morality, or amorality. However, doesn't genuine Satanism teach the 'ego as godhood', the Satanist as 'the highest embodiment of human life', as Dr LaVey puts it; Nietzsche's 'Higher Man'? Specifically, the Satanic ritual, Das Tierdrama, declares: 'Man is God;God is Man' (1). Turning to the Christians' own scripture we find confirmation of the godhood of man as the fundamental premise of Satanism: "ye shall be as gods" was Satan's promise to mankind, according to the Genesis legend, for which mankind was divided from it slavemaster Jehovah, since he feared that 'the man is become as one of us', i.e. godlike (2). Since the cardinal point of Satanism is the godhood of man, or more precisely, the potential godhood towards which the outstanding individual strives above the mass - to 'go beyond himself' in a Nietzschean sense - this implies a strong moral outlook, which we may better term a 'morality of the strong.' The first of the Nine Satanic Statements declares: "Satan represents indulgence, instead of abstinence!" This must surely mean indulgence of the instinctive primary and physiological drives, and stimulus motives, which include hunger, thirst, sex, sleep, and avoidance of pain, in the first category; the need for stimulation, activity, exploration, curiosity, and contact, in the second. Repression of these drives and motives (many of which are call 'sins' by Christianity) lead to aberrant psycho-social behaviour, examples within the Church being monkish self-flagellation, mass hysteria in convents, and the molestation of altar boys by priests which, according to recent reports, has reached epidemic proportions in the USA alone (3). The eighth Satanic Statement of Dr LaVey: "Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification!", is in accord with the verdict of psychology and other sciences, both social and biological. The gratification of the primary drives and stimulus motives, as advocated by Satanism, does not however mean a lack of self-control and will, and the pandering of every whim and weakness. Addiction to, or excessive use of, tobacco, alcohol or drugs is not satisfaction of the primary drives and stimulus motives which lead to health, but a means of self-abuse, self-dissipation, and self- destruction, and therefore a contradiction of natural law, an undermining of the will, and the emotional and physical strength of the individual striving towards godhood, which is predicted upon will-power, self-discipline and physical well-being, but on a more basic level, a negation of the instinct of survival, innate in every organism. Thus, many of the youth in the Western world today, and especially those self-styled 'Satanist' followers of heavy metal, are dissipated through drugs, alcohol and tobacco, dishevelled in appearance, dull-eyed and stooped. They give 'no thought for the morrow' as the demented Nazarene recommended, nor care much for their 'raiment'; they 'toil not, neither do they spin', i.e., they are not creators. They are a far cry from Dr LaVey's vision of the Satanist, 'with the sinews of Satan moving in his flesh', standing proudly and manipulating the 'folly-ridden masses [they are part of the folly-ridden masses!] through his own Satanic might, until the day when he may come forth in splendour proclaiming 'I am a Satanist! Bow down for I am the highest embodiment of human life!' (4). Somehow this vision does not conjure up an image of the misguided, youthful pseudo-Satanists, lacking pride, strength, 'splendour', Will-power, self-discipline; drunk or stoned, and intoxicated equally also by repetitive noise: zombie-like. These misguided 'Satanists' are living contradictions of all that which is truly Satanic, namely: * The PRIDE of Lucifer, a pride which will not allow for conformity and conditioning by mass-tastes and trends, and the lowering of personal standards of conduct and bearing. * An unquenchable thirst for WISDOM, the 'stimulus motive' which was bestowed to mankind, promethean-style, by Satan himself, according to the Genesis myth; exemplified in the legend of Dr Faustus. * The INDIVIDUALITY of Satan, the great Adversary, who would not bow down before any tyrant, including Jehovah himself. Pride, Wisdom, Individuality, are three basics upon which a 'Satanic morality' can be constructed, a life-affirming morality which confronts the values of the present day, with their trivilization of life, mass-tastes, herd-conformity. A Satanic morality which demands of the individual strength of body, mind and will, those very qualities which had in Ages past been necessary for sheer survival and the ascent of the species, the qualities which should today make the Satanist 'the highest embodiment of human life'. ---------------------------------- REFERENCES 1. LaVey, The Satanic Rituals, pp. 103-104. 2. Gen. 2-3. 3. Scorpius, The Bible Reconsidered, ch. The Legacy. 4. LaVey, The Satanic Bible, p.45. ======================================================================== excerpted from "The Watcher", April/May/June 1990CE, Issue No.2 originally edited by: Graeme Wilson 129 Scott Street Waverley Dunedin South Island New Zealand EOF