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From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (nagasiva)
Newsgroups: alt.satanism,alt.magick.tyagi,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Satanism and Sacred Texts (Was Re: The Book of Coming Loudly ...)
Date: 17 Nov 1995 18:21:21 -0800
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ky951117

jk1604@hdc.hha.dk (Hr. Vad):

|...these recent developments. It's as if whenever someone disagrees
|with the ToS it must certainly be them evil Barton/Gilmore dudes
|(not to mention ol' deranged LaVey) from the CoS. ...

I now killfile or intentionally ignore all posts about ToS and its
organization or connection with most any other organization.  Mostly
it is bound up in vitriol and feud.  Saves me alot of reading too.
(note that I generally read MAquino's posts when they aren't attempting
to address CoS-related concepts).


|I wonder if this is actually one of the weakest points of
|organized Satanism: That there is litterature which is held
|very (perhaps too much) dear by the members? 

There is no Satanism which is organized.  Individual members may well
manifest Satanism from within an organization, but any social group
automatically compromises the legitimacy of Satanism within it.  For
this reason literature which is held very dear by organized Satanists
should be considered a kind of tar-baby initiation, some having
mastered the maneuver not to get stuck, others becoming victims.


|Are we just too easy to insult? To weak to fend off insults against 
|our "idols" (be they people or books)? 

Part of the maturity of Satanism is the intellectual assault, even,
and perhaps especially, upon our own.  That which cannot fend off a
rational analysis by an educated mind will crumple like foil beneath
the onslaught that is to be the future of Satanism on this planet.

For this reason mythology and magical or mystical hokum will not be
the common tender of the Satanist world.  More likely the rationalist
diatribes of the great masters like Nietzsche or Voltaire, the shrewd
political devices of anarchists and thelemites, or the sociological
commentaries of Foucault or Wells.  These are my guesses, as a worm.


|At least this may be calling for a different strategy or attitude 
|towards "sacred scripts"?

Satanism makes plain the utter irrelevancy of 'the sacred'.  Having
looked into the dark glass of our natures and regarded all things of
equal value in any absolute sense, we thenceforth identified those
items related to *our* well-being and satisfaction as utmost in value.  

'Sacred script' is just another sales ploy to get me buying your
book or conditioned by your propaganda.  That which you find most
inspiring is your 'sacred scripture', be that Daniel Steele's
romances or Updike's latest romp.
  

|I'm not too sure how I would have reacted to a "rewriting" of The 
|Satanic Bible -- probably not too well -- ...

Too bad.  Only those who can laugh at their chosen leaders and place into
sarcastic exercise the entirety of their favorite metaphysic will be able
to analyse these matters to their advantage.

tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com
nagasiva/The Order of Kaos Under Satan