Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Using God's Name For Vain Causes

When I was a kid all of us ended up believing to use God's name in vain was to say "Goddamn." Even then it didn't make any sense to me. How we were taught that I don’t remember.

Years later I encountered the correct translation: to use God's name in vain causes. Example: in WWII Germans went to battle wearing belt buckles with "Gott mit uns" on them. That magic talisman didn’t work. It never does and never will.

There are several lessons to the story of the Garden of Eden. One of them is going from unconsciousness to consciousness of good and evil. And from innocence to experience of good and evil. That particular problem obviously runs back thousands of years.

In the last "Starship Troopers" movie it ends with the comment, "God exists. He's on our side. He wants us to win!" Lots of people in many countries believe that. It has never worked and, again, never will.

Almost all tribes have named themselves “the People” or “All Humans.” The ancient Greeks called the Mediterranean “the Middle Sea” - the middle of the world - and the Chinese called China “the Middle Kingdom.” They believed the gods were on their side and in fact founded their countries and cultures.

The last time the American government used God's name for vain causes was when the primitive mind of the coward and mass murderer/serial killer/war criminal Dubya Shrub (he said he “didn’t do nuance”, which means he saw things as a narcissistic either all-good or all-bad, which is a very bad thing) started two completely unnecessary wars, both of which as still going on after 15 years. And there’s no end to them in sight.

The self-deluded Shrub was convinced God chose this born-rich loser (who failed at every one of his business adventures) to be President. As I've mentioned before, this is blasphemy. And of course it's using God's name for vain causes!

Innocence to experience? Shrub, Dickless Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were, and are, as innocent as apples of real good and real evil. None of them even knows that the source of evil is Biblical Pride (the Greek Hubris) or my favorite definition - "the Monstrous Self."

The Monstrous Self has no conscience. It’s interested only in power, domination and control. It’s only loyalty is to itself. Other people are just things to be sacrificed to feed the Monstrous Self (human sacrifice, especially war, is always a fertility rite).

Unconsciousness to consciousness? Even now, all are innocent and unconscious of real good and real evil.

I actually know more about good and evil than anything else, which is why I write about it a lot. I have mentioned that decades ago I briefly met a young woman, about 23, who perhaps two days later was strangled by a serial killer, who not only graduated from the same university I did, but lived not too far from where I lived. Altogether he might have strangled seven women, perhaps more. He won't come clean about it even though serving life in prison. He enjoys the power he has to jerk around the authorities, the way this conscienceless sadistic psychopath enjoyed the power of murdering those teenage women.

I also met and talked to a mother whose two daughters were raped and thrown off a bridge over the Mississippi River (the story is far too long to tell here). Only one body was found (we used to party on that deserted bridge in high school – several hundred of us).

I also was raised with a family down the street (their two sons were my friends, both of them now dead, one from alcoholism and one from AIDS), whose younger, insane daughter stuck a knife in her baby's head and killed it (she's now in a locked mental institution for life).

These things are why I talk about Satan "walking to and fro and up and down the earth" and having a damned good time doing it. And the only Satan I’ve ever encountered is in the hearts of people.

These things have been going on for me my entire life. I have no idea why (what I’ve written about is but a fraction of what I’ve seen).

You think I'd be cynical, but I'm not.

There is such a thing as being conscious of what good and evil are and going beyond it to what you might call an "experienced innocence." To regain your innocence in the midst of this valley of woe – “to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”

I think perhaps someone like J.R.R. Tolkien had done it. After all, everything he wrote was about the conflict between good and evil (think The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy), yet he was a happy man. He had regained his innocence. (By the way, C.S. Lewis, one of Tolkien’s friends, suggested evil was just “bent” good. Tolkien’s Gollum, for example, started life as the hobbit Smeagol but was seduced by the power of his “precious” ring. And as I’ve said before, power intoxicates and immunity corrupts.)

Some people never lose their innocence. That's not a good thing. These people, when they gain political power, are the ones who wreck the world with wars and chaos – and think they are doing good things (hence the saying, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions”).

In reality they've never gone beyond their childish Monstrous Self – they’ve never grown up. In fact, they revel in their Monstrous Selves and its effects on the world. And they never give a thought to what they've done. More accurately, they rationalize it as a good thing! (This is why I say lying to your self is one of the easiest things in the world.)

I’ve thought for a long time the best way to understand Adam and Eve is to think of them as being four years old – pointing to other people and yelling, “You made me do it!”

That’s the problem with humanity. Lots of people are about four years old – pointing to other people and yelling, “It’s your fault!” Innocent but self-deluded and don’t even know it.

As Thomas Hobbes wrote, “The evil man is the child grown strong.” And it’s true.

11 comments:

Glen Filthie said...

Dubya didn't start those wars. Moslems did. Further, he had no choice, Bob. Moslems don't do mercy or restraint and if you show it to them, they will see it as weakness and move to exploit it. They are raised from childhood to seek out weakness and exploit it by any means necessary - up to and including lying, deceit, and treachery.

Trump would have done the same, confronted with an event like 911 or the 'cheat and retreat' tactics of Saddam Hussein. Hell, Clinton would have too. Who knows what a black baboon like Obama woulda done - he was half rag head himself.

You need to get a handle on your geopolitics, Bob. It's not a zero sum game; taking your ball and going home does not take you out of the game.

Unknown said...

We started it with them. The attack was revenge created by feelings of humiliation. Shrub, was, and is, a coward and a complete loser who's failed at everything in his life.

Many people predicted such an attack. They were ignored.

Glen Filthie said...

Ermmmmm....no, no you did not. Iraq attacked Kuwait, reneged on legitimate and outright absconded with legitimate US interests and assets that were part of previously legal agreements. In addition they attacked Kuwait who were US allies and appropriated US/Kuwaiti assets there. This is in addition to the endless bush wars they've fought with Iran, and incursions into Saudi Arabia. You of course, feel no sympathy for the mass murder of the Kurds and his own people - but the international courts - corrupt as they are - even had problems with it. So no, Bush did not 'start' any wars there.

As for 911/Al Quieda - why were they 'humiliated'? Because America won't hand over international assets and interests to moslem jihadists? That wouldn't know what to do with them anyways? Or were the Afghanis humiliated when Uncle Sam sent over weapons, money, and trainers during the Soviet Occupation?

Finally, no, no Dubya isn't a coward or an imbecile. I don't care who you are or what your connections are - the US military will not hand over a $35 million dollar fighter jet to an imbecile. Fact is, it costs more to train the pilot than the bird is worth. Anyone that straps on one of those monsters is anything BUT a coward.

Is this unreasonableness a product of the loss of your buddy, Bob? The chopper pilot? Not to make light of his loss or anything, Bob - but those guys know exactly what the risks are. All service men do. Are you going to let a loss like that drive you into an intellectual position where you make excuses for moslem swine that murder innocent women and children in an effort to score political points?

Unknown said...

The U.S. been attacking the Middle East for 50 years before they responded. I am an American and know my country and what it's done.

Glen Filthie said...

No, you don't Bob.

The USA goes into those countries wanting to do BUSINESS. They send over trade teams, the diplomats wine and dine and agreements are reached. Investment begins. Project work starts. The locals get the benefit. When the operation is up and running and making money - that is when the fights start. Always. The local mudflaps get greedy and suddenly want all that cash and revenue for themselves. Even though the mudflaps can't run their own damned refineries - they figure everything belongs to them and that they don't have to repay the investment that legitimate American businesses put up.

So - do you let ignorant mudflaps walk away with billions, Bob? Or run your investment into the ground as has happened in Africa? After 5 decades of independence, and billions in foreign aid - African niggers are still blaming Whitey for the fall of their nations.

These wars are not about hubris, nemesis, pride and revenge - they are about money and power. Just as hubris and nemesis manifest themselves in personal behaviour - they are not an excuse for group behaviour - not on this scale.

Methinks you are evading, Bob...

Unknown said...

In order to understand the United States you have to be born and raised here. Every foreigner I've know has been clueless about the country.

LA Kings said...

"After 5 decades of independence, and billions in foreign aid - African niggers are still blaming Whitey for the fall of their nations."

Right, 50 years of "help" is suppose to gloss over centuries of Europeans stealing resources, raping locals, triggering ethnic strife between competing tribal groups, etc.

Glen Filthie said...

LA.

Thos guys lived BETTER under segregation and in slavery than they do now, LA. Germany went from worn out shoes to jack boots in a decade. Japan went from feudalism on horseback to aircraft carriers in 5 decades. They cleaned up two cities flattened by atomic bombs in 5 years. Europe rebuilt itself in 10 years after WW2. Africans were handed all the Euros had on a silver platter. The Euros did all the heavy lifting for them and they RAN IT INTO THE GROUND. Look at what the last black baboon in the Oval Office did: Trump comes on the scene and within days jobs start trickling INTO America. Sorry buddy, it is what it is, and the 'racists' are right about more than a few things.

Bob.

Everything I've said is true and a matter of public record. If you know something I don't please clue me in.

A Texan said...

Glenn is one of those chickenhawk cowards who should have signed up and died for it.

It was a waste of money and lives on both sides and nothing good has come of it. The region would have been better off with Saddam and his sons still in control.

Again Glenn, 9/11 was not done by Iraq. You need to stop reading the National Review and learn some real history. There was no justification for that war on that basis. Colin Powell and the intelligence community disgraced themselves by participating in the war.

Specifically, how have I as a citizen benefited from the $$$ wasted in Iraq and continuing problems?

Glen Filthie said...

LOL. Shucks, Tex. I dunno what to say. Some people are just so damned retarded they aren't even worth trolling. You run with that, and give my regards to Darwin when you meet him.

Bob - if this is a 'hot button' for you - I will leave it where it is. Didn't mean to step on your toes or make light of any losses. I will say this about that though: having skin in the game does not trump right and wrong or change what needed to be done.

LA Kings said...

Glen...

"Thos guys lived BETTER under segregation and in slavery than they do now, LA."

That's a False News Story. It was separate but unequal when it came to facilities. Had the Southrons not been so greedy, and actually followed the law, then things may have ok.

"Germany went from worn out shoes to jack boots in a decade."

Because they weren't enslaved for centuries.

"Japan went from feudalism on horseback to aircraft carriers in 5 decades."

Because they weren't enslaved for centuries.

"Africans were handed all the Euros had on a silver platter. The Euros did all the heavy lifting for them and they RAN IT INTO THE GROUND."

Right, because 60 years of self-rule among competing tribal groups who had been kept under wraps by European colonialists is sufficient time to be able to become "civilized".

You're not that bright.