Religion, Fear of Death and Loss of Purpose

The aim of religion is to give man a tangible reason to exist, a foundation for morality and reassurance that the foreseeable conclusion to life is not the end of existence.

 Truly religious people (not the ones who go to church every Sunday but the ones convinced of and committed to a transcendental concept) may still fear the suffering of atrophy and the assumed pain of death but have a firm conviction that, having lived their life according to the principles they hold in the highest regard, and having done in life what they saw was their obligation or duty. As such the notion of mortal termination is no longer terrifying. There is work to be done in the time given to us, and when it is complete may we rest in peace.

 In a dramatic sense we can see this played out in religious or ideological fundamentalists who will fling themselves passionately towards martyrdom with their eyes glazed over with the image of heaven burned into their minds. Truly a negative aspect of religion to those concerned with peace and brotherhood but the confidence with which people capable of such action hold their understanding of the world, their place within it and their responsibility to what they hold in highest regard is something to be respected. You may not consider a suicide bomber to be a reflection of heroicism or the strength of the individual but what about a freedom fighter, what about Braveheart?

 This plays out also in the death of William Blake, who is said to have died not only peacefully but in utter bliss, the psychosis that guided his unique art and poetry shrouding him in what could be one of the most powerful human experiences of entering into heaven at the moment of death. Were he alive today we might call him autistic but his psychological conviction and total investment in his perception of reality gave him complete resolution at the end of his life. He had served god and now could transcend.

 The modern consumer lives in a world without religion (though he may say grace before dinner), where the product cycle, the career cycle and the secular cultural cycle never really ends. His only responsibility in life is to climb one ladder or another, and ideally prepare a financial cushion for continued quality of life once he is past working age. This is not the completion of a job, it is just a machine being exhausted and put in the shed until it rusts away. There is no heaven in this pre-death transcendence, he still has to consume, and thus is still expected to participate in the secular consumer cycle, so his obligation is not fulfilled. Eventually he will die, having never finished the secular obligation of spending, buying, connecting and possibly producing.

 This person needs a purpose and the ladder is the only one presented. He must play the game as everyone else does if he doesn't want to get knocked off or ostracized and so he surrenders his agency and descends into a social jellyfish, going with the flow of what to like, hate and be interested in. Death for this person means he can no longer play the game, but he has not yet finished it! No sense of accomplishment that is not an empty transaction. A hobby may be the closest he can get to feeling like a human again and not an NPC.

 As far as I am concerned, the key to religion is not appeasing a god, but having a direction in life, an end goal, a condition by which we can accept the finiteness of life, so that the fear of death cannot overcome the joy of life.

-Atdilda

The Longing for Kali Yuga

A pattern of thought that occurs often for me involves the belief and anticipation of collapse in the West, and a resignation to the idea that it is necessary for such an event to happen in order to negate many elements of society in its current form that I feel are damaging to my cultural identity and that of my ethnic group.

 The idea of the necessity of collapse is shared at least partially by many other members of my demographic, although more frequently it is expressed as a yearning for violent correction of the course of social development that is semi-believed and repeated partially for its memetic and transgressive value a la "rope day".

 My perspective is this: Our society allowed itself to be compromised (looking at it harshly there are no victims among the sentient and gullibility is as much an error as hubris) long ago and by now this has permeated and the fissures of cultural/societal stability have deepened to such a degree that it is now beyond any chance for reversal (though it is possibly controversial to some I believe that people should have citizenship in the country they are born, so the government and people are ultimately responsible for the maintenance of their borders and policies that would regulate the flow of foreign elements into the nation. The toothpaste is already out of the tube in this case when it comes to civilized solutions)

 Resulting from this is our current situation, and two potential outcomes:
1. The prior culture to which I belong dissolves into the emerging culture that has recently asserted itself, we become international and England, the English and to be English becomes a historical matter.
2. The whole system crashes, those with a reason to stay and the resources to struggle on will be the inheritors of the land, and would determine the future culture and society that will flow forth.

 At the very least, it appears that many are anticipating, yearning for or fearing a cultural schism. Considering this further I believe there is an element of projection at least on my part: There are many times in my life where my actions or failures to act "Locked In" a turn in the road steering me further from the maximum potential I have as an individual. A nihilistic perspective could conclude that I have already wasted myself and carrying on would be pointless unless there were a total reset that would allow me to correct my course from the first instance of cowardice, apathy or hesitation.

 If it is truly projection of the regretful framing of my own life situation onto a view of society at large, then I will steal a line from Jonathan Bowden and state that this is a collective funk that is covering the general tone of a growing portion of the people to whom I belong.

 Wise philosphers have perceived the seasonality of man, the softening and apathy that possesses the Golden Age generations born after the resolution of strife, who arrogantly believe their comfort is natural, and carelessly invite the devil back into their homes again; and in the current era the sense of decline is now so strong that the chill of societal winter is almost tangible.

 The outcomes previously mentioned bring me to this conclusion: There is no reset button, blaming our adversaries is as useless as blaming our ancestors or longing for their return. We are in the depths of winter at the same time as many on this planet are entering the blazing glory of summer, while the tendrils of humanity have grown so long as to be completely knotted together, and we face the prospect of group mortality.

 The key to surviving winter is Fire, the truest verb, the purest expression of action and the ultimate step in transformation. Action must be taken, energy must be directed. When you think about what must be done, and you feel like a loaded gun, it is your hand on the trigger, you must be fully prepared for what comes next, and your heart will turn to steel.

 regards,
Atdilda