I love Lucifer.

I can't sing that great. But it's fun to do. Maybe part of the reason I'm going stir-crazy is 'cause I don't have my guitar.

 

not too surprised if this is the name of some popular music ensemble, just as a wild guess, of one of the, now i even forget what they're called, one of the 'screaming metal' genres.
what i said still applies, if not directly to them.
people do crazy things, if someone will pay them to entertain them by doing so.
excitement isn't my gratification, so i'm pretty much "shrug" about that.

 

Kinda takes the visceralness out of the screaming when it's only being done for cash. Tortured souls my ass.

 

What happened to the Hippie ethos of love and peace?

 

How is that pertinent?

 

Blessed are the ignorant.
For what they don't know won't keep them awake in anguish.
Blind to their bloody hands is their virtue, faith.
God the dog, live evil.
In faith, evil live.

 

Only the pertinent man shall pass.

 

Have you watched the TV series, Lucifer, I believe it was on FOX. The premise was that Lucifer was bored with Hell and decided to come to earth for a while, settling in to, where else but, Los Angeles. I reallly liked it because it represented a deconstruction of the whole God/Devil, Good/Evil duality. Lucifer, despite all his arrogance and self-interest, actually performed good, while angels, such as his brother, who came down to get him to go back to Hell, ended up doing bad things (he was even seduced into having sex with Lucifer's sexy she-demon helper.

If we look at Biblical motifs and stories as metaphor for the sturcture of our own psyche then we see Lucifer as our shadow. In this sense we could place God as our ego, but our ego, in repressing shadow elements into the shadow, denies they are a part of the self. In this sense the shadow represents truth, for it holds those things which we deny, but are in fact part of who we are. It is the repression of the ego that causes these things to fester, to grow, to be projected out into the world, or even causes us to act out, whether we are aware of it or not, these shadow dynamics. Something could be innocent and benign when it is repressed, and then, within the shadow, it grows and transforms into something else---more sinister and malignant. But the shadow itself is not evil and inauthentic. Rather it is the ego for repressing such things.

This relates to one of the problems I have with Christianity---this duality cannot be resolved as long as there is this antagonistic rivalry. If you try to conquer and suppress evil with good, there will always be this battle between good and evil----it will never end. The only way to resolve the problem presented by the shadow is to re-assimilate it. The lesson here is that the way to resolve the duality of God vs. the Devil is for God to reassimilate and understand the devil.

 

I think it's only the penitent man shall pass.

 

Oh, I know.

 

I see it differently.

The d-evil is deception. Why would God be interested in anything that is deceptive.

Matthew 7:21-23
Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Jesus/God does no acknowledge deception. God's will, for us, is also not to acknowledge deception.

 

I was speaking in terms of Jungian psychology---that when you assimilate these shadow elements, which is a difficult process because the ego denies that you even have such a quality, or a drive, or a tendency, or habit, and every time you touch upon it you become very defensive and angry---so the first step is just acknowledging that you are even that way, then you try to understand it--what is its source, and assimilate it back into your self as a part of you. These last two things defuse it, and take away its hold on you.

Our shadow represents evil to us. But the shadow never deceived us. It is the ego that denied its existence. The ego projects these shadow elements, these evils, onto the world in order to protect that denial. The shadow has those things that we did not understand, or that we thought were wrong in order to please someone else's ethical standards, in order to be a model person, and to be our ego-ideal (which itself is a deception because we can never achieve that ego-ideal---it represents an impossdible perfection).

Why would the ego ever want to assimilate the shadow, but that is the only way the problem is resolved; that the shadow is defused. That is the only way that we achieve peace and wholeness.

It is so coincidental that, of all scriptures, you pulled this one out. I was looking for this very one and a few others while I was writing this post lastnight. These scriptures are another reason why I can't call myself a Christian.

I grew up with the teaching that God was unconditional love. Then when I was 8 years old and attending a baptismal class I began learning that God did have conditions. At 8 years old I had a concept of the ego-ideal, and I didn't even know the word or know who Jung was. But I had an idea that we were expected to be these perfect angels and that as human beings, we are not angels---at least not perfect ones.

Then as I got older, I began to learn such scriptures as this. I learned that these conditions that are placed upon us represent the most important thing ever---well beyond anything else----they represent eternal life versus eternal suffering. It isn't a question of how we live life here, or whether karma will punish us in this life according to our deeds----it is what will happen after death for all of eternity. Therefore God's love is very conditional.

And this scripture is one that has been thrown in my face because I follow a different path---I walk the Red Road---Native American spirituality---because that is where I found true power, where I found that the sacred is real, and that miracles or magic is a real thing and can happen all the time. It is in Native spirituality that I found unconditional love. When it is thrown in my face, I wonder why the person did not read a few paragraphs before that one should not judge, lest they be judged-------but, let's consider this scripture----

Jesus is speaking about 'that day' which later in Matthew we learn is judgement day. And later we also learn that not only does he not know those who believed they were doing God's work, but also those who were too foolish or stupid to put oil in their lamps----metaphorically speaking---as we read in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins.

So what does this mean in terms of Judgement day where we all show up and if our name is not in the book we will be thrown in the Lake of Fire. This scripture could refer to charlatans who were fooling people in god's name, so yes, off to the Lake of Fire. But it also refers to someone like myself who has found truth and love in another tradition. I believe that God is God to all people, and provides many paths to god. I don't believe this to rebel against Christianity, I don't believe this to defy God, I don't believe this to be evil----I believe it because I sincerely believe that the Absolute does represent unconditional love, and that a God of unconditional love would NOT simply reveal himself to only a small fault-filled tribe of people wandering wandering around a desert, who themselves largely believe in other traditions, and would gladly kill in the name of God. My whole life was a series of events that led me towards this indigenous belief system, including a period of very definite agnosticism because my Modern Western upbringing required that I have proof, and Christianity just cannot provide that proof.

So, in order to avoid the Lake of Fire and have my name in the book, I am expected to accept, and make, a leap of faith, in a world that demands I have proof to believe in something, and to do all this despite the fact that my life has been on a long-trajectory leading me to the proof I did find, and the spiritual truth and authenticity that I have found in these Native ways. But no this is all because the devil has fooled me, and even though this is the only place I have found that I fit in, I am to give it up and go to church---where I am uncomfortable because philosophically I do not fit in there, and am very uncomfortable with the conditions, ethics, and so forth.

So on Judgement Day, I will say that this is the truth I have found, this is where I experienced God, and it was good and loving, and through it I loved others, and I did not judge, and I did good things, and brought people to be healed, and was spiritual. It was hear that I found God's unconditional love. This is how I truly believe in God.

And Jesus will say to me, 'I do not know you.' And like Dr. Mengele in Auschwitz who decided the fate of a Jew within 1 second of looking at him or her, I will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.

So where is the deception? Did the devil spend his whole life working on me from the time I was 8 such that I do not even fit into God's fold---and that if I had to---it would go against my every instinct and leave me forever uncomfortable? Or is it that God lied to us about unconditional love, and that not only did he give us free will in order that many of us would trip up, but he then loosed an all powerful force upon us bungling humans that is so overpowering to us, that it could lead us astray even as we are seeking out good and truth in the dysfunctional world we live in?

And what of the lazy, the stupid and the foolish, whose names are not in the book? The Nazi's in their quest for genetic purity killed the crippled and the retarded children first before going after the Jews. Is that how the Lake of Fire works? That's how the Bible teaches it.

I simply cannot believe in a God like that. I cannot believe in a God that judges man as superior or inferior based on objective conditions----in fact based on any kind of conditions. We are not talking about a month long vacation in Cancun----we are talking of all eternity based on a very insignificant 0 - 100 years of life, a period lasting until one dies or is killed. What is the real difference between the condition of superiority by Choosing God's one and only narrow path, vs. being fooled into or choosing another path, and the condition of superiority by Aryan gender vs. Jew, Soviet prisoner, liberal dissident, crippled, retarded---you know, the ones that were sent to the gas chambers?




Perhaps we are the repressed shadow----that it is the human that is the evil one, but that in God's denial of evil upon himself and his creation---that it is projected out there---the devil---the all-powerful force that is everyone else, and is out there in the outside world. The only resolution would be to bring all humans to God---not as Christians---but as humans, only then would the shadow-ego duality be resolved and the shadow defused because then it would be realized that there is no devil.

Or perhaps, God does represent unconditional love, and it was humans who constructed such conditions upon god.

 

I just remembered that a Christian was arguing with me one time about unconditional love and said something that had me laughing pretty hard. They defended judgement, eternal damnation and so forth by saying that God's unconditional love is so great that we humans cannot understand it.

I thought that was so funny I had a good laugh and then I pointed out, that, "It doesn't matter whether we understand it or not, what we do know is that by definition unconditional love means love without any conditions, period."

 

Lucifer is nothin' more than the scapegoat those who claim themselves Christian use to not take responsibility for their amoral actions.

 

I watched that show, Lucifer, and thought that the writers did a good job of showing a well rounded side of religion, and Satan's ''role'' in it. It was also really funny, which I didn't expect.

 

Not today, Satan

 

Maybe tomorrow?

 

Of course, tomorrow is Monday