#and you should have a heuristic process that is at least mildly resistant to that possibility

[maeamian]

You won't catch me contesting that the US Government sucks, but that doesn't actually make it's geopolitical rival, the Chinese Government, your friend, or an organization that also doesn't suck really bad.

[sagebodisattva]

Theism and Nihilism

So let's talk a little bit about theism and nihilism.

“Huh?”

I know right? Now how could these two ideologies even be interrelated, as the pejoratively aimed label 'nihilism' was primarily coined by religion to revile and calumniate non-believers, no? Yes. But setting that aside for a moment, let's take a look at how theism can be quite nihilistic in it's own right, defined as such by way of the more traditionally accepted definition of nihilism with the negative connotation. As in, a philosophical doctrine that suggests the negation of one or more reputedly meaningful aspects of life, and the view that this is necessarily "bad."

So if we examine these articles from a slightly different angle, we can see how theism negates a profusion of meaningful aspects that usually correspond with a normative life condition. Mankind's relationship, (if you could call it a relationship), with the otherworldly, is not rooted in heuristic utility. And religion knows this, and uses it to it's advantage. This is why the indoctrination into theology is so important to transpire during the juvenescence of a neophyte, as this period is the prime window to mold and manipulate a young and impressionable mind to conform to a belief system. Upon the accomplishment of this, the conditioning will be very difficult to revoke, as once a prison is constructed around the mind, the mind is not only trapped within it, without any tools of liberation, but will also fight to defend it's prison, as it is the mind's only foundation, and offers a feeling of security and comfort. And it's during these times, when the oblivious postulant is most naive and gullible, where some very important values get negated.

Now some of the religiously inclined ilk may suggest that any such values that are being nullified during the proselytization process are unimportant values anyway, but this can't be fully appreciated or factored into the equation by the children that are being brainwashed into theology; for, they don't even have a choice in the matter, as these teachings are not presented as voluntary, or as one alternative among many different options, but as the ONLY choice, under the threat of punishment, death and torture, if resisted, or under the promise of reward and everlasting life, if embraced.

It would appear to be a mildly coercive proposition, to say the very least. And what are the values that are being discarded during this compliance training? Autonomy, free thought, introspection, empiricism, individuality, experimentation, independence, skepticism, innovation, and autodidactism; all of which are the lifeblood of an existential experience. Discards that, the heavy implications of which, should not be taken lightly.

Yet, how would one who was brought up into religion even know this, as these applications are either ignored as inconsequential, at the least, or demonized as outright evil, at the worse. And all of this is thrown away in favor of what? Blind faith; and faith is not coupled with the word "blind" by accident. As the blind cannot see for themselves and need to be led by someone else, hence the importance placed on trust and acquiescence to an authority.

And this is the real lesson that's being ingrained into the mind: conformity and obedience to an authority, which comes naturally to a child, as they are immature and are in need of the guidance or guardianship of an adult, but then this dependency extends into adulthood for the believer, as god is a deity that cannot be experienced or understood in a straight forward manner, and a middle man is required to facilitate communion; hence we have the priests, rabbis, imams and pujaris. Hence, we have the holy texts and scriptures. Hence, we have a mentality that always looks outside of itself for truth and meaning, waiting for it to be supplied by an outside factor.

Once this docile mindset becomes customary, the man becomes a beta; of cowardice and conformity; never original or innovative; always looking to another man to take his cue or to set the rules; fully conditioned to be obedient, submissive, dependent, and feeble. A standing reserve. A resource to be utilized and manipulated by the powers that be, of absolutely no threat to the king or his empire; hence no threat to the ascendancy of the religious puppet masters who indirectly exhort and guide the king by way of theocratic influence, which is exactly what the underlying objective of organized religion really has been all along. Power. Control. Self enrichment at the expense and labor of the masses. Dominance via mind enslavement. And ambitions such as these can only be made possible by dehumanizing people, by stripping them of their basic core essentials; leaving in their wake a complete desolation of the fundamental ingredients of existentiality, and replaces these crucial components with empty applications bereft of any practical functionality.

Hope? Faith? Belief? These are just crude substitutions for the metaphysical tools of awareness, that have been buried by the false conditioning; a means of continual disempowerment, as they only foster and reinforce the handicapped disposition. This is the carrot and stick approach, strapped on the heads of willful stubborn mules, further adorned with blinders, for the extra added emphasis. And, fear not, for if there is any hesitation, the lash of the cracking whip will dispel any hint of resistance.

So you see, if you are a theist, you are already a nihilist, because you have negated many preeminent features of your being and replaced them with cheap surrogates. And if this is the case, then why not look into authentic nihilism more deeply, so as to possibly negate these false installations in order to restore the lost vitality of your compromised existential being.

For, you see, religion has negated paramount aspects of your sovereignty, yet will, ironically, brand your struggle to reinstitute these aspects as nihilism, as they will inevitably come to represent the rejection and undermining of theism's dominance and authority over your life. God forbid that. That would be blasphemy. That would be profane and sacrilegious. That would make you an apostate. An infidel, A heretic. A heathen. A nihilist.

Yeah. Do you have a clearer picture of the truth about what's really going on here, behind the scenes? If so, then a clarification of nihilism is in order.

If you ever finally reach the point where you want to rectify the imposition of the dogmatic inculcation that was forcibly thrust down your throat, causing the jagged gaping hole in the core of your being, and seek to cultivate a restoration of the missing chunks of existential merit that were deceptively removed from you, then you have to be willing to purge these foreign supplements by way of cutting your attachments to them. It's important to highlight this distinction: what needs to be negated is the attachment, not the object of desire. This is something theists struggle with, as they are constantly pushing the idea that sinful objects need to be removed, while ignoring the factor which is compelled to form attachments to the sinful objects. This is why they often say, "love the sinner, but hate the sin", and while this is a slightly useful piece of knowledge, as it recognizes a purity of essence at the root of a human, and doesn't equate the sin to any inherent feature of being, it still leaves a lot to be desired, as a spiritual endeavor isn't concerned with removing objects of desire, but to be able to master the mind sufficiently, so as to be impervious to objects of desire through the discipline of detachment. Understanding this, it can be seen that the objects of desire are, in fact, necessary to the development of the aspirant; indeed, they are veritable training tools, to be exact. And to remove them would be in favor of stagnancy and ignorance.

Understanding this, reduces the impulse to lash out with judgment and retribution, as an aspirant is obviously a work in progress, not an embodiment of some fixed consequence that needs to be branded with finality and sentenced to eternal damnation. This is why the notion of the divine has become tainted with cynicism, as Nietzsche himself discovered and struggled with, much to his dismay, that the otherworldly sets up standards that a man simply cannot measure up to, which is partly responsible for the subsequent inevitable death of god, and the existential crisis facing an atheist who is confronted with the absurd, that follows. The impossibility of meeting heavenly benchmarks creates an atmospheric pathos of defectiveness and structural inadequacy. And this is the oppressive quality that is pushed the hardest by religious order, as it promotes the most destructive nihilistic elimination of a most vital precious existential commodity: the empirical immediacy of unconditional acceptance. This is the granddaddy negation of them all: you are not good enough. People are not good enough. The environment is not good enough. Nature is not good enough. This moment is not good enough.

These are the intended consequences of polarity and dualism: the conditioned conceptualization of the heaven and hell paradigm means that there is always more then enough good reason to seek to avoid what is, in favor of seeking an unreachable ideal, which is doomed to failure and reinforces our worthlessness, which is precisely the goal of this poisonous theological invasion of the mind. To encourage the proclivity towards hope and faith, that desires some imagined better conditions, to foster a predilection for being disappointed and dissatisfied with how things actually are. To always look away from the present moment, in favor of pie in the sky. The complete and utter rejection of the now of awareness. For if one ever becomes centered in the now with a default state of mind that is grounded in serene peace and is unshakable, no matter what sensations come and go, no matter what circumstances arise, nor conditional to how the appearances arrange themselves, then one will finally be able to break free of the divine prison, rejuvenate the dried up wellspring of experiential virtue and rediscover the basic freedom and tranquility of the non-being of the one true empty self, that is always good enough, more then adequate, perfect exactly the way it is, and is unconditionally accepting, present and centered in the immediacy of the now of awareness.