Friends,
In cultural morality, the world isn’t black and white as we all know. But good and evil should be as clean and easily identifiable as possible. Defining these categories based on adherence or violation of a clear standard makes this process much less perplexing, and much more useful. The standard I speak of is the pattern of cognition–which is what Moral Armor is based on–or “the pattern of life” as I call it.
The capacity to counter evil is immensely empowering. Hang on, it’s about to get fun!
“It was on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Tyler and I just gave it a name.” —Fight Club
Revealing Our Enemy. No one could guess by whom and in how many ways their passion is drained, but one term describes the enemy: Spirit Murderers. They come in many forms, all motivated by fear essentially and hate ultimately, with one common social goal: to design and skin the perfect victim. Spirit Murderers ride us, and hate us for our ability to carry them. So they try to rob us of our sense of living which holds adventure, endless possibility and personal significance, and replace it with the paranoia, insignificance and helplessness that they chronically feel. Now and then, we encounter ideals that do make sense and see creations that astonish us, revealing a human being’s true dimensions to the world, only to discover the desolate tragedies these men suffered to bring such wonders into existence. Building a monument to Man is a delicate and heroic effort, be it a symphony, a skyscraper or the United States of America. The Spirit Murderer’s have always had it easier because no matter what heights we reach, it’s all downhill for them.
Victims can sacrifice an arm or a leg to survive, but not the nerve center; they cannot sacrifice their brains, which is why cognitive disintegration is the Spirit Murderer’s primary attack. I know that most people cannot face that there is something missing in their thinking; to doubt their own conscious adequacy feels like a mortal blow. They have been taught to believe that a wrong move is proof of damnation; that to be imperfect in action is to admit their own worthlessness. But the truth is their teachers have violated the natural pattern of human thought—the logical accumulation of knowledge—often on purpose. They begin in ways you wouldn’t suspect, gently undercutting with such questions as, “What came first? The chicken or the egg?” and because we falter in response to the unexpected, they claim the mind by its nature is unreliable. Wait a minute while I answer them: “Okay idiot, the chicken. Between the two it is the only one capable of sustaining itself in nature. The chicken came first, or more accurately, what evolved as a chicken. The existence of a living entity precedes its attributes—among them its reproductive process.” Their intention becomes clear with what follows: other questions bearing no consequence in our lives such as, “So where do we come from?” “The scientific method has been disproved long ago” they say, because some obscure estimate about the universe was in experience found to be inaccurate (disregarding the incredible advances required to establish that fact). “That proves” they claim with glee, “that thinking is futile,” and (forgetting that they are men too), “that mankind is a joke; everything he’s ever done has been proved wrong. He can’t get anything right; so why does he think he is so great?” Let me get this straight: We were wrong about gravity and it goes the other way now? Wow, this inconsequential detail has uncovered the folly of our existence. I get up in the morning and the sky isn’t blue. Fossil fuels cannot be burned in cars, homes or power plants, which due to our inability to build, have all collapsed anyway. Our skyscrapers, tunnels and bridges have all been reduced to rubble by their simple revelation. All the planes fall out of the sky, there is no use for electricity or running water, Earth no longer spins in a day and we don’t actually breathe air. Morons. They want us to believe that our “illusion of control” can be shaken by any senseless proposition they forward.
Reality has never been altered by their neurosis. Their claims are not a reflection of mankind’s existential inconstancy, but of theirs. Look at their lives. What they actually want is to have us buy into what stopped them. What makes them think they can get away with such ludicrous nonsense? And worst of all, why do they? All that really happened in their scientific mishap is Man took another step forward. The human chain of knowledge got a little longer. Theories became fact, estimated measurements were made precise and our capacity for control expanded. Our means of acquiring and validating knowledge was implicitly furthered in parallel with our declared intentions, just as their declared intentions were to destroy that capacity. A man’s rational faculty is not invalidated because fact follows theory, which follows hypothesis. Discoveries are limitless. At no time is it rational to stomp one’s feet because knowledge is not automatic, because thinking requires an excruciating effort at times and because the world’s secrets are not provided on a silver platter. Our database is in a constant state of accumulation and refinement. The efficacy of human consciousness is not “questionable” because new technologies supersede and new discoveries hone older ones; that is the natural progression of Man. But what was our response? We were silent: bearing their hostility until we could escape back to the clean rationality of our passions. What undercut our confidence? Why didn’t we fight back?
We didn’t fight back because we didn’t have a defense for simply being human, and could never have conceived of the need for one. But at this point in history it is necessary. The beast has found no resistance in the flinching eyes of its victims. Defense begins with a fundamental sanction of existence: accepting that reality is real. You must understand what life on Earth requires of Man and accept the correct basis of morality: the preservation of human life. Cleaning your own epistemological structure will allow a pure internal harmony; a united front from which to defend against the evils outside. Then you must identify if those you encounter seek to further life or to stop it; to work with you or to ride you; to respect your rights or to negate them. It is a war of good and evil, and of all “shades of gray” in between. Anyone who doesn’t want you to lead a rationally fulfilling life wants to kill you spiritually, as was done to them. Anyone who wants you to accept their shades of gray not only wants you to drink poison, but also wants to gain moral recognition for it.
Our productivity-generated spiritual wealth often leads us to assist and encourage those astray, back towards life, but you will learn that you can’t. Progress is not what they are after. I for one am no longer willing to assume the exasperating burden of explaining the self-evident to those bent on misunderstanding. I’m done trying to provide a sunrise for a mankind that rejects the evidence of their eyes. To hell with them. The shimmering beauty of our glorious life-giving power may never awaken the living dead among us. Their fate was never our responsibility anyway; it was and is theirs. After years of futile effort, I accept now that I cannot save them. Instead with regretful diligence, I must draw my sword and protect us against them because they are many, and capable of great devastation.
We have all felt from time to time that morality was a steamroller, one with a malevolent driver, endangering everything in its path. Well morality is a steamroller, that is true; but with the proper moral armor, we are behind the wheel. In times of warfare, weapons can be overtaken and used by our opposition. That is what has been done to us for centuries. It’s time to turn the tables. No matter what torture I for one have endured or will endure, the damage they can do now is limited. I know what moves them. To gain their acceptance and deflect their animosity requires that we be victims. I refuse to exist as a victim any longer. I refuse to let go of my dreams. I refuse to see the world through the vision of their panic. I refuse to cower to their supernatural threats. I refuse to just live with whatever irrational situation they present to us and to consider reform futile. I refuse to feed the rat. The world is ours as is our lives; ours to design. No longer shall we suffer the pain of knowing that that which should have been sanctioned was penalized instead. We are the adults now. It is time to take back control: of how we feed our minds, of how we live our lives, of what we choose as right and wrong, of what induces guilt and of what represents an obligation. Breaking free of their reign requires that you stand and declare what I declared to end my sacrifice: “If you continue to make me pay for my virtues, they will no longer serve you.”