/lit/ - Literature

Existential crises are actually a good sign though. They're a sign that God is looking for you.

>An old, time-honored, and trustworthy devotional book declares that God deals with a human being as the hunter deals with game: he chases it weary, then he gives it a little time to catch its breath and gather new strength, and then the chase begins again.

If you're an atheist then existential crises are a sign that you have some spirit in you after all.
It's like what Pascal said: that he could understand an atheist that was searching for God, but not an atheist that isn't searching for God. If you are having an existential crises it's because you are searching for God, whether you've realized that yet or not.

>>4386674
Unless you found God you did not get over the crisis. Ninety nine times out of hundred it'll be the case that you just found comfort in worldly pleasures and popular culture and took your mind off of reflection because it was becoming too much and you realized that it was getting in your way of "becoming something in the world".
The same crisis will return to you sooner or later, even if you have to wait until mid-life. One day that same question will pop in your head again, "why am I doing all this? what's the point of my life?" Then you'll be back at where you where as a teenager when you first had your existential crisis.

Believe in God, it is necessary.

Without God life is meaningless and the best that you can possibly hope for us a buddhist detachment or a stoic wall of apatheia. This is because a creator with an intellect is necessary to give man a telos (a meaning, purpose). Just as men create hammers and cars and give them a telos, so God, the creator of man, has endowed him with a telos. Being an existentialist and "creating your own meaning (telos)" is as nonsensical as saying that a hammer or car can create its own telos. This is why the existentialist philosophy is unsatisfying psychologically and nonsensical logically.

If God does not exist then neither do you, you are nothing at all, you have no identity. The best you can hope for without God is to give up trying to find an identity and be content with nothingness. This is because God is the foundation of being - all things, all beings, have their being by participating in the ultimate foundation of being which is God. "I AM THAT I AM" is what God is called in the bible. God is that which says "I am", without God there is no "am", no being. This is why Nietzsche was right, when he abandoned God, to go back to Heraclitus and deny being altogether in further of "becoming". If there is no God there is no fundamental, eternal identity (no soul), there is only "becoming", "flux" - you are changing every microsecond, never the same person you were a moment ago and the best you can hope for is a Humean "bundle" self.

Without God your life will always be a riddle. You'll always have questions without answers. You'll always look up at the night sky and be met with total silence. Without God your life will be quicksand, you'll never have a solid foundation to build upon, you'll never even get started in life. Every effort you make in life you'll be able to look back on and say, "I didn't need to do that", or, "I could have done something else", every goal you set for yourself can be overturned at a whim, every identity you form for yourself can be overturned at a whim - because you build your goal and identity based on whims and not on an eternal will, God.

Believe in God, it is necessary.

>>4385357
> any kind of mass-religious organised occultism.

These things aren't hard to discover (see: your local Freemasonry lodge!).

>>4385333
See, you are extremely naive. I mean, I am extremely naive, but you are one step below me. I don't say that with pride, because I know exactly what you are coming from. A year or two ago I would have the same contempt for such things and I was a good postmodernist that believed truth was a social construct too.

>>4385305
Yeah, and Dylan talks about selling himself to satan.

>Why are you such a fucking moron? Really, why?

Those three things are real. There is evil in the world; there are people who practice occultism and there is an occult presence in a lot of popular culture/media; there are gnostic texts written and studied by people.

>>4385281
>>4385277
>>4385258
>>4385256
What are you trying to say with these images?

>>4385232
The old poets always used to invoke the "Muse" at the beginning of their poems. There's a reason for this - art relies on "inspiration", on a vision or revelation that comes from a higher spirit. So much art is occult in nature. Shakespeare, for example, is littered with occultism. Dante may well be a proto-Rosicrucian (a gnostic cult based on Christian symbols). The great artists get their inspiration from spirits, whether they be clean spirits or unclean. They communicate with these spirits through a variety of methods - meditation, drugs, worship/rites, etc. Not ALL musicians are evil. Of course, as I've alluded to already, I'm coming from a Christian perspective when I talk about good and evil and the diabolical and unclean spirits. The way a gnostic would explain it is that he is "opening his third eye to the higher realm of knowledge" or some other such thing (you can tell I'm not really initiated in gnosticism, and I have no real desire to be). A neoplatonist would say that he gets his inspiration by "contemplating the Forms". It's all different words for the same phenomenon - the artist experiences a "higher source" delivering "inspiration" to him.
It just so happens, that yes, I think the pop music industry is largely in the hands of Satan - but that's natural, as it promotes consumerism and worship of wealth and popularity and idolatry (pop idols and celebrity culture) and sexual immorality and other abominations.

>>4385186
>>4385161
yeah, that video reminds me of a statement that Albert Pike, a leader of Freemasonry, supposed made. He said that there would be three world wars and that the third would result in such exhaustion that the nihilists/atheists would be brought to such desparation that they would finally accept the Luciferianism of Freemasonry. That's basically the scenario the video depicts. The corrupt political situation at the beginning and the gnostic messiah - luciferian figure at the end bringing in a "new dawn". It's pure kabbalah / freemasonry.

>>4385182
Yeah, well, the reason is because I'm trying to tell you that Christianity is true and trying to tell you that there is such thing as spirit at the same time and that occultism/gnosticism/kabbalah has some basis in reality (even though they are false).

>>4385161
your right, I would have a cow with that video. That one is pretty explicit in what it's doing though.
What I've been saying in the thread is that popular music does the exact same thing that that video is doing only in a more surreptitious way.

This seems like a good summary of that video
http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-esoteric-symbolism-of-the-viral-video-i-pet-goat-ii/

>I, Pet Goat II has received widespread acclaim for its technical prowess and its original storytelling. Although there is no narration or dialogue, an elaborate story is delivered using the most ancient and universal language in History: Symbolism. Through symbols, the movie manages to deliver an acerbic critique of today’s Western Civilization, to describe its numerous evils and even to predict its inevitable downfall. More importantly, a thorough decoding of the movie’s symbolism reveals a powerful message of spiritual enlightenment based on ancient Mysteries. While this esoteric aspect of the movie might not be understood by many, it is at the core of the movie and is presented as the ultimate solution to the evils and corruption of today’s world. The movie’s conclusion is therefore a very personal one: Either YOU become a pet goat with a 666 bar-code on your forehead or YOU become a Christ figure with a third eye on your forehead. This notion of personal enlightenment is definitively a Gnostic one and is common to most esoteric schools of thoughts in all civilizations.
http://vigilantcitizen.com/moviesandtv/the-esoteric-symbolism-of-the-viral-video-i-pet-goat-ii/#Uc0xG6JOEOh6v7pV.99

>>4385139
Oh, and the reason why I talk about these things despite recognizing that I'm a novice, is because so many people are even further behind than I am (because our education drills secularism/materialism into us and most people don't even want to acknowledge that there are things outside of matter and physical phenomena). You should take religion more seriously (well, you should take the true religion, Christianity, more seriously). There is wisdom in religion and "spirituality" in general that is so, so far beyond anything you'll learn in natural science (and I'm not denying the profundity of natural science or the brilliance of scientists). Yes, it's also a great source of superstition and nonsense and delusion - that's the nature of things, that "the corruption of the best is the worse", that when you go after the higher things you are in danger of falling into the hands of the absolute worst things. Still, materialism / secular materialism / atheistical existentialism is NOT sufficient philosophically, emotionally, practically. They are barren philosophies / religions, and if you stick to that corner all your life you will never get to know anything.

>>4385102
You're not that far off base. I really am an utter novice in these matters but I think I can separate understanding / truth (even if it naive understanding and only partial truth) from outright falsehood. I don't entirely rely on shoddy youtube videos. I think I mostly rest on the Bible more than any other source, and the Bible is quite explicit in its declaration of their being spiritual realities and demonic manipulation (I know my terminology is very naive, I know how simplistic "spiritual realitise" and "demonic manipulation" sound, but if you look past the naive terminology you can see what I'm talking about).

>>4385092
> Also, do you think they're all doing this consciously? it'd make more sense that they're doing it unconsciously/it's just been engrained into their heads.

I'm not sure, but a lot of rock stars talk about being openly into satanic worship / occult and mysticism like kabbalah. They actively seek that kind of stuff because they know it will increase their songwriting ability.

>>4385085
m8, this thread belongs on /mu/ in the first place, and fyi, these >>4384866
>>4384876
>>4384884
>>4384897
>>4384916
are all my posts and refer to the OP topic, and you're free to respond to them and I'll make a response to you if you like.

>>4385064
> Secret Teachings of All Ages or Kybalio

m8, all that shit has it's root in kabbalah / gnosticism. There are so many books out there tagging themselves as the supreme revelation but are basically just kabbalah/gnosticism repackaged.

>>4385039
Yeah, Pink Floyd is pretty high up there when it comes to occult imagery. I can't give you examples because I haven't really analyzed it but listening to their music it's pretty obvious. I say that they are "high up" because their music as a psychedelic trance-like quality that few bands can match and their lyrics are quite subtle and well made.
Look at live videos of their performances of "Comfortably Numb". They always get a big ball of light to ascend above the audience. "Light" itself is very important in gnosticism, kabbalah and luciferianism. I see that ascending ball of light as being a symbol of Lucifer (whose name literally means, "light-beaer"), and also as gnostic "knowledge" emobdied. In this one the light even seems to expand in to the shape of a Star of David, which I found really amusing and am not sure if it's accidental or not, but wouldn't be suprised if it wasn't
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAMnqZqn6RI&t=9m

>>4385035
for example, does it not strike you as strange that those innocent popular musicians like David Bowie and Madonna are devoted to kabbalah (Jewish mysticism)? You thought that their only cause was promoting things like gay rights and sexual liberation! No, their music is "channeling" unclean spirits.

>"Rock has always been THE DEVIL'S MUSIC . . . I believe rock and roll is dangerous . . . I feel we're only heralding SOMETHING EVEN DARKER THAN OURSELVES." (David Bowie, Rolling Stone, Feb. 12, 1976)

>>4385024
sure, I'll listen.

>>4385015
What I'm saying in general is that rock/pop music is not harmless fun, it's not just something that the young people play to "have a good time". It has a sinister purpose to it. Your modern rock/pop concert is basically a pagan ritual. It has an idol (the musician), revellers (the audience), and a sacrifice (the money, though sometimes the more overtly satanic rock/pop musicians will make some kind of sacrifice on stage, like killing an animal).

>>4385005
I wish I was insane. It's an unfortunate truth that I'm sane and you guys are in denial. It's not completely your fault - you don't even know what to look for.
If you had some religious background and knew about imagery and the occult and rituals then you'd be able to see what Frank Black, and what rock/pop music in general, is all about.
Rock/Pop music is best seen as a spell that is cast on its audience. If you really want to be a good rock/pop musician then stop thinking in terms of "hooks" and "melodies" and "verses", and start thinking in terms of "incantations" and "indoctrination" and "summoning" - so many of these musicians are involved in the occult, LOOK IT UP FOR YOURSELF.

>>4384989
With most rock musicians I'd agree with this sentiment, but Frank Black seems too clever.

>>4384962
>Many artists incorporate symbolism and parallels from religions and occultism to convey a variety of messages

yeah, and most of them are demonic in nature. Frank Black is just particularly skilled at it.

>>4384940
see, I used to be depressed myself and I experienced depersonalization (it's really awful, I looked into a mirror and saw a human thing there that I felt wasn't me, like I was this disembodied thought and that the creature in the mirror was some other being), and if I listened to that song, "Headache", back then, I would have been looking into the pit of despair. People that haven't experienced that kind of thing probably can't see just how twisted that song/video is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2zb_iZC6nI).). You see, when musicians usually talk about extreme depression they adopt a sad musical tone, but Frank Black takes a frollicking, jumping, upbeat rhythm because it expresses depersonalization, complete disconnection with your feelings because they have become too much to bear (as he puts it in the song, "I got me so down I got me a headache / my heart is crammed in my cranium / and it still knows how to pound", that's the experience - of having your heart crammed inside your head). The effect of this music on somebody who is in that forsaken state though, it could easily be something that puts them over the edge and leads them to suicide (or at least contemplate it more).