Choices
Shiva's thoughts on certain indecisive mentalities…
Ok, I'm sure we've all heard about the lamer Christians and the like, people who constantly plague Non-Christians and similar people with constantly beaten them over the head with bible scripture or ramming their faith up the butt of people who'd much rather be left alone. I'm sure many people who may have stumbled onto the Dark Cypher website have seen countless Satanic sites that give tons of examples of their beliefs and practices misunderstood and such, but now let's take a different perspective here. A large part of Satanism focuses on the
self so let's take advantage of that now, shall we?First things first, have you ever noticed that many Non-Christians have started to go out of their way to find Christians and mock them, laugh at and/or berate the faith of the Christians they claim are such a nuisance? Have you ever stopped to take notice of how many people who claim Christian bible-bangers are constantly "ramming their beliefs down the throats of others" usually get so much scripture quoted at them because they look for Christians voluntarily? They then open up a dialogue about religion/spirituality/whatever the hell you might personally call it, and when the Christian(s) disagree and won't take some sort of compromising "well I could be wrong" type of statement, then the Non-Christian tries to act as if Christians are constantly out to force their beliefs. Now, there is obviously going to be a backlash to the centuries of Christian-like persecution of others, but let's all be honest with ourselves. If all you're doing is looking for an excuse to bash the faiths and doctrines of others, it's already deplorable that you have so few worthwhile things to do that you have time to worry about others so much, but at the LEAST…have enough backbone to admit all you're trying to do is stir up trouble, rather than try to act as if the Christians are just out to get you.
Over the years I've been raised and trained in satanic beliefs, I've been through all sorts of "phases". I went through my various phases such as "let's just try and get along and learn from each other", to my "F**K Christianity and anyone who supports it!! Let them all be dragged out into the street and shot!!" phase, the classic "I just want to educate people who might misunderstand" phase, and of course the "Leave me alone and I'll leave you alone" phase. As of late, I've come to the understanding that the way for me to go is to simply kick back and relax, and follow the Satanic rule of giving my opinions and advice when it's called for, and not going out of my way to "teach" Satanism to those that are merely curious, or want to put it down. It just no longer matters to me what people I don't really know think about Satanism. I don't feel a need to validate myself, prove myself "worthy", ease peoples' concerns or misconceptions, etc. Obviously common sense is employed here, there are certain people that make Satanic discussions and debate really fun (whether they are personally Satanists or not). Also talking about other religions I'm not as educated on is cool, and I try to make sure people know where I'm coming from and roughly how much I know up front so things are honest and on the table for all. However, since stupid people outnumber the gems out there by many miles, I tend to be a bit stand off-ish. I don't verbally require that people "prove themselves worthy" of talking to me, but I do use discretion. There are just some discussions and arguments that are a total waste of time, and are only done so all people involved can vent their frustrations about someone else's beliefs.
Now on to the bigger picture here. I have noticed that many people who claim that they are open-minded, and don't like having other's beliefs forced on them, make quite an effort to do just that and require that everyone in their presence acknowledge that all beliefs can be wrong and no one can know who's "right". Well, for all those people fitting that description who may meet me or have already, "tough sh*t" is basically my message on that in a nutshell. That may sound arrogant, but I'm afraid that in reality, that's how it is for us all. If you believe that everyone could be wrong, including yourself, then you also have to believe that the assumption that we could all be wrong "could be" wrong as well. That kind of thinking is just too indecisive for me. I can't constantly put my own beliefs down so no one gets offended. If I stand and say, "I believe I'm right and you're wrong", many people get pissed about that. Personally I don't see any problem. Think about it, I said, "
I believe that I'm right and you're wrong." That literally means that as far as everything I've learned in life, what I believe is reality. Things that I don't know exist or haven't learned yet will be learned when I learn them, but I'll never know anything if I spend my whole life being too afraid to actually make some decisions and decide what I believe for myself, not out of fear or whether someone might get mad about it. Following this logic, if I say I believe something, and you claim I might be wrong and I should keep an openmind and all that, essentially you start to look like someone who wants to believe something, but you're too afraid to actually say you do or know you do. You are afraid of being wrong. The common argument to that is to say "No way! YOU'RE the one who's standin' there trying to say what's what Shiva, your closed-mindedness shows you're afraid to see the possibility of you being wrong." Believe me I got plenty of headaches arguing just that with others and myself. The fact is, however, that I'm not afraid of being wrong, it's not a fear, it's just something I don't worry about. What's to fear from making a mistake? If I'm wrong, it will probably be proven at some point to me somehow, and I'll change my ideas, if there's no time to change my mind, then I'm glad I decided a long time ago that I will always be willing to live with the consequences of my actions. Imagine it this way: two guys show up at a car dealership looking to buy a car. One guy shows up looking for a car with speed but lots of luxury stuff, the other isn't quite sure what he wants, but knows he wants a car. The first guy kind of checks around and then finally decides on one he likes, haggles over the price, let's his family jump in to enjoy that new car smell…and drives home happy with what he has because it's got what he likes. The second guy however, is really worried about buying the "wrong" car, and spends the entire day walking around the lot, wishing he could combine certain features of cars to make one that’s got it all. Trouble is, some things just can't be mixed and matched. So, after spending the entire day wandering around, the guy finally goes home car-less, having never figured out what he wanted. The moral of this: While it's true the guy who bought a car got one that just had what he liked in it, and there may have been other features that will come along later, or he might miss out on, he got something he's happy with because he's not trying to have it all, just have what he wants. If you want your faith to get somewhere, you have to go somewhere instead of just stand around. You simply can't know everything and have everything. If you are the guy who bought the car, by the time you drive it off the lot there will be some new great feature you will have missed. But the fact is that it doesn’t matter. You'll never get anywhere if you spend all your time going in circles; you'll just end up back where you started. True you may miss some things, but you can always come back later, and if there is no 'later', then it wasn't meant to be.Today, so many people try hard as hell to live without making choices, just standing around not sure of what to do. That's why our future is so much more uncertain than it should be. Everyone wants to wait around for someone else to make the "next big thing", to give them yet another in a myriad of options. If they couldn't figure out what they wanted before, how is complicating the matter further supposed to help? My point…make choices. Decide. Take action and initiative. You don't need to walk all over others, but you don't have to wait for them to make you walk either. If you want to choose a path but don't like the options, cut your own and be done with it. There is nothing wrong with making a decision, though many would have you think just pretending that you're trying to decide when you're really just too afraid to decide is acceptable. I personally say it isn't. I love making decisions and dealing with consequences. It frees me from the enslavement of not being allowed to choose. There are so many options because there are so many people who previously cut those paths for others to follow. Sometimes you may have to follow another for a while to figure out how to go about making your own path, that's cool too! The bottom line is that you just start making decisions for yourself. After all…
If you don't become a master of your own "
self"…someone else is always waiting to make you a slave to theirs.