suffer not a suffer not a witchcraft thread to live thread to live

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > suffer not a suffer not a witchcraft thread to live thread to live

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Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Animal-Mother posted:

Is this the occult thread, generally? I was wondering if there is an Islamic equivalent to Kabbalah. Sufism?

Also lol that in Thelema at the highest levels you have to do ritual butt stuff.

Kabbalah and Sufism are similar in that western academics are fascinated by both

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:38

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# ? May 18, 2024 19:24

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

fabergay egg posted:

G*d is real, and He wants you to establish communism

Supermechagodzilla, is that you?

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:39

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
Laugh and cry

Animal-Mother posted:

Is this the occult thread, generally? I was wondering if there is an Islamic equivalent to Kabbalah. Sufism?

Also lol that in Thelema at the highest levels you have to do ritual butt stuff.

tell me more about the ritual butt stuffs. i'm an state-board certified licensed professional butt wizard. in fact, i have a bs in philosophy and an ms in american literature and a postdoc in butt magic.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:39

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018

I just cast a spell to destroy anime

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:58

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018

looks like it didn't work :negative:

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:58

Probably Magic: Oct 9, 2012; Looking cute, feeling cute.

Good.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 03:59

Augus: Mar 9, 2015

AnimeIsTrash posted:

looks like it didn't work

you probably have a pretty nasty countercurse coming your way now, anime is extremely powerful
be careful out there

# ? Jan 5, 2021 05:13

Grevling: Dec 18, 2016

Western esotericism started with ancient greeks and ended in getting hosed in the rear end, it all goes full circle.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 05:55

Koos Group: Mar 6, 2013

Atrocious Joe posted:

Supermechagodzilla, is that you?

# ? Jan 5, 2021 05:58

Yossarian-22: Oct 26, 2014

The Archaic posted:

I can't remember where I read this but everyone involved with the new Atheists around the mid-00s is now either a fascist or socialist.

i think most of them just became boring musk/neil degrasse tyson reddit fanboys

# ? Jan 5, 2021 07:50

Smythe: Oct 12, 2003

Yossarian-22 posted:

i think most of them just became boring musk/neil degrasse tyson reddit fanboys

thats your aim profile =P

# ? Jan 5, 2021 07:56

Gods_Butthole: Aug 9, 2020; Can't post for 8 years!

fabergay egg posted:

G*d is real, and He wants you to establish communism

# ? Jan 5, 2021 08:16

TheSlutPit: Dec 26, 2009

Smythe posted:

thats your aim profile =P

wtf is this guy psychic :stare:

# ? Jan 5, 2021 08:18

Yossarian-22: Oct 26, 2014

ahh fuuuck u got me!

# ? Jan 5, 2021 09:24

Mr. Lobe: Feb 23, 2007; ... Dry bones...

Tiler Kiwi posted:

if you eat the brain of a magic user you gain their energies

Those are called prions, op. You don't want to gain those

# ? Jan 5, 2021 10:08

lumpentroll: Mar 4, 2020

Mr. Lobe posted:

Those are called prions, op. You don't want to gain those

seems like you're trying to keep all the prions for yourself

# ? Jan 5, 2021 10:20

DarkEuphoria: Nov 7, 2012

twoday posted:

Lenin scorned religion. Yet, the rejection of the tendency of humans towards superstition and beliefs which are detached from material reality is itself a denial of the material condition of humanity, for it denies an intrinsic part of the human psyche.

The problem of eliminating religious belief was not one which the Soviet Union could solve - their patchwork solution was to replace the cult of Jesus Christ and the tsar with the cults of Lenin and Stalin, and to replace the utopic vision of an otherworldly paradise with a utopic vision of full communism, always just a few years around the corner. In effect, it was little more than the replacement of one religion with another. So many paintings and statues were made, just to serve as stand-ins for the paintings and statues which had come before. And what is the result? How did this new alternative religion fare? The statues are demolished, the paintings discarded, the ideals these were meant to promote now rejected and despised by so many they were taught to, quickly and easily replaced by the ones which had come before.

If we look at Poland we see that decades of Communist rule did little to eliminate Christianity there; the percentage of people there who are currently faithful to the Catholic Church is comparable to that in Italy. And when we compare modern Russia, which was run by Communists for 70 years, we find that they have just as many (if not more) Christians per capita as do countries in Western Europe which existed under liberal free market or fascist economic and social systems for that same period of time. It is said that the Russian Orthodox Church builds, on average, three new churches a day. So why did the Bolsheviks, who were so vocally opposed to religion, fail so miserably at wiping it out in a place where they held power for so long?

The problem was not that 20th century Marxism in practice disregarded the tendency towards religion and worship, far from it. In fact, they realized the necessity of such things, which is why so much effort was put into attempts to establish cults of personality, why so many images of Lenin were produced. These were, in the same way that mass-produced statues of the Buddha are today, designed to be objects of worship alienated from the original philosophy which they are supposed to represent.

The problem was not that 20th century communists failed to understand the importance of faith and ritual and imagery and symbolism within the human psyche. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that the development of the mastery of symbolism and the mesmerization of the masses was one of the chief pursuits of the Soviet artists and propagandists, whether they were Leninist Constructivists, Stalinist Realists, or whatever else. The painting of Stalin on the wall came to function as a stand-in for the all-seeing eye of god, and socialist ideology was promoted not only as a system of thought, but an alternative to religion - an attempt to be its own opiate of the masses. Though often repeating Lenin�s words about religion being the opium of the masses, they did not eliminate religion in their society, they merely replaced other religions with a state-sanctioned religion of their own, which was (quite ironically) the cult of Lenin. Posters bearing bearing his face became as ubiquitous as images of Christ once had been, and just like Christ he was deified as a savior figure. Lenin lived, Lenin lives, and Lenin will live - immortal even after his physical death. Just like the pharaohs who had been worshipped as gods, so too was his body preserved, red carnations brought regularly to his tomb as offerings and signs of respect by the faithful.

The reason the Soviets did such a poor job of defeating religion was not because they underappreciated it, quite the opposite. The problem was that they had started playing a game that they were poorly equipped to win. They fundamentally held an overly simplistic understanding of the relationship between humanity and religion and other irrational beliefs. They thought that one could replace the images of Christ with those of Stalin, to replace the moralistic stories of the Bible with the precepts of the pioneer, the utopia of heaven with the utopia of communism, and expect the public to internalize it in the same way. If only it were so simple!

One reason that the cult of Lenin died out is because it was invented in the time of the revolution, and though it may have been impressive to proletariat masses of its time, it didn�t keep up with spiritual needs of the people as they evolved over time. Decade after decade, no further attempts were made to develop this pseudo-theology in the minds of the masses, and it quickly lost its sway. Having little to offer but the same repetitive images and slogans, it no longer had a meaningful connection to people�s daily lived experiences, and as the words started to ring hollow, many people felt alienated and became disillusioned with the socialist project, in the same way that one abandons a church.

The reason that Christianity, Islam, and even paganism have been rising in popularity in many countries of the former USSR is because those faiths have evolved over centuries to respond to the realities of lived human experience and the human psyche as we struggled to make sense of the world, and these religions lived on in the minds of people alongside them and to guide them in everything that they did. This was achieved through the actions of countless thousands of religious leaders, who not only prescribed to the faithful how they should live their lives, but who also observed their existing practices and determined how to absorb existing rituals and practices into their own belief systems, and most importantly tried to connect to them via their lived experiences of human spirituality.

Surely we know better by now than to listen to such leaders, but the nature of humans in matters of belief is to take up the ideological system which most thoroughly explains their world and lived experience. If one wants to firmly plant into the minds of people a doctrine of dialectical materialism, one shouldn�t resort to brute force in supplanting their irrational and ancient beliefs. That doesn�t work very well. Such an approach is short-sighted. In order to convert people, to make them believe for generations that they must work together for the improvement of their common material conditions and the construction of a socialist society, their faiths and folk customs must not be supplanted, but subsumed, and absorbed into the broader socialist project. This is even the official policy of the CCP when dealing with Buddhists in Tibet now, if you know anything about the next Dalai Lama.

Because by understanding that, one can understand the irrational tendencies that motivate their fellow human beings, and use that knowledge to improve their own understanding of the human psyche, and use that understanding in turn to spread dialectal materialist beliefs, and work towards improving the material condition. Especially if you live in a culture where more people believe in horoscopes and good luck charms than in the immortal science, have you never considered that your belief system might have something to learn from that rival one, in the very least in terms of how to appeal to also many of the poor unenlightened souls who surround you?

Soviet attempts to popularize a Marxist belief system in any lasting way in the USSR also failed because they were based upon a fallacy - the presupposition that a human being is a rational actor, and that the human mind is only capable of entertaining one set of beliefs at a time. One must believe either this or that. One must either be a Marxist or be religious. Yet, one could argue that the artists, poets, and others who worked to deify Lenin were, in effect, both Marxists and religious. We observe hypocrites daily, people who seem to earnestly believe one thing, yet act in seemingly incompatible ways. One can know there are no monsters in their house at night, yet still feel afraid of the dark. This is the sad reality of the human condition - that we are by our nature complex, imperfect, and self-contradictory. And of course, even Marxists are capable of entertaining two contradictory sets of beliefs at the same time. If this weren�t the case, the process of dialectical synthesis would be impossible.

Thus, in order to understand humanity, in order to work towards the betterment of humanity, in order to effectively spread an understanding of the philosophy which can achieve that goal, one must acknowledge this contradictory nature of the human mind. It is a fundamental aspect of being human. We are not infallible beings operating solely upon logic and theory, we are just as much apes motivated by irrational desires and beliefs. Regardless of our social conditions, this is how our brains are wired, and thus it is a material condition of the human existence. And failure to acknowledge the material reality of the human condition won�t get you very far as a Marxist, will it?

So I say, if they want to, Marxists can learn to interpret symbols, devise and perform rituals, meditate, go into trances. Why not try your hand at all the irrational things that are meant to make your ape brain tingle with hope and fear? If it�s not done with the goal of abandoning your mind to nonsensical beliefs, but to develop a better understanding how your mind works, both the rational parts and the irrational ones, then it is not incompatible with Marxist beliefs. Embrace all facets of your contradictory human psyche and come to understand yourself and others as thoroughly as you can, irrational beliefs and all. Develop an understanding of the human mind, of human experience, and use that knowledge to improve the material condition. Even if these experiences seem to stand in contradiction to firmly held Marxist beliefs, you shouldn�t fear that those will replace them. If you truly believe in dialectical reasoning, then you know that you are capable of experiencing simultaneous contradictory thoughts, and also just as capable of resolving the contradiction.

The synthesis of religion and logic, of ritual and reasoning, and the resolution of these supposed conflicts, are even necessary if one wants to enjoy the complete range of human experience. For how else can one ever hope to feel the wisdom of a prophet, the compassion of a savior, the conviction of an apostle, the determination of a saint, all while being certain that there is no god, and no other worlds besides the material one. To do so is verily what it means to �be one�s own sun,� and �to pluck the living flower.�

As the old saying goes, �Man makes religion, religion does not make man.� So I say, make your religion, perform your rituals, go forth and spread the good word, convert others to your faith. There is no reason a Marxist can�t do so, and there�s no reason that religion couldn�t be Marxism. But take the story of the cult of Lenin as a warning - if you chose to make your religion based upon an incomplete understanding of the human psyche and the human condition, if you neglect the irrational and contradictory nature of human beings, if you devise an inadequate religion that doesn�t seize people at their core, that can�t even accommodate their simple rituals, that fails to catch on, that is quickly replaced by others - well, there will be no gods for you to curse when it all falls apart. That�s on you.

Snake Dance posted:

Cool, nerd

lol

# ? Jan 5, 2021 11:57

fabergay egg: Mar 1, 2012; it's not a rhetorical question, for politely saying 'you are an idiot, you don't know what you are talking about'

Atrocious Joe posted:

Supermechagodzilla, is that you?

i only wish i possessed such posting power as he

# ? Jan 5, 2021 16:25

staticman: Sep 12, 2008; Be gay
Death to America
Suck my dick Israel
Mess with Texas
and remember to lmao

Okay real talk:

Timing's way too coincidental for this. Make fun of witches all you want, but if my dumbass take in that thread is literally making you meltdown to the point where you're literally taking to Twitter to harrasss and dogpile on Native American furries, forcing them to lock their accounts, maybe it's you whose the racist piece of poo poo and my accusations towards you as an individual were proven correct? Are you really so broke-brained by nu-atheist white supremacy to think that's at all an okay response?

staticman has issued a correction as of 19:29 on Jan 5, 2021

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:22

christmas boots: Oct 15, 2012; To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out; Biscuit Hider

I think it's my fault. Last week I attempted a sneak attack on David Lynch in the astral realm and dealt him a serious blow. Of course his howls of psychic pain completely obliterated my spiritual self (hence my recent bad posting) and sent a wave of emotional destruction across the whole of creation.

On the other hand I now fully comprehend the ending of Twin Peaks

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:40

Admiral Ray: May 17, 2014; Proud Musk and Dogecoin fanboy

staticman posted:

Okay real talk:

Timing's way too coincidental for this. Make fun of witches all you want, but if my dumbass take in that thread is literally making you meltdown to the point where you're literally taking to Twitter to harrasss and dogpile on Native American furries, forcing them to lock their accounts, maybe it's you whose the racist piece of poo poo and my accusations towards you as an individual were proven correct? Are you really so broke-brained by nu-atheist white supremacy to think that's at all an okay response?

i have no idea what you're talking about frankly i don't care to know, this poo poo is too online as it is.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:41

Marzzle: Dec 1, 2004; Bursting with flavor

staticman posted:

Okay real talk:

Timing's way too coincidental for this. Make fun of witches all you want, but if my dumbass take in that thread is literally making you meltdown to the point where you're literally taking to Twitter to harrasss and dogpile on Native American furries, forcing them to lock their accounts, maybe it's you whose the racist piece of poo poo and my accusations towards you as an individual were proven correct? Are you really so broke-brained by nu-atheist white supremacy to think that's at all an okay response?

casting a spell of "don't drag dumb twitter poo poo into cspam"

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:43

Xaris: Jul 25, 2006; Lucky there's a family guy
Lucky there's a man who positively can do
All the things that make us
Laugh and cry

Marzzle posted:

casting a spell of "don't drag dumb twitter poo poo into cspam"

FOOL! this is going to result in a complete shut down cspam. THINK! THINk about the consequences of your actions young padawan.

gaia drat n00blet witches not doing their homework, ugh. read some pagan academic papers, it's not my job to educate you

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:45

Crayfish: May 7, 2009

staticman posted:

Are you really so broke-brained by nu-atheist white supremacy to think that's at all an okay response?

Can you not accuse people of being mentally ill please?

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:47

christmas boots: Oct 15, 2012; To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out; Biscuit Hider

Crayfish posted:

Can you not accuse people of being mentally ill please?

My understanding is that such an accusation calls for a week of probration

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:51

christmas boots: Oct 15, 2012; To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out; Biscuit Hider

I know what I said

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:51

Pentecoastal Elites: Feb 27, 2007

staticman posted:

Okay real talk:

Timing's way too coincidental for this. Make fun of witches all you want, but if my dumbass take in that thread is literally making you meltdown to the point where you're literally taking to Twitter to harrasss and dogpile on Native American furries, forcing them to lock their accounts, maybe it's you whose the racist piece of poo poo and my accusations towards you as an individual were proven correct? Are you really so broke-brained by nu-atheist white supremacy to think that's at all an okay response?

Oh for fucks... Another thing I'm sick of is when I state my views, from the bottom of my heart, everyone immediately assumes I'm trolling. This isn't trolling, they are/were literal loving poo poo. They were dancing naked around a fire while we were building an empire. I'm stating the facts. gently caress this loving Indian apologism, I'm done with it, done. They offered nothing to the world, never have, never will.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:56

Admiral Ray: May 17, 2014; Proud Musk and Dogecoin fanboy

Pentecoastal Elites posted:

Oh for fucks... Another thing I'm sick of is when I state my views, from the bottom of my heart, everyone immediately assumes I'm trolling. This isn't trolling, they are/were literal loving poo poo. They were dancing naked around a fire while we were building an empire. I'm stating the facts. gently caress this loving Indian apologism, I'm done with it, done. They offered nothing to the world, never have, never will.

source ur quotes

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:57

Pentecoastal Elites: Feb 27, 2007

only the most powerful of magickal practitioners will have the strength and wisdom to scry whose rap sheet you have to check for that spicy quote

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:58

Zhulik: Nov 14, 2012; The Montreal Star

can someone post more spells

# ? Jan 5, 2021 19:59

christmas boots: Oct 15, 2012; To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out; Biscuit Hider

I have an unstable one that sometimes turns hot chocolate into sour cream and sometimes elects Donald Trump.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:00

Marzzle: Dec 1, 2004; Bursting with flavor

honestly have no idea what atheism has to do with white supremacy but maybe I haven't put enough work into killing the various hidden personalities in my minds pushing me to commit vile acts of "thinking witchcraft is dumb as poo poo". truly a dark spiritual stain on my soul that only much uh... "doing whatever some fucko on the internet tells me to do to absolve my Sin" can set right

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:00

christmas boots: Oct 15, 2012; To these sing-alongs 🎤of siren 🧜🏻‍♀️songs
To oohs😮 to ahhs😱 to 👏big👏applause👏
With all of my 😡anger I scream🤬 and shout📢
🇺🇸America🦅, I love you 🥰but you're freaking 💦me 😳out; Biscuit Hider

Marzzle posted:

honestly have no idea what atheism has to do with white supremacy but maybe I haven't put enough work into killing the various hidden personalities in my minds pushing me to commit vile acts of "thinking witchcraft is dumb as poo poo"

There's a strand of the New Atheist movement that kinda went full Islamophobe/God isn't real but of the all the fake ones the Christian God is beneficial for western society and the Muslim one wants to kill our babies

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:02

Marzzle: Dec 1, 2004; Bursting with flavor

anyway, just link your patreons up in here so I can release myself from this unfathomable guilt

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:03

Marzzle: Dec 1, 2004; Bursting with flavor

christmas boots posted:

There's a strand of the New Atheist movement that kinda went full Islamophobe/God isn't real but of the all the fake ones the Christian God is beneficial for western society and the Muslim one wants to kill our babies

sounds pretty fuckin' dumb as well

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:03

Admiral Ray: May 17, 2014; Proud Musk and Dogecoin fanboy

christmas boots posted:

There's a strand of the New Atheist movement that kinda went full Islamophobe/God isn't real but of the all the fake ones the Christian God is beneficial for western society and the Muslim one wants to kill our babies

yeah, Harris and Hitchens and Dawkins pulled hard into Islamophobia and racism. Hitchens was crazy and racist but also the only one that was like "sure i'll try waterboarding it's not torture" and then was like "it's 100% torture, we should never do it it's really hosed up, i actually still have night terrors from it and i only lasted a few seconds".

Harris once "posed the question" of whether nuking Islamic nations was permissible as a preemptive self defense move.

Dawkins did the whole "well sure the Christian schools molested boys but we all got molested so it's fine" thing, so willing to defend Christian based society even when it's outright abusive and malicious.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:07

Marzzle: Dec 1, 2004; Bursting with flavor

you'd think the idea of "atheism" would preclude listening to some shithead's dogma about what to believe but dumbassery doesn't necessarily stem from theism

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:14

hot witch divorcee: Jan 4, 2021; is that a tower in your pants or are you just happy to see me

looks like the spell to find out which goons are disgusting redditors worked pretty well

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:24

steinrokkan: Apr 2, 2011; Soiled Meat

Pentecoastal Elites posted:

Oh for fucks... Another thing I'm sick of is when I state my views, from the bottom of my heart, everyone immediately assumes I'm trolling. This isn't trolling, they are/were literal loving poo poo. They were dancing naked around a fire while we were building an empire. I'm stating the facts. gently caress this loving Indian apologism, I'm done with it, done. They offered nothing to the world, never have, never will.

Actually some foul warlock cast a spell on staticman to post in favor of Native American genocide. That's what happens when you don't pay witchcraft enough respect.

steinrokkan has issued a correction as of 20:34 on Jan 5, 2021

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:30

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# ? May 18, 2024 19:24

Joey Steel: Jul 24, 2019

Marzzle posted:

casting a spell of "don't drag dumb twitter poo poo into cspam"

People dragging dumb twitter poo poo is exactly what caused the making GBS threads up of the 2nd tarot reading thread that I'm aware of in CSPAM.

# ? Jan 5, 2021 20:42

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > suffer not a suffer not a witchcraft thread to live thread to live

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