Spiritual Horror

I think death not being escape is the worst possible scenario.

Quote Originally Posted by With Strength I Burm

[M]y goal was never to argue certain races are superior to others, just that they may have certain disadvantages or advantages through natural selection, that's it.

Some races aren't superior to others, just advantaged.

So non-racist it hurts.

Quote

I also believe it can improve with assortative mating within Socioeconomic Status, which is a good proxy for IQ.

Spoken like Francis Galton himself.

How counterproductive would it be to weed out all the poor poets, artists, scientists, and prodigies that can't afford post-secondary education while keeping the wealthy ####wits on television and in political power?

Pseudoscience: Not Even Once.

[njhorror]

I hope you change your mind, Strength.

[DarkView]

Islam and religion in general is a good example of what evil can be done when belief in a certain spiritual world is strong enough. Such worlds are inevitably paradises for those who believe of course. This speaks exclusively to the human need for a glorious eternal world to look forward to, implicitly acknowledging the horror of this physical existence. However, this thread was begun speculating on the possibility that if a spiritual world exists, it is evil. I'm not sure how talk of racism, SJW's, and eugenics started but it would be appreciated if all posts could stay relevant to the topic.

[Druidic]

Sorry, but this should be pointed out then I'm as gone as Strength.

"I'm not even white, you Morons."--Strength.

I didn't think so. You are a brilliant guy, my friend, and I already miss you.

I feel if I were a Christian then I would embrace eternal damnation as being at least authentic and a form of enlightenment above this world of fake horrors. The eternal hell fire seems more worthy of attainment than the ephemeral plastic nightmare I'm stuck in.

[bendk]

For me spirituality, superstition, and other beliefs, motivate animate material for good, bad, or indifferent purposes.

Quote Originally Posted by njhorror

I hope you change your mind, Strength.

Me too. I enjoy his posts. They originate from a scientific perspective which I value. Pointing out possible biological differences is racist how?

Quote Originally Posted by Prince James Zaleski

I think death not being escape is the worst possible scenario.

I agree.

[ChildofOldLeech]

- Well then, now that the threat of this thread turning into a shouting match between the pro-Breivik/Trump contingent and everybody else has apparently passed, I'm happy to return to the subject at hand, which happens to be quite close to me. Despite being a pretty staunch unbeliever, I've long had an affinity for Gnosticism/Manichaeism and their assorted variants, which have long struck me as the only plausible metaphysical doctrine. For me, spiritual terror is virtually synonymous with ontological terror: What is the nature of this apparent reality we inhabit, and under whose control is it? Are we puppets to be toyed with, prisoners to be tormented, or simply provender? Are we possibly totally insignificant specks who merit no attention whatsoever from anyone in charge? Looking back, it's perhaps not surprising that a number of my most favorite books and films address these concerns in one way or another:
- Philip K. Dick's whole career was shaped by any ever-evolving gnostic outlook, most notably (and horrifically) expressed in "Faith of Our Fathers" and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
- Since Twin Peaks, these themes have become more pronounced in David Lynch's films (although they can be traced all the way back to Eraserhead) - in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive in particular; ambiguous or outright malevolent supernatural entities manipulating and feeding on humans reoccur, and the world the protagonists thought as reality is revealed to instead be more akin to the Bardo, purgatory, or some sort of hell.
- I have long interpreted Chambers' 'King in Yellow' stories in this light, with our universe appearing as simply a sort of a smokescreen or illusion covering the true reality of Carcosa; I think "In the Court of the Dragon" is one of the most effective stories of spiritual horror ever written, with the King himself delivering the chilling final line: "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"
- Reggie Oliver has addressed the theme as well, in possibly his best ever short story "The Devil's Funeral"- I'm unable to think of a finer story dealing with the theological problem of Evil.
- Lawrence Miles' Faction Paradox novels, although taking place in a rationalized science fiction universe, deals with beings possessing abilities and technology that can alter reality and have made them de facto gods; the clash between two civilizations possessing time travel is known as 'the War in Heaven'; both Dead Romance and The Book of the War are must reads.
- A somewhat similar revisionist approach to spiritual terror runs through Hideaki Anno's Evangelion saga in which judeo-christian dogma and the Dead Sea Scrolls symbolically depict authentic cosmic truths; also, a more explicit (and visceral) representation of the horrors of gnostic reality can be found in Kentaro Miura's long-running Berserk.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I wonder how many Christians believe in eternal hellfire as in the constant agony that you never grow used to for eternity without breaks. How much do they think about it?

There couldn't possibly be a person who deserved this punishment. Because even if you slaughtered billions of people and burned a trillion years for each molecule of every victim, it'd still all be a blink compared to the rest of eternity.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I've disagreed with and found dubious several things Strength has said but for whatever it's worth, he changed his mind about some of it (though I can't remember what).