Friday 17 January 2014

Religious worship to Prodigious Purchase



What built St. Paul's Cathedral?
Look at the heart of the matter, it was that divine Hebrew BOOK2

Says Thomas Carlyle of the Holy Bible, he is not deluded or seriously proposing a magical architectural theory, rather highlighting the power of a Priestly caste over the toiling masses of the age by use of a mere storybook. A physical, man made object endowed with supernatural powers and touted as the “Word of God”; through which to this day, by virtue of genetic lineage alone, people claim the divine right to rule various historically disputed borders, while enjoying hereditary entitlement to a portion of all things within them.

In his counter-revolutionary appeal to the political authorities of Germany in 1525, “Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants”, Martin Luther panders to the arrogance of the German Feudal nobility by deferring upon them “the divine right to rule”, an authority mentioned in Saint Paul's epistle “Romans, Chapter 13”.
Luther attempted to justify the brutal reaction of German Princes against the Peasants, framing the violent suppression of the discontented masses, within the biblical narrative whereby all authority is divinely ordained by God, to defend the tyranny of ideas and suppress the forces of evolutionary progress.

Rather than consign to the dustbin of history this sanctimoniousness and servility, Luther proceeded to reprint the Bible in the 'common tongue', that the fetish of Christ; the example of his suffering and self sacrifice before the authorities of his age, may be available to every man, peasant and prince alike.

This doctrine of self sacrifice, formerly the reserve of a mediatory Priestly caste, who administered the 'sacred rites' to their flock, conducted confessional duties, etc,, was externalized, the Bible being made available, nay compulsory, en masse, so these 'teachings', the supposed "written commandments of God" could become internalized moral codes.

Demeaning self regulated servility for advancement, and self sacrifice for the glory of heaven, favourable character traits to be implanted in the populace; t
he idea that to question authority is to disobey a “divine” commandment, persists at varying degrees to this day:

anyone who is killed fighting on the side of the rulers may be a true martyr in the eyes of God; and that “they (peasants) have sworn to be true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers... now deliberately and violently breaking this oath... they are starting a rebellion, and are violently robbing and plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs... they have doubly deserved death in body and soul as highwaymen and murderers3

Monasteries and castles which this impoverished population had been ruthlessly exploited to support the construction of, formed a womb for archaic dogma and irrelevant social practices which nurtured ignorant submission, superstitious awe, and fear before the “truth” of the “Holy Bible”, and the omniscient omnipotence of the vexatious hobgoblin who is it's protagonist.

These huge stone relics that tower above what little common ground they shared; piercing the skyline, alluding to the powers allegedly residing there, are symbolic of the alienated power wielded by the religious Priesthood of any age, to provoke the fascination of the toiling masses. Whether Pyramids, Cathedrals, Mosque's or Skyscrapers, their purpose is military and psychological; constantly reaffirming the temporal and spiritual domination of mere mortals, by their “divinely” estranged hierarchies pointing to the secrets locked away above our heads.

Dictating from a pulpit above the congregation within, one single priest or groups of priests could influence and govern people's relationship to their own world. Mysterious, grandiose now generally disproved theories were used to subjugate and confuse the population, their productive power in turn used against them to further materialize the proof, of their helplessness before the “glory of God”.

Those used to produce the testaments of religiously motivated, physical and spiritual exploitation, are historical examples of human beings, unable to conceive of their productive power as something existing of itself; rather, it was given shape and form, it was alienated, homogenized, disciplined, tempted, punished, given purpose, meaning, cause and eventually satisfied, by the Hierarchical systems of Religious (fetish) worship demanding it's service.

From this milieu emerged a deformed and subjugated pre-Protestant population, susceptible to the externalized Christian ideology of the 1611 KJV, with new found “knowledge of "good and evil”, they came eventually to internalize it's explicit spiritual super Ego, and alienating moral imperatives.
This historical Protestant tradition contributing to the way in which man is alienated from his desires, impulses, emotions, creativity, pleasures, and instead fascinated by in-organic, factitious but stimulating distractions today, in the church of the Market.

Productive labour constrained for centuries, in devotional service to the Church, Monarchies and Feudal hierarchies their doctrines justify, eventually reformed itself into a materially productive social process, but rather than shaking off the yoke altogether, this productive force has merely converted devotional service to economic servitude, now under the yoke of the modern Economic Priesthood, overseeing the mystical flow of monetary forces, which still remain largely unknown to those who constitute, produce and are subject to Money, the God of this recently emerging, post feudal form of socio-economic power.
 
I perused the books of the Old and New Testaments, each book as a whole, and also as an integral part. And need I say that I have met everywhere more or less copious sources of truth, and power, and purifying impulses, that I have found words for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and my feebleness?”4

Under the creative power of the economy, you can buy words for your innermost thoughts pre-programmed into a text message; you can find songs for your joys and sorrows on CD, Television, or youtube; confirmation that you aren't having paranoid delusions is available for £3 monthly subscription; fashions and commodities to 'express your inner self' and dependence on other people's approval, are thrown at you between adverts telling you how, fat, ugly or old you are.
Toys to keep your children occupied, even to keep you occupied as an adult, are constantly going to market; RC helicopters, planes, railway sets, the newest technology to occupy your attention and simulate your enjoyment, almost any material impulse, transient urge or perceived lack, can be satisfied by a simple economic exchange in the church of the market, where you meet everywhere more or less copious sources of “truth” and “power”.

Traditional social relations based on religious belief and submission to traditional moral systems, have been superseded by social relations based on submission to capitalist ideology within oppressive economic systems, the principle of productivity simply replaced the principle of feudal authority.
These relations appear as complete conformity to the requirements and irrational demands of the financial system, the mystical hierarchic order of the Animist or Christian religion, became what it always was, the “rational” economic hierarchy of the class system; the strict moral regulation of Religiously ordered societies, became the strict regulation of who can obtain credit; and the benevolence or justice dispensing hand of a deity, became the hidden hand of “self regulating” markets, bestowing the rewards of devoted adherence to the Capitalist system.

This “permanent revolution” of emerging fads, dreamt up in the deluded minds of advertising execs and marketing gurus, is useful for only one purpose, producing habitual submission before the perpetual onslaught of “New and Improved” fetish objects of consumerism, this results in the perpetual accumulation of a load of old rubbish, obfuscating the very needs these objects represent & which we grow evermore disconnected from. The insufficient fulfilment of our needs, through a process of alienating us from them in producing them en masse, creates ever greater and more immediately inaccessible needs.
This “perpetual cycle of reincarnation” for the objects of commodity fetishism, is governed by their ability to produce value for their “creator”, and the representation of value socially. Objects and representations of the Buddha are constantly reproduced for the purpose of home or garden decoration, many "samsaric" wheels of suffering mass produce these items in many countries, which are destined to convey a sense of serene calm when they find their place, in the Zen garden of some white collar professional.

Like the old mystical, religious fetish objects endowed with transcendental powers and abilities, the fetishism of commodities generates it's own moments of fervent exaltation.
 
Brands found to be of specific value to the masters of productive powers enjoy a long cycle of rebirth in slightly improved forms, Personal computers; Eastern religion; laptops and the various “Android” phones being a good example of this. More relevant perhaps are the constantly emerging forms of transcendentalism, solipsism, folklore, and Utopian ideological fetishes that constantly reinvent themselves in order to mystify the increasing numbers of people learning about material reality, their place in history and their own collective power as it is more widely observed and understood, diverting people from this consciousness by dissemination of counter factual distractions.

If somebody believes the representation of an image of Jesus to hold power, the Crucifix to carry them through life, or statues to cry blood, how much more likely they will believe a charlatan who merely exploits the gaps in their understanding of historical facts or events?










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Do not Books still accomplish miracles, as Runes were fabled to do? They persuade men. Not the wretchedest circulating-library novel, which foolish girls thumb and con in remote villages, but will help to regulate the actual practical weddings and households of those foolish girls. So "Celia" felt, so "Clifford" acted: the foolish Theorem of Life, stamped into those young brains, comes out as a solid Practice one day. Consider whether any Rune in the wildest imagination of Mythologist ever did such wonders as, on the actual firm Earth, some Books have done! What built St. Paul's Cathedral? Look at the heart of the matter, it was that divine Hebrew BOOK,—the word partly of the man Moses, an outlaw tending his Midianitish herds, four thousand years ago, in the wildernesses of Sinai! It is the strangest of things, yet nothing is truer. With the art of Writing, of which Printing is a simple, an inevitable and comparatively insignificant corollary, the true reign of miracles for mankind commenced. It related, with a wondrous new contiguity and perpetual closeness, the Past and Distant with the Present in time and place; all times and all places with this our actual Here and Now. All things were altered for men; all modes of important work of men: teaching, preaching, governing, and all else.”

3.Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants” by Martin Luther, printed 1525
  1. But there is a Book of two parts, each part consisting of several books. The first part (I speak in the character of an uninterested critic or philologist) contains the relics of the literature of the Hebrew people, while the Hebrew was still the living language. The second part comprises the writings, and, with one or two inconsiderable and doubtful exceptions, all the writings of the followers of Christ within the space of ninety years from the date of the Resurrection. I do not myself think that any of these writings were composed as late as A.D. 120; but I wish to preclude all dispute. This Book I resume as read, and yet unread—read and familiar to my mind in all parts, but which is yet to be perused as a whole, or rather a work, cujus particulas et sententiolas omnes et singulas recogniturus sum, but the component integers of which, and their conspiration, I have yet to study. I take up this work with the purpose to read it for the first time as I should read any other work, as far at least as I can or dare. For I neither can, nor dare, throw off a strong and awful prepossession in its favour—certain as I am that a large part of the light and life, in and by which I see, love, and embrace the truths and the strengths co-organised into a living body of faith and knowledge in the four preceding classes, has been directly or indirectly derived to me from this sacred volume— and unable to determine what I do not owe to its influences. But even on this account, and because it has these inalienable claims on my reverence and gratitude, I will not leave it in the power of unbelievers to say that the Bible is for me only what the Koran is for the deaf Turk, and the Vedas for the feeble and acquiescent Hindoo. No; I will retire UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN, and hold secret commune with my Bible above the contagious blastments of prejudice, and the fog-blight of selfish superstition. FOR FEAR HATH TORMENT.
    And what though MY reason be to the power and splendour of the Scriptures but as the reflected and secondary shine of the moon compared with the solar radiance; yet the sun endures the occasional co-presence of the unsteady orb, and leaving it visible seems to sanction the comparison. There is a Light higher than all, even THE WORD THAT WAS IN THE BEGINNING; the Light, of which light itself is but the shechinah and cloudy tabernacle; the Word that is Light for every man, and life for as many as give heed to it. If between this Word and the written letter I shall anywhere seem to myself to find a discrepance, I will not conclude that such there actually is, nor on the other hand will I fall under the condemnation of them that would LIE FOR GOD, but seek as I may, be thankful for what I have—and wait. 
    With such purposes, with such feelings, have I perused the books of the Old and New Testaments, each book as a whole, and also as an integral part. And need I say that I have met everywhere more or less copious sources of truth, and power, and purifying impulses, that I have found words for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and my feebleness? In short, whatever FINDS me, bears witness for itself that it has proceeded from a Holy Spirit, even from the same Spirit, WHICH REMAINING IN ITSELF, YET REGENERATETH ALL OTHER POWERS, AND IN ALL AGES ENTERING INTO HOLY SOULS, MAKETH THEM FRIENDS OF GOD, AND PROPHETS.


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