Zoe and the Priest

A priest in infinite wisdom said...
Priest: there are only two paths in life: the chaotic and the hopeful. The inference is clear. Believing in an afterlife brings hope, whereas not believing, brings chaos.

Zoe: There is another teaching that says, that only when we lose all hope, are we at our most free.

Priest: Not believing brings uncertainty. There is no answer, so its better to believe in one.

Zoe: Here is where love of fate comes in, believing in destiny, whatever it might be.

Priest: People don't think that way...because its not too comfortable to think that way.

Zoe: Well then they are cowards. Or they want nothing from this world besides comfort. Cults come up, and all of this religion stuff can be seen as a joke. One guy creates a relligion and becomes a savior, and thus obtains the greatest power one can have over a person. By saving them, they are in your debt. By feeding them the answer, they are forced to swallow the heavy rocks. Then the question is, what should move the soul? Comfort or the unknown, danger, adventure, love. I think its a vicious circle because the mechanizing world which we live in eliminates the possibilities for creativity and adventure and seeks out comfort and certainty. It doesnt laugh at fear, it views it as a serious threat. This is the position of modern psychology...or at least teh one shown by their support for pills and stuff...those make you like a zombie. If you are pissed at the world and easily angered by it, you get pills that slow down your nervous system so you dont perceive what you dont want to perceive. Children should be the philosophers. They should be the statesmen and the politicians. Christian ethic...it teaches you to distrust yourself...to trust society before yourself. Guilt and shame are societal tools...to create a society, not to maximize the potential of the individual. Theres where nietzsche comes in, he looks at the individual before he looks at society. He looks at the nervous system before he looks at ideas and values.

take it for what it is, not for anything else

Taking the moment for what it is, not misrepresenting it. Because in the end everything is all about interpretation. There are no real forces out there, only the ones we believe are. From our interpretation of them comes our reaction. The idea behind the christian ethic is to structure the moment, to make it seem like we were in mom's belly again, where everything is warm and juicy, slow and calm. Morrison described the modern man as a little plastic soldier in the miniature dirt war. We create 'selves' to protect ourselves. So we throw dirt at each other, hoping to hurt each other. And we throw pretty things at each other when in the end all we want to do is play with each other like little tigers rolling on africa's grass fields.

Nietzsche and the christian ethic

Guilt and shame are checks on experience, they attempt to invalidate experience by claiming that it is wrong or laughable, claiming that the experience itself is not the experience of the infinite. Guilt and shame attempt to cut man's legs from under him, to make him mistrust his judgment and his soul. They want to make him timid, make him move slowly, watchfully, carefully. Thus, these people compete with each other about what experiences they have and are sure to create boundaries, controls...just for the sake of them...because they must show they have some control on experience (we can be trusted they shall say, they whisper to themselves). Somehow trust of the many becomes more important than trust of oneself. The wise experience the controls of experience as a handicap...they seek liberty, spontaneity, non-judgment.
And so, these people control each other to a point of non-movement...or very little movement...because change is dangerous, and danger is not welcome. They think that as their mothers brought them up so shall everything else come on to them, slowly and gently. They forgot that its up to them to treat the present slowly and gently. Nietzsche said that great things must first be terrible in order to inscribe themselves unto the hearts of humanity. just ride the snake... jimmy....