It is inherently impossible to love evil. This is true by definition, since evil is the exact opposite of love. But true knowledge of something is only possible by virtue of love for that thing. To love something is to experience it in the measure of its full reality (as opposed to experiencing it through your own projected preconceptions or short-hand descriptions). To experience something in the measure of its full reality is the same as to know it fully. That’s why it makes sense to associate evil with non-being. Evil has a certain reality, but because it’s unknowable, it doesn’t participate in being, which is inherently knowable in principle - being is the intelligible. Nevertheless, evil can be described from the outside in a provisional way. To turn from the philosophic to the religious register, we can propose that evil is that which is created out of chaos by humans, and which ultimately turns around and enslaves the one who created it. To say this is to make a distinction between two aspects of evil that may not really be there, but which at least appear to be there from the outside (which is, again, the closest we can get). On the one hand, an abyss of non-meaning (which I call variously the ‘hyperborean sun’ or the ‘haptic void’, or by other names, depending on the mode in which it appears); on the other, a chain of meaning in the social, psychodynamic or spiritual field that is not authorized by God to exist, because it was created by a human who was not truly awakened - created out of urgency, fear, greed or resentment. Because the chain of meaning is not part of God’s plan, it withers the spirit of everyone who comes into contact with it.
THE HYPERBOREAN SUN
The philosophy of Plato aimed to draw us out of "the cave" so that we are no longer enslaved by social illusions. This effort, though no one intended it, culminated in the birth of capitalism. 2500 years later, capitalism has liquidated nearly all social absolutes and is even making inroads into organic and physical structures (biology and cognition) which a few decades ago seemed far more ‘absolute’ than mere convention, which seemed beyond the discursive altogether. Thus the metaphor of the cave no longer points accurately to philosophy's task, and stands to be replaced. We no longer need to be led to the sun - now we have too much sun, nothing but sun, a sun circling around the sky, neither rising nor setting, so that there is neither day nor night. This is characteristic of the arctic, also known as the hyperborean, and its musical analogue is Scandinavian black metal, which must be overcome. Plato would have us climb out of a cave, but today what is needed is an escape from the hyperborean sun. What we need is a new absolute, a new cave, or something like a cave, to bind and harness all of this solar power.
FAITH, HOPE, LOVE
My experimental thesis is that humans have three innate talents that require simultaneous exercise and divine feedback to function adequately, and that awakening these is the key to the passage from VARIZEN to OIOION/HAELEGEN. The divine virtues. We don’t know quite what these are yet, but mystics and theologians have given us hints, and in principle they can be scientifically objectified (via cognitive science, information theory and so forth). Hyperborean desire is always traceable to dysfunction of the divine virtues. It always creates belief in concrete, external power and a desire to either obey or resist - because it is not in touch with transcendental power, with which it can make contact only through the divine virtues.
COGNITIVE OPPRESSION
The stress, anxiety and depression endemic to post-Fordist capitalism aka the Varizenic Armistice are not mere side effects; they are functional, active nodes of oppression. They generate Hyperborean consciousness and reasoning, they sculpt the social field, combing away all residue of agency, dignity and true independence (aka felt dependence on the absolute transcendence of HAQQ). Hyperborean consciousness is an inability to solve problems, or a fallacious and limited ability to solve problems only at a low level on a chain of reasoning without having time to consider whether attention to these problems serves the solution to higher, more important ones. This is what makes the consumer-expressor indoctrinated with Varizenic values so passive even when he feels very active. The inability to enjoy the vigor of true ascesis is a mark of abuse and subjection . The oppression waged against the relatively affluent white collar / no dress code precariat is cognitive above all else, and identification of mental health problems with neurology, the family or illegal substances, rather than with the infection of collective will by the Varizenic structure, is textbook ideological mystification.
Freedom is consciousness of one’s absolute dependence on HAQQ, which unfolds as ability to exercise the Adactive, Apocalyptic and Endeavoring organs at a high level of intensity in the name of OIOION, making use of whatever contingencies HCSC produce through the cooperative labor of Kel Valhaal and Reign Array
PLATO'S CAVE
The analogy of the cave has served as the fundamental figure of liberation for all of western history: I tear myself from the illusions and reflected light inside the cave and travel upward to the true world illuminated by the sun itself: God.
Today the human race requires a new analogy. Rather than trapped in a cave, I stand on the peak of an arctic mountain staring at the Hyperborean sun itself as it circles around the sky, a perfect circle of eternal recurrence, never setting, never rising. There is no night, only a blistering day that never ends. The fire above me and the ice below me are meaningless, unbearable, unchanging in their pure contingency which is indistinguishable from complete determination.
Here the illusion is not reflection but the truth of matter itself, the very sky, the very forces that seems to drive and constitute my entirety without remainder.
Where can one go from here ? How can I transcend this peak that was so enticing, so mysterious from afar, but which, now that I have arrived, scathes and freezes me with its radiating ice?
All I can do is die - die to the sun, to the snow - lie down and die, and in this way to kill the sun. I die and discover that the sun needs me more than I need it. I am more than the sun, I can think and act without it, I can reconstitute myself on a plane altogether orthogonal to that of nature itself as I understand it. This is the passage from the Hyperborean to the Transcendental: the transcendence not of a false reflection but the very light source that fed all the reflections I have transcended so far
TRAVERSING THE HYPERBOREAN
The Hyperborean is love's retreat from Aesthethica to a lower intensity, where it attaches itself to false idols. Angst does not lie, but everything else does. Hyperborean attachment links angst and hope to ontic situations and beings: to rivals, figures from my past, hoped-for outcomes. The fact is, the apparent world is an illusion - in a very precise sense. When I blame others for my misfortunes, I am deluded. When I place my hopes in others, I am deluded. The same goes for circumstances. When I expect to be taken care of and told what to do, I am deluded. When I expect to be obeyed and honored, I am deluded. My narratives about the past are delusions, and so are the coordinates according to which I plan the future. My beliefs about the way I appear to others are false. And if I cling to these things, then I am in a state of evil: the Hyperborean.
The Haelegen is the one who practices Aesthethics and lives according to Transcendental Law. Haelegen sees only Gends and Lieyethe. The Love of Haelegen is self-sustaining and self-organizing. It is not related to an outside - neither to any inadequacy nor any rule or specific goal. The experience of shifting from the Hyperborean plane to the Transcendental plane is quite palpable. It is always accompanied by an, "Ah, yes, I remember!".
But how does the passage from the Hyperborean to the Transcendental take place? It requires vows: Surrender, Renunciation and Chastity, along with Repentance and Devotion. Surrender: I renounce control and I depose myself as supposed master of my destiny. I strip my desire away from the illusion of sovereignty. Renunciation: I renounce what I own and believe I depend on, opening myself to abundance that would not be available to me were I clinging to what I already have - I strip my desire away from the illusion of dependence. Chastity: I renounce projects and even people to whom I am not wholly committed - directing all my effort towards creative becoming. I refuse to sate my desires prematurely, to absorb reflected light. Devotion: I attach my love primarily to a glowing void before whom I am utterly alone, drawing all of my resources from this void. Repentance: I recognize, cherish and acknowledge my failures, clearing them away.
These practices are required, really, for Adaptation, Apocalypse and Endeavor to even be possible - these latter three are in part spontaneous. They happen on their own, once the Hyperborean has been cleared away - although they require effort to maintain as well.
NO ESCAPE
The Hyperborean is not irrational - it is a form of reason just like the Transcendental. It is actually the very same form of reason as the Transcendental - but exercised passively and ultimately closed in on itself. There is no escape from reason itself
VALIDATION
A basic Hyperborean mystification: that the right to do or say something comes from elsewhere. This is perhaps the aspect of the Hyperborean that I struggle the most with. I am easily discouraged by negative feedback and scorn - I believe that elsewhere someone has the authority to legitimately judge what I do. This is especially the case when it comes to philosophy in particular. The antidote to this is the Lacanian slogan: the Other does not exist
SELF-COMPOSITION
It is possible to shape oneself in any way - to be more compassionate, more sociable, more disciplined an a particular skill, or simply to do no shaping at all and allow one's "plant" to grow in whatever way it will. It depends on the selection of a trellis and consistent application of its form. When engaged in this activity, one without fail ends up crossing thresholds into unforeseen new powers.
In a basic way, Hyperborean law is the forgetting of this fact. It is the law legislating that obstacles, flaws, enemies and ideals are absolute and pre-constituted (which is not true. Anything that seems to have solid existence is serving some purpose as power or fantasy)
But there's a little more to it - Hyperborean law is also a desire for these absolutes. And the desire is affect-independent. The gentle soft joy with which the Christian evangelical cherishes family values is strictly homologous to the masochistic torment driving the heroin addict
CONFUSION
The Hyperborean is simply confusion. But confusion isn't just a lack of reason - it is rather itself a form of reason: the wrong form. It is self-propelling and self-recapitulating. It can be mathematically formalized, and efforts to vanquish it can be experimentally tested. Every form of bigotry can be traced back to the Hyperborean (including, of course, Hyperborean Black Metal)
AFFECTIVE ECONOMY
There are two fundamental types of inspiration, or affective energy. They're not types, actually, but rather sources: outside and inside. The outside sources include the lures of social status, wealth, power, sex, consumption generally. These are HYPERBOREAN OBJECTS.
One's own imagination, however, can also be a source of the same energy. This is called a TRANSCENDENTAL OBJECT. It requires work - the exercise of a sort of psychic muscle, to be able to see this object clearly in the mind's eye. Constellations of religious symbols can do this - e.g. the chakras - and so can poetry, and so can certain types of conduct - especially selflessness and repentance.
There is something good, generative, positive in focussing one's efforts on the latter. It is also powerful. It leads to success, more often than not, although not all outside circumstances are amenable to it. My question is, I guess, what is going on here?
If there is a God, this is where God lives. A theist, especially a practitioner of an existing religion, will generally believe that the non-religious version of the TRANSCENDENTAL OBJECT is incomplete, or even a sort of temptation. (There is a term, the "belt of lies", for spiritual ideas that are not rooted in God but nevertheless inspire. "Egregores"). The claim would be something like this: sure, one can be inspired, proactive and successful if one follows one's heart and builds an empire or a successful career or whatever it is - but one will also do great damage. There is no moral compass built into the TRANSCENDENTAL OBJECT. I simply need to mention the name Donald Trump to illustrate this point. People around him love him, he generates all this wealth etc, but, a little further out, he's ultimately an extremely destructive force.
Faith and hope in this object, then, needs to be combined with service, renunciation and humility. Once one has attained spiritual power, one has to renounce it. This is the only truly transcendental form of conduct - the only way it will be eternal, rather than leading to ruin.
I think there is something to this view. Nevertheless, religion has to be rejected. There is no religious dogma that is not capable of becoming a basis for violence. Symbols by their nature have to transform and be transformed. Only art, at this stage in history, can be a true site of contact with divine forces. Perhaps, though, art does then have a burden to encourage renunciation, humility and service, rather than mere expression or experimentation.
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
There are so many ways to talk about evil: as character armor, as sickness, as sin, as weakness, as immaturity. It can be described in terms of nerves and glands or in terms of angels and temptation. Psychoanalysis, CBT, religions of various kinds, self-help, etc. I balk at even beginning to explore this topic - the point that seems most worth noting at the moment is this. Lets just start by asking a question. I take for granted that many forms of conduct that at certain times and places have seemed evil have, as a result of the liberating power of scientific disenchantment, proven not to be evil at all. Homosexuality and rock music immediately come to mind, and of course the theme of immoralism in Nietzsche, Gide, Dostoyevsky. It can be tempting to read Nietzsche as basically a self-help author, an especially eloquent one, but a self-help author all the same. For him, at end of the day the only bad thing is self-destructive ressentiment; beyond that, one simply has to get to know one's self well enough and try out enough different value systems so as to to arrive at a good match, or perhaps invent a new one if there's no pre-existing match. The question is, it is possible, after Romanticism and counterculture, to make a claim about absolute evil, to identify a universal Hyperborean? I believe it is. I believe it is also possible to show that this Hyperborean is a precondition for the launch into the Transcendental