Saturday, April 28, 2012

The God Complex


Coming Full Circle

To recap the issues of my first post, I ask this question: Would I do it (mortality) all again?

Not on my life, nor yours.  Anyone who would repeat their mortal experiences went through most of them where there is no light. Mormonism certainly had a lot of things backward, and only the intelligent ones figured out their exit from that crowd.

Supposedly the glory of God is intelligence according to Mormon dogma.  But that is the glory of Man, for God was made in Man’s image.  God, as recorded down through the ages of Man by his alleged representatives is capricious, vain, venal, and pissed off with His creatures a hell of a lot.  Pauline Christianity asserted that God is Love, but you would never know it by the acolyte’s deportment, and most especially by the priestly caste.  It is commonly accepted in Western Society that religion is the purveyor and protectorate of moral rectitude.  My present (ex)Catholic neighbor still is much disabused by the idea for sure.  But no one can look at the history of Christianity, nor religion of any faction and conclude it has been free of violence, suffering, death, but possessed of an over-all absence of intelligence.  Where does one find God acting with love, compassion, forgiveness, immutability, instructive, much less intelligently?  By the way, does God have a personal name, and why so much fear associated with the mere speaking of it?  And too, where has He been down through the ages that He has been too busy to make Himself personally known to His creatures?  From whence came this Almighty disdain for personally nurturing and cultivating His “offspring?”

If God is such a great guy (or gal as feminists like to wag), why did He appoint the least able people to go around proclaiming His virtues and His will?  These people are invariably the variety that can’t find anything else better to do with their short-term mortal existence than to meddle in other person’s lives, heralding the validity of God at the least, and dictating behavior at the worst.  Inspection of their personal affairs reveals they can’t even manage the daily acts of cleaning up after their own shit—er keep their own house in order, as it were.  But the True Believers among them do mean to rule the lives of everyone within their sphere of influence—a sphere that like Boyle’s gas law, enlarges to fill the Void.

I have termed the actions of such people in its cornucopia of (mis)behavioral qualities the God Complex.  It is evident everywhere, once attuned to it.

You see, I could never quite get the concept of reincarnation.  A person gets to live again, perhaps repeatedly, until (s)he “gets it right.”  But there’s no telling if getting it right has happened before the end of life.  If ever Life were to have meaning at all, it certainly would have to be bound up in the simple idea that a person would know why they exist, what they’re doing on this planet in a fleshly body, and what is expected to be accomplished during its brief existence.  For Reincarnationists, this is the mystery of godliness (or Creation if you must).  For Mormons, it’s trying to fathom how a person can be like God and acquire Intelligence without offending their overseers.  And for heaven’s sake, DON’T take the mystery out of God!  The entire house of cards might collapse, and then what would the vain, God fearing people do with their puny, trivial lives?  Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher. (Ecclesiastes 1:2ff)  Did the “Preacher” know who was truly vain?  Helping profession my itchy ass.  Man helps himself who promotes God.

For myself, there has been far too much God Complex to want to do any of it again.  Talk about vanity.  By the time I acquired self-awareness, I was beset with affliction by persons suffering from the Complex.  I was lazy, they asserted vehemently.  Further, I deliberately didn’t do what I was told to properly, or worse yet, didn’t do what was expected WITHOUT being told what those expectations were, much less having been intelligently instructed on how to carry them out.  This God Complex permeated every nook and cranny, every crook and nanny of my relations.  Parents behaved this way.  Teachers, Priests, labor bosses, Police, Bureaucrats.  All “ministers” of the public “good” and domestic tranquility.  Even most of my so-called friends could not resist.  Is it any wonder that scapegoating (otherwise defined as fool, sap, butt, dupe, sucker, victim) is an integral part of the mystery of Atonement?  You’ve got to hand it to the Hebrews, they are the earliest known race to have figured out how to blame someone else for one’s own shortfall, and turn redemption into a mystery.

The God Complex IS the oldest profession.  Prostitution has honor in it at least. In that profession you know what is expected and get what you pay for.

I confess, I succumbed at an early age to engaging in the Complex.  Survival in this world’s social relations seems to be predicated on its astute adoption.  By the time I became responsible for the nurturance and survival of my own bambinos I was well on my way to “offending these little ones”.  They would be hard-pressed to concede I didn’t deliberately try to harm them.  During those moments when I could grasp the consequences of those acts, the remorse was overwhelming.  But still it did not bring forth “fruit”.  It took the death of my only (then) son to shore up the resolve to abandon the Complex.  It was a bit of a selfish act, seeking redemption for my misdeeds in bringing a second son into this disconcerted world.  If ever there were a true mystery and miracle, it was that the first son was restored to life, and the second has had an even chance at transcending the Complex.  The first son returned to make it all possible, and I don’t know of a sacrifice more substantive and meaningful, or purposeful, than that.  This Crucifixion business as promulgated by Pauline Christians is no equal to it.

In this vaunted era of advanced standard of living, the God Complex has virtually extinguished all freedom, Natural Rights, real science, and intelligence.  It has closed the gap between Religion and State, enclosing every facet of human sociality and suppressing individuality through conformity.  At its very heart is the paradigm so often heard among the peasantry: “there ought to be a law…” .  Justice is no longer conceived of as fairness, but as retribution.  The Catholic mantra repeated every Sunday in mass is regurgitated during the week as you have sinned, you have sinned, you have sinned, and for that you must pay.  There can be no redemption, either civilly or religiously, for mercy has been removed from the courts.  Thanks to GW Bush’s administration (and the peasantry who hailed and fought for it), all those Rights have been removed right along with Habeas Corpus.  A person can languish in jail indefinitely without due process.  Such is the socially advanced civilization some now proclaim exceeds the ancient Golden Age.

As has been remarked in earlier generations, choosing between two evils is still choosing evil.  Which is better for the restoration of freedom and social fecundity, a political candidate who is a Mormon in his ethical persuasion (now that IS a non sequitur!), or an alleged Mohammedan incumbent with a political history in the G.W. Bush eclat?  I would call upon God with His name at this point if I could learn it….

For those of you thankfully uninitiated to Mormonism’s philosophy, there is no earthly or heavenly institution more centered on oligarchy (Article 12).  Dictation is its modus operandi.  Oh yes, they preach Agency, but only if you keep to yourself and never divulge to anyone you have a differing view.  They avow freedom of conscience and expression of thought (Article 11), but not within the hallowed walls of their religious palaces.  And most definitely not anywhere your “misbehavior” may cast aspersion on their sacred institution and leading priests.  Despotism doesn’t just thrive in Mormonism, it is the very essence of its founding paradigm.  For those peasants who are obsessed with “there ought to be a law” paradigm, the choice of Presidential candidate is a hard one indeed (but not for Mormons—they have been dictated who to vote for).  Do you choose the "underdog" with charm, or the businessman who inherited his wealth, never having had to really work a day in his life to survive? Both profess they have nothing better to do with their lives than force you to be a “better” person by the instrument of the law.  They’re making a difference you know.

Come ON people!  Where does this God Complex come from?  The aristocrats and the oligarchs?  They didn’t materialize in a vacuum.  They were produced by a society that cherishes and sustains irresponsibility and scapegoating.  Every night on the news you hear someone wanting to “make a difference”, and it universally entails not changing their personal life, their attitudes, beliefs, credos and the rest.  It entails trying to improve someone else’s lot.  Not by invitation, but by vanity, and believe it or not, a colossal insecurity complex that is the byproduct of the God Complex.

There isn’t going to be another round of this.  I would not do any of it again.  Nada.  Nix the thought from the peabrain.  There is no intelligence in it.  In the movie  Defending Your Life, it is no coincidence Mr. Miller must break the rules to break the cycle, and is applauded by Mr. Diamond, his counsel, for it.

It is said by psychiatrists (the high priests to the Oligarchs) that the definition of insanity is to continue doing what you are doing, but expecting different results.  The late Laurence Gardner lets the cat out in his Origin of God, although he consumes a substantial amount of pulp before getting around to the fraud.

In my life's next round, I’ll be looking for a society that has put aside vanity.  Wish me luck.

Seth Smee