User blogs

The Devil Inside exhibits infernal hubris, my term for the claiming of divine prerogative on the part of a mortal. This definition tracks pretty well with how ancient Greek playwrights understood hubris, though the Greeks saw it as a vice which the Immortals will punish, whereas I see it, and promote it, as a virtue which life on earth rewards.

I reject phrasing like, “I am my own God,” or, “the goal of the Great Work is auto-deification,” as utter bullshit. I’m obviously not a God and will never be one. Practitioners who employ such phrasing don’t mean what they say. They’re either exaggerating, or else they’re referring to the imaginary selves they hold in their consciousness during ritual. Some of them are deluded enough to believe that if they hold their imaginary selves in consciousness long enough and intensely enough, they’ll eventually become what they imagine themselves to be. This could work if they’re imagining themselves to be strong or wise. It will fail miserably if they’re imagining themselves to be Zeus.

Infernal hubris is very different from all of that. There are two divine prerogatives I actually do have the ability to claim for myself, despite my mortality. The first is the prerogative of decreeing the meaning of my life. The second is the prerogative of decreeing the tenets of my self-respect.

Consider Christians. Psychologically speaking, what do they use God for? First, they use him as a reason to hope for a miracle. I can’t claim that prerogative because it’s not a real thing. Second, they use him as a reason to hope for heaven. I can’t claim that prerogative because it’s not a real thing. Third, they use him as a basis for believing their life has meaning. THAT prerogative I can claim. My life has meaning because it means something to me. Fourth, they use him as a basis for setting right apart from wrong. THAT prerogative I can claim. I set right apart from wrong on the basis of the aesthetic to which I’ve committed my deepest passions.

The Immortals won’t punish me for my infernal hubris. I know this because Immortals don’t exist. Life on earth rewards me for my infernal hubris. I know this because claiming the aforementioned divine prerogatives gives me satisfaction, psychological resilience, and heightened personal power.

I am the maker of meaning and the justifier of judgment. ISCHYROS DIAVOLOS!