LIGOTTI – ZAPPFE : A little bit on cosmic horrors…

Diposkan pada oleh Skeptical Inquirer

I think it’s the third time I am writing something on Ligotti on this blog and I should probably change its name into ChaosMatriarch & her opinions on Thomas Ligotti ( and there are even more Ligotti posts to follow).

Ligotti’s  The Conspiracy Against the Human Race  introduced me to the work of a philosopher named Peter Wessel Zappfe. His only essay  available in English is entitled The Last Messiah, and although Zapffe wrote that in 1933, it was only translated in 2004 for Philosophy Now magazine.

Zapffe states in his essay that consciousness is a curse and not a blessing, and that it was only necessary for the human being to thrive as a predator, later becoming more of a nuisance than an advantage.  It is exactly the fact that we are aware of our own life and death which makes us miserable. According to these two, we would be happier if we only had to worry about food, sex and defecation. This world is full of horrors and we have brought them unto ourselves.

Allow me to quote Zapffe on this one:

“Whatever happened? A breach in the very unity of life, a biological paradox, an abomination,
an absurdity, an exaggeration of disastrous nature. Life had overshot its target, blowing itself
apart. A species had been armed too heavily- by spirit made almighty without, but equally a
menace to its own well-being. Its weapon was like a sword without hilt or plate, a two-edged
blade cleaving everything; but he who is to wield it must grasp the blade and turn the one
edge toward himself. ”

As human beings, we have, according to Zappfe, four mechanisms to protect ourselves from the imminent self destruction caused by our self-consciousness. These are : isolation, anchoring, distraction and sublimation.

Isolation is a “fully arbitrary dismissal from consciousness of all disturbing and destructive thought and feeling.” We pay no attention to death and disease, we remained unmoved upon hearing news on the tragic deaths of people we do not personally care for. Diplomacy emerges from isolation, we avoid talking about disturbing problems because it is often not socially acceptable (when someone informs you that one of their loved ones passed away, you don’t ask for the gruesome details, do you?).

Anchoring is linked to our sense of assurance. Religion is a pertinent example of anchoring, and so are moral values. Patriotism is another example. Basically, we feel the need to cling to something ( a nation, a family, a church), which could protect us from the cosmic horror (your boyfriend just left you, you turn to the Jehova’s Witnesses).

Distraction is an obvious defense mechanism. You use this when reading a crappy novel just because the cheesy plot got your attention, when watching reality shows and soap operas, listening to kinds of music which are not thought provoking and so forth. Basically, you use this each and every time you resort to any type of action that makes you forget your problems (your boyfriend just left you, so you might as well go on a shopping spree).

Sublimation is by far the most interesting of them all. Basically, what Zapffe did when writing his essay was sublimation. What Ligotti does is also sublimation, and this blog was also born out of this particular defense mechanism. Through sublimation you turn your suffering into something valuable ( your boyfriend just left you, you write a poem about it, get read by thousands of people and acknowledged by critics and so forth – these are of course basic examples, it goes deeper than this). And yes, Black Metal is also sublimation: Earth is a crappy place populated by a worthless bunch of apes, so you write albums on burning the world to ashes. However, sublimation is the only defense mechanism that can bring one satisfaction.

There is, of course, a long history behind Zapffe’s philosophical essay and you might want to check out some philosophical or religious currents (e.g. gnosticism) before reading his work.

“Know yourselves – be infertile and let the earth be silent after ye.”

Being an anti-natalist myself, I agree with Zapffe on this one. However, as Ligotti points out, if we choose to go extinct (which is impossible, mind you), the Earth will spawn some other similar self conscious species. In other words, trying to convince humanity to go extinct is as pointless as life itself.

We are imperfect and useless, there is nothing out there that gives a damn about what we do with our lives (I haven’t said that there’s nothing out there at all , just that there’s nothing that loves us unconditionally, think of the christian god, for example, and how much a devout christian has to go through in order to get his attention) and all that we do has the purpose to protect us from ourselves. And yes, Earth is a crappy place populated by a worthless bunch of apes, as I’ve stated before in this post. Moreover, life is a an illusion which seems to have been designed by a cheap side show owner. This is a bright perspective, isn’t it? At this moment, however, I’m too anchored in sublimation to slit my own throat.

Tinggalkan komentar

Diterbitkan oleh Skeptical Inquirer

• Central For Inquiry (CFI) • Skeptical Inquirer • Free Inquiry • Point of Inquiry ------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Yang nyata ialah manusia itu sendiri bukan tuhan, bukan manusia pikiran tuhan, tetapi tuhan adalah pikiran manusia, agama tidak merubah kenyataan dan mengukir sejarah, tetapi manusia itu sendiri yang merubah dan mengukirnya. Bukan tuhan yang menciptakan manusia tetapi tuhan adalah angan-angan manusia. Agama tidak merubah kenyataan tetapi menusia bisa merubah kenyataan. 2. Agama ialah proyeksi manusia : tuhan, neraka, surga, malaikat. Kenapa? Karena manusia butuh tempat untuk mencurahkan keluhan karena dunia tanpa hati, jadi penderitaan tempat lahirnya tuhan. Dengan demikian agama disebut keterasingan manusia dari kehidupan karena struktur masyarakat tidak mengizinkan secara penuh perealisasian diri sendiri, sehingga manusia membangun kerajaan angan-angan (agama). Dalam kenyataan manusia menderita lalu ia mengharapkan surga 3. kenapa agama khayalan, karena agama tidak inderawi, sedangkan manusia inderawi, manusia penuh dengan kepastian sedangkan agama berbau unsur spekulatif, unsur yang tidak bisa diterima secara ilmiah 4. Jadi agama dan tuhan ialah ciptaan manusia itu sendiri, tetapi manusia itu sendiri lupa dengan ciptaanya (seperti pada zaman jahiliyah dahulu sebelum nabi muhamad dating : orang-orang kafir zaman dahulu mengukir tuhan dari kayu dan batu, yang kemudian disembahnya, sama seperti kita kini yang memproyeksikan tuhan lalu menyembahnya). Agama penyembahan tuhan terhadap dirinya sendiri. Agama penyembahan manusia terhadap ciptaanya sendiri 5. Sehingga khayalan atau angan-angan itu mempunyai eksistensi realitas yang membuat manusia takut dan harus menyembahnya dan tuhan mempunyai hakikat lain yang manusia harus sembah. Sifat-sifat itu yang membuat manusia egois. 6. Penderitaan manusia ialah tempat lahirnya tuhan, penderitaan yang memaksa manusia mengasingkan diri ke dalam agama, itulah dasar yang menyebabkan manusia merasa butuh agama dan tuhan 7. Teologi harus diganti menjadi antropologi dan agama ialah candu rakyat. 8. Kritik agama hanya meruska bunga khayalan pada rantai, bukan bunganya yang harus dipatahkan tetapi rantai itu sendiri. Rantai (factor yang menyebabkan manusia mengasingkan diri ke dalam agama) 9. Kita seperti wayang dengan penuh kesadaran dan kemauan tetapi kita tidak bisa lepas dari tangan sang dalang. 10. Kalau semua ini benar, maka manusia bukan merealisasikan keinginanya tetapi mengharapkan berkah dariNYA (proyeksi manusia itu sendiri/perubahan pasif) 11. agama ialah keterbatasan: agama melarang kita bergaul dengan duniawi, sehingga kita hanya memikirkan surgawi Tanpa agama kita bisa hidup lebih baik, tanpa mengaharapkan hibah/welas asih dariNYA, hanya mengandalkan kenyataan dan diri sendiri. 12. Kepasrahan adalah kelemahan agama 13. Tuhan seperti halnya dengan setan, bila ia terus diyakini dengan adanya exsistensinya maka semakin berkuasalah ia, kita seperti member roh kepadanya dengan keyakinan kita. GROUP : https://www.facebook.com/groups/scientistsecularist