towards superiority

So this is it. You've declared yourself a Satanist, set yourself up with a black robe and a Baphomet. You've got a back room filled with black candles, and a collection of dark literature almost as extensive as that of the Vatican. You've read the Satanic Bible, and you live by the Lex Talionis and LaVey's teachings.

So why aren't you enjoying your superiority over everyone else? In fact, you might just be bored clean out of your skull, hanging around in music chat rooms proclaiming Marilyn Manson's superiority over any other band. Let me tell you something; this might seem rather disturbing and downright anti-Satanic to some of you:

Just being a Satanist does not necessarily make you better than anyone else.

Being aware of this fact is the first toddling step to proclaiming your towering being over the throes of humanist y. Even Dr. LaVey makes sure we know this, in guidelines 6-7 of "How to Be God (Or the Devil)" (The Devil's Notebook, pp. 66-67). These are, in short, for those of you who have yet to receive your copy of this collection of essays:

Always harbour some doubt, even about yourself.
Be aware of your own mortality.

To doubt is to find the weaknesses in an ideology. In order to strengthen your beliefs, you must be ready to expose them to the harshest questioning. If you can find a group of Christians who will speak to you civilly about your religion and question you respectfully (yes, though rare, I have found Christians who are ready to treat followers of other religions with respect), it is to your advantage to let them ask all the questions they
wish. Not only are you removing the veil of ignorance that is their fear of Satanism, you are also bringing your own resolve under fire. And, as steel is tempered in fire, so shall your determination be either strengthened or shattered under their interrogation. If it is shattered, perhaps you have something to learn from those same Christians who broke you down: how to lower your head and say, "Baa."

As to know that the possibility for your death exists leads to more careful living, so does recognising your capacity for inferiority bring with it the path to a greater self. You must realise that you, like all other biological organisms on this blue planet, are going to cease to function someday. It will happen, don't hope for a miracle in medical science within your lifetime. Your largest objective then must be to live well and leave a heck of a good looking corpse. Is there any other real purpose to your life than to enjoy yourself? Tell me, just what is it that you do from which you gain no pleasure or the means to such? Money can't buy happiness? Perhaps not, but I would settle for the reasonable facsimile thereof which I can afford over the more difficult forms of happiness any day. You may say your job stinks, and you get no pleasure out of it, but you must realise it's a give and take situation. If you work hard to earn extra money, or to earn a promotion, or to get the cubicle next to the attractive man down the row, then perhaps you are merely choosing to overlook the pleasures your job may hold in favour of greater productivity and a larger long-term payoff. If, however, you work your fingers to the bone for minimum wage, with idiotic co-workers and poor working conditions, then perhaps you should consider touching up your résumé.

The whole idea is to die with the most toys, and have had the most fun playing with them. The second part is just as important as the first, if not more so. Each person's toys are different, so material wealth is not an entirely accurate description. Happiness is also very relative. The simpering majority of Christians who take hold of their God and find comfort in Him call themselves happy; what grounds for comparison do they have? No, it is the drive of a person to continue life which can be a truly valid assessment of her value as a person. He who enjoys what he has, but also enjoys amassing more of whatever that may be, will enjoy his life immensely, and have no wish to forgo the privilege of life. He will fight to keep what is his, and also to keep what is yours, though if he has enough to satiate himself most of the time, he will be civil enough in getting it. He understands that with that which he has, he can hold power over someone else. This potential for power is what makes him feel superior. Here is a prime example of mind making reality. With his supposed superiority, he will carry himself like a superior, though not in any fashion of cockiness. He is superior, but not arrogant. You may learn from him; you can use what you have to gain more of that. To do so is to use your molehill of power and scrape dirt toward it to leave a mound, a foothill, a small peak. If your peak is formed, look out over the masses and see them below, where you were. Relish the feeling you have, knowing that you are above them.