THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

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Originally Posted by mark_samuels (Post 111682)

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Originally Posted by Jeff Coleman (Post 111680)

Have there been any religions or cults that specifically endorsed making this world as much of a hell as possible? I mean, in very clear, unambiguous language?

Some individual serial-killers, perhaps. I mean the likes of a Carl Panzam. I suspect even a Pol Pot or Hitler thought the ends justified the means.

Mark S.

Yeah, but someone like Hitler seemed to want to establish a society, he wasn't seeking absolute horror. If he was the kind of person I'm imagining, he probably would have welcomed and embraced, say, the fire bombing of Dresden, and the rape spree Soviet soldiers went on in Germany after their defeat.

I guess I was just imagining a kind of religious extremism that goes beyond that, that goes way beyond ISIS and their terror, that wants to make earthly existence so hellish that it is literally unbearable, for the sake of removing every single iota of comfort in this world, and thus blast into transcendence, riding the heavy breath of nuclear, star explosion annihilation.

'Twas just a speculative fancy.

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Originally Posted by Jeff Coleman (Post 111683)

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Originally Posted by mark_samuels (Post 111682)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Coleman (Post 111680)

Have there been any religions or cults that specifically endorsed making this world as much of a hell as possible? I mean, in very clear, unambiguous language?

Some individual serial-killers, perhaps. I mean the likes of a Carl Panzam. I suspect even a Pol Pot or Hitler thought the ends justified the means.

Mark S.

Like M.S said, Carl Panzram is probably closest you can get to it, but it's not religious extremism. Anyway, I posted thread about Panzram - that is, documentary about him, here - It should satisfy your thirst.

Carl Panzram The Spirit of Hatred and Revenge 2011 - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK

Pol Pot wasn't seeking hell on earth either. He was trying to create a self-sufficient agricultural society and it went horribly wrong due to ####ty economic policies.

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Originally Posted by Coa (Post 111684)

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Originally Posted by Jeff Coleman (Post 111683)

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Originally Posted by mark_samuels (Post 111682)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Coleman (Post 111680)

Have there been any religions or cults that specifically endorsed making this world as much of a hell as possible? I mean, in very clear, unambiguous language?

Some individual serial-killers, perhaps. I mean the likes of a Carl Panzam. I suspect even a Pol Pot or Hitler thought the ends justified the means.

Mark S.

I have Carl Panzram's autobiography, though I've only glanced through it so far. He seems a bit like Ragnar Redbeard, if RR put hammer to bone. ####ed up, but rather smart guy.

Thanks for the link.

Edit: I recall he became interested in Immanuel Kant later in life, which I find rather interesting.

In J.K. Huysmans' La-Bas mention is made of a "Society of Aristocratical Neo-Theurgists" (f. 1855: in some translations the group is identified as the Re-Theurgists-Optimates) that split into two different camps: "one aspiring to destroy the universe and reign over the ruins, and the other dreaming simply of imposing a demonic cult on the world, of which it would be the high priest."

However, I've been able to find little to no information on this society, and question where Huysmans got this information from (he claims it was based in America and was founded by the poet Longfellow, which was a mistaken assumption on his part). Some old books on the occult/Satanism have claimed that the Society of Aristocratical neo-Theurgists was a secret society located within the Independent Order of Oddfellows, however.

You could always email the admin of this great site. I've found him to be very helpful with questions about Huysmans. www.huysmans.org

Malone, yeah, I've actually been meaning to get into touch with that guy because I'm (very slowly) assembling a "La-Bas" day for Dennis Cooper's blog and there are some questions I have about that book that I think maybe he could answer for me... just have to get around to writing up an e-mail one day.

Jeff's idea reminds me of the Aztec society that the Spanish encountered. They were so committed to brutality that it was their downfall: the surrounding tribes were tired of being preyed upon and joined the Spaniards. Montezuma was constantly tripping on mushrooms, communing with blood thirsty thought-forms telling him to sacrifice more people. Not that the Spanish were much better. This is why I don't agree with Terence McKenna's notion that the introduction of entheogens to a culture will always make that culture more aware, empathetic, or constructive. They are just amplifiers of experience, the nature of the experience is always conditioned by culture, our personal histories etc. Its hard to understand how a substance that makes me want to listen to gay club music and do bunny hops in a glowstick filled room would support a society that was basically run by serial killers.

If you're tripping on something and you see people telling you to kill somebody, you likely had that idea awhile before ingesting the substance.

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Originally Posted by teguififthzeal (Post 112915)

If you're tripping on something and you see people telling you to kill somebody, you likely had that idea awhile before ingesting the substance.

Or having one's mind made aware of other dimensions/ways of being, and none of us truly knowing our own mind entirely, drift into an illusory sleep susceptible to the voice from the chemically (sorcery/pharmakon) opened world.