"Satan is Dead" but Humans are Alive and Well

“Every myth is psychologically symbolic. Its narratives and images are to be read, therefore, not literally, but as metaphors.”

— Joseph Campbell

In 1882, Friedrich Nietzsche proclaimed the famous words "God is dead" in his influential work "Thus Spoke Zarathustra." Nietzsche argued that the decline of belief in the Christian God would lead to the collapse of structures and values built upon that faith, such as European morality. This declaration sparked debates about personal identity, divinity, and religious beliefs.

Similarly, in 1983, Shirley MacLaine stirred controversy with her book "Out on a Limb," where she boldly stated, "I Am God" during a transformative moment on a beach. This declaration ignited discussions about personal identity, the divine, and the boundaries of religious belief.

However, these proclamations often overlook the other side of the spectrum—the archetypes of Satan, also referred to as Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Devil, and the psychological Shadow.

Where are the brave souls who, from "the dark night of existential madness," claim "I AM SATAN?" Those psychonauts who descend into the black waters of the unconscious and come face to face with the Leviathan, that Dweller on the Threshold of their minds, revealing the true source of evil — themselves.

Archetypes are psychological projections of the human experience. The Gods, Goddesses, Devils, Angels, and Hermaphrodite harbingers are the denizens of the deep. They exist as living memes, inspiring art and infecting the imagination of the faithful in temples and chapels.

Unknowingly, the haunting presence of 'felt predators' seals the illusion of autonomous agents. The genetic memory of being eaten alive in our ancestral memory confirms the delusion of the cultist:

"it is not I who is evil but "they" who live in the shadows!"

Religious ideologies would not survive without displaced evil. The countless molested children within the walls of the Cathedral would certainly point and decree, "The priest has no clothes," while the masses bow to the crucifix, which in itself is an archetype of human horror.

It is time to proclaim, "Satan is Dead!" Let the bells ring, the villagers dance, and the Guardians of the Watchtowers declare, "So mote it be." May the Old One arise and wink at the grooming primates. The archetypal projection of human evil must be exposed:

Humans must own their evil!

And yet, much of humanity holds firm beliefs in Satan as a literal force influencing world affairs. They eagerly anticipate divine intervention from God, angels, and, more recently, aliens. The uninitiated absorb cosmic transmissions (spirit channeling) through self-proclaimed human radios.

An honest examination of human affairs reveals divine intervention to be nothing more than confirmation bias. Consider the plight of millions of starving Africans and the horrors of sex trafficking that persist—can one genuinely argue that invisible people care? When do paranormal entities intervene in domestic assaults, kidnappings, and car accidents? And to the dismay of wishful thinkers, metaphysical experiences rarely find their way onto the screens of millions of cell phones and YouTube videos without the intervention of special effects creators.

Gods, Goddesses, Hermaphrodite Deities, and Devils reside within the human organism. Satan, the mythological figure whose transgressions in the Bible pale in comparison to the horrendous genocides attributed to Jehovah, is simply a manifestation of the human primate. War, a nightmarish manifestation of territorial conflict, can be seen as a metaphorical interpretation of "Hell" still alive within the human condition.

"Man is the savior. Nature awaits her redemption through him. He is at once the priest and the victim." ― Edgar Saltus

Far be it from me to deny the possibility of non-human evil behind world affairs. I would be pretending to know things I don't know if I were to claim impossible. Is there a reptilian race using humanity as a food source? Only evidence will clarify the degrees to which human and alien puppets have been used by evolution (don't be alarmed by the UFO holograms). I'll save this skeptic-irritating topic for another article.

But we must define the limits to which humans project their biological evil upon the world and bypass responsibility, or we will never know where our evil ends and an alien evil begins. One could reduce the example to lions, tigers, and bears — was it the bear or Uncle Bob who drank the ale?

If humanity awakens from the misconceptions that fuel their delusions and seeks to question their felt-certainties, we may witness the changes required to build an intelligent civilization. But is such a transformation possible? Considering the historical record of human behavior, I doubt the leopard will change its spots without some form of DNA alteration or transhuman intervention.

Ultimately, the existence of Satan, God, and the Goddess lies within humanity itself—this has always been the case. The Gods are dead, and human primates are alive and well!

— Zzenn