“What built St. Paul's Cathedral?
Look at the heart of the matter, it was that divine Hebrew BOOK”2
Says Thomas Carlyle of the Holy Bible, he is not deluded or seriously
proposing a magical architectural theory, rather highlighting the
power of a Priestly caste over the toiling masses of the age by use
of a mere storybook. A physical, man made object endowed with
supernatural powers and touted as the “Word of God”; through
which to this day, by virtue of genetic lineage alone, people claim
the divine right to rule various historically disputed borders, while
enjoying hereditary entitlement to a portion of all things within
them.
In
his counter-revolutionary appeal to the political authorities of
Germany in 1525, “Against
the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants”, Martin Luther panders
to the arrogance of the German Feudal nobility by deferring upon them
“the divine right to rule”, an authority mentioned in Saint
Paul's epistle “Romans, Chapter 13”.
Luther attempted to
justify the brutal reaction of German Princes against the Peasants, framing the violent suppression of the discontented masses, within the biblical narrative whereby all authority is
divinely ordained by God, to defend the tyranny of ideas and suppress the forces of evolutionary progress.
Rather than consign to the dustbin of history this sanctimoniousness and servility, Luther proceeded to reprint the Bible in the 'common tongue', that the fetish of Christ; the example of his suffering and self sacrifice before the authorities of his age, may be available to every man, peasant and prince alike.
This doctrine of self sacrifice, formerly the reserve of a mediatory Priestly caste, who administered the 'sacred rites' to their flock, conducted confessional duties, etc,, was externalized, the Bible being made available, nay compulsory, en masse, so these 'teachings', the supposed "written commandments of God" could become internalized moral codes.
Demeaning self regulated servility for advancement, and self sacrifice for the glory of heaven, favourable character traits to be implanted in the populace; the
idea that to question authority is to disobey a “divine”
commandment, persists at varying degrees to this day:
“anyone who
is killed fighting on the side of the rulers may be a true martyr in
the eyes of God”;
and that “they
(peasants)
have sworn to be
true and faithful, submissive and obedient, to their rulers... now
deliberately and violently breaking this oath... they are starting a
rebellion, and are violently robbing and
plundering monasteries and castles which are not theirs...
they have doubly deserved death in body and soul as highwaymen and
murderers”3
Monasteries and
castles which this impoverished population had been ruthlessly
exploited to support the construction of, formed a womb for archaic
dogma and irrelevant social practices which nurtured ignorant
submission, superstitious awe, and fear before the “truth” of the
“Holy Bible”, and the omniscient omnipotence of the vexatious hobgoblin who is it's protagonist.
These huge stone
relics that tower above what little common ground they shared; piercing the skyline, alluding to the powers allegedly residing there,
are symbolic of the alienated power wielded by the religious Priesthood of any
age, to provoke the fascination of the toiling masses. Whether
Pyramids, Cathedrals, Mosque's or Skyscrapers, their purpose is military and psychological; constantly reaffirming the temporal and spiritual domination of mere
mortals, by their “divinely” estranged hierarchies pointing to the secrets locked away above our heads.
Dictating from a
pulpit above the congregation within, one single priest or groups of
priests could influence and govern people's relationship to their own
world. Mysterious, grandiose now generally disproved theories were
used to subjugate and confuse the population, their productive power
in turn used against them to further materialize the proof, of their
helplessness before the “glory of God”.
Those used to produce the testaments of religiously motivated, physical and spiritual exploitation, are historical examples of human beings, unable to
conceive of their productive power as something existing of itself; rather,
it was given shape and form, it was alienated, homogenized,
disciplined, tempted, punished, given
purpose, meaning, cause and eventually satisfied, by the Hierarchical systems of
Religious (fetish) worship demanding it's service.
From this milieu
emerged a deformed and subjugated pre-Protestant population,
susceptible to the externalized Christian ideology of the 1611 KJV,
with new found “knowledge of "good and evil”, they came eventually to
internalize it's explicit spiritual super Ego, and alienating moral
imperatives.
This historical Protestant tradition contributing to the way in which man is
alienated from his desires, impulses, emotions, creativity, pleasures, and instead fascinated by in-organic, factitious but
stimulating distractions today, in the church of the Market.
Productive
labour constrained for centuries, in devotional
service to the Church, Monarchies and Feudal hierarchies their doctrines justify, eventually reformed itself into a
materially productive social process, but rather than shaking off the yoke altogether, this productive force has
merely converted devotional service to economic servitude, now under the yoke of the modern Economic Priesthood,
overseeing the mystical flow of monetary forces, which still
remain largely unknown to those who constitute, produce and are
subject to Money, the God of this recently emerging, post feudal form of socio-economic power.
“I perused the books of the Old and New Testaments, each book as
a whole, and also as an integral part. And need I say that I have met
everywhere more or less copious sources of truth, and power, and
purifying impulses, that I have found words for my inmost
thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for my hidden griefs, and
pleadings for my shame and my feebleness?”4
Under the creative power of the economy, you can buy words for your
innermost thoughts pre-programmed into a text message; you can find
songs for your joys and sorrows on CD, Television, or youtube;
confirmation that you aren't having paranoid delusions is available
for £3 monthly subscription; fashions and commodities to 'express your inner self' and
dependence on other people's approval, are thrown at you between
adverts telling you how, fat, ugly or old you are.
Toys to keep your children occupied, even to keep you occupied as an
adult, are constantly going to market; RC helicopters, planes, railway sets, the newest technology to
occupy your attention and simulate your enjoyment, almost any material impulse, transient urge
or perceived lack, can be satisfied by a simple economic exchange in
the church of the market, where you meet everywhere more or less
copious sources of “truth” and “power”.
Traditional social relations based on religious belief and submission to traditional moral systems, have been
superseded by social relations based on submission to capitalist ideology within oppressive economic systems, the principle of productivity simply replaced the principle of feudal authority.
These relations appear
as complete conformity to the requirements and irrational demands of the financial system, the mystical hierarchic order of the Animist or Christian religion,
became what it always was, the “rational” economic hierarchy of the class system; the
strict moral regulation of Religiously ordered societies, became the strict
regulation of who can obtain credit; and the benevolence or justice dispensing hand of a deity,
became the hidden hand of “self regulating” markets, bestowing the rewards of devoted adherence to the Capitalist system.
This “permanent revolution” of emerging fads, dreamt up in the
deluded minds of advertising execs and marketing gurus, is useful for
only one purpose, producing habitual submission before the perpetual
onslaught of “New and Improved” fetish objects of consumerism, this results in
the perpetual accumulation of a load of old rubbish, obfuscating the
very needs these objects represent & which we grow evermore disconnected from. The insufficient fulfilment of our needs, through a process of alienating us from them in producing them en masse, creates ever greater and more immediately inaccessible needs.
This “perpetual cycle of reincarnation” for the objects of
commodity fetishism, is governed by their ability to produce value
for their “creator”, and the representation of value socially. Objects and representations of the Buddha are constantly reproduced for the purpose of home or garden decoration, many "samsaric" wheels of suffering mass produce these items in many countries, which are destined to convey a sense of serene calm when they find their place, in the Zen garden of some white collar professional.
Like the old mystical, religious fetish objects endowed with
transcendental powers and abilities, the fetishism of commodities
generates it's own moments of fervent exaltation.
Brands found to be of specific
value to the masters of productive powers enjoy a long cycle of
rebirth in slightly improved forms, Personal computers; Eastern religion; laptops and
the various “Android” phones being a good example of this. More
relevant perhaps are the constantly emerging forms of
transcendentalism, solipsism, folklore, and Utopian ideological fetishes that constantly
reinvent themselves in order to mystify the increasing numbers of people learning about material reality, their place in history and their own collective power as it is more widely
observed and understood, diverting people from this consciousness by dissemination of counter factual distractions.
If somebody believes the representation of an image of Jesus to hold power, the Crucifix to carry them through life, or statues to cry blood, how much more likely they will believe a charlatan who merely exploits the gaps in their understanding of historical facts or events?
“Do
not Books still accomplish miracles,
as Runes
were fabled to do? They persuade men. Not the wretchedest
circulating-library novel, which foolish girls thumb and con in
remote villages, but will help to regulate the actual practical
weddings and households of those foolish girls. So "Celia"
felt, so "Clifford" acted: the foolish Theorem of Life,
stamped into those young brains, comes out as a solid Practice one
day. Consider
whether any Rune
in the wildest imagination of Mythologist ever did such wonders as,
on the actual firm Earth, some Books have done! What built St. Paul's
Cathedral? Look at the heart of the matter, it was that divine Hebrew
BOOK,—the
word partly of the man Moses, an outlaw tending his Midianitish
herds, four thousand years ago, in the wildernesses of Sinai! It is
the strangest of things, yet nothing is truer. With the art of
Writing, of which Printing is a simple, an inevitable and
comparatively insignificant corollary, the true reign of miracles for
mankind commenced. It related, with a wondrous new contiguity and
perpetual closeness, the Past and Distant with the Present in time
and place; all times and all places with this our actual Here and
Now. All things were altered for men; all modes of important work of
men: teaching, preaching, governing, and all else.”
3. “Against
the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants” by Martin Luther,
printed 1525
But
there is a Book of two parts, each part consisting of several books.
The first part (I speak in the character of an uninterested critic
or philologist) contains the relics of the literature of the Hebrew
people, while the Hebrew was still the living language. The second
part comprises the writings, and, with one or two inconsiderable and
doubtful exceptions, all the writings of the followers of Christ
within the space of ninety years from the date of the Resurrection.
I do not myself think that any of these writings were composed as
late as A.D. 120; but I wish to preclude all dispute. This Book I
resume as read, and yet unread—read and familiar to my mind in all
parts, but which is yet to be perused as a whole, or rather a work,
cujus particulas et sententiolas omnes et singulas recogniturus sum,
but the component integers of which, and their conspiration, I have
yet to study. I take up this work with the purpose to read it for
the first time as I should read any other work, as far at least as I
can or dare. For I neither can, nor dare, throw off a strong and
awful prepossession in its favour—certain as I am that a large
part of the light and life, in and by which I see, love, and embrace
the truths and the strengths co-organised into a living body of
faith and knowledge in the four preceding classes, has been directly
or indirectly derived to me from this sacred volume— and unable to
determine what I do not owe to its influences. But even on this
account, and because it has these inalienable claims on my reverence
and gratitude, I will not leave it in the power of unbelievers to
say that the Bible is for me only what the Koran is for the deaf
Turk, and the Vedas for the feeble and acquiescent Hindoo. No; I
will retire UP INTO THE MOUNTAIN, and hold secret commune with my
Bible above the contagious blastments of prejudice, and the
fog-blight of selfish superstition. FOR FEAR HATH TORMENT.
And
what though MY reason be to the power and splendour of the Scriptures
but as the reflected and secondary shine of the moon compared with
the solar radiance; yet the sun endures the occasional co-presence of
the unsteady orb, and leaving it visible seems to sanction the
comparison. There is a Light higher than all, even THE WORD THAT WAS
IN THE BEGINNING; the Light, of which light itself is but the
shechinah and cloudy tabernacle; the Word that is Light for every
man, and life for as many as give heed to it. If between this Word
and the written letter I shall anywhere seem to myself to find a
discrepance, I will not conclude that such there actually is, nor on
the other hand will I fall under the condemnation of them that would
LIE FOR GOD, but seek as I may, be thankful for what I have—and
wait.
With
such purposes, with such feelings, have I perused the books of the
Old and New Testaments, each book as a whole, and also as an integral
part. And need I say that I have met everywhere more or less copious
sources of truth, and power, and purifying impulses, that I have
found words for my inmost thoughts, songs for my joy, utterances for
my hidden griefs, and pleadings for my shame and my feebleness? In
short, whatever FINDS me, bears witness for itself that it has
proceeded from a Holy Spirit, even from the same Spirit, WHICH
REMAINING IN ITSELF, YET REGENERATETH ALL OTHER POWERS, AND IN ALL
AGES ENTERING INTO HOLY SOULS, MAKETH THEM FRIENDS OF GOD, AND
PROPHETS.
