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Friday, September 25, 2009

Stubborn pathogen, unsuspecting host.


Hi.

My name is Enoch. Most of you know me as that commenter with a peculiar fondness for ludicrously long comments.

Imagine how long this post is going to be now that there are no character limits :)

Anyway, there is nothing controversial in my post. In fact I am assuming a different role today. I'll be your cheerful tour guide.

You see, a crime has been committed and I'll take you on a tour of the crime scene. I'll be as careful as I can because the crime is in progress and the criminal never stops. The criminal has total control over the scene and would kick me out the second I get him too uncomfortable. You are no stranger to the scene and you're familiar with the wrongs, you just don't see them as such. All I can to do is point this out to you and show you the evidence. You will have to decide to either; ignore it, prosecute it or judge yourself to be in too deep. Hate to break it to you but you are the victim and the perpetrator. And your mind, is the scene of the crime.


Imagine an idea as dangerous as a thermonuclear device and more virulent than the seasonal flu/conjunctivitis. An idea so well crafted such that once a person decides to play host to this idea and accepts it, the host can almost never let it go. He is compelled to nuture it and spread it and is blinded to the fact that it imprisons him and intends to keep him locked up forever. Now imagine you are infected with this idea.

How do you design an idea to meet those specifications? Simple, all you need are five components. I'll play the role of the designer. Let the tour begin.

On my left you've got the ultimate THREAT.

1) The THREAT: Why have one? well, fear is the number one motivator. It is so because evolution's critical goal has always been self preservation. For this reason, it was important that your ancestors be filled with fear when they encountered a predator like say, a lion. Fear provided the trigger for the biological precursors that gave them a heightened sense of awareness and the ability to stretch their bodies and minds to the limit. That was evolution's perfect tool to ensure the survival of a species. This is the reason fear is the most compelling emotion. If our dangerous idea is going to be self sustaining, it would need fear to keep our host on his toes. To elicit this emotion, the THREAT has got to come in two parts. The earthly version which is every conceivable wrong that can happen to a person on earth and the otherworldly version which has to be abstract and vague but represent the very essence of pain. That way everyone experiences it in their own personal visceral way. Since evolution has conditioned us to fear death, why don't we take a page from Ivan Pavlov and profit from evolution's million year effort? Our imaginary otherworldly THREAT would be just like death but unimaginably worse. Some sort of an enduring death with copious amounts of suffering. Perpetual pain and death in one package.

Right above the THREAT, in appealing glitter, you've got the PROMISE.

2) The PROMISE: Is this even necessary? Of course it is. We've got to respect the dichotomy of nature. Besides, being rewarded is also part of evolution's toolkit. We should keep borrowing from her. Fear is nothing without a reward. All animals harness fear to escape predators in order to continue living. When they do so, they are rewarded with life. Sounds good enough. We will make our otherworldly PROMISE life without end. On earth, we could throw in all kinds of promises. All imaginable goodies obtainable on earth. But how can you manage this, you ask? Surely , in reality, the idea can't live up to such expectations! Its host would surely smell a rat once the cruelties of life hits him in the face. Have faith my friend, have faith. Faith? what is that? I'll be designing that too in a moment just keep reading and you'll observe how to take care of the problem you've just highlighted.

That right there in the dark is the bad cop.

3) The BAD COP: The boogieman. The evil dude. Remember what you mentioned earlier about the cruelties of life? This is our fall guy. He would take the fall for everything that falls out of favor with our host. He will also be the resident punching bag on demand to take out all your frustrations.

And then we've got the GOOD COP. He is all around you.

4) The GOOD COP: The nice imaginary friend. The antithesis of the evil dude. He takes credit for everything positive that randomly happens to our host. The host has cancer? Bad cop! Narrowly escapes a car crash? Good cop! pretty simple. Naturally, he also takes credit for the PROMISE. His job, essentially, is to be an opportunist in every sense of the word. Limited only by the imagination of the host. If the host can imagine a positive spin on any scenario/circumsttance, he steps in and snatches the credit. No questions asked. Also, we ascribe him the attribute of being infinitely wise. That way if things go inexplicably wrong the host gets to chuck it up to the mystery of infinite wisdom.

And lastly, the HEAD SHOT. I can't show it to you because it is not a thing, rather, it is the absence of something.

5) The HEAD SHOT: This is the most critical of all components of the idea. It is so important because none of the others are real. Essentially, this is where we take out the head of the host. We've got to shut down his ability to reason for himself. We can't have him thinking and seeing through our folly. Since all the aforementioned components are fake there is no evidence for any of them but we need to convince our host somehow. How do we do this? Faith. What is that, you ask? Well, its really nothing new. I'm borrowing again, this time from the insane. You notice how psychiatric cases have strong convictions about imaginary stuff? We'll just rebrand that. We will call it faith and classify it as good. You might think to yourself, don't be silly, no one is going to accommodate subtle bouts of insanity just to host your idea. That's what you think but in reality all I need is to employ the THREAT and offer the PROMISE and its a done deal.


There you have it. The blueprint for lifelong incarceration. Totally self contained. All imaginary but that doesn't matter. The HEAD SHOT takes care of that.

AS long as it is noted that hosts are more welcoming to the idea when their minds are most pliable (young age or following a traumatic experience) and the host is offered the PROMISE as a reward for spreading the idea then everyone is a potential vector for this pathogen of an idea and its virulence can only grow in bounds.


Don't you just love religious beliefs?

20 comments:

nonny said...

First to comment.........i think i'm in love with you.

nonny said...

on a more serious note though, it is actually that easy to start a religion. i googled how to start a religion and got over a million results and they basically all fall down to the five components you listed below.

Anonymous said...

Ha enoch, a lot of people will struggle with this smart ass talk ooo

p.s not saying bloggers are not smart ooo


It's when we are going through the most traumatic events in our lives or the fear of the unknown that we are most likely to embrace a religion.

I want to be a host

dmuragijimana said...

welcome....

I think for the sake of keeping the peace, I will reserve all my comments.
however, when you start your own religion...let me know, it might do me some good to explore other possibilities.

Azazel said...

Wow enoch.
I am honestly in awe.
This is so true, and then they call it "faith". Funny how changing a word from "imaginary" to "faith" can convince ppl that they are not deluded/insane.

@ Sacred.
I honestly want to hear ur comments, please don't keep it to yourself. U need to challenge this lol.

@ Ttolla
U amaze me sometimes, are u for us or against us?

@ nonny
Lol u and I should start a religion

Anonymous said...

@ controversy: i am for truth but slightly biased.................really biased toward the teachings of the bible.

I constantly have questions too, they treat me like a special breed in my church, cos i take a second to consider the things i hear.


The post shows how easy it is to start a religion, take charles manson for instance,

He managed to convince totally everday teenage beauties that he understood them, cos their parents just saw them as rebellious and angry teens ( the trauma that draws us close to a god)


He was a good speaker and he made them see what he was talking about (from imaginary stuff to faith)

HE convinced them, there was somewhere better by saying
'it was all coming down'( end of the world) time to go a better place, he must have told them

What? you might ask was coming down, the world i guess (was the fallguy) enoch was descrbing and for more mainstream one, the devil

Enoch and controversy, ever considered that despite the thousands of religions and faiths out there. What do you think has made the christain faith transcend thousands of years.

There has to be s'thng about it

You are both smart people, can you research that pls?

Azazel said...

@ Ttolla
What has made the christian faith transcend has been it's ability to adapt to it's environment. For example, in the early days in other to appease the pagans and nominal worshippers. Christianity assumed traits from other religions. The ability of christianity to take a part of other cultures/religions has drawn ppl to it. For example, sunday is the day that was used to worship the sun God. Sabbath is normally on saturday, during constantinople's time they changed it to sunday. Moreover, bear in mind Christianity was the first truly organised religion. It was spawned from Judaism, so in effect ur statement should be, why has judaism managed to transcend all this years. Christianity is borne from judaism.
Also as we learnt in class lol, institutions are hard to bring down. In the olden days the roman catholic church was everything, it was an institution, churches were an institution. People were indoctrinated to believe the church was everything, so u can see why it would be hard for christianity as an institution to be usurped. It's been aaround for damn to long, and don't get me wrong. There are some truths to christianity, but those truths are not all over the bible

Enoch said...

@nonny
You know I have nothing but love for you. And that's no joke.

@Sacred
Lol. Peace treaty accepted. "when you start your own religion...let me know, it might do me some good to explore other possibilities." I do subscribe to a religion and you are a member too. Not a very dedicated one but a member all the same. Remember what I said about worshiping truth? We do so in our daily lives. We are all disciples of truth, no one can help that.

@Controversy
The really scary thing is that a bunch of scholars figured this out ages ago and employed the scheme for short-term benefits yet several millennia later, humanity is still suffering from the aftershocks.

@ttlolla
"Ha enoch, a lot of people will struggle with this smart ass talk ooo." Its not really complicated, especially when you realize every religious soul can identify with it.

"I want to be a host." So you are in too deep huh? The really funny thing is that you don't even have a choice about that.

"What do you think has made the christain faith transcend thousands of years." I totally agree with controversy. I'll also add these three things; the crusades, Emperor Constantin's spiritual awakening and the stress free nature of the faith (No obligatory 5 prayers a day, a short prayer gets you back in God's good books no matter your sins, etc)

Azazel said...

@ Enoch.
So true @ emperor constantinople.
A lot of ppl don't realise that by constantinople makin christianity the official religion of the empire. The religion became firmly rooted

Myne said...

Is there a partial host perchance? Maybe 3 out of 5 components? Nice write-up.

Lady X said...

*In Blonde voice*
Wow! Like Oh my gosh are you talking about that thing the smart people call religion! Because it sounds a lot like it! It took me about thirty minutes to understand you though. You're like so smart!

LOL

Very well written! Hats off to you! If I were wearing one that is.

Azazel said...

Lol we are worshipping truth indeed.
Some more than others.

Lol @ myne.
I do not think theres anything like a partial host. But let enoch decide lol

@ Lady X
Slowpoke lol

Soleez said...

Chineke.... I couldn't read it all.. cos its late and im sleepy! But LMAO o @starting a religion. So much for not being controversial today huh? And Enoch? So its Controversy, Blasphemy and Enoch now? hmmm

Azazel said...

Soleez
Enoch is atheist lol i believe.
Blasphemy and Controversy are deists.

Nnudababywrite4me said...

Kai...
You know book o...see me feeling as if i was back in one of those business and strategy classes in my masters degree programme eons ago...When the lecturer will be explaining this and that,YET i would be looking like "wtf" UNTIL i now take a deep breathe and fully understand what he/she was trying to say initially...dohhhh

This one pass me,i had to read each paragraph like twice to fully comprehend it...;-)

Now i'm going to write a draft on starting my own religion--WITH a twist-
I inherited one vast piece of land in my village--so location is solved....
WACO 2.0 here we come...Koresh ain't got nothing on me...


BUT on a serious note,there is something i have always said that the same way a born again christian BELIEVES in his/her God as been THE one is the way a bhuddist or sikh or hindu or moslem would believe their way is THE way.
Just yesterday at a party,someone was telling me that islam is the best religion ever,YET,i didn't agree as i was brought up in a moslem background and was NEVER impressed by the religion.I believed in nothing for a majority of my life as religion never shaped me while growing up.My parents were just not into anything.

Yet one of my best friends is bhuddist and nobody can tell her about any christ in heaven or Lord coming down in a charriot--NO SIRRRR..

I know for a fact that EVERYBODY cannot be wrong.Everybodys belief cannot be wrong and just ONE religion cannot be the ONLY way as most born again christians make it seem.
There HAS to be a reason why there are so many diverse beliefs in the world.AND each belief works for every set of people who follow it.AND if you are not finding what you seek in your preferred choice,there are sooo many other options.
I have met the ogun worshipper(no joke...)married to a BORN AGAIN woman.
He made it clear that NOBODY can make him renounce his ogun and start acting the fool in church(his words)to follow any white mans nonsense
He went to his grave a happy and fulfilled man.You needed to see him in his full cowried out regalia on worship days.Quite funny as he would come back from his high flying meetings,shed the suit and voila....
His wife loved him just that way and their kids are divided.two daughters are christians,a daughter believes in nothing,a son is an ogun worshipper and the last one believs he is a jew.

It is all belief.

Azazel said...

@ innuda.
Yes of course there is a reason, people need to have a coping mechanism in other to understand the world. That my dear is where "religion' comes in.

Enoch said...

@Innuda
"I inherited one vast piece of land in my village--so location is solved....
WACO 2.0 here we come...Koresh ain't got nothing on me..."
LOL u so funny.

"I know for a fact that EVERYBODY cannot be wrong."
Haba, how you take know this one nowww?? There is ample precedent for EVERYBODY being wrong about something. In fact history is replete with mass stupidity.

Some examples; the earth is flat, the earth is the center of the universe, Supernatural forces guide the planets, etc.

I just think it is not our place to label anything as truth without proof.

"I believed in nothing for a majority of my life as religion never shaped me while growing up.My parents were just not into anything."

I envy you so much. You can't imagine how thoroughly religious belief conditions the psyche. For a lot of people it is just impossible for them to let go. Satanists and Christians alike.

I pretty much agreed with a lot of what you said. The problem is that you are preaching to the choir. Most religious folks can't make the distinction b/w reality and belief. You need only take this blog as exhibit A.

"There HAS to be a reason why there are so many diverse beliefs in the world" Of all the possible reasons, which includes man's exploitation of his fellow man, the existence of a God and a spiritual realm is the least probable if it is not just downright impossible.

Nnudababywrite4me said...

@ENOCH...

"There HAS to be a reason why there are so many diverse beliefs in the world" Of all the possible reasons, which includes man's exploitation of his fellow man, the existence of a God and a spiritual realm is the least probable if it is not just downright impossible.

NOW this response of yours is something i need to make some crazy folks read.When i attempt to make them just open up their minds a little and see that "IT" just might be something else.
Just at a party over the weekend and religion etc came up.And someone actually wanted my head on a platter of gold ALL because i said that WHAT IF all this religious thing was actually just something started by a bunch of bored men years ago,which now filtered down the years and generations after,people are taking it wayyyyy tooo seriously.

What if it really is JUST and organised way of mind control.But done in such a way that it is not termed illegal a la awon crazy cultists etc.
You know some ancient big boys sit down and say "hmmm..how do we keep the people in check?"
And bam....here we are today,
Because truth be told,a lot of times all this religion malarkey don't make no damn sense....

WHAT if true "religion" resides in each and every one of us and it is whatever we make it to be?

This was ALL i said o....
The only thing i was NOT labelled was the anti-christ,or to have my scalp checked for 666.

I had to shake my head at how seemingly "intelligent" people were getting flared nostrils and high blood pressure all because little old me dared to question some things.
Someone actually went behind my back and told a friend of mine that i was "lost" and needed "deliverance".Or else my position was waiting for me in the pits of hell itself...huhn???

Well we shall see....

As you said,those who dare to question are really just preaching to the choir....

Keep writing,i enjoyed how you put a fresh twist on things...deep.

Enoch said...

@innuda

"NOW this response of yours is something i need to make some crazy folks read.When i attempt to make them just open up their minds a little and see that "IT" just might be something else."

Babe, I'll advise against trying to convince people about this stuff face2face. It'll do you no good. They are conditioned too thoroughly to even give it an objective listen. You'll just buy labels for yourself.

Like Robert Greene said in 48 laws of power "Think as you like but behave like others"

Azazel said...

@ Innuda.
And can u imagine, something made by men has been responsible for a whole lot of deaths.