Oddbean new post about | logout
 there is a reason why one of the most frequent expressions relating to God in the bible is "the wrath of God"

we are in a war against entropy, and "Satan" is just a synonym for all of the forces of entropy in this universe.

God is really a symbol for the coherent, self-reinforcing, ordered, and well defended systems that resist corruption and decay

Life itself is one of the key things that God is a superset of

whether the "god" being referred to in a given text is actually the enemy, or the one who defends life, order and freedom, both sides are, at base, concerns of a conflict between two warring groups, categories, or however you want to describe it

without an understanding that life must defend itself, you arrive at a situation where eventually entropy is going to take over and all that is precious to you is going to be destroyed

war is the fundamental nature of physical reality, that's why it's first, that's why aries is the sign that marks the coming of spring, you need to always keep it uppermost in your mind that you don't get freedom by complacence, comfort, ignorance, or laziness

all of the cardinal sins are essentially about you being persuaded to let the enemy into your gates

when you are proud (vanity), you become vulnerable to being praised

when you are lazy (sloth), you become vulnerable to being persuaded that nothing needs to be done

- when you are driven by desire (lust), you become vulnerable to being lured to lower your defenses to an object of desire *as perceived*

- when you are driven by hunger (gluttony, or the fear of scarcity) you are easily tricked by offers of food (ie, essential supplies to continue life)

- when you are driven by the desire to win payment (fornication) you are vulnerable to false offers of payment for your service

- when you are driven by grief (fear of loss) you are easily persuaded to give up assets that are essential to your security

- when you are driven by rage (anger) you are always attacking those who are actually helping keep you secure

this is why they are called deadly sins, they are vulnerabilities

the basis of life is a war against death

never forget this, and you will keep your priorities straight

#philosophy #sin #warfare #war 
 “The basis of life is a war against death.”

Love this.

When something is deeply true, a high axiom of reality, it’s something you can’t forget. This line is just that. 
 i had this insight as i sat in the 19th century train station of Nyugati in the central east side of the Danube in Budapest, i saw it, it was an epic vision

God is the ultimate destination, towards which all efforts to maintain that which is good, and it is an accumulator of goodness and life and all that is right

it's a very simple insight, and yes, once you catch it, you can't ever argue against it or allow anything to persuade you to back down 
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest_Nyugati_station

just to commemorate where it came to me 
 Here is where I write and collect insights.  

With your permission I would like to quote you here. 

https://www.samuelsadams.com/ssa/moreofyouplease 
 never need permission to retell what you heard

i am humbled by your respect and praise and i don't want to get any praise without deserving it, and i will fight everyone who tries to get praise without really doing anything, it's almost my uppermost value

probably why they also attribute pride and hubris to the worst feature of the devil

please edit it also, i mangled the layout and this is just plaintext anyway, even though almost the whole history of social networks since wikipedia has included markdown 
 Here it is:

https://www.samuelsadams.com/asyourself/the-basis-of-life-is-a-war-against-death 
 thanks for making my text read even better 🫡  
 If you ever write out anything else. I would love to be tagged in it. 
 well, it just comes out in the moment, i can't tell what's gonna hit...

it's a bit like bitcoin mining, you never know when you will get a small enough hash... 
 I liked this. 
 note i didn't mention #bitcoin in there but i recognised it as a defense against corruption as soon as it entered my field of view... i called it "an avenging angel that will bring about the most epic redistribution of power in all human history"... maybe i'm embellishing or understating what i thought but that's how i remember it