Zarathustra’s Prologue

1.

When Zarathustra was thirty years old, he left his home and the lake by his home, and went into the mountains. There he enjoyed his spirit and solitude, and for ten years did not weary of it. But at last his heart changed,  and rising one morning with the rosy dawn, he went before the sun, and spake thus unto it:

Thou great star! What would be thy happiness if thou hadst not those for whom thou shinest!

For ten years hast thou climbed hither unto my cave: thou wouldst have wearied of thy light and of the journey, had it not been for me, mine eagle, and my serpent.

But we awaited thee every morning, took from thee thine overflow and blessed thee for it.

Lo! I am weary of my wisdom, like the bee that hath gathered too much honey; I need hands outstretched to take it.

I would fain bestow and distribute, until the wise have once more become joyous in their folly, and the poor happy in their riches.

Therefore must I descend into the deep: as thou doest in the evening, when thou goest behind the sea, and givest light also to the nether–world, thou exuberant star!

Like thee must I GO DOWN, as men say, to whom I shall descend.

Bless me, then, thou tranquil eye, that canst behold even the greatest happiness without envy!

Bless the cup that is about to overflow, that the water may flow golden out of it, and carry everywhere the reflection of thy bliss!

Lo! This cup is again going to empty itself, and Zarathustra is again going to be a man.

Thus began Zarathustra’s down–going.

2.

Zarathustra went down the mountain alone, no one meeting him. When he entered the forest, however, there suddenly stood before him an old man, who had left his holy cot to seek roots. And thus spake the old man to Zarathustra:

“No stranger to me is this wanderer: many years ago passed he by. Zarathustra he was called; but he hath altered.

Then thou carriedst thine ashes into the mountains: wilt thou now carry thy fire into the valleys? Fearest thou not the incendiary’s doom?

Yea, I recognise Zarathustra. Pure is his eye, and no loathing lurketh about his mouth. Goeth he not along like a dancer?

Altered is Zarathustra; a child hath Zarathustra become; an awakened one is Zarathustra: what wilt thou do in the land of the sleepers?

As in the sea hast thou lived in solitude, and it hath borne thee up. Alas, wilt thou now go ashore? Alas, wilt thou again drag thy body thyself?”

Zarathustra answered: “I love mankind.”

“Why,” said the saint, “did I go into the forest and the desert? Was it not because I loved men far too well?

Now I love God: men, I do not love. Man is a thing too imperfect for me. Love of man would be fatal to me.”

Zarathustra answered: “What spake I of love! I am bringing gifts unto men.”

“Give them nothing,” said the saint. “Take rather part of their load, and carry it along with them — that will be most agreeable unto them: if only it be agreeable unto thee!

If, however, thou wilt give unto them, give them no more than an alms, and let them also beg for it!”

“No,” replied Zarathustra, “I give no alms. I am not poor enough for that.”

The saint laughed at Zarathustra, and spake thus: “Then see to it that they accept thy treasures! They are distrustful of anchorites, and do not believe that we come with gifts.

The fall of our footsteps ringeth too hollow through their streets. And just as at night, when they are in bed and hear a man abroad long before sunrise, so they ask themselves concerning us: Where goeth the thief?

Go not to men, but stay in the forest! Go rather to the animals! Why not be like me — a bear amongst bears, a bird amongst birds?”

“And what doeth the saint in the forest?” asked Zarathustra.

The saint answered: “I make hymns and sing them; and in making hymns I laugh and weep and mumble: thus do I praise God.

With singing, weeping, laughing, and mumbling do I praise the God who is my God. But what dost thou bring us as a gift?”

When Zarathustra had heard these words, he bowed to the saint and said: “What should I have to give thee! Let me rather hurry hence lest I take aught away from thee!” — And thus they parted from one another, the old man and Zarathustra, laughing like schoolboys.

When Zarathustra was alone, however, he said to his heart: “Could it be possible! This old saint in the forest hath not yet heard of it, that GOD IS DEAD!”

3.

When Zarathustra arrived at the nearest town which adjoineth the forest, he found many people assembled in the market–place; for it had been announced that a rope–dancer would give a performance. And Zarathustra spake thus unto the people:

I TEACH YOU THE SUPERMAN. Man is something that is to be surpassed. What have ye done to surpass man?

All beings hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and ye want to be the ebb of that great tide, and would rather go back to the beast than surpass man?

What is the ape to man? A laughing–stock, a thing of shame. And just the same shall man be to the Superman: a laughing–stock, a thing of shame.

Ye have made your way from the worm to man, and much within you is still worm. Once were ye apes, and even yet man is more of an ape than any of the apes.

Even the wisest among you is only a disharmony and hybrid of plant and phantom. But do I bid you become phantoms or plants?

Lo, I teach you the Superman!

The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman SHALL BE the meaning of the earth!

I conjure you, my brethren, REMAIN TRUE TO THE EARTH, and believe not those who speak unto you of superearthly hopes! Poisoners are they, whether they know it or not.

Despisers of life are they, decaying ones and poisoned ones themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so away with them!

Once blasphemy against God was the greatest blasphemy; but God died, and therewith also those blasphemers. To blaspheme the earth is now the dreadfulest sin, and to rate the heart of the unknowable higher than the meaning of the earth!

Once the soul looked contemptuously on the body, and then that contempt was the supreme thing: — the soul wished the body meagre, ghastly, and famished. Thus it thought to escape from the body and the earth.

Oh, that soul was itself meagre, ghastly, and famished; and cruelty was the delight of that soul!

But ye, also, my brethren, tell me: What doth your body say about your soul? Is your soul not poverty and pollution and wretched self–complacency?

Verily, a polluted stream is man. One must be a sea, to receive a polluted stream without becoming impure.

Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that sea; in him can your great contempt be submerged.

What is the greatest thing ye can experience? It is the hour of great contempt. The hour in which even your happiness becometh loathsome unto you, and so also your reason and virtue.

The hour when ye say: “What good is my happiness! It is poverty and pollution and wretched self–complacency. But my happiness should justify existence itself!”

The hour when ye say: “What good is my reason! Doth it long for knowledge as the lion for his food? It is poverty and pollution and wretched self–complacency!”

The hour when ye say: “What good is my virtue! As yet it hath not made me passionate. How weary I am of my good and my bad! It is all poverty and pollution and wretched self–complacency!”

The hour when ye say: “What good is my justice! I do not see that I am fervour and fuel. The just, however, are fervour and fuel!”

The hour when we say: “What good is my pity! Is not pity the cross on which he is nailed who loveth man? But my pity is not a crucifixion.”

Have ye ever spoken thus? Have ye ever cried thus? Ah! would that I had heard you crying thus!

It is not your sin—it is your self–satisfaction that crieth unto heaven; your very sparingness in sin crieth unto heaven!

Where is the lightning to lick you with its tongue? Where is the frenzy with which ye should be inoculated?

Lo, I teach you the Superman: he is that lightning, he is that frenzy!

When Zarathustra had thus spoken, one of the people called out: “We have now heard enough of the rope–dancer; it is time now for us to see him!” And all the people laughed at Zarathustra. But the rope–dancer, who thought the words applied to him, began his performance.

4.

Zarathustra, however, looked at the people and wondered. Then he spake thus:

Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman—a rope over an abyss.

A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking–back, a dangerous trembling and halting.

What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not a goal: what is lovable in man is that he is an OVER–GOING and a DOWN–GOING.

I love those that know not how to live except as down–goers, for they are the over–goers.

I love the great despisers, because they are the great adorers, and arrows of longing for the other shore.

I love those who do not first seek a reason beyond the stars for going down and being sacrifices, but sacrifice themselves to the earth, that the earth of the Superman may hereafter arrive.

I love him who liveth in order to know, and seeketh to know in order that the Superman may hereafter live. Thus seeketh he his own down–going.

I love him who laboureth and inventeth, that he may build the house for the Superman, and prepare for him earth, animal, and plant: for thus seeketh he his own down–going.

I love him who loveth his virtue: for virtue is the will to down–going, and an arrow of longing.

I love him who reserveth no share of spirit for himself, but wanteth to be wholly the spirit of his virtue: thus walketh he as spirit over the bridge.

I love him who maketh his virtue his inclination and destiny: thus, for the sake of his virtue, he is willing to live on, or live no more.

I love him who desireth not too many virtues. One virtue is more of a virtue than two, because it is more of a knot for one’s destiny to cling to.

I love him whose soul is generous, who wanteth no thanks and doth not take back: for he always bestoweth, and desireth not to keep for himself.

I love him who is ashamed when the dice fall in his favour, and who then asketh: “Am I a dishonest player?” — for he is willing to succumb.

I love him who scattereth golden words in advance of his deeds, and always doeth more than he promiseth: for he seeketh his own down–going.

I love him who justifieth the future ones, and redeemeth the past ones: for he is willing to succumb through the present ones.

I love him who chasteneth his God, because he loveth his God: for he must succumb through the wrath of his God.

I love him whose soul is deep even in the wounding, and may succumb through a small matter: thus goeth he willingly over the bridge.

I love him whose soul is so overfull that he forgetteth himself, and all things are in him: thus all things become his down–going.

I love him who is of a free spirit and a free heart: thus is his head only the bowels of his heart; his heart, however, causeth his down–going.

I love all who are like heavy drops falling one by one out of the dark cloud that lowereth over man: they herald the coming of the lightning, and succumb as heralds.

Lo, I am a herald of the lightning, and a heavy drop out of the cloud: the lightning, however, is the SUPERMAN.

5.

When Zarathustra had spoken these words, he again looked at the people, and was silent. “There they stand,” said he to his heart; “there they laugh: they understand me not; I am not the mouth for these ears.

Must one first batter their ears, that they may learn to hear with their eyes? Must one clatter like kettledrums and penitential preachers? Or do they only believe the stammerer?

They have something whereof they are proud. What do they call it, that which maketh them proud? Culture, they call it; it distinguisheth them from the goatherds.

They dislike, therefore, to hear of ‘contempt’ of themselves. So I will appeal to their pride.

I will speak unto them of the most contemptible thing: that, however, is THE LAST MAN!”

And thus spake Zarathustra unto the people:

It is time for man to fix his goal. It is time for man to plant the germ of his highest hope.

Still is his soil rich enough for it. But that soil will one day be poor and exhausted, and no lofty tree will any longer be able to grow thereon.

Alas! there cometh the time when man will no longer launch the arrow of his longing beyond man—and the string of his bow will have unlearned to whizz!

I tell you: one must still have chaos in one, to give birth to a dancing star. I tell you: ye have still chaos in you.

Alas! There cometh the time when man will no longer give birth to any star. Alas! There cometh the time of the most despicable man, who can no longer despise himself.

Lo! I show you THE LAST MAN.

“What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?”—so asketh the last man and blinketh.

The earth hath then become small, and on it there hoppeth the last man who maketh everything small. His species is ineradicable like that of the ground–flea; the last man liveth longest.

“We have discovered happiness” — say the last men, and blink thereby.

They have left the regions where it is hard to live; for they need warmth. One still loveth one’s neighbour and rubbeth against him; for one needeth warmth.

Turning ill and being distrustful, they consider sinful: they walk warily. He is a fool who still stumbleth over stones or men!

A little poison now and then: that maketh pleasant dreams. And much poison at last for a pleasant death.

One still worketh, for work is a pastime. But one is careful lest the pastime should hurt one.

One no longer becometh poor or rich; both are too burdensome. Who still wanteth to rule? Who still wanteth to obey? Both are too burdensome.

No shepherd, and one herd! Every one wanteth the same; every one is equal: he who hath other sentiments goeth voluntarily into the madhouse.

“Formerly all the world was insane,” — say the subtlest of them, and blink thereby.

They are clever and know all that hath happened: so there is no end to their raillery. People still fall out, but are soon reconciled—otherwise it spoileth their stomachs.

They have their little pleasures for the day, and their little pleasures for the night, but they have a regard for health.

“We have discovered happiness,” — say the last men, and blink thereby.

And here ended the first discourse of Zarathustra, which is also called “The Prologue”: for at this point the shouting and mirth of the multitude interrupted him. “Give us this last man, O Zarathustra,” — they called out – “make us into these last men! Then will we make thee a present of the Superman!” And all the people exulted and smacked their lips. Zarathustra, however, turned sad, and said to his heart:

“They understand me not: I am not the mouth for these ears. Too long, perhaps, have I lived in the mountains; too much have I hearkened unto the brooks and trees: now do I speak unto them as unto the goatherds.

Calm is my soul, and clear, like the mountains in the morning. But they think me cold, and a mocker with terrible jests.

And now do they look at me and laugh: and while they laugh they hate me too. There is ice in their laughter.”

6.

Then, however, something happened which made every mouth mute and every eye fixed.

In the meantime, of course, the rope–dancer had commenced his performance: he had come out at a little door, and was going along the rope which was stretched between two towers, so that it hung above the market–place and the people. When he was just midway across, the little door opened once more, and a gaudily–dressed fellow like a buffoon sprang out, and went rapidly after the first one. “Go on, halt–foot,” cried his frightful voice, “go on, lazy–bones, interloper, sallow–face!—lest I tickle thee with my heel! What dost thou here between the towers? In the tower is the place for thee, thou shouldst be locked up; to one better than thyself thou blockest the way!”—And with every word he came nearer and nearer the first one. When, however, he was but a step behind, there happened the frightful thing which made every mouth mute and every eye fixed—he uttered a yell like a devil, and jumped over the other who was in his way. The latter, however, when he thus saw his rival triumph, lost at the same time his head and his footing on the rope; he threw his pole away, and shot downwards faster than it, like an eddy of arms and legs, into the depth. The market–place and the people were like the sea when the storm cometh on: they all flew apart and in disorder, especially where the body was about to fall.

Zarathustra, however, remained standing, and just beside him fell the body, badly injured and disfigured, but not yet dead. After a while consciousness returned to the shattered man, and he saw Zarathustra kneeling beside him. “What art thou doing there?” said he at last, “I knew long ago that the devil would trip me up. Now he draggeth me to hell: wilt thou prevent him?”

“On mine honour, my friend,” answered Zarathustra, “there is nothing of all that whereof thou speakest: there is no devil and no hell. Thy soul will be dead even sooner than thy body: fear, therefore, nothing any more!”

The man looked up distrustfully. “If thou speakest the truth,” said he, “I lose nothing when I lose my life. I am not much more than an animal which hath been taught to dance by blows and scanty fare.”

“Not at all,” said Zarathustra, “thou hast made danger thy calling; therein there is nothing contemptible. Now thou perishest by thy calling: therefore will I bury thee with mine own hands.”

When Zarathustra had said this the dying one did not reply further; but he moved his hand as if he sought the hand of Zarathustra in gratitude.

7.

Meanwhile the evening came on, and the market–place veiled itself in gloom. Then the people dispersed, for even curiosity and terror become fatigued. Zarathustra, however, still sat beside the dead man on the ground, absorbed in thought: so he forgot the time. But at last it became night, and a cold wind blew upon the lonely one. Then arose Zarathustra and said to his heart:

Verily, a fine catch of fish hath Zarathustra made to–day! It is not a man he hath caught, but a corpse.

Sombre is human life, and as yet without meaning: a buffoon may be fateful to it.

I want to teach men the sense of their existence, which is the Superman, the lightning out

of the dark cloud—man.

But still am I far from them, and my sense speaketh not unto their sense. To men I am still something between a fool and a corpse.

Gloomy is the night, gloomy are the ways of Zarathustra. Come, thou cold and stiff companion! I carry thee to the place where I shall bury thee with mine own hands.

8.

When Zarathustra had said this to his heart, he put the corpse upon his shoulders and set out on his way. Yet had he not gone a hundred steps, when there stole a man up to him and whispered in his ear—and lo! he that spake was the buffoon from the tower. “Leave this town, O Zarathustra,” said he, “there are too many here who hate thee. The good and just hate thee, and call thee their enemy and despiser; the believers in the orthodox belief hate thee, and call thee a danger to the multitude. It was thy good fortune to be laughed at: and verily thou spakest like a buffoon. It was thy good fortune to associate with the dead dog; by so humiliating thyself thou hast saved thy life to–day. Depart, however, from this town,—or tomorrow I shall jump over thee, a living man over a dead one.” And when he had said this, the buffoon vanished; Zarathustra, however, went on through the dark streets.

At the gate of the town the grave–diggers met him: they shone their torch on his face, and, recognising Zarathustra, they sorely derided him. “Zarathustra is carrying away the dead dog: a fine thing that Zarathustra hath turned a grave–digger! For our hands are too cleanly for that roast. Will Zarathustra steal the bite from the devil? Well then, good luck to the repast! If only the devil is not a better thief than Zarathustra!—he will steal them both, he will eat them both!” And they laughed among themselves, and put their heads together.

Zarathustra made no answer thereto, but went on his way. When he had gone on for two hours, past forests and swamps, he had heard too much of the hungry howling of the wolves, and he himself became a–hungry. So he halted at a lonely house in which a light was burning.

“Hunger attacketh me,” said Zarathustra, “like a robber. Among forests and swamps my hunger attacketh me, and late in the night.

“Strange humours hath my hunger. Often it cometh to me only after a repast, and all day it hath failed to come: where hath it been?”

And thereupon Zarathustra knocked at the door of the house. An old man appeared, who carried a light, and asked: “Who cometh unto me and my bad sleep?”

“A living man and a dead one,” said Zarathustra. “Give me something to eat and drink, I forgot it during the day. He that feedeth the hungry refresheth his own soul, saith wisdom.”

The old man withdrew, but came back immediately and offered Zarathustra bread and wine. “A bad country for the hungry,” said he; “that is why I live here. Animal and man come unto me, the anchorite. But bid thy companion eat and drink also, he is wearier than thou.” Zarathustra answered: “My companion is dead; I shall hardly be able to persuade him to eat.” “That doth not concern me,” said the old man sullenly; “he that knocketh at my door must take what I offer him. Eat, and fare ye well!”

Thereafter Zarathustra again went on for two hours, trusting to the path and the light of the stars: for he was an experienced night–walker, and liked to look into the face of all that slept. When the morning dawned, however, Zarathustra found himself in a thick forest, and no path was any longer visible. He then put the dead man in a hollow tree at his head — for he wanted to protect him from the wolves — and laid himself down on the ground and moss. And immediately he fell asleep, tired in body, but with a tranquil soul.

9.

Long slept Zarathustra; and not only the rosy dawn passed over his head, but also the morning. At last, however, his eyes opened, and amazedly he gazed into the forest and the stillness, amazedly he gazed into himself. Then he arose quickly, like a seafarer who all at once seeth the land; and he shouted for joy: for he saw a new truth. And he spake thus to his heart:

A light hath dawned upon me: I need companions—living ones; not dead companions and corpses, which I carry with me where I will.

But I need living companions, who will follow me because they want to follow themselves—and to the place where I will.

A light hath dawned upon me. Not to the people is Zarathustra to speak, but to companions! Zarathustra shall not be the herd’s herdsman and hound!

To allure many from the herd—for that purpose have I come. The people and the herd must be angry with me: a robber shall Zarathustra be called by the herdsmen.

Herdsmen, I say, but they call themselves the good and just. Herdsmen, I say, but they call themselves the believers in the orthodox belief.

Behold the good and just! Whom do they hate most? Him who breaketh up their tables of values, the breaker, the lawbreaker:—he, however, is the creator.

Behold the believers of all beliefs! Whom do they hate most? Him who breaketh up their tables of values, the breaker, the law–breaker—he, however, is the creator.

Companions, the creator seeketh, not corpses—and not herds or believers either. Fellow–creators the creator seeketh—those who grave new values on new tables.

Companions, the creator seeketh, and fellow–reapers: for everything is ripe for the harvest with him. But he lacketh the hundred sickles: so he plucketh the ears of corn and is vexed.

Companions, the creator seeketh, and such as know how to whet their sickles. Destroyers, will they be called, and despisers of good and evil. But they are the reapers and rejoicers.

Fellow–creators, Zarathustra seeketh; fellow–reapers and fellow–rejoicers, Zarathustra seeketh: what hath he to do with herds and herdsmen and corpses!

And thou, my first companion, rest in peace! Well have I buried thee in thy hollow tree; well have I hid thee from the wolves.

But I part from thee; the time hath arrived. ‘Twixt rosy dawn and rosy dawn there came unto me a new truth.

I am not to be a herdsman, I am not to be a grave–digger. Not any more will I discourse unto the people; for the last time have I spoken unto the dead.

With the creators, the reapers, and the rejoicers will I associate: the rainbow will I show them, and all the stairs to the Superman.

To the lone–dwellers will I sing my song, and to the twain–dwellers; and unto him who hath still ears for the unheard, will I make the heart heavy with my happiness.

I make for my goal, I follow my course; over the loitering and tardy will I leap. Thus let my on–going be their down–going!

10.

This had Zarathustra said to his heart when the sun stood at noon–tide. Then he looked inquiringly aloft,—for he heard above him the sharp call of a bird. And behold! An eagle swept through the air in wide circles, and on it hung a serpent, not like a prey, but like a friend: for it kept itself coiled round the eagle’s neck.

“They are mine animals,” said Zarathustra, and rejoiced in his heart.

“The proudest animal under the sun, and the wisest animal under the sun,— they have come out to reconnoitre.

They want to know whether Zarathustra still liveth. Verily, do I still live?

More dangerous have I found it among men than among animals; in dangerous paths goeth Zarathustra. Let mine animals lead me!

When Zarathustra had said this, he remembered the words of the saint in the forest. Then he sighed and spake thus to his heart:

“Would that I were wiser! Would that I were wise from the very heart, like my serpent!

But I am asking the impossible. Therefore do I ask my pride to go always with my wisdom!

And if my wisdom should some day forsake me: — alas! it loveth to fly away! – may my pride then fly with my folly!”

Thus began Zarathustra’s down–going.

Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spake Zarathustra

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim,
If you meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same:
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

The Stranger

The Stranger within my gate,
He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk –
I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
But not the soul behind.

The men of my own stock
They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wonted to.
They are used to the lies I tell,
And we do not need interpreters
When we go to buy and sell.

The Stranger within my gates,
He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control
What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
Shall repossess his blood.

The men of my own stock,
Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
They think of the likes of me.

This was my father’s belief
And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf —
And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children’s teeth are set on edge
By bitter bread and wine.

Rudyard Kipling

A Song of the White Men

Now, this is the cup the White Men drink
When they go to right a wrong,
And that is the cup of the old world’s hate –
Cruel and strained and strong.
We have drunk that cup – and a bitter, bitter cup
And tossed the dregs away.
But well for the world when the White Men drink
To the dawn of the White Man’s day!

Now, this is the road that the White Men tread
When they go to clean a land –
Iron underfoot and levin overhead
And the deep on either hand.
We have trod that road – and a wet and windy road
Our chosen star for guide.
Oh, well for the world when the White Men tread
Their highway side by side!

Now, this is the faith that the White Men hold
When they build their homes afar –
“Freedom for ourselves and freedom for our sons
And, failing freedom, War.”
We have proved our faith — bear witness to our faith,
Dear souls of freemen slain!
Oh, well for the world when the White Men join
To prove their faith again!

Rudyard Kipling

The Meaning of Cosmotheism – The Natural Religion of the Universe

The Teachings of Dr. William Pierce interpreted by Wayne Macleod

The Path

What is the meaning of life? Every human being has asked this question at some time. The ability to ponder such mysteries is one of our human gifts that place us above the animal. You need wonder no more. Here the question will be answered.

First we must define the Creator. Myth religions have viewed the Universe as a static, once and for all time creation. The Earth, Sun, Moon, the stars, the fish in the sea, birds and mammals, and man were born in acts of creation, and left to remain as they are for eternity. Separate and above them, an anthropomorphic divinity creator is viewed distinct from Nature, so that a direct act of the divinity is seen to be supernatural, meaning above the natural.

Now will be revealed the Reality, and it is this: Man, the Universe and the Creator are not separate. They are all parts of the Whole, and the Whole was Self-created. We live in a Self-realizing Universe where creation is on-going; it has never stopped. Creation is not static; it is fluid and dynamic, like a living being. Therefore we should not think of the Universe as a creation, but itself, the Whole, as being the Creator.

The tangible Universe includes the blazing suns of the firmament, the interstellar gas from which stars are born, all of Earth’s creatures, man, etc., all are the material manifestation of the Creator. We all belong to the Whole, and the Whole is the Creator. The Universe is ongoing and Self-created.

In the development of any living being there is the purpose of fulfilment. So is there with the Creator. In the Universe there is the internal Urge toward the One Purpose. From the tenuous gasses of the void have come suns and planets, and from the Earth have come plants and animals. In man the Urge is manifest within also, for from man will come higher man.

All are on the Path of Life leading to the One Purpose: the Self-realization of the Creator. This is the meaning of man’s being. Man is on the Path of Life to the Self-realization of the ever evolving and dynamic Whole.

Before man each part of the Whole was blind: the gasses of the void could not foresee the suns which they were to become. The Urge carried the Whole along the Path, and each part of the Whole, though blind, has served the Creator’s Purpose. Man has served the Creator’s Purpose in this blind way through instinct, but also in another way, in an enlightened and conscious way.

Man is on the threshold between unawareness of the One Purpose and a state of all-seeing Consciousness. Not everyone will cross this threshold. Those who attain Divine Consciousness will ascend the Path of Life to ever-higher man. Reason will illuminate the Path for them and give them foresight; it will likely be a mighty aid to the Creator’s Urge within them. Those who do not attain Divine Consciousness will be diverted from the Path by false reason.

The difference between true reason and false reason is this: true reason seeks to guide man’s actions in accord with the consciousness of the Whole, while false reason does not. Men and women of true reason seek order in all things, and shun chaos. They are pleased by harmonious relationships, by progress on the Path of Life, by truth, beauty and nobility, and hate all that is contrary to these pursuits. They have within them the Creator’s Urge, which burns brightly in some but less brightly in others, for although the Urge is within all things the state of consciousness of the Whole is not equal in all. It is more highly evolved in living beings than in the non-living, in man more than other animals, and in some individuals more than in others.

Regardless of the Urge within all, truth, reason and beauty do not always prevail in the life of man. Then come forth the self-seekers, the liars and those of base motives when falsehood is held in place of truth, ugliness is preferred over beauty, when disharmony rules and lies are heard everywhere, and evil deeds are seen yet no one can act against them. In those times the thoughts of men and women are only of themselves, and through amusements, eating and drinking, games and parties, stupefying intoxicants and every form of self-indulgence they divert their thoughts away from the meaninglessness of their lives.

Some attempt to give direction to their lives by accumulating wealth, by wielding power, by becoming skilled in some art or craft. But unless these purposes are related to the Creator’s Purpose they are without merit and the lives of those who pursue them are without meaning, and may as well never have been.

Death comes to the man or woman without Divine Consciousness, living matter becomes non-living matter, meaningless life become meaningless death and even the personality is annihilated. Eternal nothingness is the destiny of those who are spiritually empty.

But those who have attained the state of Divine Consciousness partake in the immortality of the Whole, because their consciousness resides with the Community, and just as the Community lives to serve the One Purpose, so do they, for all eternity.

The Community of Divine Consciousness is the Community of the Awakened Ones, of the Climbers on the Path of Life, of the Rune of Life, of the Ordained. People who would become members of this community are now to be called Cosmotheists; for these are the people of the Rune. They are known for their knowledge, consciousness, discipline and service. By consciousness is meant the state of mind of the Awakened Ones, of those who have gone beyond knowledge and are aware of their being part of the Whole. Like knowledge, consciousness requires receptiveness, diligence and purity of motive.

Discipline comes from the Community and from within. Without it there is no mastery, but with it the People of Divine Consciousness may fully serve the Creator’s Purpose. Service is in the new way of Divine Consciousness, not in the blind way of sub-man and of inanimate matter (which also serve the Creator’s Purpose).

The new way is the way of higher man, of the Awakened Ones; it is the way of true reason. The People of the Rune are fully conscious agents of the Creator’s Purpose.

These, the People of Divine Consciousness, are the beginning; they are the first crossers of the threshold between ignorance and awakening; between sub-man and higher man. They are ordained to overcome false reason and to put to an end all that would contravene the Creator’s Purpose.

And this is our summons: put your life into the service of the Cosmos. Abandon folly and the corruption of self-seeking nothingness. Enter into the Awakened Ones’ Cosmotheist Community to partake of our joyful certainty that the Creator’s Purpose will be fulfilled, and lay with us the foundations of a new world. Cross with us the threshold of Divine Consciousness.

On Living Things

The lessons of the Path of Life lead to an understanding and evaluation of all living things: of the variety of animals, of the races of man, and the varying qualities of individuals. Through the Urge came the ordering of the non-living, the highest ordered becoming living, and the Urge continued the ordering of the living to the higher levels of consciousness. The ordering continues. All matter, both living and non-living, is ordered in a hierarchy: animate above inanimate, conscious above unconscious.The Urge is toward higher consciousness; the purpose of all material things is the implementation of the Urge in service of the One Purpose; and the value of each is in its potential for serving the One Purpose.

Our understanding will serve as a guide in evaluating all things. Some have taught falsely that all things, since all belong to the Whole, are sacred and inviolable. They may be of good will but their understanding is limited, and their teaching is contrary to the Creator’s Purpose. For man is not a spectator but a participant, and every part of the Whole lives only by violating other parts; every animal consumes other forms of life. It is only the Whole that is inviolable, only the One Purpose that is divine or sacred. The parts of the Whole come and go; they are subject to the eternal process of Creation, which annihilates some, preserves some and transforms some.

Others have taught falsely that it is man that is sacred and inviolable, and of one kind, who stands aside and above the Whole process of creation. On the contrary, without serving the One Purpose man’s life is without value and can even become an abomination, or a defilement of all life.

Thus, people are ranked in value: First are those with Divine Consciousness who walk the Path of Life with sure foresight, who have crossed the threshold from man to higher man and knowingly serve the Creator’s Purpose. These are the Awakened Ones. Next in value are those of goodwill and of awakening consciousness. These are of the Cosmotheist Community. Next is the stock of them from which the Awakened Ones have arisen, those of the same race-soul, for they collectively are the reservoir of higher man from which the Awakened Ones are drawn.

But members of this reservoir are also ranked in value. Those who are uncorrupted by false reason, who are of goodwill, who have mastered themselves, who have great capacity for knowledge, who are of strong constitution, are of higher value than those who are corrupted, indifferent, self-seeking, servants of alien masters, weak and ill formed.

All of the latter who, even though of the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, cannot claim any value by reason of their stock alone. For they may threaten through evil action the One Purpose if they are corrupted by false reason and are of ill will, and also through weakening of the stock if they either lack capability for discipline or knowledge or are of poor constitution.

All other life can thus be ranked: the races of man not of the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, the beasts, the birds, the fishes, the insects, the large and small forms of inanimate life. Every form of life has potential for either good or for evil effect, for either serving the Creator’s Purpose and for contravening it. Its potential for evil may come from harming the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, by weakening or destroying that stock physically, by denying that stock sustenance, by corrupting the stock spiritually and/or by the mixing of blood. Let us understand these evils.

The process of Creation is the process of developing the Self-consciousness of the Whole. Its way has progressed from blindness to foresight, from unguided groping to the threshold of directed progress. Because its way has been groping the Creator has followed many channels, the Urge has taken many directions. In some channels the current of progress has been slow, in some rapid. Some channels have ended in stagnant ponds; some ponds have dried up altogether. In other channels that current has been rapid but has gone askew; reason has developed without true consciousness, strength without discipline and action without service toward the One Purpose. Thus are we to understand the diversity of the forms of life.

In one channel the current has been sufficiently rapid and the course sufficiently true that the stream of life has now nearly attained open water. The world is full of species that have branched from the main evolutionary tree to fill their niches; some continue to evolve along their branches, some have ceased to evolve and some have become extinct. Only man is on the main trunk of life, not merely a branch.

Similarly, the races of man are due to the Creator’s blind groping; and only one, of the stock of the Awakened Ones, is on the Path of Divine Consciousness. But other currents also run and the danger still exists of being swept into a false channel, of emptying into a stagnant pond. And so the strictest measures must be taken against all that would weaken the stock of the Awakened Ones, against the disease organisms that plague sustenance, and especially against the lesser stocks that threaten corruption by mixture.

The stock of the Awakened Ones has reached the threshold separating the unconscious way of progress from the conscious way, the threshold that when crossed has all our values changed. In an age of immanent consciousness hostility to the stock of the Awakened Ones has mostly served to advance it, like the wolf strengthens its prey by pruning away the weak. In an age of the Awakened Ones’ consciousness their stock will prune itself, to better serve the One Purpose because it will be done with foresight.

But at this threshold the greatest care must be used; its crossing is a time of danger, because the old way no longer serves and the new way still awaits implementation.

And these are the qualities that man shall value: First, conviction in the knowledge of consciousness of the Whole. Second, strength of reason, for with its possession the more effectively can the Creator’s Urge be implemented. Third, strength of character, which is the ability to act with the nature of higher man. Fourth, physical constitution to serve well the One Purpose.

These are the ways in which man shall consciously serve the One True Purpose: Our stock shall be kept pure, without mixing with the blood of other stocks, for each stock follows a different course along the Path of Life. We shall increase the number of our stock and make every land where it dwells free from the danger of mixing. Laws and institutions shall be arranged so that in each generation numbers of offspring will be born to men and women in proportion to their own value: the best shall engender the most and the worst none.

We shall act as the wolf and winter, to prune and select, and do all the above as conscious agents of the Creator’s Purpose.

On Society

Human institutions are of the Whole and cannot be perfect while the Self-realization of the Whole remains incomplete. They can only serve the One Purpose imperfectly. While man lacks consciousness society must reflect that blindness, and may even become an instrument of regression contravening the Creator’s Purpose. But with the Awakened Ones society should reflect their consciousness and their true reason; it should manifest in its institutions the Urge ever towards the One Purpose.

Survival, right striving, order and progress are the proper determinants of human institutions. Accordingly, society has four proper functions: defence of the Community and stock, guidance of the Community’s members, organization for the maintenance of order and pursuit of the One Purpose, and constant elevation of the Community’s racial stock.

The Community must protect itself from environmental pollution, whether from greed, malice, negligence or ignorance. It must practice vigilance against famine and disease and against all who would harm it either physically or spiritually. If someone teaches that the mixing of racial stocks is permissible, or that everyone is of equal value, or that human life has no purpose, then the Community shall outlaw and expel that individual.

If someone’s behaviour or lifestyle leads others astray or weakens the Community, then that person cannot remain in the Community, for the Community must protect itself against indiscipline as much as against falsehood.

The Community must preserve the knowledge gained in each generation and impart it to future generations, and facilitate the gain of new knowledge with libraries, schools and laboratories. Knowledge must also be imparted outside of institutions through customs, celebrations and festivals. Above all, the Community must direct knowledge, for it is not any knowledge for which its members strive, but knowledge that leads to conscious understanding of the One Purpose.

Festivals and rituals must likewise raise consciousness with demonstrations of grace, skill and strength. The Community must glory in the self-mastery of its own members, and value their achievements so that all will strive to match or surpass them.

The Community itself is an instrument of service, and every institution must manifest that reason for being. It is not merely the sum of its members, institutions and material assets; it is an organization requiring coordination of its components. The Community must judge its members in such a way that the order of the Community best serves the Creator’s Purpose.

In other societies people are ranked by wealth, age, popularity, skills, etc., but the Cosmotheist Community is different in that its members attain their station according to their value in the Community’s attainment of the One Purpose.

There are four essential community institutions: the family, the academy, the corps of guardians and the hierarchy. By family is meant a man and woman united by the Community specifically for begetting and nurturing children. It is not necessarily any man and woman living together who are beyond childbearing age, or include any members of an extended family, such as grandparents. In the academy youth receive training and scholars carry on their work. The corps of guardians defends the Community from both physical and spiritual enemies. It shall be composed of members ordained to a life of service to the One Purpose, of the most disciplined, the most conscious and the most capable.

The hierarchy is the institution by which the Community holds itself to the Path of Life. It is a community of priests, of individuals who may also be fathers, scholars, guardians or workers within other fields of service to the Community. The hierarchy guides and judges. It keeps the Community moving ever upward, ever toward new knowledge, ever toward higher levels of consciousness, toward greater strength and discipline, all for more effective service to the Creator’s One Purpose.

The Community strives toward higher man by pruning and selecting the stock in which it is based. It ensures that the children born in each generation manifest the qualities that best serve the One Purpose more strongly than in each preceding generation. It elevates itself by awakening ever more fully in each member the Consciousness of the Whole, and by strengthening all its institutions: to make the family engender children of ever higher quality, to make the academy more effective in raising children towards ever higher consciousness, to make the corps of guardians more vigilant, to make the hierarchy wiser, truer and more effective in its guidance of the Community.

Thus, the structure of the Community evolves consciously, not blindly. Its institutions are guided by an ever-growing sense of direction, with an ever clearer vision of the Godhead that is the manifest destiny of members who follow the Path of Life.

APPENDIX

In presenting Cosmotheism Dr. Pierce used commonplace words such as “Urge” and “Path” although these are human terms not normally used in reference to the Universe. Such practice is necessary for a popular religion because to describe the intended concepts more accurately would require scientific language and probably mathematics far above the heads of average people. We should not put a human meaning behind such words, however. The various manifestations of self-creation evident over great expanses of space and time are the consequence of natural forces working on large numbers.

Although the term “Urge” is used, the non-Awakened Universe does not “know” its destiny; therefore in its Path to Self-realization blind experimentation is performed. Dr. Pierce uses the term “groping”. For example, multiple types of suns are spread throughout the galaxies, from brown dwarfs to black holes. In the development of life on Earth over ninety percent of all species that ever existed are extinct. There have been multiple forms of fish, insect, bird, reptile and mammal, with an evolutionary progression seen in time from fish to amphibian to reptile to mammal. Amongst the entire array of species there were some who were not mere branches on this tree of life; they were on the main trunk of that tree and led the way to higher life. Through them the Universe took steps toward its inherent goal of Self-consciousness and Self-Realization.

Man occupies the highest position on the tree of life, and also exhibits diversity with many races. The beginning of species diversification is first racial diversification. Are all these races mere branches on the tree of life, or is there one that is a continuation of the main trunk towards higher man? How can we know? Surely one method of knowing would be to look at the history of all races to see which has shown the most progressiveness over time, and when we do we see that there is one race of mankind that outshines all others. It is the white race. Not only has the white race produced Western Civilization; it also produced the Classical Civilization of ancient Greece and Rome, but what is little known is that this same white race also gave the world other civilizations, like the ancient Sanskrit Civilization of India although most of the people of that country are now no longer white. Not only did the white race produce some of the greatest ancient civilizations, but those same civilizations passed away when their white inhabitants were lost through miscegenation.

Realizing the importance of the white race in producing civilizations does not mean that other races are incapable of producing civilization, or that non-white individuals cannot be intelligent and give the world great works. It does mean that the white race has been the leading race in the progress of mankind, which we can see within the world today. If we have any doubt then we should ask: what are the countries where we would want to live and raise our families? There are a number of white countries we could pick, and not necessarily those known for their wealth and power. There is virtually no non-white nation on the Earth today that is as attractive for living, except for reasons of climate and sandy beaches, and this fact is virtually admitted by the multitudes of non-whites migrating from their own homelands to white lands. The whitest nations, the Scandinavian, consistently occupy the highest position on the U.N.’s list for best countries to live in. Even prosperous and technical Japan is not the best if one is a woman. We might think this is a peculiarity of our modern age, but if we had lived 2,000 years ago in the age of Greece and Rome, we would have seen exactly the same.

So in the Path of Life of the Universe toward Self-realization we see that this progress will most certainly be found in the white race more often than in others. For that reason alone Cosmotheism must be white based, and must seek to preserve the white race alone from its current dangers. We do this in service of the Universe. Not all white individuals exhibit moral qualities; that cannot be expected. It is white nations from which will come higher man.

Wayne Macleod.

Creation

All was darkness.
There was darkness over all.
There was nothing that could be seen.
But in the darkness; in the nothing, there was something.
And the something was that which is just beyond.
And, the something sought comfort and moved mindlessly to break out of the cloaking darkness, as it sought to be.
It struggled with the nothing that pulled it down.
It struggled to be.
It broke through the darkness, and with it came the light.
And, this was comfortable, so it remained.
And the something spun on its axis.
As it spun, so too did the light spin.
And, it became the cosmic whirlwind, and it created matter from out of the light.
And it grew as it fed on the nothing that was never really nothing, but was always part of the something.
It fed on itself, that was not itself.
It threw out arms and they spun around and around.
More of the nothing was pulled into the growing maelstrom, and the nothing fed the something, and the nothing became the food for the light and for matter, as it passed through the light, and was transformed.

And this was the cornucopia and the cosmic womb of existence.
And, from it, all came forth, and to it, all returned, only to be transformed and to come forth once again.
This was the toilet of existence.
And, that which is behind the spinning light and which is of the spinning light but which is more, is the builder and the destroyer of all that is.
And it Was, and it Was not, and it Is and Is not, for all are the same to this that Is, but which is not.
And to think of these things and to try to make them make sense is to look upon the ways of God, and that way, lies madness.
And, it formed the thought, yet it did not form the thought: I am free.
Yet it was not free.
It wasn’t this, and it wasn’t that.
And it was both of these and neither of these at the same time.
It was the seer and the seen; the dreamer and the dream.

It was here, as it was there, yet it was always just behind.
It was as a Will ‘O the Wisp, and the ghost that is sensed but never seen directly.
For it cannot ever be seen directly, and if It is seen, It is not.
And it was the engine of creation and the furnace of destruction.
It was the great idiot shuffler of existence.
It took simple chemicals and forces and shuffled them.
It was as a child playing with blocks.
It built them this way, destroyed them, and did it again.
And again, and again, and again and again for all eternity.
And there was no reason either for the building or for the destroying.
It was neither good nor evil, for such things are human concepts, and have no relevance to It, for they are too small.
It built with no purpose, and it destroyed with no mercy.

From ‘The Outsider’ by H. Millard

Cosmotheism According To William Pierce

During his lifetime William Luther Pierce attempted to establish a Cosmotheist community in the United States around his Cosmotheist Community Church and between 1977 and 1984 produced for them a trilogy of essays, all three of which I reproduce below as a reference tool.

While William Pierce must be credited as one of the founding fathers of Cosmotheism and his trilogy provides a basic scripture, it does not contain a comprehensive explanation of Cosmotheism and does not present a complete cosmology. It would be true to say that this trilogy is but a start and represents unfinished work.

Book One: The Path

Chapter 1

1:1 Life is short, our brothers and sisters. Must it also be empty? Must it also be bitter? Must its passing hold terror?

1:2 Where is fulfillment to be found in the midst of shallow and empty things? Where is peace to be found in the midst of chaos and strife? Where is serenity to be obtained in a spiritual wasteland?

1:3 Seek no more, our brothers and sisters, for we give you these answers, and more.

1:4 We show you the meaning and the purpose of things. We lead you from confusion and uncertainty to knowledge; from weakness to strength; from frustrated desire to fulfillment.

1:5 We lead you to the Path of Life. We bring your souls into harmony, with the Spirit of All Things.

1:6 We give you the Truth, which is this: There is but one Reality, and that Reality is the Whole. It is the Creator, the Self-Created.

Chapter 2

2:1 The meaning of the Truth is this: Man, the world, and the Creator are not separate things, but man is a part of the world, which is a part of the Whole, which is the Creator.

2:2 The tangible Universe is the material manifestation of the Creator. All the blazing suns of the firmament; the formless gas between the stars; the silent, frozen mountain peaks of the moon; the rustling trees of earthly forests; the teeming creatures of the dark ocean depths; and man are parts of the Creator’s material manifestation.

2:3 But the Creator has a spiritual manifestation, which is the Urge toward the One Purpose. The Urge lies at the root of all things and is manifested in the relations between all things.

2:4 The Urge is in the tenuous gases of the void, for they have a purpose, which are the flaming suns and all the planets, which form from them. The Urge is in the earth, for it has a purpose, which is the realm of plants and animals which flourish on it. And the Urge is in man, for he has a purpose, which is higher man.

2:5 And the purposes of all these things are steps on the Path of Life, which leads to the One Purpose, which is the Self-realization of the Creator: the Self-completion of the Self-created.

2:6 And the matter and the spirit, the Universe and the Urge, are One, and it is the Whole.

Chapter 3

3:1 Man is of the Whole, and his purpose is the Creator’s Purpose. And this signifies: Man is, in part, both the substance and the means of the Creator, and he is nothing else; this is his entire being and purpose.

3:2 And man serves the Creator’s Purpose in two ways. The first way is the way of all the other parts of the Whole; it is the way of sub-man; it is the blind way; it is the way of the deeply in-dwelling consciousness, the immanent consciousness; it is the way of instinct. The second way is the way of higher man; it is the sighted way; it is the way of the awakened consciousness and of true reason; which is to say, it is the way of the perfect union of the immanent consciousness with man’s reason, which perfect union we call Divine Consciousness.

Chapter 4

4:1 The meaning of the first way is this: The Purpose of the Creator is Self-completion; the Path of the Creator toward Self-completion is the Path of Life; and man is a step on this Path.

4:2 The Creator existed before man, and the Creator will exist after man has surpassed himself. The step on the Path before man was sub-man, and the step on the Path after man is higher man. But man is now, for a time, a part of the Creator, of the everchanging, ever-evolving Whole.

4:3 There is a threshold on the Path at the step, which is man. It is the threshold of Divine Consciousness. Before man, each part of the Whole was blind, and it could not see the next step on the Path. The gases of the void could not foresee the suns which they were to become, nor could sub-man foresee man. The Urge carried the Whole along the Path, and each part of the Whole, though blind, served the Creator’s Purpose.

Chapter 5

5:1 And the meaning of the second way in which man serves the Creator’s Purpose is this: The evolution of the Whole toward Self-completion is an evolution in spirit as well as in matter. Self-completion, which is Self-realization, is the attainment of perfect Selfconsciousness. The Creator’s Urge, which is immanent in the Universe, evolves toward an all-seeing Consciousness.

5:2 Man stands between sub-man and higher man, between immanent consciousness and awakened consciousness, between unawareness of his identity and his mission and a state of Divine Consciousness. Some men will cross the threshold, and some will not.

5:3 Those who attain Divine Consciousness will ascend the Path of Life toward their Destiny, which is Godhood; which is to say, the Path of Life leads upward through a never-ending succession of states, the next of which is that of higher man, and the ultimate that of the Self-realized Creator. True reason will illuminate the Path for them and give them foresight; it will be a mighty aid to the Creator’s Urge within them.

5:4 And those who do not attain Divine Consciousness will continue groping in the darkness, and their feet will be tripped by the snares of false reason, and they will stumble from the Path, and they will fall into the depths.

5:5 For the threshold at which man stands is a dangerous threshold, a difficult threshold. And man’s reason is a dangerous achievement. Just as it can give eyes to his instinct, which is the immanent consciousness of the Whole acting in him, so it can confuse and mislead his instinct.

Chapter 6

6:1 And let us now understand the present state of man, so that we can distinguish true reason from false reason. Let us employ true reason, so that it can guide us across the threshold of Divine Consciousness.

6:2 The difference between true reason and false reason is this: True reason seeks to guide man’s actions in accord with the immanent consciousness of the Whole, while false reason does not.

6:3 The man or woman of true reason seeks order in all things, and he shuns chaos. He is pleased by a harmonious relationship between all the elements of his life and the world. He rejects that which clashes and does not fit, that which is alien.

6:4 He is happy in the knowledge that what was true and good yesterday will be true and good tomorrow. Through order and harmony, he seeks true progress, which is the ascent of the Path of Life; but he shuns frivolous change, which destroys the harmony between the past and the future.

6:5 He loves truth, and he hates falsehood.

6:6 He loves beauty, and he hates ugliness.

6:7 He loves nobility in all things, and he hates baseness.

6:8 And all these predispositions of the man or woman of true reason are like rays thrown out by the Divine Spark which burns in his soul. And this Divine Spark is the immanent consciousness of the Whole. It is the presence of the Creator’s Urge in him.

Chapter 7

7:1 The Divine Spark burns brightly in some men, and their reason is true. It burns less brightly in others, and in them true reason may give way to false reason.

7:2 For the Urge is in all things, but the state of consciousness of the Whole is more highly evolved in some things than in others. It is more highly evolved in living things than in non-living things; in man than in other animals; and in some men than in other men. There exists in the various living creatures a continuous hierarchy of states of the immanent consciousness of the Whole.

7:3 In the best of times men and women of true reason prevail, and there is true progress.

7:4 But in the worst of times false reason overcomes true reason. Then the selfseekers, the liars, and those of base motives prevail.

7:5 And then all the other evils come forth: Falsehood overcomes truth and is held up in the place of truth. Ugliness replaces beauty and is preferred over beauty. Baseness is everywhere and is praised as nobility. Disharmony rules all men’s lives, and those of true reason are frustrated in their desires.

7:6 Lies are heard everywhere, and no one has the power to speak against them. Evil deeds are seen everywhere, and no one can act against them. All that is good, valuable, and progressive is pulled down and defiled. All that is alien and discordant grows and multiplies. There is no true reason or peace in the masses of men, and they are without direction or purpose.

7:7 Then most men live from day to day, and their only thought is of themselves. Through idle amusements, through eating and drinking, through games and parties, through stupefying themselves with intoxicants, and through every other form of selfindulgence, they turn their thoughts away from the meaninglessness of their existence.

7:8 Some men attempt to give directions to their lives, but they are false directions. Their purposes may be to accumulate wealth or to wield power over other men or to become skilled in some art or craft. But unless these purposes are related to the Creator’s Purpose they are without merit and the lives of those who pursue them are as without meaning as the lives of those with no purpose.

7:9 For falsehood may often have the appearance of truth, but it remains false nevertheless. A man may pile up mountains of gold, or he may order nations to war, or he may acquire great knowledge or skill, but if he does not direct his life in accordance with the One Purpose, he may as well not have lived.

Chapter 8

8:1 Death comes to the man or woman without Divine Consciousness as it comes to the sub-man: living matter becomes non-living matter; meaningless life becomes meaningless death; the personality is annihilated. Eternal nothingness is the destiny of those who are spiritually empty.

8:2 But he who has attained a state of Divine Consciousness partakes of the immortality of the Whole in the way of higher man: his body perishes, but his spirit remains with the Whole.

8:3 He who is a member of the Community of Divine Consciousness is not annihilated by death, because his consciousness is one with that of the Community. So long as the Community lives, his consciousness lives; and so long as the Community serves the One True Purpose, he who served that Purpose before the perishing of his body serves it in eternity.

Chapter 9

9:1 The Community of Divine Consciousness is the Community of the Awakened, the Community of the Climbers of the Path, the Community of the People of the Rune of Life, the Community of the Ordained Ones.

9:2 The gathering of those who would become members of the Community of Divine Consciousness is called the Cosmotheist Community; it is the Community of those who would become People of the Rune.

9:3 And the People of the Rune are known by these four things: knowledge, consciousness, discipline, and service; they are the things for which the members of the Cosmotheist Community strive.

9:4 By knowledge is meant understanding of the Truth. It is attained by the receptive learner through diligent study of the teachings of the Cosmotheist Community.

9:5 By consciousness is meant the awakened state of those who have gone beyond knowledge and have partaken of the immanent consciousness of the Whole which resides in their innermost souls; they have understood the inner message and have seen that it is the same as the outer message, which is the message taught by the Cosmotheist Community. The attainment of consciousness, like knowledge, requires receptiveness and diligence, and it also requires good will, which is to say, a pure motive.

9:6 Discipline comes from without and from within. From without it is imposed on the members of the Cosmotheist Community. By being so imposed it brings forth the growth of discipline from within. Without discipline, there is no mastery, and he who has not mastered the chaos of conflicting forces within himself cannot render full service. But discipline imposed and discipline which grows from within together give those who have attained knowledge and consciousness mastery over their own forces, so that those forces may serve the Creator’s Purpose.

Chapter 10

10:1 Service of the Creator’s Purpose is the purpose of all things, and the purpose of the Community of Divine Consciousness is service which is conscious and disciplined. In this dangerous and difficult era of the threshold between man and higher man, many men have ceased serving the Creator’s Purpose in the old way, which is the way of sub-man, the unconscious way, and they have not begun serving in the new way. False reason leads them instead into the grievous error of contravention of the Creator’s Purpose.

10:2 But the members of the Community of Divine Consciousness, the Awakened Ones, the People of the Rune, serve in the new way, which is the way of higher man, the way of true reason. They are conscious agents of the Creator’s Purpose.

10:3 And they are ordained to overcome the men of false reason and to put an end to the works of all those who contravene the Creator’s Purpose.

10:4 They are the beginning; they are the first crossers of the threshold; they are the pointers of the way, of the Path of Life. Through their service, they resume the neverending ascent toward their Destiny, which is Godhood.

Chapter 11

11:1 And this is our summons to you, our brothers and sisters; it is our call to all the men and women of our blood who are of good will:

11:2 Abandon falsehood and folly. Cast off alien ways and free yourselves from the snares of false reason. Turn away from the corruption of this decaying order of things.

11:3 Understand who you are and what your purpose is. Seek your Destiny. Put your life into the service of Cosmic Truth.

11:4 Enter now into the Cosmotheist Community. Partake of our joyful certainty that the Creator’s Purpose will be fulfilled. Lay with us the foundations for the new order of things, which will rise in the place of the old.

11:5 Cross with us the threshold of Divine Consciousness. Strive with us toward membership in the Community of the Awakened.

William Luther Pierce (1977)

Book Two: On Living Things

Chapter 1

1:1 From the Path we know these things:

1:2 There is but one Reality, and that Reality is the Whole. It is the Creator, the Selfcreated. (The Path 1.6)

1:3 The material manifestation of the Creator is the tangible Universe, with all its nonliving and living things, including man. (The Path 2:2)

1:4 The spiritual manifestation of the Creator is the Urge toward the One Purpose. The Urge lies at the root of all things and is manifested in the relations between all things. (The Path 2:3)

1:5 The One Purpose is the Self-Realization of the Creator: the Self-completion of the Self-created. (The Path 2:5)

1:6 Man’s purpose is the Creator’s Purpose. He is, in part of both substance and the means of the Creator, and he is nothing else; this is his entire being and purpose. (The Path 3:1)

1:7 Man serves the Creator’s Purpose in two ways: unconsciously and consciously. In both ways, he follows the Path of Life, which is the Creator’s evolutionary Path toward Self-Completion. He passes from step to step on the Path, from sub-man to man to higher man, and beyond. (The Path 3:2, 4:1-2)

1:8 In the unconscious way the passing is blind, an its driving force is instinct, which is a manifestation of the immanent consciousness of the Whole in man. (The Path 3:2)

1:9 And in the conscious way the passing is guided by man’s awareness of his true identity and his true mission; this awareness illuminates the Path before him and allows him to choose his steps. (The Path 5:3)

Chapter 2

2:1 These things, which we know, lead us to an understanding of the significance and value of all living things: of the variety of animals, of the races of man, and the varying qualities of individual men.

2:2 We understand that the living things developed from non-living things through the all-permeating Urge toward self-realization: first, there was the Urge, and through it came the ordering of non-living and the highest ordered became living. And the Urge has ordered the living things, and through this ordering has come higher levels of consciousness. And the Urge continues it’s ordering.

2:3 All matter, living and non-living, is ordered in a hierarchy, animate above inanimate, conscious above unconscious. The Urge is toward higher consciousness; the purpose of all material things is the implementation of the Urge, the service of the One Purpose; and the value of each thing is its potential for serving the One purpose.

2:4 Now, our understanding of this truth must serve as a guide to us in evaluating all things living and on-living, animate and inanimate, human and non-human.

Chapter 3

3:1 Some have taught falsely that all things, being of the Whole, are sacred and inviolable. They mean: sacred in the eyes of men; inviolable by men. They may be of good will, in wanting to restrain men from thoughtless destruction, in wanting to protect beautiful and noble living things, in wanting to preserve the harmony of the Universe. But their understanding is limited, and their teaching is contrary to the purpose of the Creator’s Purpose.

3:2 For man is not a spectator, but a participant; not a being apart, but a part of all Being. And every living part of the Whole lives only by violating other parts; every animal must take unto itself other living things and must cast away its wastes.

3:3 It is only the Whole, which is inviolable, only the One Purpose that is sacred. The parts of the Whole come and go; they are subject to the eternal process of Creation, which annihilates some, preserves some, and transforms some.

3:4 And higher man, Divinely Conscious man, is an agent as well as a subject of this process. When a member of the Community of Divine Consciousness acts in accord with the One Purpose, the Creator is acting.

3:5 Others have taught falsely that man himself is sacred and inviolable; that all who are “men” are immune to the process of creation, that men stand aside from it and above it, and that all men are of kind.

3:6 But the value of man lies not in his conformation, nor in his ability to speak or to reason, except as these things aid him in serving the One Purpose. If he does not serve the Purpose, his life is without value, his formation and reason meaningless. If he contravenes the One Purpose, then he is an abomination, his life a defilement of all life.

Chapter 4

4:1 Thus are men ranked in value: First in value are those with Divine Consciousness; they are those who walk the Path of Life with sure foresight; they are those who have crossed the threshold from man to higher man; they are those who serve the Creator’s Purpose in full consciousness that they are of the Creator and in full knowledge of the way in which they serve; they are the Awakened Ones.

4:2 Next in value are those of goodwill and awakening consciousness; they are those who strive for Divine Consciousness; they are those of the Cosmotheist Community.

4:3 After them are all those of the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, those of the same racesoul; for they collectively, are the reservoir in which higher man has his origin and from which he draws his replacements.

4:4 But in this reservoir men are also ranked in value: Those uncorrupted by false reason are higher, and those corrupted are lower.

4:5 Those of goodwill are higher, and those indifferent, self-seeking, or serving alien masters are lower.

4:6 Those who have mastered themselves are higher, and those who have not are lower.

4:7 Those with great capability for knowledge are higher, and those with less capability are lower.

4:8 Those who are strong constitution and well formed are higher, and those who are weak, sickly, or ill formed are lower.

4:9 And those men who, even though of the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, are corrupted of ill will, undisciplined, without the capability for knowledge, weak, or ill formed cannot claim value by reason of their stock alone.

4:10 For they may threaten, through evil action, the One Purpose, if they are corrupted by false reason and of ill will.

4:11 And they may also threaten, through weakening of the stock, the One purpose, if they lack the capability for discipline or knowledge or are of poor constitution.

Chapter 5

5:1 And all other living things may also be ranked in value: men not of the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise; the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea; the smaller things which creep or crawl or fly; the large and small forms of inanimate life.

5:2 Each living thing has a potential for good effect and for evil effect, for serving the Creator’s Purpose and for contravening it. This potential is both inherent in a thing and dependent on its relationships with other living things, and it determines the value of the thing.

5:3 Let us now understand how this potential is judged: The Potential for good which is inherent in a thing is its potential for attaining Divine Consciousness or for giving rise to new things which may attain Divine Consciousness; its potential for good which is dependent on its relationships with other things is its potential for hindering the attaining of Divine Consciousness by other things.

5:4 A Thing’s potential for evil, which is dependent on the things relations to other things is its potential for hindering the attaining of Divine Consciousness by other things.

5:5 A thing may have a high potential for attaining Divine Consciousness, but it may also have a potential for hindering another living thing with a higher potential for attaining Divine Consciousness; or it may have a low potential for attaining Divine Consciousness, yet have a high potential for aiding another living thing in attaining Divine Consciousness.

5:6 We can deem a thing good or evil only after we have weighted together its potential for both good and evil effect. For this weighing, we must have knowledge; for this reason does the Cosmotheist seek knowledge.

Chapter 6

6:1 A living thing may realize its potential for good effect by proving either physical or spiritual sustenance for the stock of men who from which the Awakened Ones arise:

6:2 It may provide physical sustenance, as the sheaf of grain or the steer provides bread or meat.

6:3 Or it may sustain those things which provide sustenance, as the grass of the meadow nourishes the steer or the microbes of the soil allow the grain to grow.

6:4 Or it may provide spiritual sustenance, as the trees of the forest, the flowers of the field, the strong and graceful beasts of prey provide beauty for the eye, instruction for the mind, and inspiration for the soul.

6:5 And a living thing may realize its potential for evil effect in all the ways it may harm the stock of men from which the awakened Ones arise:

6:6 It may weaken or destroy that stock physically, as the plague microbe or the debilitating parasite wreaks its havoc.

6:7 Or it may deny that stock sustenance, as the swarm of locusts destroys the sustaining grain.

6:8 Or it may corrupt that stock spiritually, as the stock of alien race soul spreads its spiritual poison.

6:9 Or it may corrupt that stock through a mixing of bloods.

6:10 The first two of these evil effects may come from things which have a low potential for attaining Divine Consciousness, but the latter two come only from things which are close in potential for attaining Divine Consciousness to the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise.

Chapter 7

7:1 Let us understand these latter evils:

7:2 The process of Creation is a process of developing self-consciousness in the Whole. Its way has progressed from blindness to foresightedness, from unguided groping to the threshold of consciously directed progress.

7:3 Because its way has been a groping, bound in the fog of imperfect consciousness, Creation has followed many channels; the Urge has taken many directions.

7:4 In some channels the current of progress has been slow, and in some it has been rapid. Some channels have ended in stagnant ponds, and the Urge has found no outlet. Some ponds have dried up altogether.

7:5 In other channels the current has been rapids, but the course of the channel has gone askew: reason has developed without consciousness, strength without discipline, action without service for the One Purpose.

7:6 Thus are we to understand the diversity of the forms of life.

7:7 In one channel the current has been sufficiently rapid and the course sufficiently true that the stream of life has reached the edge of the god. Beyond lies the open water in which distant goals can bee seen and a straight course chosen with foresight.

7:8 But other currents also run near the edge of the fog, and the danger still exists of being swept into a false channel, of being carried back into the fog, of emptying into a stagnant pond. And the closer we are these false channels, the greater the danger.

Chapter 8

8:1 And so, then, those living things which provide necessary physical and spiritual sustenance for the stock from which arise the awakened ones are good and should be preserved: the grain and the steer, just as the living forest, the flowers of the field, the eagle and the leopard, and all other living things necessary to these.

8:2 And those living things which weaken the stock from which the Awakened Ones arise, or deny it necessary sustenance, or pull down its potential for divine consciousness are evil, and measures must be taken against them; against the disease organisms which plague sustenance, against the lesser stocks which may mix or corrupt. And as the last of these evils is the greatest, so must the strongest measures be taken against it.

Chapter 9

9:1 In evaluating living things this also must be understood:

9:2 Our stock has reached a threshold, which separates the unconscious way of progress from the conscious way, and the values of all things change when this threshold is crossed.

9:3 In an age of immanent consciousness some living things severed through their very hostility to advance our stock, as the wolf strengthens the stock of sheep by pruning away the slow and the infirm.

9:4 In an age of awakened consciousness, these things cease to serve; our stock will prune itself, and the pruning will better serve the One Purpose, because it will be done with foresight.

9:5 But at the threshold we must use the greatest care; its crossing is a time of danger, in which the old way no longer serves, and the new way still waits beyond the threshold.

Chapter 10

10:1 And these are the qualities which man shall value in himself, both higher man and the stock from which higher man arises.

10:2 First, the brightness of the Divine Spark in his soul, which is the immanent consciousness of the Whole in him. The brighter it burns, the truer is a man’s inner sense of direction.

10:3 Second, the strength of his reason, for the perfect union of reason with immanent consciousness is divine Consciousness. The stronger is a man’s reason, the more effectively can he implement the Creator’s Urge and the more truly steer his life’s course in the direction illuminated by the Divine Spark in his soul.

10:4 Third, the strength of his character, which is his ability to act in accord with his immanent consciousness and reason, overcoming the lesser urgings in himself, seeking consciousness rather than pleasure, knowledge rather than happiness, true progress rather than wealth. It is his ability to subordinate all the extraneous urgings, which are of the nature of sub-man and man to Urge, which is the nature of higher man.

10:5 Fourth, the physical constitution of his body, that it might serve well the One Purpose. Thus are strength and soundness and keen senses to be valued, for they make the body a better tool, and beauty, for it manifests mans Divine nature and inspires his efforts to act in accord with the urgings of his race-soul.

Chapter 11

11:1 These are the ways in which man shall consciously serve the Creators Purpose, combining true reason with immanent consciousness in the advancement of his stock along the Path of Life:

11:2 He shall keep his stock pure; he shall not permit his blood to mix with that of other stocks, for each stock follows a different course along the Path of Life. When stocks are mixed, the inner sense of direction is lost with it the potential for attaining Divine Consciousness.

11:3 He shall increase the number of his stock, and he shall make every land wherein he dwells, free of the danger of mixing with other stocks.

11:4 He shall so arrange his laws and his institutions that in each generation men and women shall engender numbers of offspring in proportion to their own value: the best shall engender the most, and the worst none.

11:5 He shall guide the progress of his stock from generation to generation: he shall act as the wolf and the winter have acted, pruning and selecting; and he shall act as have all those forces of the Whole which change the seed of his stock.

11:6 And he shall do these things in full consciousness of his identity as the substance of the Creator and the agent of the Creators Purpose.

William Luther Pierce (1979)

Book Three: On Society

Chapter 1

1:1 Human social institutions, like all other things, are of the Whole, and they cannot be perfect while the Self-realization of the Whole remains incomplete. As men and all other things made by men they can only serve the One Purpose imperfectly.

1:2 While men lack consciousness, their society reflects their blindness and their groping; its service fails; it even may become an instrument of retrogression, contravening the Creator’s Purpose.

1:3 But when men are awakened, then their society should reflect their consciousness and their true reason; it should become an instrument of progress; it should manifest in its structure and in its institutions the Urge toward the One Purpose.

1:4 How, then, should men who have been awakened constitute their society so that it may best serve the Creator’s Purpose? How should they govern their community, which is the Cosmotheist Community? What should be the forms and functions of their institutions?

1:5 We know that men who are members of the Community must keep their stock pure, increase their number, and make every place where they dwell secure for these purposes (On Living Things, 6:2-3); they must strive for knowledge, consciousness, discipline, and service (The Path, 4:3); they must judge themselves by their qualities and order themselves accordingly (On Living Things, 2:3-4, 6:4); and they must elevate the value of their stock from generation to generation (On Living Things, 6: 5).

1:6 These four concerns of men— survival, right striving, order, and progress— are the proper determinants of human social institutions. Accordingly, society has four proper functions: defense of the Community and of the stock in which it is based; guidance of the striving of the Community’s members; organization of the Community for the maintenance of order and the effective pursuit of its Purpose; and elevation of the value of the Community’s stock.

Chapter 2

2:1 The Community defends itself and the stock in which it is based by providing collective means for countering the many dangers with which the individual man alone cannot contend.

2:2 The Community must protect the purity and healthfulness of the air men breathe and the water they drink. It must concern itself with the quality of the food they eat. It must beware of every threat to the physical health and fitness of men, and it must have the means to prevent any man from poisoning the common air, water, or land, whether from greed, malice, negligence, or ignorance.

2:3 The Community also must have the means to promote those factors in the lives of men which lead to sounder, stronger, and more beautiful bodies; to build health is to defend against illness.

2:4 Vigilance against famine and disease, the conservation of common resources upon which the survival or welfare of the Community and its stock depends, and armed protection of the Community against those who would harm it are necessary elements of society’s defensive function.

2:5 Likewise are those elements concerned with defense against the corruption of men’s spirits necessary, for survival depends not on the physical aspects of men’s lives alone: Just as the defense of the physical health and welfare of the Community is a proper social function, so is the defense of its spiritual health and welfare.

2:6 Thus, it is proper that the Community use all needed means to exclude the purveyors of doctrines which would have men act against the Creator’s Purpose, and that it oppose diligently all influences which corrupt men’s spirits and turn them from the Path of Life.

2:7 If a man teaches others that the mixing of stocks is permissible or that all men are of equal value or that human life has no purpose, then the Community shall make him an outlaw and drive him out.

2:8 And, whether a man teaches falsehood or not, if his behavior or his manner of life is such as to lead others astray or to weaken the order of the Community, then he may not remain in the Community. For it is a proper function of society to safeguard the Community against indiscipline as much as against falsehood.

Chapter 3

3:1 The Community guides its members in their striving for knowledge, consciousness, discipline, and service by providing a social framework and social institutions within which each striver learns and grows and is shaped into an effective agent of the Creator’s Purpose. These support and direct him; they give him both necessity and means.

3:2 Men’s knowledge comes not from their individual endeavors alone, but from the collective striving of the race over the endless course of generations. The Community must preserve the knowledge gained in each generation and make it the basis for further gain in the next generation; it must impart to the members of the Community knowledge gained by past generations; and it must facilitate the gain of new knowledge to be bequeathed to future generations.

3:3 The Community must provide a framework, which encourages and rewards scholarship, and it must provide the institutions— the libraries, the schools, and the laboratories— within which scholars can seek knowledge effectively.

3:4 The Community must concern its self with the imparting of knowledge outside of its schools as well as inside. The Community’s customs and practices, its celebrations and festivals, its songs and rituals, all the work and the play of its members should impart knowledge of identity, of mission, and of means.

3:5 Above all else, the Community must give direction to the gain of knowledge; for it is not mere knowledge itself for which the members of the Community strive: it is knowledge which leads to understanding, knowledge which complements consciousness, knowledge which abets service of the One Purpose. The Community must ensure that the efforts of its knowledge-seekers are purposeful and coordinated; that every member remains aware of the Community’s direction and of its goal in his quest for knowledge, so that what he gains will be the gain of the Community.

3:6 Those entrusted by the Community to supervise the guidance of its members, however, must ever be mindful that the path to knowledge takes many unexpected turns. The course of wisdom, therefore, is to avoid narrowness and to be ever ready to accept new ways to the goal, if they were better ways.

3:7 Consciousness and discipline, like knowledge, are better acquired with guidance than without, and the Community also must provide this guidance through its institutions.

3:8 Many of the same institutions which guide the members of the Community in their striving for knowledge also will guide the awakening of their consciousness and the building of their control over themselves. Schools must impart consciousness along with knowledge, and they must impart both in a manner, which trains the awakening learners in self-mastery.

3:9 Festivals and rituals, likewise, must raise consciousness, and they must demand self-discipline of the celebrants: in practice for song and recitation; in demonstration of grace, skill, and strength. The Community must glory in the self-mastery of its members and in their achievements, valuing these things so highly that all will strive mightily for them.

3:10 Service, above all else, requires guidance, so that the service of each member of the Community complements and reinforces that of every other member. The Community itself is an instrument of service; the performance of service is its reason for existence, and its every institution must manifest that reason.

3:11 The Community, therefore, must have order and structure: each member has his place in the Community, each place serves its purpose, and the purpose of every place is comprehended by the One Purpose. Each member of the Community serves according to his qualities: one in his way, and another in his— and it is good that there be many ways. But each way is guided; each member accepts the guidance of the Community in the performance of his service.

Chapter 4

4:1 The Community is not merely the sum of its members, its institutions, and its material assets; it is an organization, and its ability to perform its service depends upon the effective coordination of its components.

4:2 Without order, by which is meant the placing of members in accordance with their qualities, the Community is incoherent, and it cannot progress.

4:3 Without structure, by which is meant the body of rules defining the relationships between its members and governing its institutions, the Community has no strength, and it will fail.

4:4 The qualities of men and women grow from within; but the growth of these qualities is ruled both from within and from without. The Community rules the growth from without, and it judges the qualities according to its standards.

4:5 Some qualities are manifest even in an infant. These include beauty, strength, vigor, and fidelity to the physical norms of the stock. Other qualities— intelligence and disposition— show themselves in the growing child; and some become visible only in full maturity, when the mind and character of the man or woman have developed for many years and been proved in attainments and in service.

4:6 The Community must judge all of these qualities, throughout the life of each member, and it must act on its judgment in such a way that the order in the Community best serves the Creator’s Purpose. It must judge the infant, and decide whether or not his future lies in the Community; it must judge the child, and train him according to his ability; and it must judge the adult, so that he is fitted to his task and to his station.

4:7 In every society men are ranked, in high station or low: some by the criterion of wealth, some by age, some by the favor of the mob, some by the qualities of their friends or associates, some by their mental or physical skills. But the Community stands apart from other societies: its members attain their stations, and they ascend from one station to the next, according only to their value in the Community’s performance of its service.

4:8 In every aspect of the Community’s service, those who are ranked high guide those who are ranked beneath them, and the latter return respect for guidance. Authority to guide is granted by the Community to those whose qualities, manifested in their prior attainments and service, provide assurance that the authority will serve well the Community’s purpose, and it is granted in a measure corresponding to the assurance provided. With each grant of authority, a corresponding degree of responsibility is imposed.

4:9 And these are the four essential institutions of the Community: the family, the academy, the corps of guardians, and the hierarchy.

4:10 The family is the institution by which the Community regenerates itself. For the Community the name of the institution has a special meaning. Others may call a man and a woman living together who are beyond the childbearing age a “family,” or they may use the name to designate an extended group, including grandparents and other related persons. But by “family” we mean a man and a woman united by the Community specifically for the purpose of engendering and nurturing children, and the children so engendered until they attain adulthood.

4:11 Over each family so defined the Community exerts its authority: it judges the children of each family; it limits their number when that serves the Community’s purpose; and it sets the pattern for nurturing them.

4:12 The Community does these things in order to ensure that the value of its stock will increase from generation to generation, and it charges each man and each woman who are united in a family to keep this purpose ever in mind and to govern themselves accordingly.

4:13 The Community honors each man who is a father and each woman who is a mother, and the family in which the two are united, in a measure corresponding to the value of the children they engender; and this value is measured both by the qualities inherent in the children at their birth and by the development and strengthening of their qualities through proper nurture.

4:14 The academy is the institution by which the Community educates its members, throughout their lives.

4:15 In the academy the children of the Community receive a uniform grounding in language, history, music, and the other elements of their cultural heritage; they are made conscious of the spiritual basis of their existence and of the Cosmotheist Truth; and they begin the lifelong process of building will and character through discipline.

4:16 In the academy the youth of the Community receive the training necessary to prepare them for their work in the Community, in accord with their qualities.

4:17 And in the academy those adult members of the Community who serve it as scholars carry on their work.

4:18 The corps of guardians is the institution by which the Community defends itself against its enemies, both within and without: against those who would harm any of the things upon which the life of the Community depends, both its physical life and its spiritual life.

4:19 The men of the Community who are chosen to become guardians shall be trained and proven. They shall come only from among those ordained to a life of service to the One Purpose, and they shall be only of the best of those: of the most disciplined, the most conscious, and the most capable. They shall be the strong right arm of the Community, a sworn brotherhood of sentinels ever vigilant against the enemies of the Community.

4:20 The hierarchy is the institution by which the Community orders itself, rules itself, and holds itself to its proper course along the Path of Life.

4:21 The hierarchy is a community of priests within the Community; in structure it is a series of steps leading upward. When a man enters the first step, he is ordained to a life of service to the One Purpose.

4:22 Thereafter he may be the father of a family, or a scholar in the academy, or a guardian, or a worker in another field of service to the Community, but he remains also a hierarch. As he advances in knowledge, in consciousness, in discipline, and in service, he is judged by those above him; and, according to their judgment, he may progress upward, from step to step, throughout his life.

4:23 The hierarchy guides and judges. It shapes structures and makes or changes rules, when those things are needed; otherwise it preserves what it has made. It looks to the future, foresees the needs of the Community, and strives to fulfill those needs. Above all else, it keeps the Community moving ever upward: toward new knowledge, higher levels of consciousness, greater strength and discipline, more effective service of the Creator’s Purpose.

4:24 The Community may have other institutions which serve its needs, but it must have these four: the family, by which it breeds and builds itself; the academy, by which it trains itself and grows in knowledge; the corps of guardians, by which it defends itself; and the hierarchy, by which it governs and guides itself.

Chapter 5

5:1 The Community progresses by traveling upward along the Path of Life from generation to generation: it elevates itself in both its physical and its spiritual aspects.

5:2 It strives toward higher man by pruning and selecting the stock in which it is based. It orders its men and women according to their qualities, and, in the family, it combines and propagates those qualities that best serve its purpose. It ensures that the children born in each generation manifest those qualities more strongly than those of the preceding generation.

5:3 The Community also elevates itself by awakening more fully in each member the immanent consciousness of the Whole and by building in him the discipline needed to render more effective service; through the family and the academy it does these things, and it strives always to do them better.

5:4 And the Community elevates itself by refining and strengthening all of its institutions, by striving always to make them more nearly perfect: to make the family an institution able to engender children of higher quality and to nurture and train them more suitably in their earliest years; to make the academy a more effective institution for raising these children to conscious, disciplined, and knowledgeable adulthood; to make the corps of guardians a stronger and more vigilant institution for safeguarding the physical and spiritual welfare of the Community; and to make the hierarchy wiser, truer, and more effective in its guidance of the Community, with each passing year.

5:5 Thus, the structure of the Community, the form of its institutions and the rules, which govern them, evolve, just as does the stock in which the Community is based. But they do not evolve blindly; they are guided with an ever-growing selfconsciousness, with an ever-surer sense of direction along the Path of Life, with an ever brighter and clearer vision of the Godhood, which is the destiny of the stock whose members follow the Path.

William Luther Pierce (1984).

In The Lives Of All My Fathers

It is nothing new.
I have been here before.
In the lives of all my fathers have I been here.
The frost is on my cheek,
the salt bites my nostrils,
the wind chants in my ears, and it is an old happening.

I know, now, that my forebears were Vikings.
I was seed of them in their own day.
With them I have raided English coasts,
dared the Pillars of Hercules,
forayed the Mediterranean,
and sat in the high place of government
over the soft sun-warm peoples.

I am Hengist and Horsa;
I am of the ancient heroes even legendary to them.
I have bearded and bitted the frozen seas,
and, aforetime of that,
ere ever the ice ages came to be,
I have dripped my shoulders in reindeer gore,
slain the mastodon and the sabre-tooth,
scratched the record of my prowess
on the walls of deep buried caves – ay,
and suckled she-wolves side by side with my brother cubs,
the scars of whose fangs are now upon me.

Jack London.

The Dilemma of the 21st Century

More than 6.7 billion humans inhabit planet Earth and if the population of the world continues to increase at its current rate the population of the world will exceed 13 billion in just 50 years time.

 It does not take a genius to realise therefore that a point will soon be reached when the Earth will no longer have the resources or capacity to support this bourgeoning human populace.

 Many in the Third World already lead sad lives of grinding poverty and borderline starvation and unless someone can devise new and miraculously more efficient methods of food production, the lives of large numbers in the Third World will become unsustainable and many millions will begin dying of malnutrition and other associated diseases.

 Similarly, the natural resources of the world are becoming depleted and as they become ever more scarce, they will become increasingly expensive and eventually beyond the reach of all but the most wealthy people. Shortages of raw materials will prevent the standard of living of people living in the Third World from rising to match that currently enjoyed by the people of the Western nations, and the living standards of those in the West will diminish as the raw materials they need become increasingly scarce and expensive.

 It is a bleak picture that I have painted of the future and you might ask, what can be done to alleviate the suffering of present day humanity and what can be done to prevent the demographic disaster that approaches us inexorably.

 As we send food aid and medicine to alleviate the suffering of the poorest parts of the Third World, we find that the populations in those areas simply swell as more people survive and produce even more children, thereby aggravating the problem and accelerating the approach of impending disaster. The provision of food and medical aid to the Third world is therefore not a solution to the problems of mankind and is in fact counter-productive, merely exacerbating our problems.

 Similarly, as we provide development aid for the developing parts of the Third World and they begin to industrialise, we find that they begin to consume increasing quantities of fossil fuels and raw materials, increasing pollution and further depleting the world’s finite resources more quickly than ever before. What is more, such increasing consumption of finite resources is in competition with our own established needs and this drives up commodity prices making us in the West poorer and increasingly less able to afford to provide further aid in future. The provision of development aid is therefore not a solution either, and is again clearly counter-productive.

 The scale of the dilemma facing the people of the world is immense and one only has to read documents such as the ‘Living Planet Report’ by the World Wildlife Fund, the Zoological Society of London and the Global Footprint Network to gauge the scale of the problem. More information on related issues can be obtained from www.footprintnetwork.org . Suffice to say however that some sources predict that it is too late to avert the impending ecological disaster that I have alluded to. Many believe that whatever we do, the population of the world will be double the capacity that our planet is able to properly sustain by 2050.

If we are to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe engulfing all mankind, we must at least halt the population growth that is taking place and if possible reverse it, and we must concentrate our planets limited resources upon solving the two technical problems that are the current constraints upon human expansion and advancement.

• The first technical problem is that of how to generate sufficient quantities of renewable energy from the world’s finite resources, such that current Western living standards can at least be maintained; and
• The second is how to make space travel a realistic proposition, such that our surplus populations can travel to other habitable planets, thereby relieving the pressure on resources, extending our range and the scope of human endeavour.

The dilemma that we face comes from the realisation that in order to ultimately reduce human suffering and to place our existence on a permanently sustainable footing, it will be necessary to harden our hearts somewhat and allow some human suffering to take its natural course.

 Until the 19^th and 20^th Centuries, the population of the world could be broadly divided into two groups; the developed Western nations who were responsible for the overwhelming majority of all technological innovation; and the Third World, the expansion of whose populations was kept in check by Mother Nature. The Western nations composed c. 25% of the world’s population and had more than enough by way of resources to enable them to continue expanding and driving forward our technology and the frontiers to our knowledge and had this status quo remained, humanity would probably not now be in the predicament that we are.

 History shows however that humanitarians of all sorts, consumed by the notion of a single human destiny, and obsessed by the misguided desire to assert universal human equality, began to argue for the provision of Western education, and the distribution of food aid, medical aid and developmental aid to the peoples of the Third World, with the conceited aim of making them just like us in the West. As a consequence, the 20^th Century was a period during which, not only was the current uncontrollable expansion of Third World populations initiated, but the desire of Third World populations to acquire Western technology and our living standards was awakened.

 This movement by humanitarian groups was therefore the catalyst for the creation of our current problems; in that without any benefit in terms of an appreciable increase in our capacity to feed and provide for such great numbers, the least creative three-quarters of the world’s population has roughly quadrupled in number and begun to demand living standards and therefore levels of resource consumption that are approximately four times higher per capita than they would have been otherwise. With a Third World population four times as large and with the desire for a fourfold increase in per capita resource consumption, this equates to potentially a sixteen-fold increase in Third World resource consumption during a period of a little over 100 years. No wonder energy and commodity prices are going through the roof! No wonder that the Earth’s finite resources are beginning to run out! Furthermore, no wonder that a significant proportion of the world’s population is on the verge of starvation!

 The first step therefore is for the West to stop supporting the Third World with food aid and medical aid and let Mother Nature bring the population growth in that part of the World back under control. This sounds cruel and humanitarians will complain that we in the West will be turning our backs on human suffering, but this is not so – we will be accepting a level of human suffering today in order to avert a massively greater level of human suffering that will inevitably occur worldwide otherwise.

 The resources thus saved by not ‘feeding the problem’, can then be diverted into the development of interplanetary travel and into the research and development of new renewable energy sources.

 Hopefully, it will not be too long before we have other planets to explore and our surplus populations will have the immense resources of the Universe to provide for their ever-growing needs.

 Let it be understood that there is no alternative to this two-step solution, if we cling to the outmoded notions of the 19^th and 20^th Century humanitarians then the World’s non-renewable resources will be exhausted before any new renewable sources can be found and interplanetary travel will then become impossible. We will become trapped on this planet with no alternative but to either increasing thinly spread the diminishing resources that remain, or to fight a war of extermination in which opposing groups attempt to reduce resource consumption and competition through the genocide of others.

 So let us harden our hearts and do what is necessary for the survival of mankind.

The Need For A Credible Cosmology

Today, most intelligent people reject traditional religions as aberrant pre-modern belief systems. Simply put, they appear to be assemblages of mythic stories propounding belief in anthropomorphic Gods, whose existence, either now or in the past is at best improbable and is in any event seen as irrelevant now in our modern age. Some religions, such a Buddhism hold out as the ultimate goal in life the achievement of a state of inner peace that can only be achieved through a renunciation of self and one’s natural urges.

In short these religions fail to provide a credible explanation of; who we are; how we got where we are today; how we relate to the rest of creation; and what purpose there is in life; in a way that connects with the restless, Faustian spirit of Western man and our instinctive ethnocentricity.

Evolutionary psychologists such as Professor Bruce G. Charlton would argue that traditional religions fail because they lack a complete cosmology. Charlton has written that “[a] cosmology is a mythical account of the universe as it presents itself to the human mind; it needs to be poetic, symbolic, inspiring a sense of awe and mystery. Furthermore, a complete cosmology should include three levels of macro-, meso- and microcosm, in order to understand the nature of the universe, human society, and the individual’s relation to them”.

Traditional cosmologies according to Charlton, describe a “static ideal state towards which the world ought to gravitate”. He obviously has in mind here as examples, the state of ‘Nirvana’ or the attainment of the ‘Kingdom of God on Earth’. “However, modern life is characterised by rapid fluidity of all kinds of structures, including innovation and destruction, and growth in complexity of communications without a pre-established end-point. We do not know where we are going, yet we are accelerating towards it.”

“Because people do not have a basic symbolic understanding of the modern world and modern humanity’s place in it, they experience conflict between their cosmology and what they observe and experience. This mismatch between traditional cosmology and contemporary actuality is alienating. Consequently the modern world is frequently perceived as chaotic, meaningless, declining or collapsing”.

Reflecting the essentially European character of his own psyche, Charlton concludes, “A modern cosmology therefore needs to be focused on underlying process instead of structure, on dynamism rather than stasis. If modern individuals become able to develop mythic understanding of the evolutionary nature of things-in-general then their experience of change will match their deepest expectations. Consequently, people may be more likely to feel ‘at home’ in the world and broadly optimistic about the future.”

Through Cosmotheism, which I regard as scientific paganism, I belief that it is possible to establish a complete cosmology that meets all of the prerequisites set out above, which is consistent with current science and which has the capacity to evolve and adapt and remain credible as our scientific knowledge advances. I will expand upon this in future posts.