A post submitted by CGI member, Gryphon.

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This title came to me before I wondered why and looked at the Wikipedia link to Heinlein's novel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land

At some point I had read it, like just about every classic science fiction novels through the years, though the gist of it I had forgotten. I had no idea there was a biblical reference, though frankly, the Old Testament has always held little significance for me, as the Nag Hammadi gospels were only those that held my mind.

I consider my self a Gnostic, as I believe the Christ was. For the Kingdom of God is within you, not without. I also believe there is such a thing as the Demiurge, and also Archons, who are malevolent beings that exist upon our planet.

Satan and the Bug in other words. Satan being the force behind the child and human sacrifice cults throughout the earth, and the Bug being Clif High's term for the AI that is prevalent behind it all. As an aside, being a reincarnated Druid, there was never any human sacrifice in that religion, merely the killing of Romans, who wrote the history. As to the battle against AI, the last book in the Dune series, "Sandworms of Dune" is an interesting read, for that is the ultimate battle, as they find the location of the AI computer, and destroy it when all seems lost, for it would not be heroic were that not the case.

My favorite quote from that book is from Mother Commander Murbella, "Optimism may be the greatest weapon humanity possesses. Without it we would never attempt the impossible, which, against all odds, occasionally succeeds."

But of course, the classic and perhaps most poignant, pertinent and relevant quote from the Dune series comes from the first novel. The litany against Fear.

"I must not fear, fear is the mind killer,

Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear,
I will allow it to pass over and through me.

When it has gone past, I will allow the inner eye to turn and see it's path.

Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain."

For it is embracing fear, not opposing it, as with any emotion, that it becomes defeated. For if you oppose an emotion, it is suppressed. If you embrace an emotion it is felt fully, not fully understood, but felt, only then can it be released into the aether with love. Until it shakes you to the bone, felt unto the core of your being, it cannot be released and will well up like water from the core of your soul. For are we not water? 98%? Do we not have wells of emotion? Where do they reside? If they are suppressed in our mind they are manifested within our body?

Admittedly simplistic, but that philosophy embodies why those with no conscience seemingly have wonderful lives of achievement. They just don't fucking care. Psychopaths, sociopaths, who really cares? But that mechanism for releasing emotions is an important key for those who wish to be free from the entangling emotions that seem to control our daily existence. Projecting a response upon another before your sentence is uttered is a form of personal repression that is anathema to your being. But what is worse is the anxiety prior to saying what you are what to say to that person. Given, there are standards of civility to which we hold ourselves, but when, if ever, should we not speak our truth?

For the emotions we feel, and the intellectual thought and reasoning behind those truths must necessarily be expressed to others lest we fall into a spiraling mental delusion from which there is no return. We become, by our own isolation and fear of expression, Plato's slave in a cave discussing the patterns of a fire on a wall. Let us not let our society become that, isolated, fearful, arguing over who shall stoke the fire and how strong it shall be, but let us emerge from the cave, see the sun, embrace each other as one, have no fear of differences and allow all to be free.

Gryphon