Consider the following words. Perhaps you know them. Perhaps they smack of something you're positive you've heard or read before. Maybe something about the frankness of the words offends you. I do not care to speculate. Consider the words carefully and decide whether this holds true for you or not. There is a very important philosophy to consider when you reach the end.

1. Do not give opinions or advice unless you are asked.

2. Do not tell your troubles to others unless you are sure they want to hear them.

3. When in another's lair, show him respect or else do not go there.

4. If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.

5. Do not make sexual advances unless you are given the mating signal.

6. Do not take that which does not belong to you unless it is a burden to the other person and he cries out to be relieved.

7. Acknowledge the power of magic if you have employed it successfully to obtain your desires. If you deny the power of magic after having called upon it with success, you will lose all you have obtained.

8. Do not complain about anything to which you need not subject yourself.

9. Do not harm little children.

10. Do not kill non-human animals unless you are attacked or for your food.

11. When walking in open territory, bother no one. If someone bothers you, ask him to stop. If he does not stop, destroy him.

Likely the first of the above 11 statements to strike as odd is number 4. What could be meant by that? But think about it. Why surround yourself with people you don't care about in the first place?

Perhaps number 5 also strikes you as odd. Often one excludes the "obvious" rules of life as being understood. Well, then this is just spelling it out loud and clear.

Magic? What are they saying about magic in number 7? It is actually quite logical. Magic can mean lots of things, any number of phenomenon that can't quite be described yet by science can be considered "fantastic" or magical.

As for the rest, like I said, they spell things out which many people consider "obvious." SomeTimes nothing's obvious.

Nine Sins

1. Stupidity -- The top of the list for ----- Sins. The Cardinal Sin of -----. It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful. Ignorance is one thing, but our society thrives increasingly on stupidity. It depends on people going along with whatever they are told. The media promotes a cultivated stupidity as a posture that is not only acceptable but laudable. ----- must learn to see through the tricks and cannot afford to be stupid.

2. Pretentiousness -- Empty posturing can be most irritating and isn't applying the cardinal rules of Lesser -----. On equal footing with stupidity for what keeps the money in circulation these days. Everyone's made to feel like a big shot, whether they can come up with the goods or not.

3. Solipsism -- Can be very dangerous for -----. Projecting your reactions, responses and sensibilities onto someone who is probably far less attuned than you are. It is the mistake of expecting people to give you the same consideration, courtesy and respect that you naturally give them. They won't. Instead, ----- must strive to apply the dictum of "Do unto others as they do unto you." It's work for most of us and requires constant vigilance lest you slip into a comfortable illusion of everyone being like you. As has been said, certain utopias would be ideal in a nation of philosophers, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, from a Machiavellian standpoint) we are far from that point.

4. Self-deceit -- It's in the Nine ----- Statements but deserves to be repeated here. Another cardinal sin. We must not pay homage to any of the sacred cows presented to us, including the roles we are expected to play ourselves. The only time self-deceit should be entered into is when it's fun, and with awareness. But then, it's not self-deceit!

5. Herd Conformity -- That's obvious from a ----- stance. It's all right to conform to a person's wishes, if it ultimately benefits you. But only fools follow along with the herd, letting an impersonal entity dictate to you. The key is to choose a master wisely instead of being enslaved by the whims of the many.

6. Lack of Perspective -- Again, this one can lead to a lot of pain for a -----. You must never lose sight of who and what you are, and what a threat you can be, by your very existence. We are making history right now, every day. Always keep the wider historical and social picture in mind. That is an important key to both Lesser and Greater -----. See the patterns and fit things together as you want the pieces to fall into place. Do not be swayed by herd constraints -- know that you are working on another level entirely from the rest of the world.

7. Forgetfulness of Past Orthodoxies -- Be aware that this is one of the keys to brainwashing people into accepting something "new" and "different," when in reality it's something that was once widely accepted but is now presented in a new package. We are expected to rave about the genius of the "creator" and forget the original. This makes for a disposable society.

8. Counterproductive Pride -- That first word is important. Pride is great up to the point you begin to throw out the baby with the bathwater. The rule of ----- is: if it works for you, great. When it stops working for you, when you've painted yourself into a corner and the only way out is to say, "I'm sorry, I made a mistake, I wish we could compromise somehow," then do it.

9. Lack of Aesthetics -- This is the physical application of the Balance Factor. Aesthetics is important in Lesser ----- and should be cultivated. It is obvious that no one can collect any money off classical standards of beauty and form most of the time so they are discouraged in a consumer society, but "an eye" for for beauty, for balance, is an essential ----- tool and must be applied for greatest magical effectiveness. It's not what's supposed to be pleasing -- it's what is. Aesthetics is a personal thing, reflective of one's own nature, but there are universally pleasing and harmonious configurations that should not be denied.

For those still nodding your heads in general agreement about the marjority of the philosophy so far, prepare to be surprised. Then again, if you're intelligent enough or already know, then by this point you already have a conclusion and perhaps a strong opinion. Perhaps you're ready to issue that opinion to me in a frank manner. Here's your chance here. But if you're still willing to follow along a bit longer, continue on, for you are about to have the truth revealed.

The original 11 statements made at the beginning of this page are the words of the Lex Satanica, The Satanic Law. The following 9 set of "sins" are the Nine Satanic Sins. The final 9 below this last bit of prose are the Nine Satanic Statements. If you still have the will to continue reading, I applaud your strength and your ability to set aside preconceptions. Or perhaps you better look at the previous paragraph and are ready to write hate mail. Flame away. I'm strong willed. I can take it.

Nine Satanic Statements

1. Satan represents indulgence instead of abstinence.

2. Satan represents vital existence instead of spiritual pipe dreams.

3. Satan represents undefiled wisdom instead of hypocritical self-deceit.

4. Satan represents kindness to those who deserve it instead of love wasted on ingrates.

5. Satan represents vengeance instead of turning the other cheek.

6. Satan represents responsibility to the responsible instead of concern for psychic vampires.

7. Satan represents man as just another animal -- sometimes better, more often worse than those that walk on all-fours -- who, because of his "divine spiritual and intellectual development," has become the most vicious animal of all.

8. Satan represents all of the so-called sins, as they all lead to physical, mental, or emotional gratification.

9. Satan has been the best friend the Church has ever had, as He has kept it in business all these years.

The delicious irony of it all is that most people are practicing Satanists for the most part. Basically people are out for their own self interests as long as it doesn't mean they run over a bunch of people. I'm not going to spend my Time explaining every detail of every statement above. You'll just have to figure it out for yourself. You've read this far down in the text which means you're pretty open minded and level headed enough for someone to finish making their stand before you attack or accept.

As for my own level of acceptance of the above.. I'd say about 90%. I agree for the most part. As a philosophy I have no problems following the basics. Am I a member of the Church of Satan? Most certainly not, although I have kicked the idea around before. If you have any specific questions, then email me. You're probably pretty smart. And perhaps I made you a little more aware of what you are classified as. Maybe now you're a little afraid of what you are. Understand that I admire Mother Theresa greatly. I consider her strength of will to be a pinnacle of human achievement, although she may have a few choice words for me if she knew that I came to realize that the model for my own philosophy matched the above. What a strange revelation it was for me as well. Very strange indeed. But of course, like ANY religion or philosophy, my dedication to it only goes as far as the ideas I agree with. But in the interest of completeness, I included the whole texts.

To be added later on: I intend to copy the passages in the Satanic Bible regarding the Seven Deadly Sins. As you can probably expect, the Satanist views them as good virtues rather than being evil. How could you possibly twist the words around and make them seem good instead of evil? It really didn't take much skill to do and is actually rather impressive to read. But I'll save that bit for later, once I find my copy of the book again.