LaVeyan Jedi

Perhaps you should look into the Je'daii ?
Jedaii seek balance, when polorized there is Sith and Jedi.

LaVey will allways be considered Sith and Dark Jedi.

I will be honest and say that I agree. I was for a long time a Satanist and, though not a LaVeyan myself, knew many. While LaVeyan Satanism has some good points, LaVey spoke of being a god.

The feeling I had as a Satanist is the opposite to how I feel now, like Aries, I'm not sure that they can both be reconciled into one path.

Aries wrote: I was a Satanist for the past 15 years. The philosophy and spiritual side of the LHP were an inspiration for me and gave me great pleasure in my life, until I realized in the long term it was counterproductive. I can only speak for myself but embracing darkness on a daily basis and using it has an adverse effect on the mind over time. I found my way here because this is the exact opposite of what I practiced, I didn't have a problem with the systems I had a problem with how I practiced them. I seen the world as dark and cruel and I believed that in order to protect myself I had to be even more dark, even more intelligent than it was.

I may be new to the light, and I have much to learn, many lessons, however darkness is something I am quite familiar with. In this person's opinion there is no such thing as a Laveyan Jedi, there is no balance between them. You can't be both. I'm speaking from both a spiritual and a philosophical sense. Satanism is the embodiment of ego, of self will of passion, of manipulation to gain advantage by any means without dire consequence. There is no way to combine this with "there is no emotion there is peace". In my mind to combine both is not only disingenuous but also greed, which is darkness. There is nothing remotely Satanic about Jedi either, so a Satanist emulating Jedi makes for a pretty pathetic Satanist (speaking as a former practicener of the LHP). A Jedi aspiring to Satanic philosophy is lost to the light.

Greetings everybody, I'm new and I didn't plan on posting yet just lurking and reading but this topic drew me like a moth to a flame.

Lividius wrote: First off, LaVeyan Satanism is in no way "Devil Worship"

Precisely not; it is my understanding that, rather, it is codified hedonism in defiance to the notion of other faiths that moderation is an englightened virtue.

Lividius wrote: That the teaching of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. are founded upon the basis of hypocrisy and use the basic element of fear to subtly control the minds of its congregation to not only keep them in line as their "god" so intends, but to be able to pay off the mortgages of the tabernacles by the coercion of "a life beyond this one".

This seems spoken by one who either has an incomplete grasp of other faiths, or has had poor experiences with them. To state that other religions are, universally, "founded upon the basis of hypocrisy" is a very inaccurate blanket statement.

Lividius wrote: A LaVeyan Satanist holds himself on high as his own god because Every religion is a product of man'[s own need to pacify his own overly-developed ego and therefore every praise of a religion's god is truly going towards the human individual whose mind was able to construct the belief system and not towards the actual god itself.

I may be speaking out of turn, here, but this seems a very Sith philosophy, rather than a Jedi one. Sith are not (as many suppose) evil, but their core philosophies are at odds with those of the Jedi, and seem to better reflect the LeVayan philosophy rather than the Jedi tenets of faith.

This seems spoken by one who either has an incomplete grasp of other faiths, or has had poor experiences with them. To state that other religions are, universally, "founded upon the basis of hypocrisy" is a very inaccurate blanket statement.

Are you saying the "popular" religions have nothing to do with fear of death or suffering? Religion is a by-product of superstition. Superstition is the by-product of our (in)ability to find the cause of an event and our desire to recreate that event (if rewarding) or to prevent the event from re-occurring (if unrewarding). This behaviour is common in mammals, and experiments show it exists in birds as well.

I may be speaking out of turn, here, but this seems a very Sith philosophy, rather than a Jedi one. Sith are not (as many suppose) evil, but their core philosophies are at odds with those of the Jedi, and seem to better reflect the LeVayan philosophy rather than the Jedi tenets of faith.

Wrong religion mate. Jediism has much to do with faith in the actual Force, and little with giving in to the demands of the ego.

Allow me to jedi-translate:
"religion is a product of an individual's need to pacify their overly-developed ego. Therefore every praise of the Force is truly going towards the individual and not towards the Force itself."

Of course I believe Jediism is an exception to this rule (it is a religion, but one that controls the ego, not one that satisfies it). It is also a generalization. We cannot tell for sure that all religions are like that. Obviously I don't believe Jediism is, and it seems likely there are others.

"A LaVeyan Satanist holds himself on high as his own god"

A Jedi is an integral part of the Force, as are all other things. As such, a Jedi holds himself and everything else as high as the Force, as those things ARE the Force.

In fact, a Jedi will seek to reconcile himself with the Force ("be in touch", "in harmony", etc), not by feeding the ego, but destroying it: The ego, is, after all, that which separates us from the Force and prevents us from understanding/experiencing its true nature.

ren wrote: Are you saying the "popular" religions have nothing to do with fear of death or suffering?

I'm saying exactly what the words I'm using mean: the concept that any faith, much less the generalization that all of them, are based on hypocrisy is a blatant falsehood passed off as fact by the speaker. If it is the op's opinion that religions are farcical, then it is an opinion. This, however, was made as a statement of fact, an empirical sentence with entire libraries warehousing proof of its falsehood. I said nothing of death, or the fear of death. Perhaps your Freudian slip is showing?

ren wrote: Wrong religion mate.

Is this directed at me, or the op? Because if it's directed at me, everything you said after it actually supports my point instead of detracting from it, and I'm very confused by the nature of your disagreement with me when we've said the same thing.

I think you misunderstood what Lividius said then.

That the teaching of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, etc. are founded upon the basis of hypocrisy and use the basic element of fear to subtly control the minds of its congregation to not only keep them in line as their "god" so intends, but to be able to pay off the mortgages of the tabernacles by the coercion of "a life beyond this one".

You seemed to disagree with that whole statement. Controlling the minds of the congregation through fear seems very much to be what religion is about. And government. And TV. Indeed, the religions he cited really put fear in people (and tell them what to do about it), which is hypocritical since they claim quite the opposite.

Is this directed at me, or the op? Because if it's directed at me, everything you said after it actually supports my point instead of detracting from it, and I'm very confused by the nature of your disagreement with me when we've said the same thing.

Actually I was supporting Lividius' comment about how religion seems to be about feeding the ego through "false praise" of a god. (and how that's a bad thing) There is, imo, nothing un-jedi about that statement (except perhaps for the generalization).