What To Do When Empathy is a Sin
The now infamous Rolling Stone interview with Anton LaVey, “Sympathy for the Devil,” opens with the line “It’s not easy being evil in a world that’s gone to Hell.” That’s a great quote, and one I frequently find myself thinking of as I ingest each daily news cycle. Every morning I wake up to find someone sneering at human rights violations, the rollback of civil liberties, or even derision of the basic concept of treating one another with common courtesy. When cult leaders are boors, rudeness becomes their disciples’ religion.
This cult of cruelty has perhaps reached its apoplectic apotheosis with the outright demonization of empathy. Christian theologian and rat bastard Joe Rigney wrote a whole book called “The Sin of Empathy” calling the “so-called virtue of empathy (...) the greatest rhetorical tool of manipulation in the 21st century”. Love thy neighbor as thyself, but if thy neighbor needs a hand, he be on his own!
Satanism is no stranger to cruelty. The Book of Satan is, well, an infernal diatribe whose tone is one of outrage and contempt at the Abrahamic religions. The fourth Satanic Rule of the Earth explicitly admonishes the Satanist “If a guest in your lair annoys you, treat him cruelly and without mercy.” Anton LaVey was many things, but I'll be damned if his brother’s keeper was one of them! Of course, being cast as the villain comes naturally to us, and I believe many of us have, at one time or another, relished the role of villain: blithely dismissing Christianity as a milksop for sissies, a balm for the failures and mewling cowards of the world. After all, ours is a religion of power, of Master morality and Lex Talionis. Right?
Historically, Christianity had been prominent in the governmental apparatus of various states, mandating that the populace obey its doctrines—or else. During the past few centuries, as a secular approach to social order became more common, it had been primarily neutralized and not in a position to enforce its morality on non-believers. So, what happens when emboldened Christians drop the pretense of civility and charity, no longer feeling the need to try and pretend that they are just a part of a plurality, and decry empathy as a sin? What happens when the Sermon on the Mount starts to sound to them like the Woke mind virus? When Christians reject their Christ who said “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” in favor of the Christ who warned “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword?” Their scriptures, as we know, are riddled with contradictions. Different texts are quoted as justification for all manner of repressive actions depending upon how power might be maintained. But now, what happens when Christians are the ones defending eugenics and survival of the fittest, and not merely flirting with fascist imagery and language, but outright embracing it?
It’s not easy being evil when empathy is a sin. Or is it?
It would be a gross mistake to ask this question as though a response from we Satanists was warranted. We are not reactionaries, but rather, cautious and bemused observers of our species, “misanthropologists” as our esteemed Magister Carl Abrahamsson refers to us. However, it is perhaps worth considering an element of Satanism which has attracted the least amount of attention from the public for its obvious lack of sensationalism; namely, kindness to those who deserve it.
We Satanists recognize that human beings are animals, sometimes better, oftentimes worse, than others. Empathy, the capacity for fellow-feeling, has been observed in other animals besides we so-called “higher” primates. The book “Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals” provides a fascinating and compelling glimpse into how exactly animals behave in a wide variety of ways that can be described as “moral”: demonstrating fairness, trust, kindness, reciprocity, and yes, even empathy. None of this should come as a surprise to the sufficiently open minded; the ability to care about select others undoubtedly conferred an evolutionary advantage in a world red in tooth and claw. Very few creatures in the animal kingdom are completely solitary, so being able to empathize with others and include their well-being in one’s own mental calculus is crucial to survival as part of a cooperative society.
Many of the Satanists I know are among the most generous, gregarious people you may ever meet...at least to their friends! After all, we practice kindness to those who deserve it, not love wasted on ingrates. Deciding who deserves it is a matter of personal discretion; however, the Eleventh Satanic Rule of the Earth suggests treating total strangers with some modicum of respect, or at the very least not acting like a total asshole unprompted. When you get down to it, the very bare minimum of morality might be summed up, as Patrick Swayze so eloquently said it in the movie Roadhouse, as “Be nice, until it’s time to not be nice.”
Why go out of your way to be cruel or dismissive? If you feel no ethical obligation to help someone, then don’t. But at least why not initially be nice? Why mock someone or belittle them? Why crow over the misfortune of someone you don’t personally know, who hasn’t done anything to you? Why make a show of how lacking in empathy you are? When you’re an asshole, the only people who think you’re being cool are other assholes.
There’s a quote from Nietzsche I’m particularly fond of. It’s part of his unpublished works, the Nachlass, thrown together by his antisemite sister and published as The Will to Power, which is unfortunate because I think it’s Nietzsche at his most profound; not as a writer, but as a human being:
“I have found strength where one does not look for it: in simple, mild, and pleasant people, without the least desire to rule—and, conversely, the desire to rule has often appeared to me a sign of inward weakness: they fear their own slave soul and shroud it in a royal cloak (in the end, they still become the slaves of their followers, their fame, etc.) The powerful natures dominate, it is a necessity, they need not lift one finger. Even if, during their lifetime, they bury themselves in a garden house!”
The weak and insecure search for fame, influence, wealth, and political power as a substitute for inner strength. They seek to dominate others because they cannot master themselves. To the extent they are charitable at all is purely to receive the praise and adoration of others because they need it. By contrast the truly strong, masterful of themselves, because of their exuberance and overabundance of love for life, give of themselves freely with no thought of return. The joy in the doing is reward enough. Secure in themselves, they accept the responsibility of worrying about another. They can lift others up because they themselves are built upon a strong foundation. By contrast, the asshole can only tear others down. The asshole cannot empathize with others because their own needs and insecurities are bottomless. Rather than recognize their own weakness, the asshole rants and rages against empathy to appear strong while, in reality, they are flaccid and impotent.
As Satanists, we are hardly shocked to hear Christians mock the idea of empathy. Tertullian spoke of the joys in watching sinners in Hell roast for all eternity. The long, sad history of holy wars, inquisitions, and auto-da-fé are evidence enough that the followers of the so-called Prince of Peace only ever apply empathy to some people some of the time. Anton LaVey, in the foreward to The Book of Satan, pointed out “The pulpit-pounders of the past have been free to define ‘good’ and ‘evil’ as they see it, and have gladly smashed into oblivion any who disagree with their lies—both verbally and, at times, physically. Their talk of ‘charity,’ when applied to His Infernal Majesty, becomes an empty sham...”
All, however, may not be lost. Assholes are, by nature, glass half empty sort of people. I would challenge everyone who reads this to look at current events a different way:
The demonization of empathy may be yet another sign of the new Satanic Age.
Cruelty for its own sake is unbecoming. It’s also a quick way to find yourself six feet under if you piss off enough people or the wrong people. Again, only assholes think other assholes are great. The rest of us recognize they’re full of shit. So, what will happen when someone realizes that coworker who makes everybody laugh and is always eager and willing to help is a Satanist? What will happen when someone sees the person helping the little old man or lady cross the busy street or carry their groceries is a Satanist? What will happen when someone recognizes that the person who tips the most generously and exercises politesse is a Satanist?
I would wager that most if not all of us already behave accordingly; we just don’t go out of our way to make our identities as Satanists known. This is for the obvious purpose of personal safety but also, given how certain pretenders to the throne like to make a spectacle of themselves by making every little act overtly “Satanic,” a matter of prudence. If people think you’re behaving a certain way because you’re a Satanist, not only does it create the false impression that there’s any given way a Satanist is supposed to behave, but there’s also a good chance they might think you’re being disingenuous as well. Pray not as the Pharisees. However, if and when someone realizes the most empathetic person they know happens to be a Satanist, they just may ask themselves “Why not?”
Now is an opportunity for we Satanists to lead by example; to love and laugh and be joyful and kind and when the world begins to take notice that the Satanists are the ones who are the adults in the room, the coin won’t merely be lifted but will, in fact, be completely flipped over. What exactly will Christianity have going for it then? When the assholes who called empathy a sin only have themselves for company and their desire to be important and dominant leads them to turn on each other, we Satanists will laugh. Let them eat cake.
If empathy is a sin, better to be the best sinner on the block.
Autumn Sword
Witch in the Church of Satan
