Belief and Resolve

Belief is but an immature form of resolve, and he that believes cannot resolve but can only be resolved by that which is dictated to him. In this sense, belief is an act of escapism and a process of succumbing, for he that believes absolves himself of the responsibility necessary to attain resolve, specifically, the responsibility of engaging in the process of individuation as manifested symbolically in the monomyth.

Therefore, the object of the believer's devotion must always constitute a substitution and a surrogate of his own individuation process, i.e. the entity or entities to which faith is confessed are said to have transversed the monomyth, or alternately (and more primitively) represent each individually various stages of the monomyth.

Resolve is therefore qualitatively and syntactically superior to belief in that it demands, as a prerequisite, heroism of the enactor. He must conquer himself and his world; he must overcome all obstacles, resolve all dilemmas; he must emerge transcendent--reborn.

Now this is a matter of particularly delicate linguistics however, for many who believe profess rebirth, this being a misnomer for initiation, two starkly distinct and syntactically irreconcilable events. The believer, in being initiated, is instructed in a specific paradigm and thereof learns to comprehend his psyche through the syntax of a designated interpretation. He is then presented with a series of tasks or trials and told to overcome them, but only in preparation for and anticipation of failure, at which point the object of his faith is presented as a substitute for his own success and a remedy for his own deficiency. This is true of every belief system, and it is a procedure refined throughout history until it has become a nearly universal mechanism of coping with the transition from childhood to adulthood. For individuation is the primary challenge of this transition and many would rather rely on a system designed to repress this necessity than face unaided the darkness and chaos of their own unconscious psyches.

True rebirth, however, or transcendence in psychological terminology, necessitates precisely that which initiation and belief provide an escape from. Individuation, the process of perceiving and mastering the contents of the unconscious psyche, requires the individual to embark upon the journey of the monomyth, to embark upon an expedition of his soul. Here he must face his most terrible fears; he must acknowledge his most horrible deficiencies; he must become at peace with that which most troubles him; he must learn control of that which most defies his will; and most importantly, he must sacrifice all that he has previously valued until he is empty of preconceptions and former paradigms and from this point discern what is true, what is factual, what is the case. He must, in essence, engage in the process of consciously deconstructing and then reconstructing his entire psyche--he must, in the truest and most real sense, become his own person, abandoning the womb of his society in order to return only when he has achieved individuality, the boon whereby he can contribute unique substance unto his people.

Only after this process of transcendence can the individual engage in resolve. Resolve, therefore, is to determine by merit of one's very existence to affect a specific reality, a reality of the self. This internal reality of the psyche is, to all externalities, an immutable object, though it be dynamic within. Only after the external has been internalized can it have any effect upon the psyche, only after it has been assimilated and become a part of the psyche. Thus the transcendent individual becomes a powerful force within his world, for as he cannot be shaped, he can only shape; he can only effect the psychic space that surrounds him.

As those who achieve transcendence are in fact heroes, it is no surprise that many who have actually lived have, intentionally or not, given rise to the very belief systems that, by their very adoration and exaltation of the hero figure to the sphere of myth, prevent their acolytes from ever achieving, or even attempting to achieve, that process of individuation demonstrated necessary by the hero.

Fortunately, psychology and the physical sciences of neurology and general human biology are rapidly approaching the level of technological advancement necessary to scientifically quantify and influence all of these phenomenon. Once this is achieved, belief systems will become nothing more than a cultural phenomenon, not a logically valid (or even arguably so) counterpoint to more modern developments of philosophy. As realism replaces spiritualism, a new morality will emerge in which an individual's capacity to contribute to his society is of paramount importance, and any foolish dawdling in obscure and senseless practices intolerable in so much as it detracts from his ability to assist his society.

It is this transition that I suspect awaits humanity within the next hundred generations, and it will be the single most significant development in the history of our race since whatever event it was that brought us into being, and it will continue to be as significant until at last the two are joined by the third, perhaps two millennia from now, which will be either annihilation or singularity. Whatever the case may be, following this second event of paramount significance, the productivity of the human species will accelerate at an almost inconceivable rate, a fact that makes it hard to predict with any precision how rapidly we will progress unto the third.

This last point illustrates the significance of this issue, of the importance of the distinction between belief and resolve. It is this significance that gives force to my opposition of belief. Though many now would condemn me for it, I care not, for in time the wheels that have been set in motion for centuries will come round at last to a point inevitable, and then I shall be either justified rightly or condemned rightly, but I shall not be justified wrongly nor condemned wrongly.