Not Belief, Not-not Belief

Having just recently returned from the third Black Metal Theory Symposium held in Dublin, I felt a number of interesting intersections which manifest themselves.  I want to take just a moment and connect a few of these dots, while also summarizing parts of the paper I delivered during the symposium.  The paper, itself, I will post separately. There is an archived video of the proceedings thanks to Radical Matters, who were generous enough to facilitate it, and all of the works will be published through Helvete the Black Metal Theory Journal.  Make sure to check them both out as the work will then all be in context and you may very well run across something else of interest by one of the other presenters.

The paper I delivered began as a discussion of this series of Hexe Drawings, based on ancient Curse Tablets.  The work talks about the mimetic physical structures of each and how they relate to material properties in early Hermetic traditions, not unlike the ones which would eventually spawn the Order itself.  The focal point is then a discussion of belief, desire and the imperfect subjectivity of human consciousness.  So to borrow from the now famous statement by Nicola Masciandaro regarding Black Metal Theory as: Not black metal. Not theory. Not not black metal. Not not theory. Black metal theory. Theoretical blackening of metal. Metallic blackening of theory. Mutual blackening. Nigredo in the intoxological crucible of symposia, we can then apply that same dictum to the precept of Belief, wherein a belief in or resonance with nihilism is not Belief, but also not-not belief.  So in being a Nihilist, and being a spiritual guide for other Nihilists, I thought it might be a good platform in which to elucidate upon the idea of belief within the construct of a nihilist spiritual organization.

Belief vs. Nothing, or Belief IN Nothing.

In order to buy into the concept of an endless nothingness to which our individual and collective corporeal realities will eventually succumb, we still must believe.   I’ve actually found in the time I’ve been with the Order, it’s harder for most people to conceive of the idea of belief IN nothing than it is to conceive OF Nothing itself.  Perhaps it has something to do with the ways in which the East and West separated their triumvirates of religion, science and politic, I can’t really say, but there is a marked difference when I meet with new members from either location.  Those raised on the Eastern Philosophies tend to be able to better understand Nothing or Void as an entity.  An entity of the absent, absent of any external containment beyond our own conscious realization.  Relentlessly spreading beyond our comprehension.  Terror and Sublime made (w)hole through void.  Yes, belief, as subjective as it is, is still a powerful force to reckon with.  Much like the Curse Tablets and Hexe Drawings, its intrinsic power is generated by the realities of the conscious parties involved.  It is WE who both intend and allow this force of belief into our persons.  Making manifest the reality of its power. Making manifest the realities of power.

Believe. Or not.

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