#[eden facing the consequences of their actions: it is because god hates me]

[yaksha-garden]

@askrossiel | Continued from x

"Hail?" Eden scoffed. "We're hardly up in the mountains, Ros-"

A light but sharp plink on their head interrupted them. Eden blinked, and glanced up and around and what could have fallen on them. Another plink on their shoulder. Their palm opened up, and in fell a little cold crystal.

Well. That certainly looked like the "hail" that Eden thought only formed at high altitudes... at least, that was the case back home. The weather of the northern climates was truly and utterly fucked then.

More began to fall. Eden's shoulder and hands lowered. Instead of running into the shelter their friend so kindly offered, they gazed up at the sky, muttering "Ay bhagavan, the gods really do hate me..."

[blackswaneuroparedux]

How will the legend of the age of trees Feel, when the last tree falls in England? When the concrete spreads and the town conquers The country’s heart; when contraceptive Tarmac’s laid where farm has faded, Tramline flows where slept a hamlet, And shop-fronts, blazing without a stop from Dover to Wrath, have glazed us over? Simplest tales will then bewilder The questioning children, “What was a chestnut? Say what it means to climb a Beanstalk, Tell me, grandfather, what an elm is. What was Autumn? They never taught us.” Then, told by teachers how once from mould Came growing creatures of lower nature Able to live and die, though neither Beast nor man, and around them wreathing Excellent clothing, breathing sunlight— Half understanding, their ill-acquainted Fancy will tint their wonder-paintings Trees as men walking, wood-romances Of goblins stalking in silky green, Of milk-sheen froth upon the lace of hawthorn’s Collar, pallor in the face of birchgirl. So shall a homeless time, though dimly Catch from afar (for soul is watchfull) A sight of tree-delighted Eden.

- C.S. Lewis, The Future of Forestry

In his poem “The Future of Forestry,” C. S. Lewis outlines his poetic lamentation over the erosion of the environment.

C.S. Lewis recognises that the destruction of nature is very much an urgent matter. His attitude towards the environment would also be reflected in themes throughout his Chronicles of Narnia series, where being a defender of the forest is an indicator of a character being on Aslan’s side.

How did C.S. Lewis come to this view of the importance of Christians looking after God’s creation rather than dominating it. How did Lewis get so green?

The answer lies in the destruction and decimation of World War One. For C.S. Lewis and his friend, JRR Tolkein, World War One produced, in essence, an environmental holocaust.

This aspect of the conflict left a deep impression on both Christian authors and Oxford dons. Having personally experienced the awful prodigy of modern industry and technology - both men fought bravely in the trenches in France - they enlisted nature itself as a protagonist in their epic stories of good vs. evil.

Even before the war, Tolkien and Lewis had come to resent the encroachment of industrial life into rural England. Tolkien lamented "the tragedy and despair of all machinery laid bare," meaning the modern attempt to enhance our control over the world around us, regardless of the consequences.

In "The Lord of the Rings," Saruman the wizard "has a mind for metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment." The hateful realm of Mordor is sustained by its black engines and factories.

Likewise, Lewis viewed respect for nature as intrinsic to human happiness. In "The Chronicles of Narnia," his series of books for children, the various animals play a central role in the story. The smallest of creatures -- such as a mouse named Reepicheep -- display the greatest of human virtues. As biographer Alister McGrath observes: "Lewis' portrayal of animal characters in Narnia is partly a protest against shallow assertions of humanity's right to do what it pleases with nature."

The experience of war deepened this sensibility.

Both men enlisted as officers in the British Expeditionary Force and saw intense fighting at the front.  Lewis was injured by mortar fire - the shell killed his sergeant standing a few yards away - and was shipped back to England to recover. "My memories of the last war," he wrote, "haunted my dreams for years." Tolkien survived the ferocious Battle of the Somme, but contracted trench fever and was taken out of harm's way. In the horror of the Somme he was given a vision of Mordor: the "dead grasses and rotting weeds" and "a land defiled, diseased beyond healing." As Tolkien acknowledged years later, the Dead Marshes "owe something to Northern France after the Battle of the Somme."

The two great authors met at Oxford in 1926, where they discovered a mutual love for mythology and English literature. Tolkien, a devoted Catholic, helped convert Lewis to Christianity. Lewis persuaded Tolkien to pursue his story about hobbits and Middle-earth.

Their influence on each other's literary imagination was subtle, yet profound. In the climactic scenes in both of their epic works - stories framed by a great war - nature itself is caught up in the conflict.In Lewis' "Prince Caspian," the character Trufflehunter explains to Caspian that it will be difficult to wake the spirits of the trees in the battle against Miraz, the unlawful King of Narnia. "We have no power over them. Since the Humans came into the land, felling forests and defiling streams, the Dryads and Naiads have sunk into deep sleep." Yet the war cannot be won without their help, and Aslan, the great Lion, summons them to join the battle: the "woods on the move."

Tolkien's humanoid trees, the Ents, are among the most memorable figures in fantasy. Led by Treebeard, the oldest living creature in Middle-earth, the Ents were created as guardians of the forest. Earlier wars had decimated the land, forcing the Ents to confine themselves to Fangorn Forest, where they hoped to avoid the War of the Ring. But Sauron's advance compels them to abandon their moral neutrality. "A thing is about to happen which has not happened since the Elder Days," explains Gandalf. "The Ents are going to wake up and find that they are strong."

At the start of the 20th century, when Tolkien and Lewis began their Oxford careers, enthusiasm over "the conquest of nature" was at a fever pitch in the industrialized West. The fever raged with horrific fury during the Great War.

In the Christian imagination of these authors, the assault on nature carried spiritual significance: Man's sins against nature will not go unpunished, and nature will take its revenge.

Contemporary Christians have always had an ambivalent if not hostile attitude to tackling environmental issues such as climate change, carbon emissions or other green issues like clean air and drinking water. This is particularly so in America where scientific illiteracy as well as a distrust in science in general is a particular feature of some Christian churches, especially amongst the so-called white evangelical churches. Science has become a punching bag in the so called Culture Wars in the US between left and right when it shouldn’t be. Thankfully this attitude is only prevalent in America and generally not shared by many church denominations and movements outside of America, especially in Europe, Africa and Asia.

A biblical worldview means accepting the fact that the earth is loved by God and humans have a responsibility to care for it. We have a responsibility to not strip the land of vegetation and to allow the earth to have what it needs to be fertile and productive. That’s not liberal environmentalism, that’s Bible. If man-made climate change is true (and it is), Christians ought to be the most outspoken and supportive of change, because they believe that God has tasked us all with caring for this planet in such a way that it thrives.

Such Christians recognise the need to be good stewards of God’s creation, especially nature. In this Lewis and Tolkein provided an early and important voice to ecological good stewardship and best illustrate the aesthetic intensity of Christian green and environmental consciousness and ultimately a call to action.

**C.S. Lewis looking out from his college rooms, Magdalen College, Oxford. Photo by Arthur Strong, 1947.

[ms-rampage]

Eden’s Gate: The Mother Chapter 4 - The Offer

Warnings: Some swearing

Word count: 1.7k

Where it all began. 

Summary: Mandy has to give Joseph her answer to joining the Project.

Guest OCs: None

Guest Characters: Archangel Raphael (Supernatural), Chuck/God [mentioned], Lucifer [mentioned]

Note: This takes place in 2012.

************************************

A few days have passed, and Mandy has to give Joseph her answer to being The Mother of Eden’s Gate.

She doesn't know what will come out of it, she feels like she’s betraying the citizens of Hope County, but hopefully the Cult will ease up on the people, and stop taking their properties. 

Sitting at the front steps of the Lamb of God church.

Archangel Raphael appears to Mandy.

“So have you made your choice?” the Archangel asks, appearing in front of her.

Her face buried into her hands, she nods her head.

Moving her hands away from her face, “Yeah. Like what you said, I have a mission”.

He takes a few steps closer to her, “This is very important. You have to go through with it. Regardless of what happens in there, or with Joseph. He must be protected!”

Mandy sighs, “Yeah, yeah I know. I’m gonna give him my answer today”.

He takes in a deep breath, nodding, “Good I hope you give him the right answer”.

He’s about to fly away when Mandy stops him, “Wait! Raphael”.

He turns to face her, “What?” he asks sternly.

“Would it go against the plan, if I tell Joseph that I would join under one condition. That’s if they stop tormenting the people in Hope County, stop taking their homes, and businesses?!”.

He looks at her with a dead stare, “Chuck, God is the reason why he’s doing all of that, all the reaping. It wouldn’t make sense for you to join them, and you ask him to stop. Every little thing you do that’ll stop the Project from expanding will cause a chain reaction, and everything comes to an end!”.

Mandy scoffs, “So it is true!. Everyone thinks Joseph is crazy because God spoke to him about the end. They should think I’m crazy too!!, I mean I’m talking to an Angel of the Lord. I’ve met Lucifer, and pretty much every Angel, and entity that is mentioned in the fucking bible!!”.

He takes a few steps closer to her, and says sternly, “Chuck, God chose you to do this because he knows you can gain Joseph’s trust. That’s why you’re gonna be The Mother of the Project, and you’re gonna go through with it. You can’t stop, or change anything that they do for the benefit of you, and your friends”. 

She shakes her head, “I don’t believe this. If I refuse, the world goes up in smoke, I join, and change their agenda. The world goes up in smoke. So I just have to sit back, and watch them kill, hurt these innocent people?!?.

“Yes.Yes you do. Your job is to protect Joseph Seed, and the Project. Not change their plan, their plan is Chuck’s plan, God’s plan, and you have to go by it. You know the consequences if you try to change it, or find a loophole to get them to change their plan” he tells her.

Mandy takes a deep breath, her hands on her hips, and without hesitation says, “And I thought Michael was trying to be God's favorite little soldier, whoever said that was wrong. Oh that’s right it was Lucifer. It’s definitely you Raph, I understand you have an agenda to go by, and I know the man upstairs is watching, and judging me by my actions, and words. But come on, I get that I have to protect him, and he’s one of the most hated men in the county, but for fucks sake!!”.

“You can’t talk your way out of this now Mandeline. You know what you have to do, and you can’t stop it. Joseph Seed, and the Project must be protected. That is that. Don’t be like your nephews Sam and Dean.” he says before disappearing into the early afternoon sky.

Mandy sighs, and goes to her truck. She gets in, and sits there for a few minutes, contemplating her thoughts, before driving to Joseph’s compound. 

Entering the fenced island, she notices Cult trucks lined up on the opposite side of the road.

As if they were waiting for her arrival. 

When she pulls up to the church, she sees a sign that says, “Welcome The Mother”.

She sees about 200+ Cultists outside the church, and wandering around the compound.

Sitting in her truck, gathering her final thoughts.

“I have to do this” she says to herself, “Chuck’s plan, don’t change anything”.

She gets out of her truck, and approaches the church.

Music can be heard playing inside, “Amazing Grace”.

Taking a deep breath, and pulls open the white church door. 

It’s dark, very few candles are lit inside.

She sees Joseph standing in the center of the stage.

Some Cultists sitting at pews, listening to his sermon.

She takes a look around as she slowly approaches him.

Three other figures standing off to the side of the stage.

2 men, and one young woman who looks like she’s not much older than her daughter Paige. 

As she gets closer, her and Joseph lock eyes. His words pulling her closer towards him.

“Then God said to bring the light, to guide those out of the dark, and into the new world. A woman, the Mother of fertility, love and hope will bring us together. Grow together in Eden”. 

She takes another deep breath, “Go with the plan, go with the plan” she thinks to herself.

Now standing 3 feet away from Joseph, the 3 other figures stand behind him.

Mandy immediately recognizes Jacob, but does he recognize her?!.

Joseph steps down from the small 5 inch stage, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“Do you have your answer my love?” he asks, looking into her eyes.

Nodding her head, “Yes,” she replies, almost in a whisper. 

“What is your answer?” his blue eyes piercing into her.

“Yes, I’ll be The Mother” she responds. 

He exhales in relief, placing his forehead against hers. 

His hands move up to her head.

“Welcome to the family” he whispers to her.

She places her hands on his.

He introduces her to the rest of his family.

Jacob stares at her, zero emotion in his eyes, John like Jacob stares at her but has emotion in his eyes, gives her a slight smile, and Faith has a huge smile on her face, tries to restrain herself from hugging Mandy.

She sees her as a mother figure even though she just met her.

They all learn about her, she has two young daughters, who are 13 and 17 years old, and were taken away from her by CPS. Her husband died 13 years ago, and she’s from Scottsdale, Arizona. She once lived in Wyoming. They all know her as Amanda Campbell.

After meeting all of the followers, Faith approaches Mandy.

“Amanda?” she asks.

“Yes Faith?” she responds. 

“I’m still new here, and Joseph helped me find my purpose. But if I have any questions that are feminine related, or if I need help with anything. Is it okay that I ask you for guidance?”.

Mandy nods her head, “Of course, that's why I’m here. To help and guide you”.

A huge smile on Faith’s face, she hugs Mandy, and goes with her followers back to Henbane.

John approaches her. 

“Amanda” he says anthesis on the first A. 

“John” she replies.

“Just because you’re The Mother doesn’t mean you’re safe from confession, and atonement”.

“Please explain what all that is. Since I’m new to all of this” she says.

“Confess your sins, and they’ll be marked on you” she says.

She nods her head, ”And how do these sins get marked on you?”.

John slightly narrows his eyes at her, “A tattoo needle, if you resist long enough, I cut off your skin”.

Mandy tilts her head to the side, ”Sounds very barbaric. Sounds like torture art”.

He chuckles, “Yes. You will know the power of Yes” 

“And what does that mean?!?. Like I said, I'm new, and I have a lot to learn” she says, with a smile.

“You will find out tomorrow, Mother” he says, walking back to Joseph, and Jacob. 

Mandy goes to stand next to Joseph, holding onto his arm as he speaks to his followers. 

“My Children!” he starts, “The Mother has arrived. She is here to guide us to the New World”.

The group of followers starts to cheer, and applaud.

Mandy knows what she has to do. She can’t change anything, all she can do is go along with everything. 

************************************

Later that night, Mandy is standing by the dock behind Joseph’s church.

Staring off at the water, the moon reflecting off the waves.

Lost in the beauty of the lake.

She hears footsteps behind her.

Then she feels a pair of hands around her waist.

A beard resting on the right side of her face. 

The soft voice of Joseph.

“It is always a beauty to be here at night”

She places her hands over his.

“The Lord made this a beautiful night” he says.

“He sure did” she responds, looking up at the moon.

 He tightens his embrace around her, and kisses the side of her head. 

“Come inside soon” he says, kissing her head once more.

She nods, “Okay, I’ll be there”.

Joseph leaves, and goes inside the church.

Mandy stands there watching the lake. Enjoying the night.

A gust of wind blows by, and the fluttering sound of wings.

“So how did it go?” Raphael asks, appearing on the ground next to the dock.

“It went well” she replies, looking over at him.

“Good. Go along with it, and say nothing, or that’ll make you responsible for the end of your kind” he says.

She scoffs, “You know Raph? For you being an Angel of the Lord, you do like to throw hints on killing humans. Your dad’s creation”.

“I’m just making sure you keep up with my father’s plan, and that you don’t screw up” he responds, and he disappears. 

“Yeah sure” she says, rolling her eyes.

She leaves the dock, and goes inside the church.

[arkus-rhapsode]

Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest Chapter 12 Review

Oh my god... What the heck is even going on?

So our cover page is Natsu and Lucy, and Natsu I hope you enjoy that brain freeze.

So we open on Jellal confronting Touka. We learn like how Avatar was devoted to black magic there was a group devoted to white magic. Now this is cool, but literally if you watch the anime recently, that arc was done in 5 episodes. So this feels really odd on how much effort is being put into it.

Like if there was like something tying into Tenrou or hell edolas, that make more sense, given all thee time on it.

So Jellal describes White magic as a philosophy of nothingness, which that doesn’t make sense. Fans of yugioh gx might compare this the darkness and light in that series and how darkness led to creation while light was subjugation. But Black magic is clearly about ending life or manipulating life. I guess you could dumb it down to all life, but literal Ankherseram black magic is portrayed as nothing but death. So wouldn’t white be about life? I guess nothingness as life without personality isn’t wrong,  but this feels like a stretch.

Also, Mashima said anyone could learn any type of magic. So why is that an abnormality? Like if this was Black Clover where you are assigned a single affinity that be one thing.

Suddenly Laxus steps in, and want to make this clear. I don’t exactly hate the idea behind this. That Laxus wants to defend someonew ho is a part of his family, given his new found view on FT, and its using the family aspect of FT on its head. Someone bad could be using FT’s family mentality for personal benefit. Which is interesting.

Okay, well Jellal has a reason, she is  suspect and as a guild master he has authority to take her in. However, Laxus you of all people know that people in your guild will still harm it.

On the one hand im torn, the shounen loving half of my brain wants to see this fight. But the logical half says that these two are mature adults with enough common sense to take this to the run knights. And confrontation is over after this page.

Yeah for a chapter named after the two, its got very little to do with theem. Instead.... The worst thing in the chapter happens. We cut to Diablos’ ship and we see this.

Yes you are seeing this right. For people who were saying I was to harsh, calling this a submissive Erza fetish that Mashima is putting out, I ask you read this chapter.

You know I can’t tell if Skullion means this is temporary as in terms of magic, or temporary as Kyria will grow bored, but I do know that this is nothing but sick and tastess. Also props to Madmorel for having some class to be disgusted by the perv in the group. Like that is becoming a rarity these days.

We are guided down to the lower deck where natsu and wendy are being held, the motion sickness keeping them in check.

I’ve been putting this off long enough, its time to rant. This is bull shit. People told me, i was too harsh on mashima, but at the least I thought this was some sort of temporary thing that was meant so Kyria could get a win in a fight, but this might be some permanent magic effect feels disgusting.

Now, people say that this happened cause people would rag on Erza, called Erza fights awful, and that now Mashima is going in the complete opposite dirction. You didn’t like strong erza, fine! Here’s weak Erza, you happy cynics?

But that’s not the case. People didn’t like Erza because she was “too strong” she was someoone who went from this amazing badass female character, to this static friendship speech spewing tool that never truly got any development. Its painful for people to see a character like Erza not grow after she had developed so much in ToH, but it just was never followed through. All the times she won just felt like a poor spectacle without any character behind it.

Now you could say an erza who needs to get her strength back could be character development. No. Cutting away a person’s strength with “magic” is not character development, its forced regression. Its the author literally creating an unrealistic situation bcause he has no idea what to do with her  after ToH, hell he can’t even fully commit to a love story between her and jellal.

When Erza came onto the scene, she was cool, in control, yet could over react at times. To see her be pushed to her lowest by ToH and then recover and face midnight in OS, is peak Erza character shining through. That this is how erza’s development deserved to be treated. But Watching Erza crawl on the ground, be spanked, and cry for mercy like a hentai doll, all because of plot convince magic is so gross to me. Its ejecting the Erza that we all love and stripping her of all that personality just for this.

So if you blame this development on people who were too hard on Mashima about how he was writing Erza, I, a critic and very judgemental person, find this worse than any of the nakama power or skimpy armors.

Erza being trapped in Kyoka’s sex dungeon was bad, but you know what, EErza actievly resisted it. She didn’t want to be there aand tried to fight back. It wasn’t handled well, but that t least felt like whatt her character would do in this situation. But this was forced upon her and this is nothing more than an Erza made for this arc.

Also, lets step out of this and look at this from the meta perspective that this is also extremely lazy. In Eden’s zero there’s a villain who is all about subjugating women right now, and Mashima couldn’t be bothered to not let that bleeed into his other work. If that doesn’t scream creately lazy, than I don’t know what will. Also that frog thing in Eden’s zero is actuaally better giveen the fact he’s not mind bending away personality, he’s forcibly turning them in statues to do with what he pleases against their will.

Im not saying this cause im anti ecchi or that im anti  mashima, im anti such a hack story writting device that weather you stuck it out as a fan of erza’s till the end of FT or liked her at first but than soured on her, I ask, would you tolerate this? I’m not claiming ownership of the character of Erza, but I am asking do you think that this is worth a character arc because our author couldn’t think of anything better to do with her. You know if you knew Erza was so strong,Ad that in actuality she would sweep away most threats, why did you bring her? I honestly would’ve preferred Jellal and Erza being out of the action cause they had a kid or something. Erza having to pick between biological family and her guild family seems like a better direction to take her character in than this.

To see Erza cry because someone’s magic made her into a slave is so lacking in power than say the sheer emotional weight of watching simon die. Like this is shit is just awful.

We cut to Luccy and here is where I get to credit thee art. Sure Lucy is in a bikini, but what matters in frame is the wounds on her legs. Which is a nice us of having aa skimpy dress and not sexualizing it.

We get a flashback of Lucy realizing Kyriaa took her friends and this is where I give Caramille a big fuck you. Oh sure, this did happen after they showed up, but Diabolos clearly was going to find the place eventually and more importantly, you did fuck all. Like, go screw cause you have contributed literally nothing.

We find out that there is another ship in the area and that Gray is okay because he was saved by you can guess who...

Okay on the one hand, this definitely seems like Brandish’s kind of entrance, but on the other. Fuck you, Hiro. Like she just passed by and saved Gray? Hw? The entire ocean was either freezing or evaporating, what is your range? Also, who is in charge of Alverez? Yajeel? Oi...

Post Chapter Follow up: Its easy to say why I don’t like this chapter. I feel so sick by the sheer amount of laziness and disgust in the slave Erza plot. Like, my god this is so wrong. Not because of the subject, human slavery makes sense in a series aimed at teenagers, but the sheer disrespect that Hiro treated this character, made my blood boil. At the very least in Alvarez, Erza still seemed like she was the same character from beginning of the series.

People who follow me weekly on this review series are probably going to ask when I will stop harping on this Erza thing. Well each week, it  somehow get worse and more gross.  First time it felt like a cheap win, second it was bad use of domination, now this is full blown fetish material.

As for the brandish thing, I know why she is here, Lucy is literally not strong enough to handle 3 DE’s by herself with a few exceeds, and I’d accept that Brandish reentering the series. But maybe leave out Gray? I guess you could say that this is a subversion of the Musica captured by Doryu, but this feels lazier. You could’ve just made this a big “step up Lucy plot,” but no, had to save Gray, even though Skullion should’ve notice when his magic didn’t actually ash up Gray. Plus think about, if they save save Natsu and Wendy this arc and beat these three dragon eaters, wouldn’t some added bit of tension to the quest be finding diablos’s hideout and saving Gray from the “dinner table?”And I was cool with the kidnapped gray thing, but no, we had to have kidnapped everyone else.Also if he was made small how did he survive the water? Like he’s the size of a pin, he’d drown.

Now the stuff with Laxus and Jellal is actually fairly good Its an interesting take on FTs standards vs the consequences of their past when we are suppose to be rooting for Touka to be extracted. And involving two characters that really have been in the moral gray spectrum make them the most qualified for this subject matter. While i definitely didn’t like the Touka plot at first from how disconnected it was from everything (and it really is kinda shoed in on this point) it still is the more interesting plot. It has more intresting ideas than, “more dragons” and is involving the characters that come off as the most interesting.

Final Verdict: 3/10

There is clearly some interesting idea at work here

However, the way the plotline for the dragon portion of this arc has become a mess

I don’t use this phrase lightly, “Erza literally deserves better than this”

Plot convince playhouse at its finest

[jam2289]

On Resentment as the Path to Destruction

Resentment is the most destructive emotion. It seems like hate and anger might be, or jealousy. But, notice that all of these things spring from resentment. Resentment is the underlying foundation that fuels these other destructive emotions. Let's take a quick look at six demonstrations.

Aesop created some fables 2,600 years ago. Those stories are still popular. That's impressive. "The Fox and the Grapes" deals directly with resentment. There are many versions, here's one.

- - - - - - -

ONE hot summer’s day a Fox was strolling through an orchard till he came to a bunch of Grapes just ripening on a vine which had been trained over a lofty branch. “Just the things to quench my thirst,” quoth he. Drawing back a few paces, he took a run and a jump, and just missed the bunch. Turning round again with a One, Two, Three, he jumped up, but with no greater success. Again and again he tried after the tempting morsel, but at last had to give it up, and walked away with his nose in the air, saying: “I am sure they are sour.”

        “IT IS EASY TO DESPISE WHAT YOU CANNOT GET.”

- - - - - - -

The story of Cain and Abel is 6,000 years old, maybe quite a bit older than that. It also perfectly addresses resentment as the path to destruction.

- - - - - - -

1Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the LORD.” 2And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, 5but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

8Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10And the LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” 15Then the LORD said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 16Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

- - - - - - -

These stories point out important truths about the world. Specifically, they show how resentment develops and what it leads to. Here are some definitions of resentment.

- - - - - - -

a feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as a wrong, insult, or injury

to dislike or be angry at something or someone because you have been hurt or not treated fairly

the feeling of displeasure or indignation at some act, remark, person, etc., regarded as causing injury or insult

- - - - - - -

The Fox was resentful, and so was Cain. The Fox was rejected and denied by the grapes, Cain was rejected and denied by God. Then, naturally, they had hate. What do you think would have happened if the Fox had seen someone else eating and enjoying the grapes? I'm guessing bloody things, just like Cain. What follows are historical examples of the same thing in action: the Columbine shooters, Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, Hitler, and Panzram.

For instance, the Columbine shooters were pretty straight forward about why they did what they did. They wanted to destroy the world because in their eyes the world sucked. So, they tried to create the greatest spectacle of destruction that they could imagine pulling off. The plan was much worse than the actual event. They killed 13 people, if they did what they had planned to do they would have killed hundreds.

Eric Harris had long posts on his website where he listed what he loved and what he hated. Here are a couple of examples.

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YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE!!?

---When people mispronounce words!and they dont even know it to, like ofTen, or acrosT, or eXspreso, pacific (specific), or 2 pAck, learn to speak correctly you morons.

YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE!!?

---Natural SELECTION!!!!! God damn its the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak orginisms........but its all natural! YES!I wish the government would just take off every warning label. So then all the dumbasses would either severely hurt themselves or DIE! And boom, no more dumbasses. heh.

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There's some resentment showing through there. These two entries were some of the nicest ones. His partner Dylan Klebold was a completely different personality, but they had resentment in common. Here are some of his journal entries.

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Fact: People are so unaware... well, Ignorance is bliss I guess... that would explain my depression.

I swear -- like I'm an outcast, & everyone is conspiring against me...

The lonely man strikes with absolute rage.

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Now, obviously these kids had other problems too. One was a psychopath and the other had a psychotic break. But, resentment was the driving force.

They are not alone. Here's a disturbing chain of events. The massacre at Ruby Ridge led to the massacre at Waco. The massacre at Waco directly led to the Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City bombing was an inspiration for the Columbine shooters. An evil chain of events. Here are a few selections from the letters of Timothy McVeigh.

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I chose to bomb a federal building because such an action served more purposes than other options. Foremost the bombing was a retaliatory strike; a counter attack for the cumulative raids (and subsequent violence and damage) that federal agents had participated in over the preceding years (including, but not limited to, Waco). From the formation of such units as the FBI's Hostage Rescue and other assault teams amongst federal agencies during the 80s, culminating in the Waco incident, federal actions grew increasingly militaristic and violent, to the point where at Waco, our government - like the Chinese - was deploying tanks against its own citizens.

When the post-inferno investigations and inquiries by the Executive and Legislative branches of government concluded that the federal government had done nothing fundamentally wrong during the raid of the Branch Davadians at Waco, the system not only failed the victims who died during that siege but also failed the citizens of this country. This failure in effect left the door open for more Wacos.

Some time after the fact they received awards, bonus pay and in some cases promotions for their disgusting and inhumane actions at Waco and Ruby Ridge.

It was in this climate then, that I reached the decision to go on the offensive - to put a check on government abuse of power where others has failed in stopping the federal juggernaut run amok.

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You can see that this thinking is quite a bit different than the Columbine shooters. Harris and Klebold resented the world in general. Harris for everyone being stupid and having no worth or value. Klebold for being a rejected outcast. They chose the closest, easiest, and most brutal target they could think of. McVeigh resented the US government specifically and made his choice for that reason. Cain resented the person that was getting what he thought he deserved, and God. The Fox resented what he couldn't get.

This is not a fun article to write, I've kind of emotionally exhausted myself at this point by even paying attention to all of these evil thoughts and deeds. But, it's important to see the bad and how it works so that we can both avoid it and seek the good. I only have three more examples to go.

Theodore Kaczynski was a math prodigy that went to Harvard at age 16. While there he was put into a psychology experiment that he was lied to about. He had to develop essays on his personal life philosophy. Then he was subjected to military style interrogation techniques specifically designed to mentally break enemy combatants and spies. This experiment went on for 3 years. The records of all of that were purposefully destroyed to keep them secret from the public, but I think we can get a pretty clear idea of what the essays were about from the Unabomber's manifesto that he wrote later in life. Here are several selections.

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1. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life-expectancy of those of us who live in “advanced” countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in “advanced” countries.

59. We divide human drives into three groups: (1) those drives that can be satisfied with minimal effort; (2) those that can be satisfied but only at the cost of serious effort; (3) those that cannot be adequately satisfied no matter how much effort one makes. The power process is the process of satisfying the drives of the second group. The more drives there are in the third group, the more there is frustration, anger, eventually defeatism, depression, etc.

60. In modern industrial society natural human drives tend to be pushed into the first and third groups, and the second group tends to consist increasingly of artificially created drives.

178. Whatever else may be the case, it is certain that technology is creating for human beings a new physical and social environment radically different from the spectrum of environments to which natural selection has adapted the human race physically and psychologically. If man is not adjusted to this new environment by being artificially re-engineered, then he will be adapted to it through a long and painful process of natural selection. The former is far more likely than the latter.

179. It would be better to dump the whole stinking system and take the consequences.

211. In the late Middle Ages there were four main civilizations that were about equally “advanced”: Europe, the Islamic world, India, and the Far East (China, Japan, Korea). Three of those civilizations remained more or less stable, and only Europe became dynamic. No one knows why Europe became dynamic at that time; historians have their theories but these are only speculation. At any rate, it is clear that rapid development toward a technological form of society occurs only under special conditions. So there is no reason to assume that a long-lasting technological regression cannot be brought about.

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The Unabomber was resentful about all of science and technology. He's written several books specifically on this.

Lastly, we have Adolf Hitler. The entire story of Hitler is filled with all kinds of resentment. On a larger scale we have the surrender of Germany in WW1. This was seen by the German army as a betrayal by the government officials. The signers of the Armistice were called "The November Criminals." The Nazis promoted this idea and said that it was the Jews that had stabbed the nation in the back to take power. This is called the stab-in-the-back myth today.

Then, there were a bunch of war reparations imposed on Germany. They had traditional German land taken, they had to pay billions of dollars in damages, they suffered a hyperinflationary economy, and had severe restrictions on a bunch of other things. To a large extent resentment was the fuel behind all of WW2.

But, let's just look at Hitler the man. It's commonly known that he wanted to go to art school when he was young. He used his inheritance from his dead father to move to Vienna. He applied to the art institute in Vienna twice, and was twice denied. He was told he was good at drawing and painting buildings, but he lacked talent in representing the human form. During this time his mother was dying of cancer. He made a poor living trying to sell his art. Some of his friends, his art dealer, and some of his patrons were Jews at this time. After that he joined the army and fought in WW1, then went into politics. But, he never let go of art. Here's a quote from Hitler in 1939 from the "British War Blue Book".

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I am an artist and not a politician. Once the Polish question is settled, I want to end my life as an artist.

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A resentful and rejected artist, plus a resentful generation of army veterans, plus a resentful national populace equals WW2.

I think all of this clearly shows the dangers of resentment at multiple levels and across different contexts. There is value in the real-life stories, but I think the pure stories are more valuable for a couple of reasons. One, they are less depressing to think about and research. Two, they are a hyperreality, meaning that they select what is important and leave out what is not. With the real-life stories there is just too much information, it's overwhelming. We can see that the same principles apply, but it's much easier to see in "The Fox and the Grapes" and "Cain and Abel" rather than in the other examples. Three, there is a little detachment in the stories. You can get a better perspective because they are less real. This helps you to clearly see what is happening, how it's happening, and why. In the real-life stories important points can be lost in the details.

I've heard it said so many times that no one can know why these horrible things are done. That just isn't true. It's very easy to know why horrible things are done. It's very easy to know how these people think. It's fairly easy to find out why they did what they did and what motivated them. Most people just don't want to know, and hey, fair enough. It's not fun. But, self-deception is a dangerous thing. It's important to realize that we are all susceptible to resentment. And, that's a problem that has to be dealt with on the inside, in the attitudes and views that we take towards the world. These attitudinal values are the most important values.

Most of us let our resentment become some sort of passive aggressiveness, mostly resulting in snide comments. This is a lot better than violence, but it's walking down the wrong road and is sure to lead to nothing good. Others run rather than walk down that road. One last example, here are some excerpts from the letters of Carl Panzram.

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After serving about 2 years there I was pronounced by the parole board to be a nice, clean boy of good morals, as pure as lily and a credit to those in authority in the istatution where I had been sent to be reformed. Yes sure I was reformed all right, damn good and reformed too. When I got out of there I knew all about Jesus and the bible so much so that I knew it was all a lot of hot air. But that wasn’t all I knew. I had been taught by christians how to be a hypocrite and I had learned more about stealing, lying, hating, burning and killing. I had learned that a boys penis could be use for something besides to urinate with and that a rectum could be use for other purposes than crepitating. Oh yes I had learned a hell of a lot, from my expert instructors furnished to me free of charge by society in general and the state of Minnesota in particular. From the treatment I received while there and the lessons I learned from it, I had fully desided when I left there just how I would live my life. I made up my mind that I would rob, burn, destroy and kill every where I went and everybody I could as long as I lived. That’s the way I was reformed in the Minnesota State Training School. Thats the reasons why.

If you or any one else will take the trouble and have the inteligence and paitince to follow and examine every one of my crimes and actions you will find that I have consistently followed one idea thru all my life. I preyed upon the weak the harmless or unsuspecting. Those I have harmed were all either weaklings either mentaly or phisicaly. Those who were strong in either mind or body I first lied to and led into a trap where they were either asleep or drunk or helpless in some way. I always had all the best of it, because I knew ahead of time just what to expect and the others did not. I therefore was strong in my knolledge and stronger in body than those preyed upon. This lesson I was taught by others. Might makes right.

You know that I spent several years in one of those places [reform school] when I was a boy and the so called Training that I recieved while there is mainly the cause of my being the degenerate beast that I am today. I have thought about that system of Training young boys for all of my life and I know that the whole system is wrong. That system of beating goodness, religion and Jesus into boys in the 99 times out of 100 has the direct opposite effect of taking all of the goodness, kindness and love out of them and then replacing those with hate, envy deciete, tyrany and every other kind of meaness there is.

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You see the same type of pattern here. Now, I'm not giving a solution to resentment here. What I'm saying is that it's important. It's an important problem to confront and overcome, lest we become overwhelmed by it. We cannot ignore this type of problem, but we can seek to understand it and do something about it by changing ourselves. By knowing about evil we can learn to avoid it and to seek the good.

(In the book "Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live With Themselves" Albert Bandura breaks down the eight mechanisms that allow people to do these types of things. But, for today, I'm done with this subject. Maybe that's a topic for another time.)

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You can find more of what I'm doing at http://www.JeffreyAlexanderMartin.com