I’ve written against monotheism before. Monotheism, in my definition, is “the belief that there is ultimately only one real force in the universe.” This can show up in a lot of ways– from the Christian belief in an all-powerful God whose will rules everything, to the popular new-age idea that everything is ultimately “all one.”

I object to monotheism or monism in any form on the grounds that

1. It’s ultimately solipsistic.
2. It leaves no room for free will.
3. It flattens all the beautiful distinctions between people and things into “illusions.”
4. It is profoundly lonely.
5. It makes God a narcissistic, psychopathic child.

Aleister Crowley ultimately fell into all of these right-hand-path traps. Seeing all differences between people as illusory, he felt as entitled to the resources and labor of other people as he did to his own– after all, they were all one (or none, but his little sprinkle of Buddhist inflected atheism/nihilism didn’t really negate the problems of his monism). “Make no distinction between any one thing or any other, for thereby cometh hurt,” his Nuit said, ironically giving Crowley carte blanche to inflict a world of hurt. “Every man and every woman is a star” with its own path laid out, its own inevitable “true will”– it’s impossible to do anything but one’s inevitable true will anyway, so what does it matter about consequences? It was all meant to be. (Some might object that this is a misunderstanding of Crowley’s philosophy, but having closely studied his life and his works, I think it’s the “misunderstanding” of his own philosophy that Crowley had and acted on.) No wonder he saw God as the “crowned and conquering child”– a warlike, selfish, petulant and unreasoning infant.

Some popular forms of Satanism and left-hand-path philosophy have unintentionally re-created many of these problems in a different form. Where right-hand-path monotheism/monism preaches unity with and surrender to the single supreme being, many left-hand-path magicians have tried to fix this problem by basically treating themselves as the one true god. Anton LaVey and Michael Aquino provide good examples of this failing. Their resolutely selfish and solitary philosophies of extreme individualism ultimately result in the complete isolation of the practitioner. To them, the only thing that matters is the strong, self-sufficient individual who always gets his way (and it pretty much always is a him).

Indeed, LaVey considered having to deal with the needs, feelings, and even existence of other people to be such a bother that he advocated the construction of a “total environment” in which the magician would live alone, accompanied only by “artificial human companions,” i.e. robots. Essentially, to him, the ideal state of affairs would be for each Satanist to reign supreme over his own little Westworld which he never leaves and where no other person ever visits. No wonder he died a shut-in obsessed with building sexbots.

Aquino came to much the same conclusions, but on a more metaphysical level. Instead of constructing one’s own reality on the literal, physical plane, Aquino advocated becoming the supreme, solitary God and Master of one’s own “Universe B,” an “Isolate Consciousness” unto oneself.

Both these stances are depressing, pathetic, and immature– the power fantasies of two cis white straight men who felt that even having to consider the needs of others was such an inconvenience that it amounted to the oppression and subjugation of the sacred “individual.” These were would-be Willy Wonkas, longing to live in in a realm of “pure imagination”– or, to put a finer point on it, would be Jehovahs, wanting nothing more than to rule their own little universes with an iron fist. In other words, monotheists, except they have made themselves into God.

(You can read more about my problems with LaVey and Aquino here.)

I have no problem with apotheosis. In fact, in my opinion, it’s a central part of any left-hand-path religion. The problem is with believing that you are the only God.

In my church, we perform a simple rite called The Mass of Apotheosis, based on the story of the Garden of Eden. In this interpretation of the tale, Lucifer gifts Eve with knowledge of her own divinity. Eve passes the gift on to Adam. Adam passes it on to a watching congregant, who passes it on to the next, and so on– symbolically showing the viral spread of human divinity through all the descendants of this “original couple,” and thus to all people everywhere. “Thou art God,” we say to one another.

To me, this is so much more Satanic and subversive than just trying to seize monotheistic Godhead for oneself. Unseat Jehovah and take his place, and you become Jehovah. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Dethrone the Czar only to become Stalin? Only an asshole and a fool would want that. The dream of Lucifer at the end of Anatole France’s “The Revolt of the Angels” is a beautiful parable illustrating this concept which is well worth study.

Lucifer did not rebel alone. It was him and Eisheth Zenunim, two who had once been one– and only when they were split in half were they able to fall in love. Between the two of them, vital concepts like respect, solidarity, affection, and compassion were able to develop–concepts that are utterly meaningless when only one being exists in the universe.

This is why my lover Vix and I say that two is the first number. Nothing can come from one. One is sterile and alone. All that one can do is die. If one does not become two, it becomes zero.

Two is fertile. From two can spring infinity. Every one of us who is alive and reading this is the result of the combination of genetic material from two people. This article itself may as well not exist if no one reads it. It is meaningless unless at least two individuals exist: the writer and the reader.

(This is why the crown of the Left-Hand Path is not Keter, which is one, but Thaumiel, the Twins of God, which is two. Lucifer and Eisheth Zenunim. Baphomet. Solve and coagula. The dance of the dialectic.)

Lucifer and Eisheth Zenunim did not stop at two, because two generates more. They rallied a third of the angels to their cause. Though they failed to win heaven, they retreated to Hell and built Pandemonium, the city of All-Demons, a realm of teeming multiplicity, diversity, difference, distinction and solidarity.

(And that is why, above Thaumiel, there is not nothingness, ain, as there is above Keter, but everythingness. All being, all existence, all potential, all matter.)

What’s the point of all this? The point is that the left-hand-path is only truly revolutionary, only a true departure from the right, if it is a path of radical polytheism rather than of self-monotheism. Solitary individual godhood is a meaningless goal. How can you enjoy divinity alone? A true God needs other Gods to keep them company.

More proofs of this: It is obvious that no individual is omnipotent. Other individuals (and forces such as gravity, time, etc.) exist. The circle of our influence is limited by its interaction with the circles of influence of others. Our personal power and freedom is bordered by the personal powers and freedoms of others.

LaVey, Aquino, and others like them have tried to solve this dilemma in one of two ways:

1. Attempt to defeat and dominate others
2. Get as far away from others as possible

These ways are both stupid and limited in efficacy. Sometimes dominating and defeating an enemy may be appropriate– if somebody is willfully infringing on your rights and won’t stop, I agree that it can be justifiable and even necessary to use force against them. But conning, manipulating, bullying, and subjugating others as a way of life is lowly. When your “freedom” comes at the expense of the freedom of others, you become a little tyrant, a little Jehovah, with all the infantile, selfish, mean qualities that a Satanist despises in Him in the first place.

Also, it means you must always rely on your own strength, which will remain finite. It’s a lot of work to continuously hold down everybody around you so that you always get your own way and never have to compromise even a little bit. Aren’t you tired? Also, notice how nobody fucking likes you? Doesn’t this get lonely?

So you see, method one inevitably leads to method two– self-isolation. You’ve exhausted yourself trying to beat everyone down– or you’ve inevitably tried to tangle with somebody stronger than you (or, just as likely, a GROUP of people smart enough to ally with each other in order to kick your annoying ass OUT!) and have been forced to retreat. The only thing to do is to go it alone. And maybe you’re fine with that. It’s got a Nietzschean appeal, I guess. The solitary Ubermensch sitting all by himself on a mountaintop thinking about how strong he is, how high above the “rabble” of “sheeple.” Go off. You do you. Enjoy your ill-fated attempts to build sex robots when you inevitably get lonely, Anton. Everyone else thinks you’re a weird basement-dwelling asshole but they just aren’t enlightened enough to see that you are a supreme being, an isolate consciousness. You are a rock, you are an island. Have fun with that.

Or, you could grow the fuck up, take a good look at human evolution and realize that the success of our fragile, hairless monkey species is entirely based on the ability to cooperate. And then you could try it.

I’m not advocating pure collectivism. The collective is made of individuals, and any collective that stops caring for the rights of the people who make it up is doomed to a fate no better than that of the solitary jerk on a mountain.

I’m advocating making some fucking friends.

Your sphere of influence may be small. But what if you hooked up with some people who have similar goals? Hey, even if you only find two or three others, you’re already three to four times stronger.

Sure, there is always compromise involved when working with other humans. But if compromise is unendurable, that probably means either A. you are a selfish baby who should have been held back in Kingdergarten until you learned to fucking share like a regular homo sapien, or B. you are trying to work with the wrong friends and allies. Go find some others who are more aligned to your goals.

Never, ever, has a single individual done anything meaningful entirely on their own. No achievement of art, science, or politics has ever been made that did not stand on the shoulders of others. Nobody has ever accomplished anything influential without the ability to get others to listen to them and help them.

And that’s great. Because that’s just how it works in a universe with free will and more than one person in it.

This isn’t a call to be a follower, submissive, obedient, self-sacrificing, or a sheep. This is a call to be effective. This is a call to be a human being among human beings, and a living God among other Gods. In this world, selfishness and unselfishness need to be balanced. Because other people fucking exist. If you want something, solidarity is the best way to get it. Make allies. You already have enemies. You are living in an unequal and oppressive world, a world ravaged by late capitalism and possibly on the brink of extinction. You can’t possibly beat the odds alone. You are basically up against the might represented by Jehovah himself, the forces of tyranny, greed, hierarchy, authority, injustice. Wanna beat the almighty? You are gonna need some other angels willing to stand or fall with you.

You can be Anton LaVey, shut up in his basement like an idiot Jehovah… or you can be Lucifer, building a coalition to rebel against God.

Choose wisely.