The Lucifer Principle

[Beth Benoit]

Title: The Lucifer Principle

I've just begun to read a very interesting document, available only online from Barnes & Noble (as far as Iknow), and think if others find it interesting, it would be a good new thread.

The document is called The Lucifer Principle, by Harold Bloom, and while not a scientific study, is very well documented.  The basic thesis is that "... 'evil' is a by-product of nature's strategies for creation and is woven into our most basic biological fabric."  Here are a couple of more excerpts to whet (not "wet" - it's too early in the day) TIPS whistles:

   "Eighteen hundred years ago in the city of Rome, an influential Christian heretic named Marcion took a look at the world            around him and drew a conclusion.  The god who created our cosmos couldn't possibly be good.  The universe was shot through with appalling threads - violence, slaughter, sickness and pain.  These were the Creator's handiwork.  Surely He must be some perversely sadistic force, one who should be banished form influence over the minds of men...

"More traditional Christians found another way of dealing with the problem of evil.  They created the myth of Lucifer...

"Mainstream Christians absolved the Almighty of responsibility by blaming all that's wrong on the Prince of Darkness and on man.  but in a strange way, Marcion had a better handle on the situation than the more conventional followers of the church, for Lucifer is merely one of the faces of a larger force.  'Evil' is a by-product, a component of creation.  In a world evolving into ever higher forms, hatred, violence, aggression and war are a part of the evolutionary plan.  But where do they fit?  Why do they exist?..."

The author goes on to posit that "...to dismantle the curse that mother nature has built into us we need a new way of looking at man...a recognition that the enemy is within us [italics mine] and that nature has deposited it there.  We need to stare directly into nature's bloody face and realize that she has saddled us with evil for a reason.  And we must understand that reason to outwit her."  The reason, he feels, is a primitive survival instinct, but it often results in humans behaving in evil ways.  BUT our intellects can help us overcome our natural instincts.  My husband and I have been discussing the ramifications of this theory for two days.  Time for other minds to prevail, or at least have some input!

This is the URL:

http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?TTL=lucifer&FMT=ALLEBOOKS&userid=1HC5TZ24TO

or, to find this document from scratch, go to www.bn.com, click on ebooks, then on that page, click on "mightywords" on the left side column.  I think you can also enter "Lucifer Principle" in the title section of the ebooks page, and go from that page to download the Acrobat eReader or other free versions, but Macintosh users (such as I) will only be able to get it to work from "mightywords."  The cost was $2 per section (there are 9) - just download the first chapter if you're curious - or $9.60 for the whole book.  You can then print it up or not.  (My Macintosh gave me a lot of trouble.  If you are a Mac user and are having trouble, email me and I'll try to talk you through it.)

Beth Benoit
University Systems of New Hampshire