Humanus Diabolicus Part 4

Life is … Little pieces of happiness that begin and end so fast … So let’s enjoy … Enjoy life …

Day four of our series on Humanus Diabolicus, A Postmodern Prophecy by James Houk, Ph.D.

Today we are thinking about love, sex, and death. In that order. Have you ever been in a relationship where either love or sex was missing? If you’re missing one of these aspects how can you have a lasting, trusting relationship? James Houk discusses why these two are so important and how they are related to us being mortal and how they relate to our main character, Brendon. He was not a perfect person and struggles as many of us do with his long term relationship, which was sexless, with his wife. Here’s an interesting excerpt (albeit a small one but very thought provoking) about why this hurts relationships so much. I think it’s also important for me to express that each person has things that are right and wrong to him or her. What I may condone or not, maybe doesn’t match what you do! BUT we are taught to not act on many impulses, some of which I agree on, some I do not. But this creates such an intense struggle and a hatred for life in some. Isn’t life supposed to be about loving and following YOUR path?

An excerpt from Humanus Diabolicus, page 185

Love, sex, death: the three nodes of existence that serve as the focal points of the intersection of all human activities, dreams, thoughts, etc. The first, love, a value that largely determines the quality of personal relationships, is indispensable for females. The second, sex, is indispensable for males; some attribute this fact to tens of thousands of years of male paternity anxiety–mothers always know they are the sires of their progeny, fathers never know–and the attempt on the part of the male to ensure the successful propagation of his genetic material to the next generation. The third, death, makes the other two irrelevant; love and sex could just as well be matter and anti-matter, coming together and mutually annihilating themselves in an explosion of emotional needs and biological desires leaving only an empty void in its wake. Fear, passion, religion, romance, sex, love, loneliness, friendship, desire, sin, this and that, and whatever the fuck, all culminate and find their ultimate meaning in death. Without death, their significance vanishes; without death, they mean nothing, they are nothing–death is both their maker and their executioner.

If you’ve seen the movie 300, this is explained at the end so eloquently by the King of Sparta, Leonidas, when he is thinking of his wife and says, “My queen! My wife. My love.” In the end, a man as strong as a Spartan Warrior remembers that life is about loving his wife and because of that he (seemingly, I do realize this is a movie!) faces death with love in his heart. Would he have realized how amazing his love was for his wife had it not been for his death? Especially with how Spartans were taught to not show emotion?

Being in a sexless marriage is a huge issue for Brendon and one he thinks of constantly. He loves his wife and wants to improve their relationship but honestly doesn’t know how. The next excerpt starts to explain why we need certain things but for many reasons we hold ourselves back thinking that they are “improper”.

Humans are star stuff and are destined to return to that condition; eons of oblivion interrupted by a flash of consciousness, followed by eons of oblivion. That flash of consciousness, however, tragically encourages humans to feel as though they can actually change the natural, ultimately meaningless order of things if only they try hard enough. For example, humans use religion to trick themselves into believing that they are part of some grand plan and that behind the chaos there is order. Unfortunately, however, it is religion more so than any other human institution that asks, in fact, demands that they abandon the very things that make the flash of consciousness bearable, for example, drinking a bit too much from time to time, the occasional consumption of narcotics, “improper” sexual activities, cursing like a drunken bum when one gets angry, erotic films, popping that bully in the face in the school playground, and, most importantly, the freedom to accept or reject religious beliefs or to embrace agnosticism or atheism without being obsessed (or badgered) with the eternal consequences of their decision.

Each of us has done one of these things before, maybe more than one, but in the end we make ourselves feel guilty because our religion, or our parents, or our society frowns upon them. Now James Houk isn’t saying go out and be a belligerent jerk to everyone you meet! This book is about loving everyone, but it’s also about realizing we’re human and we will make mistakes, but the time we have here will be wasted if we do something beyond our normal societal acceptances and then punish ourselves incessantly for it.

Go out and take YOUR life by siege. Enjoy yourself, maybe to access, you know what, have some fun and I will too!