It is not an uncommon occurence for The Chronicles of Enoch to be accused of being a political work. In fact it is increasingly common in these times in which we find ourselves to see this charge levelled. This is actually something we find odd.
How it Began?
The world of today is an increasingly divided one. Whether it be because of race, social position, educational level, or political beliefs, the human race has rarely been so divided and we can only blame social media to a certain extent. Yes, social media does make it easier to argue without consequence, to share ideas and opinions would would not dare to utter publically, to personally attack celebrities and influential people without retaliation (sometimes), to even become involved in a form of activism and reach far more people than ever before; there are, indeed, endless possibilities. The internet and social media, though, are mere tools. It is a poor workman that blames his tools, so the saying goes.
People are wont to say that the spread of social media has led directly to the spread of divisive opinion and politics and they surely have helped, but are not solely responsible. Such opinions and divisions have existed before, you know?
The Utility of Division
Anyone that follows the popular exploits of Asmodeus will know that he is very interested in the potential of such tools; he has developed many and made use of others that already existed. He knows well the value of division;
"Lions on the serengeti know this; the predator will try to divide the herd and pick off the weak or infirm. You watch the wilderbeast when they run from the lionesses; they are individuals looking after themselves, not a herd any more..."
"A clever predator knows how to make prey think only about their own immediate future, look at it this way; 6-10 lionesses and, what, a hundred and fifty half tonne masses of hoof and horn? If the herd stood together, the lions wouldn't last a minute."
In every single occasion in history, the oppressed have vastly outnumbered the oppressor by a factor of at least hundred-to-one so why do the oppressors always win?
"A man that has considered defeat in his mind has already lost" Sun Tzu
Here we come to the nub of the problem.
The Point
The Chronicles of Enoch was banned from Facebook for talking about this, as many of you already know; for daring to point out strategies that are hardly new or creative, just done differently in this age of technology. People like Mark Zuckerberg has made his billions from exploiting insecurity among other things. He told us he was spying on our every move and we thought "well, he must be allowed, right?" and carried on sharing pictures of our latest meal or a nice sunset we'd just seen. Why? The Prime Commandment, of course, that which supercedes the Ten of Christianity and Judeaism;
Thou Shalt Not Question
We have been conditioned into this over years, decades, perhaps even centuries, until it became part of our society even. See, we come to the point of this; the greatest paradox of the human condition; humans appear to crave individuality but fear standing out. We want to be individuals as long as we can identify with a group that as unique in exactly the same way as we are. The number of humans who can truly stand alone and unconcerned whether anyone agrees with them is few to none.
Humans crave individuality while fearing being singled out
If one is disturbed by something but enough people explain it to you, most people are likely to accept said explanation, no matter how odd it feels at first than be the target or derision. People prefer to conform than rebel, ultimately, because to do so is to be considered that true ananthema to the human ego weird.
So, why does this matter?
Two Tribes go to War
Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford have some views I don't agree with but they touched on something with this song. We have been rather effectively divided into one of two tribes in recent times;
Trump vs Biden
Patriots vs Liberals
Leavers vs Remainers
Racism vs Compassion
Pro-Life vs Baby Killers
Apologists vs Realists
Faithful vs Heretics
These are all just words which have little implicit meaning by themselves yet they have meaning given to them by those who further the need to divide. Across the world today, friends and even families are divided by arguments in attack or defense of people who will never even know their names or spare them a thought. Yet people will and do defend these people to the expense of the relationships they share with people they DO see regularly.
Let me give an example; some of my best friends are those with whom I do not share the same opinions on everything. Said friends and I would often, back in the days of yore, pass away hours arguing quite heatedly about our differing opinions. We would construct arguments, present evidence, and press our suit with passion, knowing deep down that neither would ever convince the other of their opinion. Upon reaching the inevitable impasse, each would fume silently into their beverage for several minutes until one told a joke and that would be that.
Not in these times. People will hate you to the grave now on an ideological point. You don't think x is y? Then you are clearly a z who hates everything I consider wholesome and also eats babies for breakfast!
Through the Mirror, Shadows Darkly Fall
Spending a short time on Twitter is always an educational experience. That said I have found a few souls on there who can overcome their programming and, though we stand at polar opposites on certain topics, find common ground and be civil all the same. Of course, such sentiments are rare and their pratitioners few and far between.
When did the politics of identity more important or equal to actual identity? If you listen to some people, over the course of the last four years, if you listen to others it has been longer than that, yet others will tell you current events are a symptom of deeper troubles but which is right? Why, they all are and none of them are, of course!
How, you ask, is that possible? Why, Asmodeus' favourite thing in the world, the new religion; The Conspiracy Theory!
In researching The Chronicles of Enoch, our first and greatest surprise was the sheer number of them that are not only out there but remain active today! Let me give you a list and let your naked impressions decide why it is here and what for, then we'll talk about it;
No proof exists to prove assertations.
Faith is encouraged and persecution very real
Those who ask for proof are dangerousand secretly working to test us and our faith
The prophet has knowledge and we who share in it are both better and special
We should pity those who refuse to partake of the light because they are doomed to torment
Those who oppose us are evil
Those who believe are saved
A great 'judgement' or 'apocalypse' is coming from which believers will be safe
I am talking about the Q Conspiracy whch is widely popular today, I have actually been told these things by the more fervent of 'his' supporters. Now answer me this, does this or does this not sound like a religion to you?
To be fair, those who know me know I have little truck with conspiracies and less so with QANON, we have a little history, they and I; I disapproved of the reach and methods but failed to convince them of alterative courses of action. We disagree on much but I gave my word and shall keep it. Like all conspiracy theories, the primary goal is distraction and, of course, division; separating people into "Us" and "Them"; the enlightened and simps.
But...
Yes, The Chronicles of Enoch not only studies and delves into conspiracy theories, we develop them and make them real, true. We indeed do that but in order to reveal the inherent fictions behind them as well as the sheer silliness of some of them. See, The Chronicles of Enoch are not about any particular system of belief or view of reality though we appear to promote them. The Chronicless of Enoch are about freeing oneself from beliefs and looking at what truly is, not what some self-styled wise person tells you is true. The idea behind The Chronicles of Enoch is to have people question everything they have ever believed in, to question themselves and, most importantly, question those who claim to have a right to be above everyone else, no matter who they are; be they of the Left, the Right, the Centre, or none of the above.
The idea that began The Chronicles of Enoch is why must people be told what to do always? Why must people always follow someone who is better-dressed, wealthier, more charismatic a speaker or in possession of some 'secrets', knowledge, or heredity they are not? We took Christianity as our focus the day we released just how corrupted that philosophy has become in recent centuries and revealed in recent years and months a little more clearly perhaps; when a religion of inclusion and love became a vehicle for politics, division, racial supremecy, and hate in some places.
We studied the roots of Christianity and delved into forgotten works, earlier translations, and commentaries in dusty libraries and we were very surprised by what we found. Of course, we were more shocked by what we didn't find. How earlier 'Hippy Commune' Christianity turned into a monolithic juggernaut of conformity and dogma is hardly a surprise to anyone but why, we had to ask, were little hints to what had been removed left in plain sight? That references to Enoch and Lilith remained make no sense as they unbalance the narratives they remain in, rather than maintain its flow.
Building a conspiracy theory out of this would just be too easy! The central theme of The Chronicles of Enoch was laid down; a corrupted religion used to control an impressionable populace yet, at the same time hiding the terrifying truth of it. Clues were left because not everyone on Lucifer's 'team' was as loyal as he thought they were.
A Subtle Mind
Lucifer is known for being a subtle and conniving creature; he enjoys such accolades. Everyone knows that humanity is a tribal and insular species for the most part (with notable exceptions) and what better way to divide them than letting them do it all by themselves? Contrary to popular belief, Lucifer and his demons have infinitely better things to do than follow people around and whisper temptations in every single ear on the planet.
He discovered fairly early on the incredible human talent for normalising; of taking something one would think of as abhorrent or shocking and, well, make it normal and less affecting to their tender sensibilities. To classify difficult things as Douglas Adams' famous "Somebody Else's Problem". Terry Pratchett explains it well, he has a character who is Death; scythe, robes, extremely unfed appearance, etc. Death walks around in plain sight but people don't allow themselves to see him because he shouldn't be there; their brains simply edit him out of their sight. People do that all the time; they see something out of the ordinary, something that doesn't fit in their experience or is simply to horrifyingly vast to comprehend, so they just, well, ignore it.
In recent months millions of people have died worldwide; bodies were stacked in indoor ice-skating rinks or buried in mass graves, entire families died, across the world we hear stories of horror and....we go numb, we cannot comprehend it.
A certain much talked about politician attacks his rivals as a small child might, makes all kinds of reprehensible comments in the public eye, appears to threaten dangerous activity, seems to behave in an overtly racist fashion and...what? He's still doing it; people tut and complain, leave scathing comments I am sure he does not read and nothing changes.
If we have no direct frame of reference to compare it to, we simply file it away and get on with our lives as best as we can, it's human nature. You see, the greatest fear human beings have is change, most of us want the same of everything, day in and day out. People will say "oh a change will be nice" but they mean in a very temporary sense; go on a nice holiday somewhere different, then come back and do what they've always done. Humans also like being told what to do, in spite of often vociferous claims to the contrary.
The formula is: "this is making that change and I don't understand it, please tell me." They will then, for the most part, believe anything that fits their internal frame of reference.
Oh, I am poor and things are more expensive because of poor foreign people? Yes, it's all their fault
These people are rich because of this secret club they belong to that worships the devil? Yes, they are evil!
The world is unfair and unjust because this secret cabal of nameless people is controlling everything? Must be true!
Those are just a few extreme examples but take a look, step back, and consider that we do this all the time. In the climate of today, those who disagree with our choice of rich, self-interested, demagogue vying for political office are not simply of a different opinion to ours; they are evil. They are evil, they are stupid, they are brainwashed, they are unworthy of any respect or humanity. Now, the fact that various interested parties have seeded informaton which may or may not be accurate is part of that but nobody has to believe it. However, in a world which is changing so rapidly, where their points of reference are useless, toss them a good explanation and they will seize it with the desperation of a drowning man being thrown an unexpected rope. He doesn't care who or what is at the other end.
Conclusion
The universe is an unbelievably vast and uncaring place. Life is short and can end at any moment and we don't know what happens after. Most of will struggle for the majority of our adult lives and still get old and suffer mental decline in the final years anyway. Disease is everywhere. The world is not fair. No well-dressed rich people are going to change that for you personally. People are selfish and cruel; someone will hurt you because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Those who wrong you won't apologise or be struck down by whichever god or force you believe in. Injustice will happen; maybe to us, maybe to someone we care about and nobody will really fix it. The rich prosper and only get richer. Those with power will most certainly abuse it. We all die.
Those are certainties, inevitable and undeniable ones, but not the certainties people want to hear. They prefer a comforting lie, a convenient excuse, even an outright invention is better. As long as humans need fantasy to hide reality behind, they can and will be very easy to manipulate.
“All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable."
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—"
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
"So we can believe the big ones?"
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
"They're not the same at all!"
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point—"
MY POINT EXACTLY.” - Terry Pratchett, Hogfather.
Yet there is a lesson to be learned from all of this; following someone, believing in one story or another, does it really matter ultimately? You can only influence that which immediately surrounds you and those are next to you? No, though true, it is not the complete truth for your words can, these days, travel a million miles and touch a million souls so make sure those words are kind...
Thought the lions are mighty they are few and need to wildebeast to continue their existence; they need us much more than we need them and, though the sword might seem a great deal mightier than the pen in the short (and often terminal) term, words can outlive their creator by quite a margin if they are good, powerful, words.
Swords also have a habit of going rusty or losing their edge when not cared for adequately.