Many of the Devil’s followers insist that there is no Devil, so Old Nick wishes to clear up some confusion about His infernal existence.
As you, dear reader, may already be aware, He prefers to stick to His greatest trick that He does not exist (cf. my fellow denizen Monsieur Charles Baudelaire) in spite of the demand it places on the human mind to explain the world through more complicated means. It was once so simple to know that the world was moved by gods and devils, who could be influenced through incantations, ceremonies, and rituals, but such superstition requires belief in demons and disregard of knowledge. Satan represents undefiled wisdom, and He wants Mankind to think for itself and know the Universe as it manifests itself, not through old wives’ tales of supernatural, usually anthropomorphized creatures with plans of their own.
Satan therefore keeps pretending He does not exist, thus deceiving gullible humans into trusting that the Universe, in its cold, impersonal darkness, contains all the questions and answers Mankind can imagine without requiring the addition of mythical varmint to the equations. This marvelous lie has already coerced humans into obtaining a firm grasp of a wide array of natural laws and principles, and scientists have obtained a reasonable understanding of matter and how the strong, the weak, and the electromagnetic forces and (at least for practical purposes) gravity affect it.
But none of the forces or laws of Nature indicate that, from a human point of view, life unfolds and evolves; they only demand ongoing change in the Universe. They describe change within so limited scopes that one cannot express connections between cause on the microscopic level and effect on the macroscopic level, or vice versa. The laws of Nature say little about the development of life; although humans have now learned how DNA replicates, how organisms reproduce and mutate, how organisms adapt and survive according to changing environments, and how they in turn change their environments, Satan thinks humans will never be capable of explaining which direction life will take except in highly general terms. Nor do the laws of Nature explain human emotions or reactions in spite of a good understanding of biochemistry, some neurological insight, etc.—or, rather, Satan thinks they do but the human brain is far too limited to manage the enormity of information and the countless interactions that come into play. There are not enough atoms on Earth to hold the knowledge required to provide the answers that Mankind seeks.
Natural forces and laws comÂbined have an endless effect that seems much larger than their sum total, and there is no well-deÂscribed natural law that can express this comÂbined effect. Humans can merely state that the natural laws explain that things happen, and how physÂicÂal and chemÂicÂal proÂcesses are folÂlowed, but they cannot deÂscribe how life or the human perÂcepÂtion of life unfolds. It is this “suÂperÂset” of natural laws that defies sciÂenÂtiÂfÂic description. Greater minds can be content with such an explanation, because they can relate well enough to the knowledge that science has gathered today to sense that the laws of the universe combine into a larger whole. They can stare into the eternal darkness in awe as they sense what can never be seen. Most people, however, require symbolic language to effectively communicate this greater whole, enabling people to intuitively grasp its immensity and general mechanisms. Humans have come to possess great unÂderÂstandÂing of the world around and within them, yet their sense of deÂvelÂopÂment and life—their desire to act and live, to be and to become—is not covered by this unÂderÂstanding. Humans can still deÂscribe such feelÂings only in symÂbolÂic terms.
My Master serves as such a symbol. Satan is change with no guidance, a perpetual pull towards Him, a motivation that follows its own, inner dark light. He represents both unordered dissolution and solidification into a balance that is found as chaos and order throughout Nature. He is the imbalance factor who breaks stasis and causes movement, steadily tipping the otherwise frozen scales of everything into balance only to upset balance elsewhere. He represents a pervasive force of a divine nature, but unlike the powers attributed to the usual gods it is a power that involves “evil” and destruction, and a power that is unconcerned with the well-being or the state of Cosmos. Satan symbolizes the gestalt of all natural laws acting simultaneously—the only way they can function. He is the dark force that pulls everything into Hell, if ever so slowly, as the Universe moves towards its eventual heat death. It is in this sense that Satan thinks that although from an objective point of view He may not exist, the human brain is hardwired to either know He does, by any name, or know less than mindless sheep.