Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted: this little truism of chaos magic has been doing the rounds for years.
It is usually attributed to chaos magician/culture jammer Hakim Bey. People think that because Bey has an exotic Middle Eastern name the slogan must stem from some kind of ancient oriental magical tradition.
Hakim Bey is of course a pen name for an American gentleman whose “real” name escapes me but who is definitely not Middle Eastern. And no disrespect to Bey, who seems to be a pretty cool dude, but if “Joe Bloggs” were the parent of the NiTEiP slogan I suspect it would not have been nearly as popular.
Chinese whispers is an hilarious thing, and people get confused about the root origin of NiTEiP. After all, I’ve never met anyone whose actually read the book in which Bey unleashed NiTEiP on the world (I don’t even know what book it was)!
Case in point about the magic of hearsay. The Isis album In the Absence of Truth is subtitled with “NiTEiP” and the liner notes attribute it to Hasaan I Sabaah, the Old Man of the Mountain and apocryphal master of assassins in their original (almost certainly mythical) hash smoking incarnation.
Isis do generously acknowledge that this attribution is contentious among historians. In fact historians probably do not even know about this attribution, since it is purely the domain of confused occultnik meme scavenging.
I can’t help but think of a bunch of stoners sitting around giggling at the weed-induced hilarity of NiTEiP. Then someone asks where it comes from. Bloodshot eyes and clouded minds do their best, and somehow Hakim Bey is recalled but in totally the wrong context. Next thing you know a very intelligent and classy band has been sucked into yet another branch of NiTEiP attribution mythology.
None of this is to say that Isis are a bad lot; I’ve written before about how much adoration I have for them. But even these brilliant stalwarts have made a NiTEiP gaff, and a pretty big one at that.
Of course, there’s some kind of strange irony (perhaps not quite irony, perhaps coppery or zincy) to the idea of complaining about people misattributing the statement that “Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted.” I mean, if we agree with the statement (a BIG “if” there), then who cares who coined it?
Well you know NiTEiP might be subversive and antinomian and mind blowing and chaos magical. Or it might be rank laziness. I wouldn’t dream of throwing the first stone of course, living as I continue to do in a glass house.
But I think there’s a certain shallowness that crowds around magical communities. You see it in the haphazard adoption of philosophies and ideas that occultists tend to get mired in. How many Jung-obsessed new agers have actually read Jung?
(Similarly [though not identically] Steven McNallen’s reading of Jung as presented in his notion of metagenetics doesn’t seem to bear much resemblance to the great Swiss alchemist. It’s quite breathtaking to see such an inveterately universalist thinker marshalled to support such an anti-universalist point of view).
While it is all very well to be trumpeting the wondrous brilliance of Personal Gnosis Above All (PGAA), I find that the more I research actual magical traditions the more I realise that the average modern occultist or Heathen has far inferior ideas to those that mythological or occult traditions have left behind. We really need tradition as a source of material for our creative, spiritual, and unconscious aspects to weave into reality.
The depth and texture of a whole magical ideology cannot possibly be replicated in the half hearted attempts of individual seekers of whatever sort to invent their own. How can one person compete with centuries of people organically and indirectly collaborating across the ages?
Flip side is of course that strict adherence to the forms of tradition leads utterly nowhere, just arm chair theorising and the temptation to spout opinions as though they were true knowledge. I’m sorry folks but Socrates made the point some 2,500 years ago that people who are quick to spout on about their great wisdom…tend to be the most ignorant of the lot.
But rebounding from that digression, my point is that my personal mythology gets richer and richer through my periodic immersion in traditional imagery, writings, reflections. And I am drawn into these inexorably, too.
For example in the last few months I have been having many spontaneous and symbolic experiences that could only be described as alchemical (this happened before, throughout most of 2008). So I experience these images and connections and then I find myself reading some book or website and – AHA! – discover exactly what I’m experiencing, the precise same images, etc, recorded in some century old manuscript…only with a depth and subtlety that I as one person cannot possible equal.
And these points of reference in alchemical tradition then push me deeper into my personal gnosis, which begins to flower in fractal and unpredictable ways…and my ego is the last know what is going on and that suits my spirit just fine, because I know (don’t ask how) that I am evolving more and more into myself. Ecce homo!
I suppose in a sense as a Chaos Heathen I am a shameless syncretist, but with the difference that unlike the NiTEiP crowd I do not disrespect tradition simply because I see the limitations of adhering strictly to it. Rather I immerse myself in many traditions, secure in the base of my Heathenry as the taproot of my spirit, and allow the essential to merge with me and the inessential to wash away like fresh rain.
Such comments probably seem just as heretical to the “strict boundaries” brigade as they do the “NiTEiP” crew. Well good, I can stick it to both of you with one manoeuvre. Score: Chaos Heathens 1, Ideological Blowhards 0, Spiritual Wastrels 0.
I’m going to tell you a little secret, though, about the true origin of NiTEiP, which is actually, as it happens, a misquote (I assume Mr Bey decided to tweak it a bit to throw off annoying conceptual bloodhounds like myself, not that this trickery worked on me).
In Thus Spoke Zarathustra Friedrich Nietzsche (repeatedly, I think) has Zarathustra declare that “Nothing is true, ALL is permitted.” I’m not sure how that renders in the original German (maybe Matt Anon can help us there) but the point is made: Nietzsche was dead before Bey was born. He wins hands down in the “who said it first” race.
Naturally, most members of the NiTEiP brigade have only read the occasional quote of Nietzsche…and hence have zero chance of noticing this little factoid. Whereas not only have I read a lot of his books, but repeatedly and because I enjoy it. Gods, what a bloody nerd.
Incidentally, next time some idiot chaos magician shuffles out the “Hakim Bey says that…” line in an attempt to impress you, feel free to put them in their place with a bit of solid Nietzsche whacking. Bonus points for derailing their attempt to seduce some impressionable younger witchypoo with their stock of pseudo-spiritual platitudes.
Nietzsche of course wanted to re-examine tradition, to smash what did not work and develop the rest into something original and shining. For him “Nothing is true, all is permitted” is one of his tests of exhilaration and horror as one faces into the infinite mystery of the universe. Not unlike his “God is dead” trip, a trip which is way more subtle and complex than your typical dumb ass metal head will ever appreciate (I can say that because I listen to and sometimes even perform metal).
Nietzsche also at times claimed to be a perspectivalist, not accepting the notion of absolute truth (though he at other times seems convinced of a whole bunch of absolutes, which just goes to demonstrate how marvellous it is to be a confused human being as we all are).
Maybe he wouldn’t have minded that Bey seems to have – no doubt with excellent intentions – ripped him off. The lame use to which the NiTEiP slogan gets set to would likely fail to bring Nietzsche any cheer of course.
The point of these musings? There is a lot more bullshit out there than gold, although luckily through alchemy we can turn one into the other. If NiTEiP makes you a better person (how we establish criteria for defining what “better” means is another problem) then who cares that it is a load of rubbish; indeed, it has to be a load of rubbish into order to fit within the kind of universe it invokes.
So what is my point? Here is the punch line:
What matters is not what you believe, but how you believe, and whether you use your ability to believe as a constructive tool to transcend the limits of your horribly finite human perspective…rather than allow it to be the jailer of your consciousness as to greater or lesser extents we all do.
Well, that’s my opinion…blink and you’ll miss me changing my mind though…
Tags: Chaos Heathenism, Chaos Magic, Spirituality
Indeed Nietzsche’s spiritual courage for what he called “amor fati” will blow many self-styled occultists away into the abyss of their own making.
Excellent post, Henry! I’ve been guilty of being that “idiot chaos magician” in the past. Luckily my thirst for knowledge freed from the slippery slope of solipsism. With chaos magick being my root, I accepted there are truths to be found and treasured out there years ago.
It’s heartening to see this theme growing on many of the blogs I read. Those of you I consider the real leading voices in the Pagan and Occult communities.
In case you haven’t found it yet …you should be reading an awesome blog by a fella named Gordon at http://runesoup.com/
Keep up the phenomenal work ;)
Lonnie
“Some things are true, and everything is permitted …between consenting adults …with a safe word …oh never mind!”
I’ve since found other attributions go to William Burroughs, another member of the chaos magical set – bring on the confusion!
Very important statement, Henry! The best, or the most ‘enlightened’, interpretation of this quote I got from a IOT chaos magician from Berlin: If the first sentence is true, then the dictum “Nothing is true” is untrue itself. A paradox leading to the realisation that there is Truth. But such a Truth can hardly be put into words (or claimed to be owned). However, mostly this CM phrase only reflects the postmodern zeitgeist. The usefulness of ‘changing paradigms’ might only be of avail in such a sense that the magician realises that all magic comes from within, not an external symbol system. Otherwise the whole notion of NiTEiP becomes shallow and another trap on the path.
As far as ‘Also sprach Zarathustra’ is concerned, I don’t have the book here to look up the sentence. But ‘all’ or ‘everything’ is the same word in German: ‘alles’.'Nichts ist wahr. Alles ist erlaubt’ is the German translation.
And just btw: I don’t think at all that you are a ’shameless syncretist’. Most ’syncretists’ would look at you as a Heathen. You are deeply rooted in our ancient Lore. The only reason why the ’strict boundaries’ brigade might consider you otherwise is because you are a mystic. I’ve been an eclectic (hardly a syncretist) at the beginning of my journey, but I found my natural home in the ‘religion’ of our ancestors. Most people shun tradition, because they are not able to dedicate their life to a path or an ideal (and being a traditionalist isn’t really hip). It’s easier and more exciting to jump from one thing to another and it reveals a consumerist attitude even in spiritual matters. Something ‘crazy wisdom’ teacher Chögyam Trungpa would have called ’spiritual materialism’.
Good find Henry! How did I miss that?
I’m goin to take a wild guess here and bet that the attribution to Hassan-i Sabbah is fictitious and originated with the “Illuminatus Trilogy” of Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
Who wants to lay money on it?
Actually Clint, you’re close but no cigar, I did some research on it the other day, and that Hassan-i Sabbah reference comes from _Cities of the Red Night_ by William Burroughs, who got that reference from a novel called _Alamut_ written in 1938. But the biographer of that author attributes it to Dostoevski. So really who knows…It’s probably been tossed around for thousands of years in various forms :) …but as Henry says…that’s not really the point :)
For Dostoevsky the slogan was the banner of modern nihilism, which was later taken up by the Existentialists in France. In essence it is about the role of God in the question of human freedom and moral values. With Nietzsche the opening for a new paganism was created in his advocacy of Dionysos over Christ. But he also made room for atheism with his hypothesis of “will to power”, in the cosmic context of the “eternal recurrence of the same”, as the fundamental principle of becoming.
We may one day have a new Nietzsche who draws inspiration from one or two of the Norse deities instead of the Greek ones.
[...] to think about the fact that a purely subjective knowledge will leave us with nothing more than a ‘NiTEiP ‘-attitude that we Chaos Heathens do not subscribe to (please correct me Elhaz fellows, if you disagree). To [...]
Hakim Bey is a pen name of Peter Lamborn Wilson, who’s also contributed to an excellent book titled Green Hermeticism under his given name.
I’ve never heard anyone suggest Hakim Bey invented this phrase. Whoever you’re referring to is confusing Hakim Bey with Hassan i-Sabbah, and I don’t think this is widespread.
Hassan i-Sabbah, the “Old Man of the Mountain”, was the famed leader of the Hashshashins, or Assassins, and was indeed a real person. For more on him, see Wikipedia as a quick resource.
Further, regarding this:
The depth and texture of a whole magical ideology cannot possibly be replicated in the half hearted attempts of individual seekers of whatever sort to invent their own. How can one person compete with centuries of people organically and indirectly collaborating across the ages?
No-one exists in a vacuum. Every individual creates their own maps of reality, and whether they do this on traditional cultural or countercultural lines, there are always reference points. Without them one is merely mad.
Regarding Nietzsche, there are various translations of his works, and he also traces it back to the Old Man of the Mountains. Though I’m not sure there was ever a contest…?
Awesome work Psyche, I was hoping someone would correct me!
“The circle is now complete.”
One thing though – I’m pretty sure you’re mistaken about Nietzsche tracing NiTAiP to anyone at all. He puts it into Zarathustra’s mouth after all…but I’m happy to be wrong, I love being wrong!
;)
I’ve read an English translation of Joseph von Hammer’s History of the Assassins, an account of the origins of the Nizari branch of Ismaili Shiism founded by the aforementioned Hassan-i-Sabbah. The book alleges that the enigmatic phrase was in fact the secret doctrine of the group’s leadership from the very beginning.
In any case, Nietzsche was born in 1844 and the work was published in 1835, by which time the budding nihilist would have been 9 years of age or so–a precocious child indeed if Hammer (b. 1774) stole the phrase from him. So much for “who said it first,” Bey notwithstanding.
The larger point is who knows where the aphorism originates. Another web site has it that the actual saying of the “Assassins”/original Nizaris was “nothing is FORBIDDEN, everything is permitted” (caps mine). The latter would make more sense, if only by lacking charming paradox.
None of this is to malign the current Aga Khan community, which is the surviving branch of the so-called Assassins (who were destroyed by the Mongols), nor the Assassins themselves, for that matter. And sorry if anything here is unnecessarily repeating something from the thread (I was just anxious to toss in my two bits before any points were forgotten).
Go Giants!
@Henry Nietzsche cites the Old Man of the Mountain in the Genealogy of Morals.
Man I need to reread that book! As I said before…I love being wrong ;) Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted, after all!
I checked out your webpages, Psyche, Plutonica.net and Spiralnature.com. Good stuff there. I like it. We should add them as links to our Links, Henry.
I’ve seen you have already done this, Henry. Good. ;)