The Satanism of Steve Jobs
Whether or not you own Apple products, your life has undoubtedly been influenced by Steve Jobs in some way. He revolutionized many things he touched. In competition with his peers, he altered their outcomes and inveigled their contributions to society. By all accounts, he was not a timid nor "nice" man but he knew what he wanted, how to achieve it, and he didn't stop until he was satisfied. He was self-interested, self-assured, self-taught, and self-motivated. What he did for himself influenced millions of people—enabling some to achieve great accomplishments, disabling others through endless distraction and diversion, but certainly changing all.
Steve Jobs was an antagonist. He was an adversary. He picked fights with the status quo and often won. He picked fights with established and entrenched juggernauts, and often won. He refused to accept "good enough" and forced all those around him to instead strive toward perfection. He enlisted others to pursue his own interests. By some accounts, he destroyed people in this process, but by others he empowered and grew people. His "distortion field" is well known. He did not take "no" for an answer and thereby forced others to achieve what they had believed was impossible. The weaker of these people perished and the stronger become superior.
When he was frustrated by naysayers—shunned, thwarted—he did not back down nor sit idly by as cynics and pessimist all but wrote him off. Indeed, he got back up, returned to fight, and never relinquished. He adjusted his plan to account for what held him back and attended to his goals with vigor and enthusiasm. He always seemed to know just who he needed to be at any given moment; sometimes acting aggressively and without remorse, other times conciliatory and pacifying, sometimes meek, replete with teary eyes. He practiced an unblinking stare, which could psychologically destabilize even the most arrogant characters. For his tenacity and practiced behavior, in the end he always won. Eventually he transformed whole industries through his vision and execution.
Steve Jobs brought "light" to humanity. He illuminated his contemporary society through the technological advances he envisioned and made real. He cast out the darkness of superstition and fallacy by making access to information universal and easy. Steve Jobs lived and breathed in the realm of the possible. His perfectionism was known to be inherent both outside and inside his creations. He did not stop at the facade of genuineness but made sure what he brought to the world was authentic through and through.
Steve Jobs was a consummate showman. Everything he brought to the public stage was calculated and planned for maximum impact. Apple "events" (as they were later called) always held an air of magic that was cultivated for a purpose. Fans and press stepped into a psychodrama of ritual and magic that left them feeling as if they had been "allowed" to see the future through someone who had already been there. The spectacle of a Steve Jobs keynote amazed, fascinated, and sometimes confounded and that was just the way he wanted it.
Even though Steve Jobs claimed to be Buddhist (and I do not doubt he felt he was), it certainly seems that in many ways, he was Satanic. As a Satanist, he was quite the prolific inventor, contributive creator, and transformative innovator. He was adept at Satanic magic. He was self-actualized. He's exactly the kind of Satanist I want in my world.
This quote from Steve Jobs characterizes his Satanic thinking:
"Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice, heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." —Steve Jobs (Stanford Commencement Speech)
