666...
The number of the beast.  The Antichrist.  Opposite of Christ.  Evil.  Devil.  Sin.  Hell.

Did I get it right?  When you hear "666" what goes through your mind?  Is it any of these things?

As  someone who doesn't believe in a heaven or hell, I have no fear of a simple number.  In fact, I've taken the number as my own and designed the symbol to represent my animist beliefs.  I am an anitichrist, one of many.

JOHN 2:18  Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.

Their last hour, not mine.  Let me explain.

The term "anti" means opposite.  When used with "Christ" it obviously mean opposite of Christ, right?  Well, what does that mean exactly?  To answer that you must first see what "christ" is.

Christ is the annointed one, the savior of man.  Not the savior of horses or grass or lions or mosquitos or viruses or palm trees...just man.  Christ came to save man and only man, from eternal damnation.

If you look at it this way, then I'm opposite of Christ because I want to save the world and the community of life (all life), not just humans.  Opposite Christ in a different direction.  I'm no lover of evil (except when it scares Christians and usually when it's funny).

I believe that unless a fundamental change in thinking happens, the community of life is in danger, including the human species.  Salvationism itself is Enemy Number One.  Here's why:

Christians believe that the universe itself was created for one sole purpose...so that man could live.  Earth was created so that man could rule it in Gods name.  According to the bible, Earth had to first be subdued before it could be conquered by man.  "Go forth and multiply" God said.

Well, at the expense of all other life on Earth, man has conquered and ruled and multiplied.  Busy turning the biomass of the planet into human flesh, man is.  Well, not exactly.  It's not "man" that's been doing this all this time.  Just one Culture really.

This is important.  About 10,000 years ago the human population was steady at about 10 million people and had remained fairly constant with minute growth over the past 300,000 years.  Then the "aggricultural revolution" began in what is now Iraq and in only 10,000 years, the human population has grown to well over 6 BILLION!  300,000 years of humans living as a part of the community of life on the planet, and then, BANG!  One culture began living differently.  Us.  What we all refer to now as "Man."  We conveniently ignor the tiny pockets of tribal people who still live the way people always lived.

We are the ones turning forests into McCow ranges.  We are the ones spreading like a sexually transmitted disease over the earth.  We are the ones pouring so much carbon into the atmosphere that the oceans and trees cannot keep up.  We are the ones who cause the extinction of up to 50,000 species every year.  We are literally turning the biomass of the planet into human flesh.  And we call it progress.

Without biodiversity there is no life.  Its actually a law.  The Law of Life, some call it.  Like the laws of gravity or aerodynamics, the Law of Life explains how life works.  Daniel Quinn described it this way: 

Compete to the best of your abilities but do not:
1.  Kill off your competition.
2.  Deny your competitors access to food.
3.  Destroy your competitors food.

In other words, Do not wage war on your competition. 

There are technically three seperate laws that work together:
1.  The law of Biodiversity:  biodiversity is essential for the survival of all life.
2.  The law of Interdependance:  all species are interdependant upon each other.
3.  The law of Finite Growth:  there are limits to growth and resources and carrying capacities are finite.

These laws have consequences when broken.  It can take quite some time to see the results, but they are there.  Eventual death is the end result when breaking the Laws of Life.  Our culture breaks these laws everywhere you look, constantly and without thought.  Our entire society is BASED on breaking these laws. 

Unless a fundamental change happens and we learn to live in accordance with these laws, the human species and most other species as well, will die off. 

I designed the symbol to represent my animistic beliefs in whole.  It's as powerful to me as the cross is to Christians and the star of David is to Jews.  The symbol is three 6s overlaying each other at different angles...representing the "Anti" (oppostie Christ in different directions).  The three arms point to the three Laws of Life.  The center circle represents the Earth. 

So there you have it...the mark of the beast. 

Back