logoalt Hacker News

analog8374 • today at 2:31 AM • 2 replies • view on HN

I relate. There was this one saint, Augustine I think, who, entering puberty, realized that the mind-control orbs dangling between his legs were gonna interfere with his life-goals, so he cut em off.

Maybe that's the smart thing to do. I mean, does "fight and fuck" really enter into your saner agenda? Do you want it to?


Replies

ButlerianJihad • today at 2:38 AM

That was definitely not St. Augustine, who was well-known for a lifestyle of patronizing harlots before his conversion of heart.

Apparently, this action is attributed to Origen of Alexandria, who was never "canonized" and is not regarded as a saint in any Christian tradition. It has consistently been viewed as a bad idea and a sin to be castrating or mutilating anyone's genitals, even your own.

➕ show 1 reply
Barrin92 • today at 2:40 AM

You're likely thinking of Origen although people question whether it's true.

>Maybe that's the smart thing to do

Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols:

"The Church combats passion by means of excision of all kinds: its practice, its “remedy,” is castration. It never inquires “how can a desire be spiritualised, beautified, deified?”—In all ages it has laid the weight of discipline in the process of extirpation (the extirpation of sensuality, pride, lust of dominion, lust of property, and revenge).—But to attack the passions at their roots, means attacking life itself at its source: the method of the Church is hostile to life."

➕ show 1 reply