Presentation Matters

In life the second you come into eyesight of another Individual, you are being judged. When you begin to speak to them, interact, etc others form an opinion.

Now this opinion is based on external features. You can be the World's best babysitter but if to have a cigarette hanging out of your mouth and every other word is a cuss word, you ain't getting the job.

A lot of people sit around and bemoan this fact. They say to never judge a book by its cover, take the time to get to know the person first. This is falsity on the most basic level. It dismisses the initial judgement. It dismisses the fact that these things matter, that what you present counts.

Now as a Satanist, how does one use this to their advantage? How do you use this whip, snap judgement call humans make to serve you, to make your life better?

In my opinion, LaVey captures this most accurately in The Satanic Witch. The art of manipulation takes many forms, including presenting yourself in a fashion that suits each situation.
If you deny this and cling to the idea that you deserve people to wait to figure out what you're really about, you will fail in life. You are being judged constantly, I am being judged constantly.

Does another's judgment of you matter? Yeah it does. If you want or need  something from them rather it's respect, love, affection, a job, whatever.  Then you will need to blend in and on some level conform to the standard they have set. Or else you aren't going to achieve that thing you desire. Pretty simple shit, eh?

When the major of my validation came from external factors, I never wanted to really conform to anybody else's standards about anything from clothing to the way I speak. It was really important to me to have a host of External things to define me. Without my torn jeans who was I? Without The Ramones being my favorite band, how would somebody get to know who I really was?

Now, I understand how these things are just that. The surface, the presentation. Not me as a person. That is bigger, broader and more in depth than the way I dress, who I hang out with or what I listen to. The judgment of others on that presentation, doesn't really matter.

What matters is my own judgement on my actions. I am harsher than my worst critics. I expect perfection, not good enough. I expect strength, even when others would run screaming away from a situation. I expect myself to be better, more than the average person I encounter. I expect MORE from myself than any critic I have ever ran across.

Why would I bother to hold myself to another's standard? I have a hard enough time living up to my own. I am a cruel bitch of a Master.