Post by redsycorax on Oct 9, 2023 3:36:05 GMT
Why does evil usually always triumph on Earth-Three and why may this have begun to abate? Early pre-Crisis investigations of Earth-Three primarily concentrated on the Crime Syndicate and their opponents, Alexander and Lois Lane-Luthor, as well as providing brief descriptions of their inverted histories- the United States discovered Europe, Britain fought for its independence from the United States, Abraham Lincoln assassinated John Wilkes Booth and so on. We learnt nothing about Earth-Three's culture and social habits until the resurrection of Earth-Three by Grant Morrison and the later resurrection of the multiverse itself. One interesting phrase that has appeared in post-Crisis Crime Syndicate dialogue is the term "God Below." There is no evidence that Earth-Three is a world whose religious beliefs are satanist and contains mass satanist covens. That may not have been the philosophical source that the Crime Syndicate members who uttered the phrase derived it from, in any case.
Instead, I suspect the term "God Below" is derived from gnostic dualist philosophy. This tends to be about two rival gods. The heavenly one is God proper, the source of all light, virtue and blessing. However, that God is not the Creator of matter, humanity and other sapient species. That lower god is a demiurge, or only semidivine, which is insane, flawed and evil and believes itself to be the only such entity. Because of its flaws and madness, it is inclined to self-serving beliefs and egotistical proclamations, as well as opportunist moral propositions. Any such God Below is inclined to encourage a concept of divine providence which sides with opportunist, avaricious, corrupt and evil moral acts. However, over time, this gnostic dualist theology may have started to break down, due to the decline of organised religion and ironically enough, the successive defeats of the Crime Syndicate at the hands of the Justice League, Justice Society and other metahuman/metasapient heroes elsewhere in the multiverse. If so, it may have been a motivating factor behind the rise of heroism on Earth-Three due to the decay of defeatism encouraged by gnostic dualist 'divine providence' as it declines. This might even have been accelerated after the first defeats of the Crime Syndicate. If the Crime Syndicate follow any religious philosophy, it is likely to be a Deist gnostic dualism which results in a distant, malevolent and hierarchical self-serving concept of deity which plays no part in human or other sapient affairs.
Instead, I suspect the term "God Below" is derived from gnostic dualist philosophy. This tends to be about two rival gods. The heavenly one is God proper, the source of all light, virtue and blessing. However, that God is not the Creator of matter, humanity and other sapient species. That lower god is a demiurge, or only semidivine, which is insane, flawed and evil and believes itself to be the only such entity. Because of its flaws and madness, it is inclined to self-serving beliefs and egotistical proclamations, as well as opportunist moral propositions. Any such God Below is inclined to encourage a concept of divine providence which sides with opportunist, avaricious, corrupt and evil moral acts. However, over time, this gnostic dualist theology may have started to break down, due to the decline of organised religion and ironically enough, the successive defeats of the Crime Syndicate at the hands of the Justice League, Justice Society and other metahuman/metasapient heroes elsewhere in the multiverse. If so, it may have been a motivating factor behind the rise of heroism on Earth-Three due to the decay of defeatism encouraged by gnostic dualist 'divine providence' as it declines. This might even have been accelerated after the first defeats of the Crime Syndicate. If the Crime Syndicate follow any religious philosophy, it is likely to be a Deist gnostic dualism which results in a distant, malevolent and hierarchical self-serving concept of deity which plays no part in human or other sapient affairs.