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The Occult of the Unborn
“Tragedies do not happen, they are conceived. Every tragedy begins in the womb, then it grows and grows until it is ripe enough for the prime misfortune—birth; for, to have come into this world is the prerequisite for every suffering.”
The Occult of the Unborn is a young pessimist’s attempt to come to terms with the horrifying aspects of being born, and remaining alive. Intermixing with personal narratives the ideas of influential thinkers such as Zapffe, Benatar, and Schopenhauer, the author aims to make accessible to a wider audience the dark, obscure tenets of philosophical pessimism—the view that it would have been better had nothing existed. In a world where diseases, suffering, and death are omnipresent, is it feasible to become parents without being guilty?
The Occult of the Unborn is a young pessimist’s attempt to come to terms with the horrifying aspects of being born, and remaining alive. Intermixing with personal narratives the ideas of influential thinkers such as Zapffe, Benatar, and Schopenhauer, the author aims to make accessible to a wider audience the dark, obscure tenets of philosophical pessimism—the view that it would have been better had nothing existed. In a world where diseases, suffering, and death are omnipresent, is it feasible to become parents without being guilty?
208 pages, Paperback
Published January 26, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2022
I first met Selim at an academic writing class at ITU, Turkey. As a native English speaker and tutor for over thirty years, I was immediately taken aback by this young man's command of the English language. He was at least 15+ years more articulate than his peers and was able to quote verbatim from a wide array of the English classics, which is an extremely unusual thing in a class full of STEM majors. I later learned that he was studying music at the state conservatory of the same university.
First and foremost, this is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. In terms of philosophical stance, it follows the millennia-long pessimistic tradition: we live in the worst of all possible worlds, and there is no repose. Certain annihilation awaits us all; and whatever we do in the meantime, we do to take our minds off the fact that we shall perish. When you really think about it, being a human is very hard; precisely because it is an organism which knows, for certain, that it is going to die.
Although I do not agree with the main premise—that we should cease all procreation so as to end humanity's suffering—the style in which it is presented is truly remarkable. The quality of the writing is exquisite. The first chapter starts with the following phrase:
"It is without a single doubt that those who venture far enough on the journey to truth—which usually starts with the innocent questioning of one's faith, moral standards, and values—will have already experienced a layer-by-layer removal of every single illusion that manifests itself as truth in a given society."
For those who have a passion for the written word, this book will be an invigorating read. It is highly advised, however, to read it only in a happy state to avoid "free-falling into gut-wrenching trepidations" as the author puts it. By virtue of its elegant style, the book is highly quotable. The one below stands among my favorites:
"Every life is destined to return to the sweet nothing from which it emerged without its consent."
First and foremost, this is one of the most depressing books I have ever read. In terms of philosophical stance, it follows the millennia-long pessimistic tradition: we live in the worst of all possible worlds, and there is no repose. Certain annihilation awaits us all; and whatever we do in the meantime, we do to take our minds off the fact that we shall perish. When you really think about it, being a human is very hard; precisely because it is an organism which knows, for certain, that it is going to die.
Although I do not agree with the main premise—that we should cease all procreation so as to end humanity's suffering—the style in which it is presented is truly remarkable. The quality of the writing is exquisite. The first chapter starts with the following phrase:
"It is without a single doubt that those who venture far enough on the journey to truth—which usually starts with the innocent questioning of one's faith, moral standards, and values—will have already experienced a layer-by-layer removal of every single illusion that manifests itself as truth in a given society."
For those who have a passion for the written word, this book will be an invigorating read. It is highly advised, however, to read it only in a happy state to avoid "free-falling into gut-wrenching trepidations" as the author puts it. By virtue of its elegant style, the book is highly quotable. The one below stands among my favorites:
"Every life is destined to return to the sweet nothing from which it emerged without its consent."
February 6, 2023
I think this belongs to the Tragic Horror genre, but it is also weirdly funny.
The paradox with this book is that everything contained in it is factual; but, if you take these facts seriously (which is exactly what you are supposed to do with facts), they will destroy you. Hence, the disclaimer in the beginning stating that he wrote this just as an exercise in sophistry, arguing for the sheer pleasure of it.
Both during reading it, and after having read it, I found myself staring at myself in the mirror for longer than usual, trying to really understand “who” was this ‘person’ looking back at me. There was no one. It was just a “tamed human animal” that’s been given a “name” and taught the word “I”. Without that word, there would be no I.
We respond whenever we hear our names, just like dogs respond when we shout at them. Indeed, when you shout a random name at a crowd, people with the same ‘name’ respond simultaneously. That’s behaviorism in a nutshell. “I” had to exist. And “I” had to be ‘‘tamed’ so I wouldn’t do some of the terrible things non-human animals do in nature. Not because those things are inherently ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but just because me being tamed is more convenient.
Language and words stick on you like an infectious disease, and others will keep throwing those words and concepts at you if you go through what’s called a ‘formal education.’ (This is not a reiteration of “meme theory,” but something much more pernicious.) The rhetoric is flowery, but not in a word-salad kind of way; the pretentious style helps digest the negativity. But there are also truisms and catchy one-liners that’s rightly expected of this poet of doom.
Curious as to how the masses find meaning in wartime, crippling poverty, famine, pandemics, etc.? Here's your answer:
As someone from the 21st century, he doesn’t take religion seriously enough to write more than a few paragraphs on it. The heavy artillery is on the new, secular worldviews that’s just old religion in disguise. (Academics being the new clergy; scientists and CEO’s being the prophets; politicians & influencers their drum-majors; and stakeholders & board members the real Gods). The result is the same: war, suffering, and a lot of vanity. Yet, the following part on ‘old religion’ has a 19th century class-conscious feel to it, with a funny twist near the end:
One of the upsides is that there's no alienating narrative — that is, the horrors described in the book can, and eventually will, befall everyone. Your best case scenario is that you will live well into old age and simply ‘expire’: waste away in a subterranean ICU, surrounded by a newer generation of human animals who, despite being relatives, will look at you as though an ancient artifact; and they will be too young and inexperienced to make the logical connection that this debris of a human being lying in front of them is actually “them from the future”. They will have their own stupid worries, such as their paychecks or what their friends think about them. You, the rotting bag of bones, will know, but it’ll be too late for you to tell them. And the worst case scenario? Well, there are millions — car crashes, flesh-eating bacteria, stabbings, shootings, hangings, earthquakes, pediatric cancer, and so forth. You just have to try not to think about all these until it's your turn.
I have three words to describe the effect this book has on its reader: ‘disillusionment’, ‘reconciliation'; and, after coming out the other side, lots of ‘laughter.’
Sometimes the message is conveyed with brute, gallows humor:
“The Occult of the Unborn” is much safer than the Cult of the Already-Born. So, think twice before pulling someone out of the void into the meat-grinder called life.
5/5.
The paradox with this book is that everything contained in it is factual; but, if you take these facts seriously (which is exactly what you are supposed to do with facts), they will destroy you. Hence, the disclaimer in the beginning stating that he wrote this just as an exercise in sophistry, arguing for the sheer pleasure of it.
Both during reading it, and after having read it, I found myself staring at myself in the mirror for longer than usual, trying to really understand “who” was this ‘person’ looking back at me. There was no one. It was just a “tamed human animal” that’s been given a “name” and taught the word “I”. Without that word, there would be no I.
We respond whenever we hear our names, just like dogs respond when we shout at them. Indeed, when you shout a random name at a crowd, people with the same ‘name’ respond simultaneously. That’s behaviorism in a nutshell. “I” had to exist. And “I” had to be ‘‘tamed’ so I wouldn’t do some of the terrible things non-human animals do in nature. Not because those things are inherently ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, but just because me being tamed is more convenient.
Language and words stick on you like an infectious disease, and others will keep throwing those words and concepts at you if you go through what’s called a ‘formal education.’ (This is not a reiteration of “meme theory,” but something much more pernicious.) The rhetoric is flowery, but not in a word-salad kind of way; the pretentious style helps digest the negativity. But there are also truisms and catchy one-liners that’s rightly expected of this poet of doom.
Curious as to how the masses find meaning in wartime, crippling poverty, famine, pandemics, etc.? Here's your answer:
Humanity is a big fucking cult that perpetuates itself on sunny thoughts while inhabiting the deepest pits of despair. Even pigs complain when they live in shit, and they scream on their way to the slaughterhouse. Humans pray to their Gods and quote their prophets.
As someone from the 21st century, he doesn’t take religion seriously enough to write more than a few paragraphs on it. The heavy artillery is on the new, secular worldviews that’s just old religion in disguise. (Academics being the new clergy; scientists and CEO’s being the prophets; politicians & influencers their drum-majors; and stakeholders & board members the real Gods). The result is the same: war, suffering, and a lot of vanity. Yet, the following part on ‘old religion’ has a 19th century class-conscious feel to it, with a funny twist near the end:
The clergy, notwithstanding being a bridge between the upper and lower classes, is essentially a gang of shepherds who keep the slaves in line. The blue-collar, the tradesmen, and the white collar office clerk have something very crucial in common: they exist for the benefit of their employer. As soon as they cease being happily exploitable, they are canned. The profit matters. What do they do with the profit? Sure, they ‘expand’ and create welfare for communities. But they also spend it on luxury goods and artwork without value in and of itself. The owner of a company will pressure the executives and the employees to overwork and outperform the competitors, so that his spoiled daughter can get more violin masterclasses, more exotic vacations, and better schooling abroad. Who cares about the starving worker and his dependents? To hell with them those mindless bugs. They exist solely for profit. Besides, they’ll always keep breeding like rabbits and bequeath their needless misery to their offspring.
One of the upsides is that there's no alienating narrative — that is, the horrors described in the book can, and eventually will, befall everyone. Your best case scenario is that you will live well into old age and simply ‘expire’: waste away in a subterranean ICU, surrounded by a newer generation of human animals who, despite being relatives, will look at you as though an ancient artifact; and they will be too young and inexperienced to make the logical connection that this debris of a human being lying in front of them is actually “them from the future”. They will have their own stupid worries, such as their paychecks or what their friends think about them. You, the rotting bag of bones, will know, but it’ll be too late for you to tell them. And the worst case scenario? Well, there are millions — car crashes, flesh-eating bacteria, stabbings, shootings, hangings, earthquakes, pediatric cancer, and so forth. You just have to try not to think about all these until it's your turn.
I have three words to describe the effect this book has on its reader: ‘disillusionment’, ‘reconciliation'; and, after coming out the other side, lots of ‘laughter.’
Sometimes the message is conveyed with brute, gallows humor:
A pregnant lady at a funeral gives her offspring the biggest spoiler.
“The Occult of the Unborn” is much safer than the Cult of the Already-Born. So, think twice before pulling someone out of the void into the meat-grinder called life.
5/5.
October 12, 2024
If you like Leopardi or Schopenhauer or David Benatar, or want to experience their thought without reading them verbatim, or if you like listening to Martin Butler's Patreon podcasts or reading his books on deconstruction and pessimism, or if you're a fan of Inmendham on YouTube and like his anti-natalist stance on life, then this book will not only not disappoint but it will as well amplify or expand upon all of these thinkers' viewpoints with clear and profound understanding.
I don't know why Amazon says the author's name is Tuncay Canakci when the author's name on the book is Selim Güre. Regardless, while the author admits to being a youth, there is nothing immature or superficial about the Big Picture the book presents on life, and it is as well suited to a young questioning mind as to a man or woman in their mid-seventies. Though the author hails from Turkey, the clarity of expression and the prose style feels very American and contemporary - a complete delight to read and absorb.
Each chapter brings a refreshing and original offering of palatable perspectives on how life is tough and why. At the end of the book, there are several pages of aphorisms, written almost as if E.M. Cioran or Chamfort or Schopenhauer made them -- except they also do reveal the author's youth, personal details as a university student, and a disconcerting (for me) quizzicality to my assumption that the author is of the male gender.
This book is one of a handful of books I regard as the best of my 75 years of life in reading. I expect further great things to come from the mind and pen of this judicious and inquiring individual.
I don't know why Amazon says the author's name is Tuncay Canakci when the author's name on the book is Selim Güre. Regardless, while the author admits to being a youth, there is nothing immature or superficial about the Big Picture the book presents on life, and it is as well suited to a young questioning mind as to a man or woman in their mid-seventies. Though the author hails from Turkey, the clarity of expression and the prose style feels very American and contemporary - a complete delight to read and absorb.
Each chapter brings a refreshing and original offering of palatable perspectives on how life is tough and why. At the end of the book, there are several pages of aphorisms, written almost as if E.M. Cioran or Chamfort or Schopenhauer made them -- except they also do reveal the author's youth, personal details as a university student, and a disconcerting (for me) quizzicality to my assumption that the author is of the male gender.
This book is one of a handful of books I regard as the best of my 75 years of life in reading. I expect further great things to come from the mind and pen of this judicious and inquiring individual.
December 25, 2024
This is a brilliant work on the subject of philosophical pessimism. It goes without saying that this ideology presupposes antinatalism, so whenever the former is not followed by the latter, it is clearly a case of hypocrisy at its finest.
Life is a harmful and damaging condition for every sentient being and the author manages to emphasize the tragicness of the matter quite captivatingly. As he puts it, " If we treat ethical progress as a linear phenomenon, that is, one with a traceable beginning and end, and one that moves in a single direction rather than in many different ones, we will come to realise that universal Anti-natalism would be the last step in our species' quest to its ethical climax—the unanimous conclusion that the moral climate of this universe is suitable neither for our species nor for any other sentient being."
Procreation and rationality are not compatible indeed, although this does not mean that an already existing life is not worth continuing, hence, " Life can, and should, be worth living, because once we are alive, we develop an agenda in this world. There are things we want to do, places we would like to visit, experiences to cultivate, goals to be achieved, people to meet. Trying to convince living people that never existing is more favourable is like trying to stop a bullet which had already left the pistol—anti-natalists just do not want the trigger to be pulled in the first place."
If you already are a philosophical pessimist or interested to familiarize yourself more extensively with it, this is the right book for you. Its excellently written and Selim Güre really seems to be a gem of a person. Otherwise to quote him once more, " The book will start on a bleak, depressive note and will only go downhill from there. You may want to throw it to the wall from time to time or dump it in a bin and set it on fire. If this happens to be the case, then I must have reached a member of my target audience—that is, the "clueless optimist "."
Life is a harmful and damaging condition for every sentient being and the author manages to emphasize the tragicness of the matter quite captivatingly. As he puts it, " If we treat ethical progress as a linear phenomenon, that is, one with a traceable beginning and end, and one that moves in a single direction rather than in many different ones, we will come to realise that universal Anti-natalism would be the last step in our species' quest to its ethical climax—the unanimous conclusion that the moral climate of this universe is suitable neither for our species nor for any other sentient being."
Procreation and rationality are not compatible indeed, although this does not mean that an already existing life is not worth continuing, hence, " Life can, and should, be worth living, because once we are alive, we develop an agenda in this world. There are things we want to do, places we would like to visit, experiences to cultivate, goals to be achieved, people to meet. Trying to convince living people that never existing is more favourable is like trying to stop a bullet which had already left the pistol—anti-natalists just do not want the trigger to be pulled in the first place."
If you already are a philosophical pessimist or interested to familiarize yourself more extensively with it, this is the right book for you. Its excellently written and Selim Güre really seems to be a gem of a person. Otherwise to quote him once more, " The book will start on a bleak, depressive note and will only go downhill from there. You may want to throw it to the wall from time to time or dump it in a bin and set it on fire. If this happens to be the case, then I must have reached a member of my target audience—that is, the "clueless optimist "."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews