My friend Leonidas and I disagree on many things. I decided to give him a space to espouse his views; he has chosen to use John Milton’s Paradise Lost as a vehicle. Before handing it to him, I want you to know that these views do not represent me, Fernando, the subject of all your admiration. In my view, Leonidas is not worthy of your admiration, but it is in your best interest to give him your consideration. He is not the only creature of his kind.

“More like the Endarkenment! Am I right?” - Alex Karp, 2025 __

People are always asking me, “Leonidas, if God is omnipotent and benevolent then why does he allow something like Palantir to exist?” I insist to them that they are not prepared to have their question answered, they are not equipped to handle a theodicy. Modernity has enfeebled your mind and your spirit by convincing you that your power of reasoning is sacred, and that you have personal sovereignty. These are wicked lies and twisted illusions.

The issue started with the Protestant movement: people began to read and interpret holy scripture for themselves. A paradigm of thought was created by this movement, the paradigm spawned democracy and socialism. Democracy allowed the idiocy of the masses to propagate through society at an unacceptable rate - far too quickly for legitimate authority to keep up. But I can see you falling asleep, and unlike Palantir, I will show you mercy. Or I’ll try at least.

Here’s what you should know before we begin. John Milton dictated (he was blind) Paradise Lost in 1667. He was not a clergyman, though he was a man of faith. At the time he lived, England was working on the rediscovery of natural science. Like many things, “natural science” meant something different to Aristotle than it does to us. Their conception of natural science was akin to our conception of philosophy. In the times we call “The Dark Ages”, philosophy and theology were indistinguishable; the Renaissance split them apart again into distinct entities. The splitting was rather uncomfortable when it happened, but since then it has reached a point of frenzied confusion. What we call “Humanism” is a manifestation of this confusion.

“If you figure out a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you’d be the first person in the history of the world.” - Lancaster Dodd, The Master (2012)

Let’s explore this notion of personal sovereignty, of refusing allegiance to any master but the self. As David Foster Wallace would say, modernity has given us the freedom and the responsibility to be the lords of our own little skull-sized kingdoms. Or as Milton’s Satan would say, it’s better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven.

Paradise lost tells the non-chronological story of a civil war in Heaven, which Satan and his legions lost. We begin in the middle of the action: Satan, having been banished to Hell, escapes and approaches the paradise of Eden. God watches from his throne, as all-knowing and omnipotent as ever. He can see clearly that Satan will succeed in perverting mankind, but refuses to intervene. What is his rationale for this inaction?

“Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. Not free, what proof could they have given sincere

Of true allegiance, constant faith or love, where only what they needs must do, appeared, Not what they would?”

God is refusing to violate the free will of humankind, because without free will there is no such thing as love or obedience. He has foreseen every moment of suffering we would undergo, and he knows what we will eventually do to ourselves in our confused self-loathing.

“I formed them free, and free they must remain

Until they enthrall themselves”

I like how he says “until”, because he sees clearly there is only one way for this little humanistic experiment to end.

God understands that humankind’s evil is a result of deception, hence we deserve mercy and a chance for salvation. Satan does not get this privilege. Satan fell from Heaven entirely of his own accord: self-tempted and self-depraved. We know not what we do. God and Satan both have a substantial foothold within the human psyche, so if you find yourself sympathizing with Satan, do not be alarmed. Milton now starts to write from Satan’s point of view, and these are the best parts of the book.

Satan is self-reflecting as he approaches Eden.

“O had his powerful destiny ordained me some inferior angel

I had stood then happy; no unbounded hope had raised Ambition

Which way shall I fly

Infinite wrath, and infinite despair?

Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell

Is there no place left for repentance, none for pardon?

None left but by submission; and that word

Disdain forbids me

Under what torments inwardly I groan

While they adore me on the throne of Hell,

With diadem and sceptre high advanced

The lower still I fall, only supreme

In misery; such joy ambition finds.

Never can true reconcilement grow

Where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep

So farewell hope, and with hope farewell fear,

Farewell remorse”

Satan appears to his subjects in Hell to be powerful and confident, but he is acutely aware of the fact that inside him there is only despair. He understands himself, he understands that submission to God’s authority would compromise his sense of self. Even if his sense of self is literal Hell, he tells himself he still prefers this. And if that is the case, he has no hope whatsoever of salvation or acceptance or grace. Do you see something to be admired in his sincerity and his self-possession?

Now we shift our point of view from Satan’s approach to the original, paradisal Adam and Eve.

“Then was not guilty shame, dishonest shame

Of nature’s works, honor dishonorable,

Sin-bred, how have ye troubled all mankind,

With shows instead, mere shows of seeming pure

And banished from man’s life his happiest life,

Simplicity and spotless innocence

Ah gentle pair, ye little think how nigh

Your change approaches, when all these delights

Will vanish and deliver ye to woe

More woe, the more your taste is now of joy”

Our misery washes over us in equal proportion to the joy we once had. Nakedness is no cause for shame when one’s conscience is without aberration. So Satan sees all of this, and he looks for an opportunity to influence A&E. He decides he will whisper in Eve’s ear as she sleeps, attempting to implant ideas of exploration and curiosity without her knowledge or consent. God’s Archangels do not share his omnipotence - they soon realize The Evil One has escaped his confinement and infiltrated Paradise. Gabriel finds Satan attempting to compromise the innocence of Eve. The Archangel Gabriel drags the former Archangel Lucifer, now Satan, into Limbo and interrogates him. He begins by demanding an explanation: why did Satan do this? Satan treats him with contempt and basically calls him stupid for asking such a question.

“Lives there who loves his pain?

Who would not, finding way, break loose from Hell,

Though thither doomed? Thou wouldst thyself, no doubt,

And boldly venture to whatever place

Farthest from pain”

Gabriel retorts, calling Satan a hypocrite: what could be more idiotic than to choose damnation over salvation? He mocks Satan and suggests that he came to Paradise out of cowardice.

“O loss of one in Heaven to judge of wise,

Since Satan fell, whom folly overthrew,

And now returns him from his prison, escaped,

Gravely in doubt whether to hold them wise or not

So wise he judges it to fly from pain

Courageous chief, the first in flight from pain.”

Satan now remarks on Gabriel’s lack of experience in the Department of Despair and Misery and Pain, and the way this inexperience shapes his perception, perhaps limiting it.

“Still thy words at random, as before,

Argue thy inexperience what behooves

From hard assays and ill successes past

A faithful leader, I alone first undertook

To wing the desolate abyss, and spy

This new-created world”

Gabriel grows more and more outraged at Satan’s insolence. First Satan says he’s fleeing pain, now he wants to say he came here as a spy? He even has the gall to use the word “faithful” in reference to himself, and not in reference to God. He also makes sure to rub Satan’s past in his face: Lucifer was the most powerful and loyal Archangel in Heaven for a long time - he’s seemingly gotten far too big for his britches since then, and it’s really sad to see.

“Argues no leader but a liar traced

Satan, and couldst thou faithful add? O name,

O sacred name of faithfulness profaned!

Faithful to whom? To thy rebellious crew?

And thou sly hypocrite, who now wouldst seem

Patron of liberty, who more than thou

Once fawned, and cringed, and servilely adored

Heaven’s awful Monarch? Wherefore but in hope

To dispossess him, and thyself to reign?”

Satan’s rage is also rising as he responds to Gabriel, but they are interrupted by a signal from God, meant for Gabriel, to withdraw himself and leave Satan alone. Gabriel, ever obedient and unquestioning, leaves after tossing a few more threats at Satan. Omnipotent God has a habit of keeping others in the dark, even his closest associates. But evidently, as long as they do not begin to question the legitimacy of God’s authority, this doesn’t cause a problem. In fact, Satan disguised himself as an angel while he was sneaking into Heaven, and his disguise fooled everyone until he accidentally externalized his emotions and inner doubts through his facial expressions. The Archangel Michael instantly noticed this and reported it to Gabriel, because they all know a true angel experiences no emotional turbulence and no doubts.

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