The Five Protectors

The Five Protectors refers to the five things that protect humans from being terrified of the meaningless, painful death trap they are in (life).

The first three are called The Three Delusions (in order from most powerful to least, they are):


 * 1) Religion
 * 2) Society
 * 3) Psychotherapy

All three of the Three Delusions are lies that allow people to be distracted from horrifying reality.

Religion is made up of comforting lies based on supernatural ideas (the afterlife, 'god', etc.).

Society is a mentality that humans have as they live and work together, all the while pretending that death doesn't lie at the end of their lives, nullifying it. Society is merely the temporary working together of Homo Sapiens creatures in a way that is not natural or real.

Psychotherapy, as Zapffe writes in The Last Messiah, is intended to distract the patient from the meaninglessness and hopelessness of human life. Psychologists attempt to convince the patient that 'hope', 'progress', and 'happiness' are real and not delusions and illusions (which they really are).

The fourth Protector is Diversions, which enable a person to be distracted from reality. Unlike The Three Delusions, however, people are not really deluded when using Diversions; for example, watching a happy movie distracts the individual, but the individual doesn't actually believe that the film is real. Unlike The Three Delusions (which present lies as truth), Diversions present lies as entertainment, something to be enjoyed and possibly even make you happy about life.

The final Protector is Functional Stasis genes. These genes inside us allow us to mentally ignore the metaphysical horror and painful tragedy of human life; they prevent us from having Metaphysical Angst Periods in our lives.