Ascensionism: Love and Death, Gods and Beasts of Our Time
Introduction: The Cry of a Cat and the Ghost of an Idea
Everything began with a simple question: Why would anyone think that cat abuse is normal? This question, like a stubborn stone thrown into a deep pool, stirred not ripples, but the awakening of a long-dormant intellectual leviathan. In the layers of mist while searching for answers, we encountered utilitarian calculations, liberal defenses, institutional indifference, and nationalist vigilance. We were surprised to find that these seemingly irreconcilable ideologies could form a bizarre “united front” on the point of “cat abuse doesn’t matter.”
This is no accident. Beneath this noisy battlefield lies a deeper, more powerful “meta-ideology”—it is like an operating system, compatible with all seemingly contradictory “applications”; it is like a “meta-morality,” providing the underlying operational logic for all specific moral systems. To identify and dissect this ghost, we have given it a name: Ascensionism.
Ascensionism is an ideology that uses “reason” as its sole measure, dedicated to transforming oneself from a flawed “mortal” into a higher, more perfect “ascendant” by purifying and expelling all irrational “human impurities” (especially emotions). It is not a betrayal of the spirit of the Enlightenment, but its most loyal, most extreme, and most terrifying logical conclusion. It is not only the key to understanding the phenomenon of cat abuse, but also the Achilles’ heel for understanding the dilemmas of modernity, the ecology of online public opinion, and even the schizophrenic nature of our era.
This article aims to comprehensively and systematically summarize the internal mechanisms, historical genealogy, ideological entanglements, and inevitable fate of “Ascensionism.” We will enter this crystal palace built of pure logic, examine its splendor, and ultimately find the crack leading to the abyss of human nature.
Part One: The Anatomy of Ascensionism
Chapter One: The Ascension Trilogy – The Great Purification, The Axiomatic Choice, The Cold Execution
Ascensionism, as a rigorous system of social engineering and personal transformation, has its core mechanisms summarized into a clear “Ascension Trilogy.” This is the path of cultivation that every believer, whether consciously or not, must follow.
Step One: The Great Purification – Purifying the “Original Sin” of Emotion
This is the initiation ritual of Ascensionism, and also the fundamental sign of its break with all traditional virtue ethics. In the Ascensionist worldview, human emotions—sympathy, compassion, love, hatred, fear, joy—are not precious components of human nature, but rather “mortal impurities” to be overcome, “system viruses” that interfere with precise calculations, and “inner demons” on the path to higher rational realms.
The process of “The Great Purification” is an internal revolution. Believers are required to examine and despise their inner emotional impulses. When seeing the suffering of the weak, the spontaneous feeling of sympathy is no longer proof of “goodness,” but a manifestation of “weakness”; when facing a choice, inner hesitation and reluctance are no longer the whispers of “conscience,” but the interference of “irrationality.” The suppression and stripping away of emotions are seen as intellectual maturity and strength of will. Once this step is completed, the believer attains a cold, undisturbed inner state, laying a solid “Dao heart” foundation for the subsequent steps.
Step Two: The Axiomatic Choice – Establishing New Laws Upon Nothingness
After “The Great Purification,” one falls into a value vacuum. Since all emotions and traditional morals are unreliable, what then is the basis for action? Here, Ascensionism reveals its most cunning and ingenious step: it reserves a single, legitimate, one-time “window period” for “passion,” which is to choose your highest Axiom.
Ascensionists admit that pure nothingness cannot generate agency. Therefore, it allows believers to use that “little bit of emotion” to generate an initial, grand “pursuit.” This pursuit can be a desire for national prosperity, an obsession with absolute personal freedom, a belief in the liberation of a certain class, or a passion for the rise of a certain nation. This initial passion, like a rocket igniter, has the sole function of helping the believer choose and establish a unique, unquestionable “Dao” as the highest goal of their life from countless possibilities.
The key to this “Dao” lies in its purity. A qualified axiom must have absolutely no “tension” within it. Because any tension (such as “freedom and order,” “national interest and humanitarianism”) would inevitably lead to the need to use “passion” for weighing and decision-making in specific situations, which would pollute the ascendant’s “Dao heart” and lead to a collapse of faith. Therefore, axioms inevitably become extreme: “absolute freedom,” “national interest above all,” “absolute equality of all beings”… Only such absolute, singular axioms can ensure the purity of subsequent logical deductions.
Step Three: The Cold Execution – Becoming the Perfect Instrument of the Axiom
Once the “Dao” is established, the window of emotion must be permanently closed. The rest of one’s life then becomes a cold “execution of the law.” The ascendant regards themselves as the perfect instrument for realizing that highest axiom, and all their actions must be logical deductions and strategic executions centered around the axiom, devoid of any emotional color.
At this stage, traditional moral vocabulary is re-encoded: “necessary sacrifices,” “clearing obstacles on the path forward,” “rational decisions at all costs to achieve the goal”… These phrases no longer carry negative moral connotations; instead, they become proof of unwavering faith. Ascendants pride themselves on the absolute consistency of their actions with the axiom; any deviation from logic is considered “degeneration.” A successful ascendant will ultimately live as the personification of the axiom they have chosen—an efficient, precise, indestructible, yet completely “inhuman” existence.
Chapter Two: The Perfect Embodiment – The Revelation of Gu Yue Fang Yuan
To understand the ultimate form of Ascensionism, there is no more perfect sample than Gu Yue Fang Yuan, the protagonist of the web novel Reverend Insanity (蛊真人). He is not an ordinary “villain,” but rather a “saint” and “incarnation” of Ascensionism. His phenomenal popularity profoundly reveals that Ascensionism has already “taken root” in contemporary China.
Gu Yue Fang Yuan perfectly embodies the “Ascension Trilogy”:
He completely “underwent The Great Purification,” viewing kinship, love, friendship, gratitude, and compassion as tools or obstacles on the path to his ultimate goal of “eternal life,” to be used and discarded at will. He elevated selfishness and unscrupulousness to the height of “true self” and “great Dao,” and this extreme “anti-hypocrisy” precisely caters to contemporary people’s extreme aversion to social hypocrisy.
He had long since “established his Axiom,” which is pure and absolute: “Eternal life is my only goal.” This goal is grand enough to explain all his actions and provides the highest legitimacy for his ruthlessness.
His entire life is a perfect “Cold Execution,” every step a precise calculation serving his goal, unconstrained by any moral or emotional ties. The absolute control he demonstrates, his extreme utilization of rules, and his absolute adherence to his own will precisely satisfy the pathological craving for power and order among readers anxious in the midst of “involution” and uncertainty.
Readers often admire Gu Yue Fang Yuan not for his “evil,” but for an “ideal personality” they aspire to but dare not become—an absolutely rational individual who is never harmed and always wins in the law of the jungle. His immense popularity is like an X-ray of social psychology, revealing how widespread and deep the mass base of “Ascensionism” as a spirit of the times has become.
Part Two: The Genealogy of Ascensionism
Ascensionism did not appear out of thin air; it is a mighty river that gathers ancient cultural genes and modern ideological currents. Only by understanding its genealogy can one understand why it is so unstoppable in China today.
Chapter Three: Ancient Spirit and Modern Promise
The power of Ascensionism stems from its miraculous fusion of two seemingly unrelated, yet spiritually connected, intellectual resources.
Firstly, there is the ideal of the “Junzi” (gentleman) in ancient Chinese literati culture. The Confucian emphasis on “self-cultivation” (修身) is essentially an internal project of using “Li” (ritual/propriety) and “Yi” (righteousness)—rational social norms and codes of conduct—to restrain and guide “Qing” (personal emotions and desires). The ideal personality of the “Junzi” is a highly self-disciplined, emotionally controlled (“sorrowful but not hurt”), and unenslaved by material possessions rational person. This strict control over the inner emotional world and rational planning of external behavior provided a deep cultural soil and a noble personality template for modern Ascensionism.
Secondly, there is the “myth of reason” from the Western Enlightenment. The core of the Enlightenment was the boundless worship of reason. It used reason to combat religious ignorance, traditional constraints, and the capriciousness of emotion. Kant’s pure reason, Bentham’s utilitarian calculus, and the “Goddess of Reason” of the French Revolution all shared the same belief: humanity could completely transform itself and the world through an objective, universal, and de-emotionalized axiom. This belief provided Ascensionism with modern, scientific theoretical weapons imbued with the halo of “progress.”
When the ancient internal cultivation of “restraining oneself and returning to propriety” (克己复礼) combines with the modern “scientific rationality” of social engineering, a highly persuasive “progressive rationalism” emerges, possessing both traditional spirit and a modern facade.
Chapter Four: The Crucible of Modern China
If the genes for Ascensionism were already prepared, then the history of modern China has been the fiery crucible that forged it into shape. It perfectly superimposed all the historical conditions capable of giving rise to “crisis ideologies.”
Historical Trauma and National Salvation: Starting from the late Qing Dynasty, the old world that had lasted for two millennia completely collapsed. The sense of existential crisis, “national subjugation and racial extinction,” became the supreme rallying cry that overshadowed everything else. Under the banner of “national salvation,” all personal, emotional, and non-utilitarian values were regarded as luxuries or even sins. “Enriching the nation and strengthening the military” became the unquestionable highest axiom; anything that hindered this goal had to be rationally eliminated.
The Real Needs of Catch-up Development: To complete industrialization and modernization in the shortest possible time and catch up with the West, the entire nation was adjusted into a high-speed operating machine. “Efficiency” and “development” became new deities. In this process, the mindset of “utilitarian calculation” and “social engineering” was pushed to the extreme, while unquantifiable, humanistic concerns (such as environmental protection, animal welfare, spiritual life) were regarded as untimely “noise.”
Market Economy and the Social Ecology of “Involution”: The full expansion of the market economy has permeated all aspects of social life with the logic of “maximizing personal gain.” The brutal “involution” competition has made many people genuinely feel that traditional virtues such as sympathy, kindness, and honesty are “negative assets” in real-world competition. “Jungle law” and “social Darwinism” transformed from theories into survival creeds for many. To win, individuals are also forced to undergo “The Great Purification” themselves—becoming colder, more utilitarian, and more “wolf-like.”
The Gladiator Arena Effect of the Internet: The internet, especially its social media form, has become a perfect “Petri dish” and “amplifier” for Ascensionism. Its anonymity, adversarial nature, and tendency towards labeling allow extreme, logically clear, and aggressive statements to gain the greatest dissemination advantage. Meanwhile, moderate, complex, and emotionally based statements are marginalized, ridiculed, and silenced in this “reverse selection.” The online space ultimately transforms into a gladiatorial arena where only “ascendants” are allowed to wage ideological warfare.
Part Three: The Arena of Ideas
The power of Ascensionism lies not only in its internal logical consistency but also in its ability to cleverly absorb, distort, and even overcome some of the most important intellectual paradigms in human history.
Chapter Five: The Nietzschean Heresy
The spiritual temperament of Ascensionism is filled with a Nietzschean tragic grandeur and arrogance, which gives it a profound philosophical allure. It shares with Nietzsche the same starting point (the value nihilism after “God is dead”), the same grand ambition (to “revalue all values” with a strong will), and the same elitist temperament (contempt for the common masses).
However, this is the most profound “Nietzschean heresy.” At the most crucial step of “how to create new values,” Ascensionism moves in the direction Nietzsche most detested. Nietzsche’s “Übermensch” is an artist-warrior who embraces passion, instinct, and bodily wisdom, and whose tool for creation is a vigorous will to life. In contrast, the “ascendant” of Ascensionism is an engineer-calculator who expels passion, suppresses instinct, and despises the body, and whose tool for creation is Socratic, cold, pure reason.
Ascensionism is a “last man” attempting to become an “Übermensch.” It has stolen Nietzsche’s diagnosis and ambition, yet uses the weapon Nietzsche most hated (reason) to attack the ground Nietzsche most cherished (life). It craves power, yet deeply fears the chaotic, passionate, painful core of life itself. Thus, it chooses the “safest” path—hiding in the crystal palace of reason, declaring itself to have “become a god.”
Chapter Six: The True Face of Postmodernism
On the surface, Ascensionism appears to be the ultimate manifestation of modernity (reason, grand narratives, progress), and postmodernism (deconstruction, pluralism, irony) should be its natural enemy. But this is a misunderstanding. In fact, Ascensionism is not a weapon by which modernity defeats postmodernity; it is itself the ultimate form of postmodernism, the crown that postmodernism wears when it crowns itself after winning the war.
Postmodernism’s most profound insight is the Foucauldian “all knowledge is power,” which reveals that there is no objective truth, only “truth discourses” serving the will to power. This diagnosis, in itself, is the coldest declaration of power struggle. Faced with this diagnosis, postmodernism developed two branches:
Soft Postmodernism: This is the academic school we are familiar with. After discovering the truth, they chose to retreat, content with deconstruction, critique, and playing language games, ultimately falling into cultural relativism and the fragmentation of identity politics. They are commentators on ideas.
Hard Postmodernism / Ascensionism: They chose to attack after discovering the truth. They took “everything is a power struggle” as a call to action. They accepted the nihilistic essence of the world, and then, on this battlefield of nothingness, picked up modernity’s strongest weapons—pure reason, systematic logic, and a fervent belief in progress—which had been discarded by “soft postmodernism,” and re-forged them into ultimate tools for realizing their own will to power. They are warriors of ideas.
Ascensionism does not refute postmodernism; it devours postmodernism. It uses the most thorough subjective will to overcome the most thorough objective nihilism revealed by postmodernism. It is a player who, after acknowledging the “rules of the game,” decides to become the “ultimate winner” at all costs. Ascensionism is the coronation ceremony where postmodernism, after completing the regicide of all old gods, places itself—this “man-made god” composed of pure will and absolute reason—on the throne.
Part Four: The Human Cost and the Inevitable Cracks
The theoretical edifice of Ascensionism appears flawless and invulnerable, but its “invincibility” is a theoretical one, an invincibility in a vacuum. When it attempts to descend into reality, its inherent fragility is exposed.
Chapter Seven: The Silent Majority and the Divided Individual
The success of Ascensionism in China is a success in discourse power, not in the number of its adherents. The true social structure is a pyramid: at the apex are a few devout “ascendant” missionaries; the body consists of a certain proportion of “pragmatic users” who employ Ascensionism as a tool for gain; and the broad base, comprising the absolute majority, is the “silent masses” who believe in simple virtue ethics.
The silence of this majority does not stem from political fear, but from a deeper deprivation of discourse power. In a public opinion sphere where “reason” reigns supreme, any simple emotional expression based on “sympathy” or “reluctance” will immediately invite intellectual humiliation as “Holy Mother,” “stupid,” or “naive.” Lacking “weapons for debate” and weary of extreme online rhetoric, they choose to retreat into the private sphere, ceding public space to the loudest and most aggressive Ascensionists.
And even Ascensionists themselves live in a profound state of spiritual schizophrenia. In the public sphere, they play the role of cold “rational beings,” deconstructing marriage, family, and love with the sharpest theories. But in the private sphere, they are still fragile mortals who long for love and to be loved, tormented by jealousy and loneliness. This huge chasm between the “rationality” of their public persona and the “sensibility” of their private experience fills them with fear, suspicion, and calculation when facing real intimate relationships, moving them further and further away from true happiness. They are not true “immortals”; they merely learn to wear a mask called “reason” when needed.
Chapter Eight: The Unconquerable “Natural Enemies”
The crystal palace of Ascensionism, seemingly impregnable, has three unconquerable, fatal “natural enemies.”
Natural Enemy One: The Betrayal of the Body. Human beings, this “biological hardware” full of bugs, are Ascensionism’s greatest enemy. An ascendant can suppress emotions with will, but cannot suppress hormones, cannot overcome aging, disease, and chronic pain. In the face of the most primitive, unreasonable physical suffering, any grand axiom will appear pale and powerless. The body, in the most direct way, reminds every ascendant: you are not a god; you are merely a mass of decaying flesh and blood.
Natural Enemy Two: The Vacuum of Victory. Ascensionism is a goal-oriented system; it can provide infinite motivation but not an iota of meaning. When the goal is achieved (e.g., national rejuvenation) or the goal itself is nihilistic (e.g., eternal life), the fulcrum supporting all actions disappears. The ascendant will instantly plunge into a vast void and crisis of meaning. A machine born for battle, when peace arrives, has no other path but to rust.
Natural Enemy Three: The Stubbornness of Reality. Ascensionism prefers simple, extreme axioms, but the real world is fundamentally composed of countless “tensions” and “complexities.” It does not follow any single, pure logic. An ascendant who attempts to dissect the entire world with a simple scalpel will ultimately find themselves facing a boundless, amorphous ocean. The more they try to transform this “dirty” reality with their “pure axiom,” the more violent the backlash from reality will be.
Therefore, the power of Ascensionism is a rigid, fragile, and unresilient power. It is like a diamond, possessing the highest hardness, but unable to withstand a single heavy blow from the wrong direction. Its perfection is precisely the root of its incompatibility with this imperfect world, and also its most vulnerable point.
Conclusion: The Landscape of Our Time
Ascensionism is not a distant philosophical concept; it is the air we breathe, the landscape we inhabit. It is a brilliant yet hollow ideal, a powerful yet dangerous social stress response. It brings hope in times of crisis, establishes order on ruins, and forges strength in weakness. But it also, in the name of “progress,” carries out “dehumanization,” devaluing almost all the qualities that make us human: vulnerability, compassion, love, non-utilitarian joy…
It is not invincible, but its decline may not come from another grander ideological war, but from the return of countless individual, silent, yet irresistible “humanities”—from a physical illness, an unprompted love, the cry of an infant, an uncontrollable emptiness after victory.
Until then, we will all live under the shadow of this magnificent and cold crystal palace. Observe it, understand it, and always be vigilant, lest the simple, warm flame of virtue within us be extinguished by its rational, eternal cold wind. For that may be the last thing we have left as “humans,” not “ascendants.”