Hell is Empty
I have a really good friend who converted to Catholicism when she got married. Like me, she is passionate about her spirituality, so although our beliefs differ wildly we always have plenty to talk about. (When you’re dealing with the infinite you need a lot of wine.)
The biggest thing we simply can’t agree on, is the existence of the concept of evil. To me, if all things derive from one single point in dimensions and are of the same essence, then nothing can fundamentally be opposite anything else. This is the notion of connectedness: the unified field. To accept evil is to accept that a malicious force can exist separate from the rest of everything, projecting from another single point, so to speak. It feels very contradictory to me.
It’s useful, of course. As long as there is evil, there can be a champion of evil. And then we all have someone to blame it on. It feels quite comforting to think that all those atrocities are committed thanks that bastard The Beast – but it doesn’t quite take into account that “atrocities” are only atrocious from the perspective of the injured. It also requires that we remove responsibility from the individual. To me it feels bizarrely contradictory to claim that a benevolent and loving God should punish for all eternity those who were tricked by said Beastly Bastard, especially when we all know how easy it is to fall for those delicious temptations.
I think Shakespeare’s on to something.
“Satan made me do it!”
“No darling – you made you do it.”
E.A.A Wilson is an author, minister of metaphysics, mom and reluctant bureaucrat. Her comic fantasy novel “Ascension Denied” is set in purgatory but is nonetheless available to the living, now, online, at all major retailers. Stay in touch through:
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