The Good and The Bad

Slippery slopes send stagnant sins storming silently in the night. They scurry like roaches when the light goes on! Thieves and liars. You cannot hear these bandits, looting and pillaging. I had a feeling that it went on. Though I refuse to play babysitter. Mike said yesterday, in his comment to an earlier post that, "when we come out of the womb we are neutral." He then said, "are we?" I think I will wrestle with this notion. I think that he's right, in that we enter this place neutral for a snapshot in time. Inevitably, we are all born to be sinners! Isn't that why Jesus Christ died for our sins? If left to our own vices, we will sin. Adam and Eve, have anything you want just don't eat the apple! It's like saying to a three year old, don't touch that, don't eat that. The minute the parent leaves the room, they are defying their parents wishes every step of the way. Perhaps to try and show us how to avoid sin, we are as sinners/humans, given little tests on different occasions? Wherever our shortcomings as humans lie, those particular vices or sins we have committed keep reappearing? I have read in Dante's Purgatorio that, if you are truly sorry and repent for your sins, you will be forgiven. However, if you repeatedly commit the same sins over and over again, and even if you repeatedly repent, damnation to hell awaits you (the sinner). It would mean that you have never learned from these mistakes. Dante states, "There is no music in hell! Only groans, screams, and crying." He also says that depending on the severity of the sins, you are to dwell with similar evil doers who have committed the same vile acts. There are different levels to Hell and Purgatory. I must admit, the vividness of these depictions made me very uneasy. I don't think that I necessarily live a bad life but, the ideas Dante offers, ought to scare the hell out of you. Pun intended!

I was walking home late last night from work. It was around 2:15 a.m. And, I am currently, reading some Dante. Maybe you could guess from some of the constant referencing. First of all, it's fascinating reading. The imagery, the words, the language, and the almost life form that the work takes on! So, i'm walking and picturing hell and purgatory and this and that... I begin to sketch in my mind how these things work. Are the street people, i.e peddlers, prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves, hustlers, drunks, etc... are these people already condemned to hell? I mean if you repeatedly commit the same sins night after night, and week after week, you have never learned anything. One could have repented but, they keep repeating the same sins. The interesting thing is that when you see these people and they confront you asking for money, presenting their excuses, and whatever, even if you don't give them change or cash to support whatever vice they might be trying to quench, they will usually end with "God Bless you! That might be the worst thing to say and hear. I realize that your intention is supposed to be that they will go and eat with the money that they accumulate during their days. However, they are blessing our hearts for giving them booze money and drug money. We are all one! We could easily become these folks through poor choices. But God Bless you almost always makes me uneasy when I hear it used in this context. I am supposed to help my brothers and sisters not feed their monsters. I can pray for these sins. I am rendered useless toward helping them.

How much room is given to the sinner? Purgatory is the place where suffering has to exist based upon the seven deadly sins. Dante talks about walking the shores of purgatory and seeing the stars and how he and Virgil can almost see paradise. He says this because there are in his depiction 7 levels or terraces to Purgatory. Some beauty can be witnessed there as the soul is purified and thus the sinner becomes lighter and in this transition, ascends the mountain of purgatory. This is not to say that a bit of suffering does not exist in this realm. Dissimilarly, in hell it is unremitting torment. Screaming, pain, and suffering, for eternity! At least with Purgatory, the suffering will end if you truly repent and if you pray for all of the other souls who share the same state of circumstances as you, "the soul" in Purgatory. Damnation to hell is long, wicked, harsh, and cruel! Perhaps its just? Depends on the nature. As the architect of the book I am reading, Dante is so brutally honest and grotesque in his depiction of these places. Now, if I haven't scared anyone into the confessional, you cannot be saved! I am no one to Judge any of you. But, perhaps its the old, Catholic guilt that will stir you up? I always enjoy the stars and the night air when I am walking. However, because I was reading on the train and reflecting about different things I witness, and think, I started to really absorb some of these things. The content of the book is gripping and apparently trickled into my mind the whole way home. It was probably more of a banner of distraction because of the temperature early this morning. It is a terrifying discussion but something to think about. Growing up we just heard Hell was a bad place.... Hell is much worse than a Stephen King film! Good luck and fasten your seatbelts. If we all lead more peaceful and spiritually obediant lives, we should all have a chance.

Something to think about!

James