Haven't you ever caught yourself wondering what nameless cosmic crime you must have committed to deserve all this?
Now for the punch line: In our religious traditions, we have a name for the place where people are punished for the crimes (or "sins") they have committed. What is the name of this place? It is, of course, hell. And since our world matches this description so well, it's difficult not to conclude that this place is hell.
If God is Love, why is there so much pain and suffering in this world?
Among those who want to believe in a loving God, I don't think there's anyone who hasn't wrestled with this issue, because there is such a stark contrast between the God of Love and the slaughterhouse He is said to have created.
I've always believed in a loving God; this idea just seems to be part of my being, as necessary to survival as food and water. But an animal would die, a natural disaster would strike, some senseless human cruelty would be inflicted on me or someone else, and I would find myself crying out, "Why, God? Why do you allow this?"
Looking back on it now, it seems that my whole life has really been driven by the collision between my loving God and this cruel world.
This issue continued to haunt me as I entered college. I studied European intellectual history, and there I encountered a famous expression of the dilemma: "If God is God, He is not good; if God is good, He is not God."
In other words, if God is the only God and fully in charge of everything, He must have evil in His nature; if He is truly all good, He must not be fully in charge—there must be a competing evil power at work in the world.
The logic of this was impeccable to me, but I simply could not shake my belief in a one-and-only loving God, anymore than I could shake my belief in gravity.
After college I went on a spiritual journey through Raja Yoga, Zen Buddhism, various New Age teachings, and New Thought.
Yet while I benefited in many ways from all of these teachings, and I tried to convince myself that they gave me what I was seeking, none really offered a satisfactory answer to my most burning question.
This place is hell; goodbye, cruel world
Like someone with an abusive spouse, we try mightily to love this world as it beats us into submission, yet I think something in all of us realizes it's a losing effort.
I think we all suspect that there is no reconciliation of this world with a loving God—life on earth is, as I mentioned earlier, a potent argument for atheism.
This place is hell, and as much as we deny it, our recognition of this seeps to the surface in all sorts of ways.
Of course, for some people, the recognition of the hellish nature of this world becomes fully conscious.
And though many who reach this conclusion try to brush off its effects through flippant irony and gallows humor, let's face it:
This is a devastating realization, one that can bring with it bitterness, deep depression, and even suicidal thoughts. “Men have died on seeing this" (T-31.IV.3:4), the Course tells us.
Once we conclude that this place is hell and there is no hope of happiness here, what's the point of going on?
Goodbye, cruel world. Of course, most of us never get to the point of actual suicide, but I think many of us give up one way or another as the depressing truth sets in.
As I said above, none of the answers in any of the paths I tried satisfied me. Try as I might, I just couldn't reconcile this place of such profound suffering with a loving God.
The world really did look like hell to me, yet I still couldn't let the idea of a loving God go.
I never completely lost hope and I certainly wasn't suicidal, but over time I did find myself becoming sad, confused, jaded, and lost.
My life was fully functional on the surface, yet deep inside there was a tension that wouldn't go away.
I found ways to minimize and deny the extent of the problem, but deep down I desperately wanted resolution.
I was in darkness, but now I see the light!
You've probably been wondering when I would get to the joy. Well, here is the turning point in the journey.
The realization that no happy alternatives exist in the world as we know it can lead to the joyous realization "that there is a real alternative instead" (T-31.IV.6:1).
There is something glorious that transcends this nightmare world. This is the beginning of the joy that comes from realizing that this place is hell.
My "seeing the light" experience was discovering the Course. I was blown away by the idea that God did not create the world at all, but instead created a limitless, perfect, one hundred percent joyful Heaven.
I was really blown away by Section 27 of the Manual, which says that death is an illusion that is not of God, because God is Love. When I read that, I had a real epiphany. "Of course! That must be true. That solves everything!"
It was one of those experiences in which you encounter something completely new, yet it feels like it has always been a part of you.
My encounter with the Course changed my life forever. The tension was gone. The conflict between a loving God and this suffering world was over.
From ancient hatred to present love.
The dawning of the light brings with it another joyous gift: the shift from egocentric self-interest to genuine, egoless love toward others. What a beautiful thing! This, in the Course's view, is the essence of that "real alternative" to hell.
Don't you find that the most inspiring stories are those in which people locked in some seemingly intractable conflict miraculously find the way to forgiveness and reconciliation?
Every Course student I know melts when he or she hears that wonderful line, “The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love" (T-26.IX.6:1).
Everyone is deeply moved by forgiveness stories; there's something about them that says to us, "These people are demonstrating what God is really like. The love they are expressing is reality; the hell we live in every day is not."
The way out of hell: walking the path of egoless love
This is yet another joyous gift the dawning of the light brings: When you've seen the path out of hell, you naturally devote your life to walking that path and helping others along the way.
Again, think about the people who inspire us most: Mother Teresa doing "little things with great love" for the poor of Calcutta; Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. freeing their people from oppression by loving the oppressors; Bill Wilson and Bob Smith founding AA and freeing millions from the prison of alcoholism; the Dalai Lama demonstrating such great peace, love, and infectious joy in spite of the subjugation of his people.
And of course, there is Jesus, whose loving example was so powerful that this ancient Jewish peasant, whose ministry lasted probably less than a year and ended with a humiliating public execution, became the most revered person in the world today.
If you are resisting the idea that this world is hell, ask yourself these questions: Given your experience of life so far, is it possible that life on earth really is hell? Is it possible that your resistance to this realization is actually keeping you in hell?
Is it possible that, as hard as it can be to acknowledge the hellishness of life as you know it, this acknowledgment might motivate you to practice the Course with greater dedication, and open you up to joy beyond any you have ever experienced before?
I encourage you to really consider these possibilities. You may just find, to your surprise, that it really is a joy to realize that this place is hell.
2 Comments:
Likely something of beneficence and valiance.
Haven't you ever caught yourself wondering what nameless cosmic crime you must have committed to deserve all this?
Now for the punch line: In our religious traditions, we have a name for the place where people are punished for the crimes (or "sins") they have committed. What is the name of this place? It is, of course, hell. And since our world matches this description so well, it's difficult not to conclude that this place is hell.
If God is Love, why is there so much pain and suffering in this world?
Among those who want to believe in a loving God, I don't think there's anyone who hasn't wrestled with this issue, because there is such a stark contrast between the God of Love and the slaughterhouse He is said to have created.
I've always believed in a loving God; this idea just seems to be part of my being, as necessary to survival as food and water. But an animal would die, a natural disaster would strike, some senseless human cruelty would be inflicted on me or someone else, and I would find myself crying out, "Why, God? Why do you allow this?"
Looking back on it now, it seems that my whole life has really been driven by the collision between my loving God and this cruel world.
This issue continued to haunt me as I entered college. I studied European intellectual history, and there I encountered a famous expression of the dilemma: "If God is God, He is not good; if God is good, He is not God."
In other words, if God is the only God and fully in charge of everything, He must have evil in His nature; if He is truly all good, He must not be fully in charge—there must be a competing evil power at work in the world.
The logic of this was impeccable to me, but I simply could not shake my belief in a one-and-only loving God, anymore than I could shake my belief in gravity.
After college I went on a spiritual journey through Raja Yoga, Zen Buddhism, various New Age teachings, and New Thought.
Yet while I benefited in many ways from all of these teachings, and I tried to convince myself that they gave me what I was seeking, none really offered a satisfactory answer to my most burning question.
This place is hell; goodbye, cruel world
Like someone with an abusive spouse, we try mightily to love this world as it beats us into submission, yet I think something in all of us realizes it's a losing effort.
I think we all suspect that there is no reconciliation of this world with a loving God—life on earth is, as I mentioned earlier, a potent argument for atheism.
This place is hell, and as much as we deny it, our recognition of this seeps to the surface in all sorts of ways.
Of course, for some people, the recognition of the hellish nature of this world becomes fully conscious.
And though many who reach this conclusion try to brush off its effects through flippant irony and gallows humor, let's face it:
This is a devastating realization, one that can bring with it bitterness, deep depression, and even suicidal thoughts. “Men have died on seeing this" (T-31.IV.3:4), the Course tells us.
Once we conclude that this place is hell and there is no hope of happiness here, what's the point of going on?
Goodbye, cruel world. Of course, most of us never get to the point of actual suicide, but I think many of us give up one way or another as the depressing truth sets in.
As I said above, none of the answers in any of the paths I tried satisfied me. Try as I might, I just couldn't reconcile this place of such profound suffering with a loving God.
The world really did look like hell to me, yet I still couldn't let the idea of a loving God go.
I never completely lost hope and I certainly wasn't suicidal, but over time I did find myself becoming sad, confused, jaded, and lost.
My life was fully functional on the surface, yet deep inside there was a tension that wouldn't go away.
I found ways to minimize and deny the extent of the problem, but deep down I desperately wanted resolution.
I was in darkness, but now I see the light!
You've probably been wondering when I would get to the joy. Well, here is the turning point in the journey.
The realization that no happy alternatives exist in the world as we know it can lead to the joyous realization "that there is a real alternative instead" (T-31.IV.6:1).
There is something glorious that transcends this nightmare world. This is the beginning of the joy that comes from realizing that this place is hell.
My "seeing the light" experience was discovering the Course. I was blown away by the idea that God did not create the world at all, but instead created a limitless, perfect, one hundred percent joyful Heaven.
I was really blown away by Section 27 of the Manual, which says that death is an illusion that is not of God, because God is Love. When I read that, I had a real epiphany. "Of course! That must be true. That solves everything!"
It was one of those experiences in which you encounter something completely new, yet it feels like it has always been a part of you.
My encounter with the Course changed my life forever. The tension was gone. The conflict between a loving God and this suffering world was over.
From ancient hatred to present love.
The dawning of the light brings with it another joyous gift: the shift from egocentric self-interest to genuine, egoless love toward others. What a beautiful thing! This, in the Course's view, is the essence of that "real alternative" to hell.
Don't you find that the most inspiring stories are those in which people locked in some seemingly intractable conflict miraculously find the way to forgiveness and reconciliation?
Every Course student I know melts when he or she hears that wonderful line, “The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love" (T-26.IX.6:1).
Everyone is deeply moved by forgiveness stories; there's something about them that says to us, "These people are demonstrating what God is really like. The love they are expressing is reality; the hell we live in every day is not."
The way out of hell: walking the path of egoless love
This is yet another joyous gift the dawning of the light brings: When you've seen the path out of hell, you naturally devote your life to walking that path and helping others along the way.
Again, think about the people who inspire us most: Mother Teresa doing "little things with great love" for the poor of Calcutta; Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. freeing their people from oppression by loving the oppressors; Bill Wilson and Bob Smith founding AA and freeing millions from the prison of alcoholism; the Dalai Lama demonstrating such great peace, love, and infectious joy in spite of the subjugation of his people.
And of course, there is Jesus, whose loving example was so powerful that this ancient Jewish peasant, whose ministry lasted probably less than a year and ended with a humiliating public execution, became the most revered person in the world today.
If you are resisting the idea that this world is hell, ask yourself these questions: Given your experience of life so far, is it possible that life on earth really is hell? Is it possible that your resistance to this realization is actually keeping you in hell?
Is it possible that, as hard as it can be to acknowledge the hellishness of life as you know it, this acknowledgment might motivate you to practice the Course with greater dedication, and open you up to joy beyond any you have ever experienced before?
I encourage you to really consider these possibilities. You may just find, to your surprise, that it really is a joy to realize that this place is hell.
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