Contemplation of Hell.
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good - except God alone".
What is good?
What is God?
Is the archetypal idea of Hell just that, we have been trained for 2000+ years to imagine that there is a place of greater suffering that awaits us in the afterlife, if we do not repent in this life.
Hell was not mentioned in Genesis, and the Devil had already been cast down from heaven before Adam and Eve were created. The Garden of Eden was a Paradise, a word derived from the Persian word meaning a 'Walled Garden'.
Adam and Eve were protected from Hell, from suffering. It seemed in Gods plan, to one day let them eat from the Tree of Knowledge, but once they had matured. Instead they ate from the tree, obtaining the perceived knowledge of Good and Evil. Of self awareness. Nakedness.
As such, Adam and Eve were sent to live with the other lost souls in Hell (Earth). All generations after Adam and Eve still had a place in God's heart, they were the creation he placed the most care and attention in creating, and they fell out of God's plan, God's grace.
God had hoped that they could be free from the corruptive influences of Hell, that they could spend time learning to take care of the environment he had set up for them. Become responsible, understanding humans. However, Adam and Eve showed themselves to be as corruptable as the other humans he gave less attention too.
This is what is meant by the first convenant. Lineage is important, as it is meant to connect the past to the present, from God's most complex and precious creation, Adam, then Eve.
The second covenant made by God was when he sent a part of himself down to Earth, to guide the lost souls in Hell. To forgive them of past inequities and injustices and allow a clean slate. To prove themself worthy of the Book of Life, as a soul that will work towards the greater good.
Now, we the souls who are repeatedly sent back into sentient lives, are given opportunities in each life (unaware of the previous) to redeem our souls, and be worthy of being a part of the collective. As a Worker Bee is within their own colony. The only catch has seems to be:
1. we don't know we're in Hell.
2. We don't know we're a soul that occupies many bodies.
3. We don't know whether our Soul has done enough in previous lives to be deemed worthy when the judgement does come.
As such, the wool that's been pulled over our eyes makes us unaware, and unmotivated to instill the virtues necessary to overcome the selfish desires of the 7 Deadly Sins.
Acts of Charity or Good works helps us overcome the selfish desire of greed and acquisition. Acts of kindness help us overcome Envy. Acts of humility help us overcome Pride. Acts of Patience help us overcome Wrath. Acts of Chastity help us overcome Lust. Acts of Temperance and Discipline help us overcome Gluttony. And Diligence or Action in of itself helps us overcome Sloth.
The sins are selfish, the virtues selfless.
Building Virtue into your fundamental motive, through discipline, planning, and habit building is integral to finding 'Good' within one's self.
God is the creative force behind the universe. Setting the fundamental parameters such that life can emerge, and physical complexity can take rise from the inanimate molecules.
Creation and Destruction viewed on vast time scales can no longer be classified as good, nor evil. They just are. A necessary component of creation. For new complexity to arise, previous compelxity must fall. Such we exist in embedded cycles of creation and destruction, each new cycle creating new variables necessary for participation in that creation cycle, the rest are destroyed.
Perhaps then, we are judged on the degree to which we resonate with the cycles, acting selflessly such that greater potentiality can emerge in other forms of life.
Good then has to be understood within the greater context. For humans, we struggle to detach ourselves from our own existence, as such we assume that death and suffering is bad, and life and the absence of suffering is good.
What if Good, doesn't happen externally, but happens internally.
The only way to achieve Good, is to spend time in quiet reflection. Becoming aware of your innate intentions towards the world, and consciously guiding our intentions toward helping others, rather than only oneself.
Say with purchases; if you buy a set of expensive cooking knives for yourself, however the intention is to use them to cook food for those you care for. Then the selfish purchase, becomes a tool for selflessness.
At our core, if we ask ourselves why enough times directed towards our motivation to perform an action, we will find most often our motivation is selfish.
If we can overcome that selfish core reason for our actions or motivations, and transform it into a selfless action, we can find inner peace, and begin to understand what is meant by 'Good'.
This is why the 7 virtues are necessary to embody. Acts of charity or Good works helps us overcome the selfish desire of greed and acquisition. Acts of kindness help us overcome Envy. Acts of humility help us overcome Pride. Acts of Patience help us overcome Wrath. Acts of Chastity help us overcome Lust. Acts of Temperance and Discipline help us overcome Gluttony. And Diligence or Action in of itself helps us overcome Sloth.
The sins are selfish, the virtues selfless.
Building Virtue into your fundamental motive, through discipline, planning, and habit building is integral to finding 'Good' within one's self.
Which brings us to the question of Hell. Does it exist, or have we overcomplicated things by creating an ethereal spirit realm where suffering ensues.
What if, The Earth is Hell, Gravity our 'walls'. We are reset upon death, our soul reincarnating into both human forms for those who have earned it, and animal form for those who have abused their earthly existence.
Each person is given 3000 years, with the average age of 50 years as a human. So 60 life times to cleans their attachment to the physical and mental universe, and to act in as many lifetimes in a way that benefits the whole and not just the individual.
The logic here stems from that seen in nature. For insects like bee's and ants, if too many of a colony acted in a self-interested manner, the colony would die.
Maybe our souls are going through a similar judgement, to see whether with all the temptations the universe has on offer. That given enough time, the soul will embody selfless behaviours.
If Hell was on Earth, rather than being another place we go after we die.
How would this change those who believes behaviour?
It was said that Lucifer was cast down from Heaven, Earth is his domain. He has left the realm of the Gods, and exists in the physical universe. We are in his domain already. Then judgement day won't be looking at us as an individual, but as a collective souls experience. It is not only this life time for which we will be judged. But all our lifetimes since the Sins of Hell were forgiven by Jesus.
The reality is, regardless of whether we do or don't have past life times, we have this one to prepare our soul. To act in the interest of the community, to build, not destroy, to give, and take less.
The harsh reality is that those who have the most in this life time, are the most likely to corrupt their soul.
Jesus explained:
"It is easier for a Camel to pass through the eye of a needle, then for a rich man to get into heaven."
Wealth corrupts the soul, as it breads greater and greater attachment. Which compounds selfishness.
'Good' as it is taught in many religions must come through compassion, towards ones self, and the outside world. The more we focus on unwinding our attachments to things, people, and finally our self. The easier it becomes to build our day with selfless thoughts and actions.
If Earth is Hell, then everything we are tempted with on a daily basis, is literally here as a test. And as above the virtues are our best tool to overcome the selfish desires we are tempted with daily.Wh
