7 Palm Sunday

7 Palm Sunday

Call to Worship:
Matthew 21:1-9

21 1Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion,
‘Behold, your king is coming to you,
 humble, and mounted on a donkey,
 on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”

Entry of Christ into Jerusalem (1320) by Pietro Lorenzetti: entering the city on a donkey symbolizes arrival in peace rather than as a war-waging king arriving on a horse.

It has sometimes been my habit to get into whatever my current enthusiasm happens to be, and forget to celebrate the high feast days of the Christian year. This is wrong of me for many reasons, not the least of which is the sanctity of ceremony, a principle which I have expounded from this pulpit many times. Especially as they apply to the re-enactment of events whose resonance has become mythological, the performance of rituals, in a habitual way, brings those myths to life, in our very mundane, living presence. Therefore, if the symbolic re-enactment of holy events is truly a sacred activity, then today, Palm Sunday, should constitute a joyous re-enactment indeed, as it commemorates the first day of the so-called Holy Week, which culminates in the crucifixion and resurrection.

We have suggested many times that the language, in which a thing is expressed, may become a key toward accessing its inarticulate significance. Therefore, let us go back and enter the gates with Jesus, and see what it means. Perhaps, by reviewing the remembered pictures of Palm Sunday, we may empathically experience some of the cosmic drama that was played out on that fateful Sunday.

First some comments from the internet, beginning with Wikipedia:

"Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in all four canonical Gospels. 

In many Christian churches, Palm Sunday includes a procession of the assembled worshipers carrying palms, representing the palm branches the crowd scattered in front of Jesus as he rode into Jerusalem. The difficulty of procuring palms in unfavorable climates led to their substitution with branches of native trees, including box, yew, willow, and olive. The Sunday was often designated by the names of these trees, as in Yew Sunday, or by the general term Branch Sunday.

Biblical basis and symbolism
In the accounts of the four canonical Gospels, Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem takes place about a week before his Resurrection.
The symbolism is captured in Zechariah 9:9:

"The Coming of Zion's King – See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey".

[Sidebar: There is a mixed message here: the palm branches represent victory, military conquest, and royalty, whereas the donkey represents lowly humility. This is the fundamental paradox of Jesus' teaching: the master is the servant; the superior man is the humble man.
In Mark 9:35 He says:

"And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all."

And again in John 13:13-16:

13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

It is with great interest that we observe the victorious King of the Jews entering the city to the enthusiastic roar of the crowd; the crowd waving palm branches as a sign of honor, and also to keep the dust of the road from rising up to soil the white garments of the Master. If we identify with this symbol, we too may dignify our lowly estate with the inner self-knowledge that we possess the keys to the Kingdom. This knowledge diffuses the sting of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and strengthens our resolve to rise above Earthy cares; it elevates our field of vision to a higher perspective, from which all mundane insult and disappointment mean nothing.]

Back to Wikipedia:

"It was perceived that Jesus was declaring he was the King of Israel to the anger of the Sanhedrin.
According to the Gospels, Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem, and the celebrating people there laid down their cloaks in front of him, and also laid down small branches of trees. The people sang part of Psalm 118: 25–26 :

" ... Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. We bless you from the house of the Lord …."

The symbolism of the donkey may refer to the Eastern tradition that it is an animal of peace, versus the horse, which is the animal of war. A king came riding upon a horse when he was bent on war and rode upon a donkey when he wanted to point out he was coming in peace. Jesus' entry to Jerusalem would thus symbolize his entry as the Prince of Peace, not as a war-waging king.

On the subject of donkeys, which we explored in some depth in Thomas The Fourth Act, I present the following poem by G.K Chesterton; The Donkey tells of Palm Sunday from the point of view of the donkey.

“The Donkey―
When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn,
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings,
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth,
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb,
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.”

There is, here, the definite implication of something I would like to call "humble pride". The donkey is supported, in his old age, by his "secret": the memory of a great thing done in his past--a memory which softens the sting of the present humiliations of a tedious, menial occupation. To be sure, since it is always the MEMORY of what we have done that is most meaningful, it is, indeed, a beautiful thing to see a lowly beast of burden glorying in the knowledge that an honor was conferred, in all the world, on only one. As C.S. Lewis says, repeatedly, we become more ourselves when we surrender our will to that of the Father. Thus, doth a poor beast of burden become, through sacrifice, a royal icon, a living myth.

We hope that the radiance of eternity may shine on all our undertakings; we seek to experience the archetypal resonance of living symbols. We seek to play our parts, as players well-rehearsed in truthful representation, and lose ourselves in an identity iconic by definition, infinite in scope.

Back to Wikipedia:

"In many lands in the ancient Near East, it was customary to cover in some way the path of someone thought worthy of the highest honour. The Hebrew Bible (2 Kings 9:13) reports that Jehu, son of Jehoshaphat, was treated this way. Both the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John report that people gave Jesus this form of honour. However, in the synoptics they are only reported as laying their garments and cut rushes on the street, whereas John specifies fronds of palm (Greek phoinix). In Jewish tradition, the palm is one of the Four Species carried for Sukkot, as prescribed for rejoicing at Leviticus 23:40:

"And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days."

The palm branch was a symbol of triumph and victory in the Greco-Roman culture of the Roman Empire, and became the most common attribute of the goddess Nike or Victory.For contemporary Roman observers, the procession would have evoked the Roman triumph, when the triumphator laid down his arms and wore the toga, the civilian garment of peace that might be ornamented with emblems of the palm. Although the Epistles of Paul refer to Jesus as "triumphing", the entry into Jerusalem may not have been regularly pictured as a triumphal procession in this sense before the 13th century. In ancient Egyptian religion, the palm was carried in funeral processions and represented eternal life. The palm branch later became a symbol of Christian martyrs and their spiritual victory or triumph over death. In Revelation 7:9, the white-clad multitude stand before the throne and Lamb holding palm branches.

"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;"

Eastern and Oriental Christianity
Palm Sunday, or the "Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem," as it is often called in some Orthodox Churches, is one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the liturgical year. The day before Palm Sunday, Lazarus Saturday, believers often prepare palm fronds by knotting them into crosses in preparation for the procession on Sunday. The hangings and vestments in the church are changed to a festive color - gold in the Greek tradition and green in the Slavic tradition. 

The Troparion of the Feast indicates the resurrection of Lazarus is a prefiguration of Jesus' own Resurrection:

"O Christ our God
When Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead before Thy Passion,
Thou didst confirm the resurrection of the universe.
Wherefore, we like children,
carry the banner of triumph and victory,
and we cry to Thee, O Conqueror of love,
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He that cometh
in the Name of the Lord."

Western Christianity
Palm Sunday commemorates the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, when palm branches were placed in his path, before his arrest on Holy Thursday and his crucifixion on Good Friday. It thus marks the beginning of Holy Week, the final week of Lent.
In the Roman Catholic Church, as well as among many Anglican and Lutheran congregations, palm fronds (or in colder climates some kind of substitutes) are blessed with an aspergillum outside the church building (or in cold climates in the narthex when Easter falls early in the year). A solemn procession also takes place. It may include the normal liturgical procession of clergy and acolytes, the parish choir, or the entire congregation.
The palms are saved in many churches to be burned the following year as the source of ashes used in Ash Wednesday services. The Catholic Church considers the blessed palms to be sacramentals. The vestments for the day are deep scarlet red, the color of blood, indicating the supreme redemptive sacrifice Christ was entering the city to fulfill: his Passion and Resurrection in Jerusalem."

[Sidebar: I always wanted to know what exactly Ash Wednesday was, so I looked it up:

"Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting, is the first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It occurs 46 days (40 fasting days, if the 6 Sundays, which are not days of fast, are excluded) before Easter and can fall as early as 4 February or as late as 10 March."

Back to Palm Sunday:

"In the Episcopal and many other Anglican churches and in Lutheran churches, as well, the day is nowadays officially called "The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday"; in practice, though, it is usually termed "Palm Sunday" as in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer and in earlier Lutheran liturgies and calendars, to avoid undue confusion with the penultimate Sunday of Lent in the traditional calendar, which was "Passion Sunday".

Thus endeth the Wikipedia review.

From this we can clearly see that Palm Sunday is universally considered to be a Holy Day, and commemorates an event of supreme importance. The re-enactment of the so-called "Triumphal Entry" is suffused with meaning. Once again, in re-living the past, we can identify with it, and borrow some of its glory.

The following is from a sermon for Palm Sunday by Martin Luther; it focuses on the HUMILITY of riding on a donkey.

Martin Luther Palm Sunday; Christ an Example of Love
Philippians 2:5-11

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

1. Here Paul again presents to us as a powerful example of the celestial and eternal fire, the love of Christ, for the purpose of persuading us to exercise a loving concern for one another. The apostle employs fine words and precious admonitions, having perceived the indolence and negligence displayed by Christians in this matter of loving. For this the flesh is responsible. The flesh continually resists the willing spirit, seeking its own interest and causing sects and factions. Although a sermon on this same text went forth in my name a few years ago, entitled ”The Twofold Righteousness,” the text was not exhausted; therefore we will now examine it word by word.

”Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”

2. You are Christians; you have Christ, and in him and through him all fullness of comfort for time and eternity: therefore nothing should appeal to your thought, your judgment, your pleasure, but that which was in the mind of Christ concerning you as the source of your welfare. For his motive throughout was not his own advantage; everything he did was done for your sake and in your interest. Let men therefore, in accord with his example, work every good thing for one another's benefit.

”Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant.”

3. If Christ, who was true God by nature, has humbled himself to become servant of all, how much more should such action befit us who are of no worth, and are by nature children of sin, death and the devil! Were we similarly to humble ourselves, and even to go beyond Christ in humility – a thing, however, impossible – we should do nothing extraordinary. Our humility would still reek of sin in comparison with his. Suppose Christ was to humble himself in the least degree – but a hair's breadth, so to speak – below the most exalted angels; and suppose we were to humble ourselves to a position a thousand times more abased than that of the devils in hell; yet our humility would not compare in the least with that of Christ. For he is an infinite blessing – God himself – and we are but miserable creatures whose existence and life are not for one moment secure. 

4. What terrible judgment must come upon those who fail to imitate the ineffable example of Christ; who do not humble themselves below their neighbors and serve them, but rather exalt themselves above them! Indeed, the example of Christ may well terrify the exalted, and those high in authority; and still more the self-exalted. Who would not shrink from occupying the uppermost seat and from lording it over others when he sees the Son of God humble and eliminate himself? 

5. The phrase ”form of God” does not receive the same interpretation from all. Some understand Paul to refer to the divine essence and nature in Christ; meaning that Christ, though true God, humbled himself. While Christ is indeed true God, Paul is not speaking here of his divine essence, which is concealed. The word he uses – ”morphe,” or ”forma' – he employs again where he tells of Christ taking upon himself the form of a servant. ”Form of a servant” certainly cannot signify ”essence of a real servant”-possessing by nature the qualities of a servant. For Christ is not our servant by nature; he has become our servant from good will and favor toward us.  

6. ”Form of God,” then, means the assumption of a divine attitude and bearing, or the manifestation of divinity in port and presence; and this not privately, but before others, who witness such form and bearing. To speak in the clearest possible manner: Divine bearing and attitude are in evidence when one manifests in word and deed that which pertains peculiarly to God and suggests divinity. Accordingly, ”the form of a servant” implies the assumption of the attitude and bearing of a servant in relation to others. It might be better to render ”Morphe tu dulu,” by ”the bearing of a servant,” that means, manners of such character that whoever sees the person must take him for a servant. This should make it clear that the passage in question does not refer to the manifestation of divinity or servility as such, but to the characteristics and the expression of the same. For, as previously stated, the essence is concealed, but its manifestation is public. The essence implies a condition, while its expression implies action."

I would like to dwell on this point, made above:

"Divine bearing and attitude are in evidence when one manifests in word and deed that which pertains peculiarly to God and suggests divinity."

That which "suggests divinity" is the very quality which we have mentioned as "archetypal" and mythical. It is no surprise that Jesus held so faithfully to the scriptures of prophecy, because the fulfillment of prophecy is practically the definition of "mythological". Furthermore, it is the "suggestion of divinity" that we associate with royalty. Thus, as Jesus projects the outward sign of the peacemaker, the humble servant, He also radiates the confidence of self-knowledge that places Him at the head of the line. I am saying here that the superior man may serve the basest of the base without sacrificing the sense of his own excellence.

I have spoken, recently, of my efforts to "Rise Above It". In the mad tide pool of human ego-centricity and conflict, it is very difficult to rise above something, when gravity is constantly pulling us down. It must be this "Morphe tu dulu", this "bearing of a servant,” that enables us to block identification with mundane life; thus doth the humility of non-identification allow us to remove ourselves from the strife.

We conclude with a few significant quotes, and a longish poem:

"It may well be that the world is denied miracle after miracle and triumph after triumph because we will not bring to Christ what we have and what we are. If, just as we are, we would lay ourselves on the altar of service of Jesus Christ, there is no saying what Christ could do with us and through us." ~ William Barclay

"Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die;
O Christ, thy triumphs now begin
O’er captive death and conquered sin!"
 ~ Henry Hart Milman -

"Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before whom we humble ourselves without despair."
 ~ Blaise Pascal -

Palm Sunday
"Ye whose hearts are beating high 
 

With the pulse of Poesy, 

Heirs of more than royal race, 


Fram’d by Heaven’s peculiar grace, 
 

God’s own work to do on earth, 


(If the word be not too bold,) 
 

Giving virtue a new birth, 
 

And a life that ne’er grows old— 


 

Sovereign masters of all hearts! 
 

Know ye, who hath set your parts? 
 

He who gave you breath to sing, 


 By whose strength ye sweep the string, 


 

He hath chosen you, to lead 
His Hosannas here below; 

— 
Mount, and claim your glorious meed; 


Linger not with sin and woe. 

 

But if ye should hold your peace, 
 

Deem not that the song would cease—

Angels round his glory-throne, 
Stars, 

His guiding hand that own, 
Flowers, 

that grow beneath our feet, 
 

Stones in earth’s dark womb that rest, 
 

High and low in choir shall meet, 
 

Ere His Name shall be unblest. 



Lord, by every minstrel tongue 
 

Be thy praise so duly sung, 
 

That thine angels’ harps may ne’er 
 

Fail to find fit echoing here: 
 

 

We the while, of meaner birth, 
 

Who in that divinest spell 
 

Dare not hope to join on earth, 
 

Give us grace to listen well. 

 

But should thankless silence seal 
 

Lips, that might half Heaven reveal, 
 

Should bards in idol-hymns profane 
 

The sacred soul-enthralling strain, 
 

(As in this bad world below 
 

Nobles things find vilest using,) 
 

Then, thy power and mercy shew, 


In vile things noble breath infusing; 

 

 

Then waken into sound divine 
 

The very pavement of thy shrine, 
 

Till we, like Heaven’s star-sprinkled floor, 
 

Faintly give back what we adore. 


 

Childlike though the voices be, 
 

And untunable the parts, 
 

Thou wilt own the minstrelsy, 
 

If it flow from childlike hearts."

John Keble

Let us pray: Jesus, let us make a "Triumphal Entry" into life every day, and remember two things:
pride in the knowledge that we are kings, and humility of the knowledge that: so are we all. Amen

6 What the Hell? - II.

6 What the Hell? - II.

Last week we reviewed many interpretations of Hell by many of the World's religions. Today we will discuss Hell as it is represented in literature, including perspectives by Dante, Milton, Blake, C.S Lewis, and others--culminating in a reprise and amplification of some of the points that I made at the end of the Thomas Act Six sermon. I believe this is not unlike what I did with the Satan sermons, where we first took a worldview of Satan, and then a literary view of Satan.

There are many, many, many reports, from ancient history forward, of grisly images of Hell. Descriptions of Hell go all the way back to Gilgamesh, the Mahabarata, and the Greeks (for example Hades and Persephone, and the Orpheus legend). Many of these ancient myths were revived in the Medieval Period, when certain surviving ancient texts were copied and translated; from then on, these tales became the stock-in-trade of Christian mythology, Christian theologians, and Christian creative writers. This is of importance because it is understood that creative artists have often been the carriers of the torch of prophecy, and have brought the Infinite down to the level of Human apprehension and understanding for the purposes of contemplation and transformation. Our normal vision of reality is always muted and confused by the illusions of the material plane, seen through a glass darkly; but art tears away the veil and allows the truth of the inner reality to radiate forth.

I here emphasize the point that: the resolution of the images, out of which thoughts are created, has a great deal to do with the frequency at which our consciousness vibrates. Literature, with its rich, resonant symbols, can be very spiritually uplifting, and motivate the same kind of transformation of personality that occurs during prayer. Don't let us ever forget that the sacred scriptures are, in terms of one kind of bottom line, merely literature. Inspired by God, to be sure, we maintain--but who is to say that lots, if not all, literature is not inspired by God?

It is wrong of religious dogmatists to insist that there are only a few scriptures that may PROPERLY be said to be inspired by God. As has been suggested by the writings of Rudolf Steiner, the imprinting of heavenly forms on human souls is effected by angelic energy translated into the physical dimension; thus translated, Divine Intelligence makes its energetic way into the physical world for the purpose blessing and healing the mind of Man--for the purpose of raising human consciousness from a lower to a higher  vibratory level. The significance of symbolic representations in literature, therefore, is neither trivial nor slight; literature has long been the homeland of some of the most profound and enlightened spiritual truths of any age, and it is with the deepest respect that we turn to these works of art for comfortable wisdom.

The discussion that follows here, will feature a number of literary Hells arranged, approximately, in chronological order. It will become immediately apparent that the variety of Hell's symbolic representations in literature is similar in scope to the variety of symbolic representations in the Holy Scriptures of the world's religions. There has been much borrowing between these literatures; to be sure, artists have borrowed more from the sacred scriptures than the other way around, but it is clear that these so-called sacred texts and artistic texts draw from each other and very similar source materials--materials that reside for the most part in the Collective Unconscious. Stories of heroes and saints are the carriers of Divine Truths, truths embedded in the plots and symbologies of these archetypal templates. Myths and miracles crowd the so-called Akashic Records, and all these records are public domain.

To begin, our first story appears in Hindu literature. From The Power of Myth, Joseph Cambell gives us the tale of Indra:

"There is a wonderful story in one of the Upanishads about the god Indra. Now, it happened at this time that a great monster had enclosed all the waters of the earth, so there was a terrible drought, and the world was in a very bad condition. It took Indra quite a while to realize that he had a box of thunderbolts and that all he had to do was drop a thunderbolt on the monster and blow him up. When he did that, the waters flowed, and the world was refreshed, and Indra said, "What a great boy am I."

So, thinking, "What a great boy am I," Indra goes up to the cosmic mountain, which is the central mountain of the world, and decides to build a palace worthy of such as he. The main carpenter of the gods goes to work on it, and in very quick order he gets the palace into pretty good condition. But every time Indra comes to inspect it, he has bigger ideas about how splendid and grandiose the palace should be. Finally, the carpenter says, "My god, we are both immortal, and there is no end to his desires. I am caught for eternity." So he goes to Brahma, the creator god, and complains.

Brahma sits on a lotus, the symbol of divine energy and divine grace. The lotus grows from the navel of Vishnu, who is the sleeping god, whose dream is the universe. So the carpenter comes to the edge of the great pond of the universe and tells his story to Brahma. Brahma says, "You go home. I will fix this up."

Brahma gets off his lotus and kneels down to address sleeping Vishnu. Vishnu just makes a gesture and says something like, "Listen, fly, something is going to happen."

Next morning, at the gate of the palace that is being built, there appears a beautiful blue boy with a lot of children around him, just admiring his beauty. The porter at the gate of the new palace goes running to Indra, and Indra says, "Well, bring in the boy." The boy is brought in, and Indra, the king god, sitting on his throne, says, "Young man, welcome. And what brings you to my palace?" "Well," says the boy with a voice like thunder rolling on the horizon, "I have been told that you are building such a palace as no Indra before you ever built." And Indra says, "Indras before me, young man— what are you talking about?"

The boy says, "Indras before you. I have seen them come and go, come and go. Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. And Indras? There may be wise men in your court who would volunteer to count the drops of water in the oceans or the grains of sand on the beaches, but no one would count those Brahmin, let alone those Indras."

[Sidebar: This image of a God awakening and sleeping, awakening and sleeping, even sleeping and dreaming, is charming and compelling at the same time. This definitely feels like of wheel of karmic law. Fortunately, Jesus came to break this law for the last time.

Back to Campbell:]

"While the boy was talking, an army of ants parades across the floor. The boy laughs when he sees them, and Indra's hair stands on end, and he says to the boy, "Why do you laugh?" The boy answers, "Former Indras all. Through many lifetimes they rise from the lowest conditions to the highest illumination. And then they drop their thunderbolt on a monster, and they think, 'What a good boy am I.' And down they go again."

The point of this story is simple: even the highest may fall to the lowest, and have to start all over again, if he loses sight of the origin of all, by focusing on the tiny microcosm he calls the "self". We will encounter the terms "linear" and "cyclic" religions, in a moment, and these designations will depend heavily on the idea of infinitely recurring Aeons of everlasting time.

Again, from the Hindu scriptures, the final scene in the Mahabharata deserves to be included in this second sermon on the literature about Hell. In Mahabharata there is a mention of the Pandavas and the Kauravas both going to Heaven. At first Yudhisthira goes to heaven where he sees his enemy Duryodhana enjoying heaven; Indra tells him that Duryodhana is in heaven as he did his Kshatriya duties. Then he shows Yudhisthir hell where it appears his brothers are.

It's a very interesting image wherein the main hero of the tale, Yudhishthira, climbs up to Heaven and there encounters the spirits of his enemies, laughing and sporting on fluffy-white happy-clouds. Turning back, he chooses to remain faithful to his family who are all in Hell (he thinks). Later it is revealed that this was a test for Yudhisthir and that his brothers and the Kauravas are all in heaven and live happily in the divine abode of gods. We discover that this vision of Hell is an illusion (like so many of Satan's temptations): the heaven where his enemies were bounding around in the blue skies was actually Hell, and his family members were all actually residing in Heaven. Yudhishthira made the right choice even though it looked like the wrong choice.

Hell is often represented as a gay old place. According to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Second Coming Christian Revelation, hell exists because evil people want it. They, not God, introduced evil to the human race.

This is not unlike the scene in Bernard Shaw's play Don Juan in Hell, where Hell is depicted as a brilliant Viennese ball, in which people constantly indulge in the infernally intoxicating and suffocating champagne. In the final scene, Don Juan, who begins his afterlife in Hell, turns toward Heaven with these words:

"Why to be able to choose the line of greatest advantage instead of yielding in the direction of the least resistance. Does a ship sail to its destination no better than a log drifts nowhither? The philosopher is Nature's pilot. And there you have our difference: to be in hell is to drift: to be in heaven is to steer."

Swedenborg's refrain that "Hell exists because people want it", is the theme song of this investigation of Hell. We have encountered, over and over, the idea that hell is a self-inflicted state of mind. So many of our sources view the state of mind as fluid, even to the extent that the soul may send ITSELF into the outer darkness.

It all seems to boil down to a question of choice.

From Wikipedia: Here is a famous fable about hell which recurs in folklore across several cultures; it is the allegory of the long spoons:

"The allegory of the long spoons is a parable that shows the difference between heaven and hell by means of people forced to eat with long spoons. It is attributed to Rabbi Haim of Romshishok, as well as other sources.

In hell the people are unable to lift food to their mouths using such unwieldy cutlery, and are starving. In heaven, the diners feed one another across the table and are sated."

[Sidebar: The fable of the long spoons is a very interesting example of how Heaven and Hell can be right here on earth; the scenarios of people feeding themselves with long spoons in Heaven, and of denying themselves food in Hell, are images whose relevance easily translates to earthly existence.

Back to Wikipedia:]

"The Latin Vision of St. Paul was strongly influenced by Greek ideas of the afterlife, as included in the third–century Greek version of the vision, the Apocalypse of Paul.

Paul is introduced to the guardian angels who recount the deeds of their charges before God. Then Paul is taken up in the spirit to the Place of the Righteous where he sees the Firmaments and the Powers and the evil and good angels. Paul is also shown what happens when both evil and good souls departs from the body and how their angels present them before God.

Paul witnesses the death of a man, the struggle to take the soul from the body, the judgment of the soul and its condemnation to hell. Paul’s guide is Michael the Archangel, who shows Paul hell, where people are punished according to their sins, then shows him heaven and finally returns him to earth."

[Sidebar: Notice that the apostle Paul's guide through the afterlife is the Angel Michael. It is significant that most of these afterlife tours are conducted by a guide. The idea of a guide, who leads the devotee through astral realities, is consistent with the whole concept of a Guardian Angel and/or the protection of Saints. Many Eastern religions insist that spiritual progress is only possible when overseen by a guru. I rebelled against this idea for years, but I have finally accepted the fact that I can't do it all by myself; this, in turn, has opened me up to the Divine intervention of Jesus in my life, and has enabled me to don the armor of God.

Back to Wikipedia:]

"In his vision of hell Paul sees the usual range of sinners, and, in addition, unworthy priests, bishops, deacons, and lectors. The punishments in hell generally include immersion in a river of fire up to various parts of the body, but there are also worms and dragons that devour the sinners, and vile pits into which the sinners are thrown. St. Paul witnesses these scenes but does not suffer any pains. This vision results in the Lord granting the souls, at the request of Paul, Michael, and the angels, a day without torments. Such interest in the relief of sinners becomes an increasingly important feature of visions of heaven and hell.

Paul’s vision presents the first instance of the judgment of individual souls at their death."

Next is another apocryphal text I had never heard of:

"The Vision of Ezra, 4th–7th C.
This Latin vision of heaven and hell, with the earliest manuscript dating from the tenth–eleventh century, is related to the apocalyptic Fourth Book of Ezra and therefore within this genre is closely related to the Visio Pauli. The VE is also related to two later works, the Greek Apocalypsis Esdrae and the Greek Apocalypsis Sedrach.

Ezra prayed to Christ for a vision of the judgment of sins and was led to the otherworld by seven angels. One angel acts as his guide and shows him the pains of hell, where sinners are punished in flames and by hanging, in pains that are suited to their sins. Ezra prays for the sinners throughout his journey through hell. Hell is rather superficially described in this brief vision, where movements through the hell are described in terms of specific numbers of steps."

We now move to more familiar literary terrains; surely no discussion of Hell is complete without mention of Dante:

"In his Divina Commedia ("Divine comedy"; set in the year 1300), Dante Alighieri employed the concept of taking Virgil as his guide through Inferno (and then, in the second canticle, up the mountain of Purgatorio). Virgil himself is not condemned to Hell in Dante's poem but is rather, as a virtuous pagan, confined to Limbo just at the edge of Hell.

The geography of Hell is very elaborately laid out in this work, with nine concentric rings leading deeper into the Earth and deeper into the various punishments of Hell, until, at the center of the world, Dante finds Satan himself trapped in the frozen lake of Cocytus. A small tunnel leads past Satan and out to the other side of the world, at the base of the Mount of Purgatory."

Now we come to Milton:

"John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667) opens with the fallen angels, including their leader Satan, waking up in Hell after having been defeated in the war in heaven and the action returns there at several points throughout the poem. Milton portrays Hell as the abode of the demons, and the passive prison from which they plot their revenge upon Heaven through the corruption of the human race.

"As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames
No light, but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery Deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulfur unconsumed:
Such place eternal justice had prepared
For those rebellious, here their prison ordained
In utter darkness, and their portion set
As far removed from God and light of Heaven
As from the center thrice to the utmost pole."

Previously, we have shared William Blake's vision of Hell, and his theory of "contraries", to whit:
  

"As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent, the Eternal Hell revives. And Lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb: his writings are the linen clothes folded up. Now is the dominion of Edom, and the return of Adam into Paradise.


Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
                                              

From these contraries spring what the religious call Good and Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy.


Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell."

Blake's designation of carnal energy as evil is not unlike the quotation from Basilides' The Book of the Dead, (ca. 150 A.D.) I read last week, on the subject of Eros:

 "Tell us of gods and devils, accursed one! The god-sun is the highest good, the devil its opposite. Thus have ye two gods. But there are many high and good things and many great evils. Among these are two god-devils; the one is the Burning One, the other the Growing One. The burning one is EROS, who hath the form of flame. Flame giveth light because it consumeth. The growing one is the TREE OF LIFE. It buddeth, as in growing it heapeth up living stuff. Eros flameth up and dieth. But the tree of life groweth with slow and constant increase through unmeasured time."

To be sure, such disciplines as Kundalini Yoga refer to the so-called "nadis", subtle channels through which life force flows from one chakra to another; it is this vital energy, this physical force, which is translated into spiritual form. Furthermore, it cannot be denied that be ability to designate a physical location of life force  is very in keeping with the idea of Heaven on Earth.

Let us now review the concepts of "eternal" and "everlasting" from last week's sermon:

"The word "everlasting" implies a sort of material existence that never ends, but which is still handcuffed to the sequential character of Time. On the other hand, the word "eternal" refers to an  existence outside time. Hence, an "eternity" might be a second or it might be an unending moment; indeed, to eternity, the word "moment" has nor meaning. "Everlasting" is an unending sequence of moments."

Think about this: our sense of time derives completely from the sequential character of the third dimension, whereas we usually think of the afterlife, the spiritual life, as outside time. Hence, the concept of everlasting is somewhat troubling to me, because I cannot imagine that the type of sequential of time that we have in the physical dimension is the same as the sequential time in an everlasting realm. It seems to me that an everlasting realm could not present a physical manifestation, because all physical things, by any current definition, must end--only spiritual things last forever.

Now, a solution to this quandary might be obtained if we apply the principle of graduated levels, which defines the entire cosmic hierarchy, to time itself. Indeed, if levels of cosmic consciousness extend from the very dense, black hole of nothingness, to the infinite, inarticulate space of God, then perhaps the same idea, of graduated levels, may apply to our definition of time; that is to say, perhaps the type of sequential ordering of events which takes place in the physical dimension, appears at a slightly less defined resolution in the more subtle realms, thereby making the passage of everlasting time a credible reality.


Only recently have I come to accept the idea of everlasting torment; now, I can see how, vis a vis the concept "Everlasting", that there may be a point of no return. And I can now see how, if this state of mind ever bled over into the realm of eternity, that dying person may indeed bring himself to a place which could ultimately lead to his soul's complete disappearance from existence. A scary thought, but if we think of consciousness as different compressions and rarefactions of energy (consciousness), it is not hard to imagine the soul compressing into a black hole and disintegrating into the zero point.

One of  the great spiritual allegories of the afterlife is C. S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. This is another Dante-esque tour of the afterlife, played out in pseudo-modern setting. In The Great Divorce, one of the points made is that Hell is a very solitary place. People fight each other to the point where they have to move away from each other. In the end finally people are living millions of miles away from everybody else. Contrariwise, in Heaven relationships are cultivated, and reliance on other people, and rejoicing in other people's qualities is one of the main activities.

Here is a Wikipedia discussion of C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce:

"C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce (1945) borrows its title from William Blake's Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1793) and its inspiration from the Divine Comedy as the narrator is likewise guided through Hell and Heaven. Hell is portrayed here as an endless, desolate twilight city upon which night is imperceptibly sinking. The night is actually the Apocalypse, and it heralds the arrival of the demons after their judgment. Before the night comes, anyone can escape Hell if they leave behind their former selves and accept Heaven's offer, and a journey to Heaven reveals that Hell is infinitely small; it is nothing more or less than what happens to a soul that turns away from God and into itself."

This first quotation from The Great Divorce paints a chilling picture of the immense SOLITUDE of Hell; furthermore it includes a very believable description of how, by ever smaller and smaller increments, a dedication to sin may lead the sinner to a point of no return:

"Not at all," said my neighbor. "The trouble is that they're so quarrelsome. As soon as anyone arrives he settles in some street. Before he's been there twenty-four hours he quarrels with his neighbor. Before the week is over he's quarreled so badly that he decides to move. Very like he finds the next street empty because all the people there have quarreled with their neighbors-and moved. So he settles in. If by any chance the street is full, he goes further. But even if he stays, it makes no odds. He's sure to have another quarrel pretty soon and then he'll move on again. Finally he'll move right out to the edge of the town and build a new house. You see, it's easy here. You've only got to think a house and there it is. That's how the town keeps on growing." "Leaving more and more empty streets?" "That's right. And time's sort of odd here."

[Sidebar: This idea of Hell as a LONELY place was somewhat new to me. As you will recall, I rebelled, for years, against the idea, that I should need a guru or some kind of spiritual guide, to make spiritual progress; but I have finally accepted the fact that I can't do it all by myself; this, in turn, has opened me up to the Divine intervention of Jesus in my life, and has enabled me to don the armor of God.

Back to The Great Divorce:]

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”

“I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, 'with backward mutters of dissevering power' --or else not.”

“Son,'he said,' ye cannot in your present state understand eternity...That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me have but this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man's past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why...the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, "We were always in Hell." And both will speak truly.”

[Sidebar: This idea of sin working backwards, is clearly linked to the idea of pre-destination, since all spiritual power and motivation originate outside Time. I've suggested on several occasions recently that spiritual realities are most real outside the sequential limitations of time, therefore the ideas of sin working backwards and virtue working forwards, describe an outside time activity.

We conclude the Lewis section with this inspiring paragraph:

“Hell is a state of mind - ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and only the unshakeable remains.”

As I promised, at the beginning of this sequence, we will now revisit and reprise our discussion of the Sixth Act of Thomas:

Here is the young girl's report of her tour of Hell:]

"and very great crying and howling was there, and there was none to deliver. And that man said to me: These souls are of thy tribe, and when the number of their days is accomplished they are delivered unto torment and affliction, and then are others brought in in their stead, and likewise these into another place. 

And I looked and saw infants heaped one upon another and struggling with each other as they lay on them. And he answered and said to me: These are the children of those others, and therefore are they set here for a testimony against them.

"Another pit he showed me whereinto I stooped and looked and saw souls hanging, some by the tongue, some by the hair, some by the hands, and some head downward by the feet, and tormented with smoke and brimstone; concerning whom that man that was with me answered me: The souls which are hanged by the tongue are slanderers, that uttered Lying and shameful words, and were not ashamed, and they that are hanged by the hair are unblushing ones which had no modesty and went about in the world bareheaded; and they that are hanged by the hands, these are they that took away and stole other men's goods, and never gave aught to the needy nor helped the afflicted, but did so, desiring to take all, and had no thought at all of justice or of the law; and they that hang upside down by the feet, these are they that lightly and readily ran in evil ways and disorderly paths, not visiting the sick nor escorting them that depart this life, and therefore each and every soul receiveth that which was done by it.

Again he took me and showed me a cave exceeding dark, breathing out a great stench, and many souls were looking out desiring to get somewhat of the air, but their keepers suffered them not to look forth. And he that was with me said: This is the prison of those souls which thou sawest: for when they have fulfilled their torments for that which each did, thereafter do others succeed them: and there be some that are wholly consumed and some that are delivered over unto other torments.

And they that kept the souls which were in the dark cave said unto the man that had taken me: Give her unto us that we may bring her in unto the rest until the time cometh for her to be delivered unto torment. But he answered them: I give her not unto you, for I fear him that delivered her to me: for I was not charged to leave her here, but I take her back with me until I shall receive order concerning her.

And he took me and brought me unto another place wherein were men being sharply tormented. And he that was like unto thee took me and delivered me to thee, saying thus to thee: Take her, for she is one of the sheep that have gone astray. And I was taken by thee, and now am I before thee. I beseech thee, therefore, and supplicate that I may not depart unto those places of punishment which I have seen."

A personal Hell is always going to consist of endlessly re-experiencing whatever thing you feel worst about in your life. So the person who is hanging by his tongue is not being subjected to torture by another--he is torturing himself, through the recognition and regret of his sin. We feel the torment of our sins here and now--Heaven and Hell are both here and now. How to get out from under the weight of those accumulated sins is the problem.

I have found that a certain kind of confrontation with the past, with an exerted effort to "rise above it", may result in a massive defusing of the sin's tormenting charge. To "rise above it" is an experience I cannot describe, except to say that, by an effort of will and attention, we can expand our consciousness and raise it to a place where it can view our daily lives from the perspective a higher dimension; thus doth our attention on Higher Truth rebuke the illusions of this dimension. This has been a radical step forward for me.

I must confess this step forward, in spiritual evolution, is a direct consequence of all this investigation into Hell and the afterlife. Thinking about these things, and constantly confronting the many, many bad memories that flood my unwilling mind from time to time, has had an interesting result: I find that I am becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of death. Also I am becoming more and more committed to cleaning up my thought forms, because I, like the girl at the end of Thomas Act Six, don't want my sins of omission and my sins of commission, my sins of ego-centric small-mindedness, my sins of self-indulgence, to follow me into the afterlife.

Another thing this review of Hell has done for me, is it has increased my capacity for empathy. As an aspie, sympathy and empathy are not native to my way of relating to people; but all these pictures of suffering souls in hell, feeling sorry for them, fearing their fate, has softened my heart a little bit. You tell me why.

Now, you may well ask, after all this review of the various visions of Hell, Purgatory, Heaven, the Afterlife, Reincarnation, etc. etc., which scenario do you believe in RFT? I have to duck the answer to this question because my answer is very much like the answer I gave to the ACS people on the subject of creation; I don't really care. It's not that I don't have any interest in it, it is simply that I know that what ever image I come up with--whatever literal expression, translated into the language of the physical--I know that this will be only a pale reflection of the truth of the matter as I will experience it in the true Afterlife, not an imaginary afterlife. All that can be said by us, the living, about the afterlife, is that we cannot express what it will really be like; the Cloud of Unknowing must draw the final curtain on the mind's proscenium, as it disintegrates into spirit.

I think that the closer I get to moving outside time, the less defined time is. It seems that the closer I get to death the more mooshed together all my past memories become. Meanwhile, as death approaches, we should be able to see better as it gets closer--and it feels glorious and wonderful.

Let us pray: Jesus, thank you for the gift of choice. Thank you for the immense fairness of the ideal world from which you shower our famished gardens with refreshing light. Thank you for the assurance, in THIS LIFE, that we don't have to dwell in Hell in the NEXT LIFE. Amen