A bit of philosophical fiction for thought from Bernard Werber, an excerpt from The Secret of the Gods:
“Welcome to my kingdom,” says the pale giant. - I am Hades. I have sent messengers for you to accompany you to me, and I hope they did not disturb you.
He looks like Zeus, only younger. And, frankly, prettier. It's okay, because they are brothers.
- We know we are in hell! Says Oedipus.
- In hell?
Hades smiles.
“This is a rather primitive view of my kingdom! I think you received too much negative information about me.
“You are the 13th god,” says Edmond Wells. - The 13th Arcana of the Tarot, the Arcana of Death.
Promotional video:
- And, finally, I hear reasonable words. I am really associated with death … but isn't there rebirth in death? Take a good look at your 13th lasso. This card depicts a skeleton that cuts off whatever appears above the ground so that young grass can germinate. So winter heralds spring. Really, Persephone?
“Death must be accepted as something that brings new life,” the woman says in an unexpectedly shrill voice.
- And all these people we saw, crying and moaning heads on the ceiling? I ask.
Hades shakes his head.
“They chose suffering themselves. An amazing paradox … Hell is a concept invented by people to punish themselves. Everyone you saw voluntarily crossed the Styx and chose suffering. When they get bored, they can leave and return to life as and where they want.
- We don't believe you! - cuts off Oedipus.
- Sadly, it's true. The only thing that keeps them here is their own will to be punished. You underestimate the power of guilt.
- I don't believe you either! - exclaims Aphrodite. - There can be no such desire for self-destruction in the human soul.
- Who said that? Is that you, my dear cousin?
Hades gets up and approaches Aphrodite.
- You seem to have dried up a little? And he touches the wrinkles around her eyes. Aphrodite pushes his hand away.
- Here souls experience physical suffering, and you make them suffer from love, but the result is the same, right? People are suffering.
Aphrodite doesn't answer.
- I repeat: we are all free to live in a world without hell, but some invent their own hell because they want to suffer. Hell exists only in the imagination of people. And thanks to their fear, guilt and masochism.
Hades looks at us without blinking. Persephone nods, as if she herself is not happy to admit that her husband is right.
- You mean to say that they themselves chose the torment, they themselves wanted to be walled up in the ceiling, so that only the head remained outside? Edmond Wells asks incredulously.
The Lord of Hell repeats:
- Sure. There are many reasons for masochism. You yourself wrote about it in your Encyclopedia, Professor Wells. Here's one of those reasons. While you are suffering, you live a brighter life, you are more attached to reality, you feel the life itself more strongly. Another pleasure for a masochist is self-pity. While you are suffering, you can demonstrate this to your loved ones, feel like a hero and a martyr,”Hades continues.
He claps his hands and torches flash. They float in the air, illuminating paintings depicting Christian martyrs: they are devoured by lions, hung by their legs, beaten with whips, and quartered.
- In the days of early Christianity, they had to issue a decree prohibiting them from denouncing themselves. They sought to share in the torment of their prophet. I didn’t come up with this. You invented it.
The torch illuminates images of self-scourging Shiites, Spanish Catholic integrists, beating themselves with nail-studded belts. In Indonesia, people with crazy eyes pierce their bodies with spears to the sound of a tom-tam. Further, more modern images appear: goth rockers with piercings, from which there is no living space on their faces, punks dancing on shards of bottle. Africans who make ritual cuts in their skin, a person in the circus arena who shoves a sword down his throat, people who walk on hot coals to the cheers of the crowd.
We do not want to look at shocking pictures of a world that we know too well.
- Are you saying that evil does not exist? Is there only a lack of self-love? - I ask with interest.
Hades's voice grows louder. He mints every word, as if tired of repeating the same thing:
“Only you are to blame for your misfortunes. You came up with them and made them with your own hands!
Then, more quietly, he continues:
- You are so hard on yourself … To everyone who comes here, I propose to show condescension to themselves, forgive themselves for the bad deeds that you did in your past life. But they do not listen to me and do not find any excuses for themselves.
Hades has a sad smile full of compassion on her face.
- I like to talk about my mission. You are so used to judging everything and everyone that you judge me, the so-called devil. For you, I am the main villain, while it is you who are really evil. Well, ask questions.
- Why can't the whole world be kind? I ask.
- Great question. Here is the answer. Because if the world is only good, there will be no merit in your doing well.
- Why are there serial killers? Oedipus asks.
- Great question. Because before (and now) they had a special mission. Listen to me, this is, of course, just the point of view of the "devil", but it is also worth something. Human society is organized like an anthill. All of its members have a very specific task. Earlier states needed aggressive and energetic commanders. They grew out of angry, aggressive “children of anger,” children who were beaten as children. The child who is being beaten is angry with the whole world, and he will give all his strength to take revenge. When he grows up, he will become a monster warlord. And it will surpass in cruelty other commanders whose psyche was not undermined in childhood.
- Does this mean that society gives birth to abusive parents in order to get “children of anger”, which are needed to fight? - Oedipus is amazed.
- Quite right. The problem is that in the modern world it is no longer necessary to fight for redistribution of borders, to conquer new lands. "Children of Wrath" who want to kill can no longer become conquering generals. This is how serial killers come about.
- But not everyone who was injured in childhood becomes murderers! - I notice.
- Yes, the energy of hatred can find different ways out. Psychoses and neuroses transform the personality in such a way that a person becomes capable of what others are not capable of, of what normal people cannot even imagine. Do you think Van Gogh would have given himself so passionately to the search for color if he had not been crazy?
“This is a rather peculiar point of view,” says Edmond Wells. - So you say that only a neurotic person is capable of daring artistic experiments?
- Exactly.
- But there are also normal, happy, calm people who create extraordinary works.
Hades raises his eyebrows in surprise.
- Yes? And who is it?
- Well, if we take examples from Earth-1, then Mozart, for example.
“It's a pity, but you didn't know him. And I was. He was completely nuts. In his youth, he was suppressed by his father, who turned him into some kind of a learned monkey and forced him to speak to aristocrats and monarchs. Mozart suffered from mental disorders all his life. He lost all his fortune at cards.
- Leonardo da Vinci?
- At the age of 19 they were going to burn him at the stake for homosexuality. He also had big problems with his father, who crippled his psyche.
- Joan of Arc?
- A religious fanatic obsessed with hallucinations.
- King Louis the Saint?
- Saint? Yes, he was a killer. He built himself a reputation as a "good king" by hiring the monk Egelart as his official biographers, who stuffed his writings with propaganda. Louis was an animal, a choleric, he organized massacres and massacres in order to rob those whose wealth he envied. Never confuse a person with a legend about him.
- Beethoven?
- The domineering father turned him into an aggressive paranoid. He later stole his son from his daughter-in-law and forced him to become a musician until he tried to commit suicide. He had monstrous fits of anger, he was domineering and despotic. I couldn't stand it when they argued with him.
- Michelangelo?
- Schizophrenic. Megalomania. At night, he changed into women's clothes, because he felt uncomfortable in the guise of a man.
- Gandhi? You will not claim that Gandhi was a neurotic?
- He had a rigid psyche. He believed that only he knew the truth. He did not want to listen to anyone or anything. Tyrannized his wife, could not stand objections.
- Mother Teresa?
- Taking care of others is one way to hide from yourself. I think you have seen quite a few of these people in the Empire of Angels. She not only ran away from herself, but, as you noticed, only cared about the poor. It is easier to solve housing and food problems for the poor than to tinker with the difficult mental states of wealthy people or politicians.
Edmond Wells says sharply:
- All this is the speech of the devil. You want to tarnish the white. The people you spoke of are saints.
But Hades does not let himself be confused.
“Most of these“saints”of yours came here to cleanse themselves of the mud, although mortals who are on the 3rd and even 4th level consider them holy. I saw how horrified they were when they discovered that we all knew about their true life. I tried to convince them that they should forgive themselves. It didn't work out for me. And then I put the torture halls at their disposal, and they demanded for themselves the most severe punishment.
The god of hell waves his hand wearily.
- You are the judge. Me not. I have absolutely nothing against you. Honestly. All these stories about the devil are just slander, fables to scare children and keep the priests in power. When will you finally understand this?
Hades directs his scepter at the screen, and the shores of the Styx, filmed with a hidden camera, appear on it, where naked people torture each other.
“Do you see a devil around here, devils? Do you see the executioner? If it only depended on me, I would have forgiven all these sinners long ago. It is impossible to shout to someone who does not want to listen. I dream that this place would not exist at all, that these people would be born again, become babies, to learn new things life after life.
- You're lying!
- You judge me again. In fact, I dream of retirement. But the world needs black to make white more visible. True?
- Yes Dear! You even tried to go on strike once!
- Yes once. I proposed to close this place of suffering. Everyone on Eden agreed, even Zeus. But the souls of the dead were outraged: "And there can be no question of closing hell, we need it." Oh, how condescending the gods, how cruel mortals!
We cannot take our eyes off the screen. We begin to get used to what we see. You can get used to everything.
“All souls are here of their own free will and can leave this place at any time,” recalls Hades.
- What test awaits us? - asks Edmond Wells.
- Test?
- Yes, what should we do to continue on our way?
- There will be no trial. Follow this tunnel, it will lead you to the top of the mountain.
- No challenge?
The giant in the black toga repeats:
- Of course, no test. I have always believed that the only test is the choice. Everyone gets exactly what they want. The problem is that everyone is usually wrong about their choice of desire. Did you notice this?
