Last week in my "Hell" class, the professor, Holger Zellentin from the Center for Jewish Studies, raised an important point: the reliance of imperialism on dual punishments: in this life and in hell. We weren't able to fully discuss it, but it got me thinking. We have read Egyptian accounts of the underworld, including punishments, and Zoroastrian/ancient Persian accounts of the afterlife, including a rather astounding and exhausting lists of diabolical tortures for various "sins." Prof. Zellentin raised the question about ethical systems that are communicated through fantasies of violence and the interconnected nature of pious purity and really crazy forms of physical torture and degradation. Reading the descriptions of hell in the Arda Viraf, I realized that I have a profound lack of imagination for inflicting pain.
I don't know. My thoughts aren't very well-formed yet, but this idea of imperialism and torture are interesting.
In that framework, it's easier to see how pious conservative Christianity becomes obsessed with the punishments of hell and the torture of Jesus in the cross. It's another creation of dichotomy, in which the "good" relies on the "bad' to define itself. A desire to change that belief system brings with it a shift in self-understanding.
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2 comments:
Maybe our imagination's ability to consider inflicting pain is limited because using our energies to externalize something negative leaves us fucked up and crazy. Just a thought...
Love the quote you left about the via negativa. Love you.
Hmmm, pain.
Makes me think of Elizabeth Stuart's insistence on camp to undo destructive paradigms. And then that makes me think of how SM can serve that role...flip pain on its head, make it a good thing, well maybe not "good," but you know, with both tangible and theological benefits.
xoxo,
Eli
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