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Of Heaven and Hell "

by Jorge Luis Borges

 

 

The Inferno of God is not in need of

the splendor of fire. When, at the end of things,

Judgement Day resounds on the trumpets

and the earth opens and yields up its entrails

and nations reconstruct themselves from dust

to bow down before the unappealable Judgement,

eyes then will not see the nine circles

within the inverted mountain, nor the pale

meadow of perennial asphodels

in which the shadow of the archer follows

the shadow of the deer, eternally,

nor the ridge of fire on the very lowest level

of the infernos of the Muslim faith,

antedating Adam and the Fall,

nor the violence of metals, not even

the almost visible blindness of Milton.

No fearful labyrinth of threefold iron,

no doleful fires of suffering, will oppress

the awestruck spirits of the damned.

Nor does the far point of the years conceal

a secret garden. God does not require --

to celebrate the merits of the good life --

globes of light, concentric theories

of thrones and heavenly powers and cherubim,

nor the beguiling mirror that is music,

nor all the many meanings in a rose,

nor the fateful splendor of a single

one of his tigers, nor the subtleties

of a sunset turning gold in the desert,

nor the immemorial, natal taste of water.

In God's infinite compass, there are no gardens,

no flash of hope, no glint of memory.

 

In the clear glass of a dream, I have glimpsed

the Heaven and Hell that lie in wait for us:

when Judgement Day sounds in the last trumpets

and planet and millennium both

disintegrate, and all at once, O Time,

all your ephemeral pyramids cease to be,

the colors and the lines that trace the past

will in the semi-darkness form a face,

a sleeping face, faithful, still, unchangeable

(the face of the loved one, or, perhaps, your own)

and the sheer contemplation of that face --

never-changing, whole, beyond corruption --

will be, for the rejected, an Inferno,

and, for the elected, Paradise.

 

translated from the Spanish by Alastair Reid

 

 

:)

Kip Almazy

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  • 1 month later...

Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman " <anders_lindman>

wrote:

>

> There is nothing that does not exist. How about Santa Claus? He exists

> as thoughts in your mind. How about Abraham Lincoln? He exists as

> thoughts in your mind and perhaps as some bones in his grave.

>

> To say: this or that does not exist is meaningless when we are talking

> about existence vs non-existence. Ultimately there is no non-existence.

>

> /AL

 

The trouble...that most humans have.....is that they are unable to tell the

difference

between the respective reality of a Santa Claus and an Abraham Lincoln.

 

 

......between a hotdog and a heaven.

 

 

t.

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Nisargadatta , " toombaru2004 " <cptc@w...> wrote:

>

> Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

<anders_lindman> wrote:

> >

> > There is nothing that does not exist. How about Santa Claus? He exists

> > as thoughts in your mind. How about Abraham Lincoln? He exists as

> > thoughts in your mind and perhaps as some bones in his grave.

> >

> > To say: this or that does not exist is meaningless when we are talking

> > about existence vs non-existence. Ultimately there is no

non-existence.

> >

> > /AL

>

> The trouble...that most humans have.....is that they are unable to

tell the difference

> between the respective reality of a Santa Claus and an Abraham Lincoln.

>

>

> .....between a hotdog and a heaven.

>

>

> t.

 

The trouble.........that most humans have.........is that they think

there is a fundamental difference between the respective reality of a

Santa Claus and an Abraham Lincoln............between a hotdog and a

heaven.

 

That's the fallacy!

 

Let me explain: there is no such thing as nothing. To say that a

hotdog one is biting on is reality but that the idea of a heaven in

the mind of a priest passing by is not reality, is a fallacy. Sure,

there is a difference in the form of varied experiences, but that

variation does not vary between existence and nothingness - experience

varies between two sides of the same coin.

 

/AL

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Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

<anders_lindman> wrote:

>

> Nisargadatta , " toombaru2004 " <cptc@w...>

wrote:

> >

> > Nisargadatta , " anders_lindman "

> <anders_lindman> wrote:

> > >

> > > There is nothing that does not exist. How about Santa Claus?

He exists

> > > as thoughts in your mind. How about Abraham Lincoln? He exists

as

> > > thoughts in your mind and perhaps as some bones in his grave.

> > >

> > > To say: this or that does not exist is meaningless when we are

talking

> > > about existence vs non-existence. Ultimately there is no

> non-existence.

> > >

> > > /AL

> >

> > The trouble...that most humans have.....is that they are unable

to

> tell the difference

> > between the respective reality of a Santa Claus and an Abraham

Lincoln.

> >

> >

> > .....between a hotdog and a heaven.

> >

> >

> > t.

>

> The trouble.........that most humans have.........is that they

think

> there is a fundamental difference between the respective reality

of a

> Santa Claus and an Abraham Lincoln............between a hotdog and

a

> heaven.

>

> That's the fallacy!

>

> Let me explain: there is no such thing as nothing. To say that a

> hotdog one is biting on is reality but that the idea of a heaven in

> the mind of a priest passing by is not reality, is a fallacy. Sure,

> there is a difference in the form of varied experiences, but that

> variation does not vary between existence and nothingness -

experience

> varies between two sides of the same coin.

>

> /AL

 

 

The next time you are starving.... and you are offered either a hot

dog or a little bite of heaven....you might re-evaluate you thoughts.

 

t.

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