Angels or Devils
Quotes 07/02/2003 |You ever read Eckhart? Eckhart saw it all too. You know what he said? He said the only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of your life. Your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they’re not punishing you, he said. They’re freeing your soul. So…if you’re frightened of dying, and you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. But, if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth. It’s just a matter of how you look at it, that’s all.
— Louis, in Jacob’s Ladder
[See also: Books and movies | DVDs: Closets, aliens, and dinos | Mars and More | Gimme some sugar, baby! | Egypt, martial arts, drugs, sex. ]
6 Responses to “Angels or Devils”
Leave a Reply
Cheryl
Bertamum
Michael Hanscom
Snail_5
Bob
July 2nd, 2003 at 11:55 am
This has beed an opinion, albeit a minority one, for a long time. helb by such persons as Origon and Erasmus, to the effect a loving God could not possibly send an individual to spend an eternity in torment.
July 2nd, 2003 at 10:57 pm
Personally, it’s a thought that’s always been of comfort to me. Even having grown up in the Christian faith, I’ve never been too comfortable with the thought of death — the logical part of my mind often questions any idea of an afterlife, and if there isn’t an afterlife of some sort, the concept of not existing, quite frankly, gives me the willies.
If there is an afterlife, I’d much rather think of the journey there in terms of this quote (that with acceptance, it’s a good thing), than any of the less pleasant alternatives. Besides, it’s a much cheerier concept of God than the typical Old Testament/fire-and-brimstone “angry God”.
July 4th, 2003 at 10:50 am
I am convinced part of the problem is a tendency to take a metaphor too literally. Every major or minor religion seems to have some way of dealing with union with God or a lack thereof, both during life and after. Both Islam and Christianity have the metaphor of a paradise, though much discussion on what that actually means. This works well as an analogy. However, when it is reified into an actuality, it becomes almost an idol, for no one can actually know.
There have been times in my life I have felt in union with God, or the universe, or however one wants to describe this feeling. For example, somethimes when I am playing my guitar I am merely singing songs, but sometimes, though not very often, I am in union the song, the guitar, the people to whom I am singing, etc., and they are in union with me. It is what persons such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and the other trancendentalists tried to describe. It is also that which buddahists call the Bodhisittava (sp?) experience, “first there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.”
I believe, after death, that transcendent unification becomes the permanent state, rather than the whilom experience. I have no clue whether, as part of that ultimate unity we are totally absorbed or whether we are in a gestalt state of individuality within unity. I am not sure it is important.
What is important is not to reify a metaphor.
Dad
January 13th, 2006 at 5:35 am
I am going to hunt down devils that are known to exist on this earth so i can find the ansewers to these questions. Does anyone want to come along. It will be kinda dangerous but you’ll get the ansewers your looking for and mabee something better like imortality.
June 11th, 2006 at 2:15 am
This statement was sort of played out in another movie with Nicolas Cage called “The Family Man”. An angel had reappeared to him to tell him his time was up with his family. He refused not wanting to leave. Clearly it follows the same premise. He then enters the world again were his wife is totaly different, he tries to explain they had children, and so on. Luckily she listens to him, and the relations start again. This seemed very tragic though as the Eckhart qoute seems to be. There was an unknown poet, and writer I knew when I was a child named Eddie Silva, He said; “Love has it’s share of pain”. As the Echart writing states. These words actually had a profound effect on my life. I lived in the neighbor hood where Jacobs Ladder was filmed. I related to many of the films premise in a dejavu sense. It possibly helped me in many ways, creatively, professionaly, and as a father, and husband.
September 20th, 2008 at 12:12 am
I read this quote time and time again. It always seems to shed new light upon itself. It kind of has a strong christian mentality which leads to a very deceptive, and destructive practice. In other words christians believe in regards to non christians or even christians who are not perceived as christian such as myself, if you give up your fortune, your job, your heathen spouse, and family you will obtain salvation. Separation according to the teaching of Jesus…it is very parallel to this statement. They have managed to achieve these results by economic embargoes, separation by work distance, even creating crusades against other religions to enforce control internally on a national level. Thus destroying the family unit that could exist on any other level yet only allowed to exist through a so called faith based organization.