DICHOTOMY

HEAVEN AND HELL ON EARTH

“A Stranger in A Strange Land”, a wonderful story. I so often feel this way. We live in a strange world of the greatest extremes. At some time or other, most of us have opportunity to taste both extremes, and much in between.

A new borns first smile, first giggle, first step, first words. This is heavenly magic.

I’ll not give examples of hellish pain. You know it all too well. Just read the news. This pain calls most of us, at one time or another, to ask the perennial question, “If God is love, if God is good, how is this hell allowed? Children with cancer — no, I said I’d not do that. You know more about hell than you ever thought you would have to know.

So, how do we process these terrible extremes of experience?

Here I pause and ponder. Have I chosen a subject too big for me to consider? I’m taking time to think before I go further, if I go further.

— — —

An hour later:

As a result of one of my very few messages received from the Spirit of Truth, following long and difficult prayer about my mother’s approaching death from cancer, in exhaustion, experiencing one of my rare moments of true mental silence, I “heard” the phrase, “The course of her life has led to this”. With that statement came a surprising peace. “It’s all ok. I’ve got this”, was my interpretation.

Thinking later about “the course of her life”, I found myself envisioning a game board, and people as…