"Ilias said to me that hell is the point where the person you are meets the person you could’ve been. I’m forever changed by that."
Who is Ilias, and who did he say this to?
Come to find out, this phrase is all over social media, with meme after meme.
I am not changed by this.
I am provoked, curious, and irked.
The person you could have been = the better person you failed to be?
source: azquotes.com
That's one way to see it. Is that how you see it?
source: imageproxy.ifunny.co
"We could have done worse"
is how I see it. It's my favorite consolation.
If it's lame, hey, I could think of lamer excuses for not being a better, more exemplary, more productive, accomplished, and marvelous human being.
Hell might be meeting the BETTER PERSON I failed to be.
All morning, weeding, contemplating, praying, and pondering this meme, I kept thinking: What if we flip it into something positive?
May we not rejoice at the person we did not become? The person we could have been might be a drunken, destructive derelict, the wrecker of homes and families, the wreaker of havoc.
We could all be wonderful and exemplary and inspirational, but instead we get one roughly Mother Teresa per generation, one Luther Burbank, one George Washington Carver. The others are unsung. Like Jedediah Smith, unsung hero of the frontier, though he ranks with Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Lewis and Clark, and others we do remember.
Rather than use my brain and articulate my own thoughts, I have found a much-younger blogger who sums it all up quite well.
Thank you Anthony!
Truth: You Are Always Good Enough (No Matter What You Achieve — Or Don’t)
Who you are is always good enough, even now. Sure, we can learn more skills, be more patient, or get in better shape, but who were are as a fundamental human being is fine the way it is.
But the more we try to be “good enough” to compensate for believing that we aren’t, the more we’re going to drive ourselves nuts to live up to (or surpass) those imaginary expectations.
To all the unsung heroes.
To all the good, quiet, decent people who will not make history.
To all the ordinary citizens who might have done extraordinary things -- or who might have become deranged shooters, career criminals, drug addicts, terrorists, or shiftless bums who never did an honest day's work.
Ok who has the AI or the tech skills to flip this lion image....
Eh. Close enough.
(Remember, may standards are low: I could've done worse!)
.... Who is Ilias?
He's a really nice guy, and he relayed this definition of hell to his girlfriend's sister.
Every one of us could be BETTER.
But I would like to say to those squirming in a hell of self recrimination,
You are good enough!
That poor man must look at every single day and see failure, if he's so convinced that knowing the person he could have been would put him into hell. Jeez. I do not agree.
We humans, or at least we westerners, are obsessed with finding fault. With ourselves, with others. We spend far too little time finding fault with outside things, such as medical pronouncements, governments, politicians.
We are the best version of ourselves, the person we could have been. Psychology has screwed us up royally, making us look for our faults obsessively, and making up faults for us to look for. Same for the physical health fields. We hunt for illness, even when we feel fine. It must be there somewhere! Never rest until you find something wrong with you!
Haha. My solution to this problem is to stay away from doctors and self-improvement gurus of all kinds.
Welcome back!!!! I've missed you here!
I love you @owasco!!!!
You call it like you see it - and you see it the way I do.
Thank you Thank you THANK YOU
Yes - we are ok!
This young man whose hell would be meeting the person he COULD have been (i.e., a person so much better, it's hell to be stuck with being yourself).
Your wisdom - We spend far too little time finding fault with outside things, such as medical pronouncements, governments, politicians - reminds me of Cassandra, who's been on my mind lately.
You are a Cassandra, but, but, maybe (unlike me) you do get people to heed your advice!!
You're the best!!!
Once in a blue moon someone listens to me. I'm always surprised and grateful when they do. You do!
The original conspiracy theorist.
I choose to rejoice in the person I did not become. Considering my upbringing and my seeming inability to find the path of least resistance, I should be penniless and in the gutter. But hey, I've ridden the wind and managed to always land safely. Success!
This Ilias sounds like he knows what he's talking about! I agree. I think this whole productivity craze has got us in a bit of a chokehold, tbh. Always feeling like we're failing. There's always room for improvement, but that shouldn't mean where you are ain't enough. Hope you're well, my friend.
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STOPMaybe Hell is where we are now and when we die we go to Heaven, perhaps we turn into another star in the sky and shine down on all who are in Hell.
Your mom, and the flowers.... God picks the flowers (our young ones, lost too soon)...
Did she say something about stars as souls, too?
"Maybe hell is where we are now" - it makes sense to me!
Your mom, burying how many children - she'd understand this:
“Offering it up”: Is that still a thing?
“Penance” has received a bad name over the last thirty or forty years, largely because it was taught to many in the language of punishment rather than in the language of virtue, offering, and peace.
So, why not penance? Why not take some of one’s suffering and — rather than popping a pill — endure it for a bit; live with it and in it, and do something with it; make it worthwhile instead of meaningless.
If we are told to “offer it up” at all today, it is usually in a tone of sarcasm or very weak irony. To moderns, the concept has come to be regarded — like formerly common practices as prayerful ejaculations or a solemn breast-beat — as a quaint throwback to a time when notions of sin and reparation seemed to consume entirely too much of the Catholic sensibility.
(Thanks for reading and commenting!)
Oops, the quote indents got lost up there.
Well, you could probably guess whatever is under the hyperlink is a block quote. :)
I was surprised to see that you remembered what my mom told me when one of my brothers passed.sometimes God reaches down and picks the flowers I will never forget her saying that and now He has picked the most beautiful flower, her.
My mom was raised Catholic but later I think she was more Baptist or Pentecostal.
I like this part the best But “offering it up” can speed this salvific action horizontally. Any such offering, even if it is initiated by a feeling of resigned helplessness, has the potential to unleash an expansive love upon the world. It cannot be otherwise. To offer one’s aches and pains, one’s disappointments for the sake of others is always love-in-action, a redemptive act. There is a particularly true and hardy love that springs from an offering made for the intentions of another.
You highlighted the same passage that caught my eye - offering it up can "unleash an expansive love upon the world. It cannot be otherwise."
You wrote so eloquently of your mom - and your brothers! -
and I hope no more "flowers" will be picked until they have bloomed and gone to seed and passed their prime.
Be well!
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