Heaven and Hell
empAθos people don't believe in Heaven or Hell as such, but use the analogy as a reference for the necessity of compassion and peace. If Heaven and Hell truly exist, empAθos people believe that this universe in which we live is truly Hell, and this is predicated upon the endless violence and hatred that Non-empAθos People do to each other, especially in the name of G-d.
empAθos people embraced two descriptions of Heaven and Hell to make sense in the understanding of compassion and peace.
The first vision is this: Hell is a long banquet table heavily laden with the finest cuisine. There is a place for everyone at this table, and so much food that one could never eat it all. But, all of the eating utensils have four foot long handles, and no one can feed themselves. So, everyone sits at the table and starves.
Heaven is a long banquet table heavily laden with the finest cuisine. There is a place for everyone at this table, and so much food that one could never eat it all. And, all of the eating utensils have four foot long handles. At this table no one goes hungry because everyone feeds each other.
The second vision tells of two cities, identical in every way, and joined by a bridge. People can cross over the bridge in either direction at any time, day or night. One city is Hell and the other city is Heaven. The people who live in Hell think that they live in Heaven. The people who live in Heaven, know that they live in Heaven.
The empAθos way of life is one of compassionate fulfillment. We strive to sit at the banquet table and feed each other. In order to do this we cannot afford to place judgements upon the desires of another. If our neighbor requests some couscous, It's not our place to say, "No you can't have any couscous, you must have tibouli." We do not make a distinction between wants and needs, and have rejected those distinctions because we have come to realize that we are not in the mind or heart of our neighbor, and what we may see as a want, could very well be a need for them, and that wants, left unfulfilled, very often become needs. So, we say "desire", and seek to fulfill our neighbor's desire. Judgeing and prioritizing the desires of another are not our place. Sharing our desires, without judgements being place upon them, is considered the greatest of generosity because it brings us together and helps us to bond with one another. It allows us to innovate and create new ways of solving problems. And, it gives us a chance to better ourselves by helping our neighbor. The person who does not share their desires is considered stingy.
Religious or moral objections, especially those with only scripture as their reason for being, tend to be proselytory in nature, and are considered nothing short of an abomination by empAθos people. The act of forcing one's religious beliefs upon another, in an effort to enforce either faith or practice, has resulted in most of the violence and death and genocide of Non-empAθos history. This is using G-d's name for evil purposes, and violates the very commandments that G-d issued from the summit of Mount Horeb. For Judeo-Christian-Islamic people to practice this is hypocracy in the extreme. And, all of these faiths are guilty of it. It stops with us. empAθos people refuse to practice this abomination.
So, why are we still in Hell? Because we are a few individuals living in a greedy world that doesn't share our system of morals and values, and easily takes advantage of us, judges us and our wants and needs, and refuse to allow us our own way of life, without great struggle.
The non-empAθos world asks, "What if two people want the same thing, and there is only one of them." To which we reply, "Even a single grain of rice can be cut in half and become a feast for two people." Sharing is at the heart of our way of life. Greed keeps people in Hell. It causes wars and the famines that follow, and is the creator of starving and dying children with bloated bellys. We see the devils in the Non-empAθos eyes that cause such things to happen through their greed.
The non-empAθos world asks, "What if someone desires something that is bad for them or will hurt another?" To which we answer, "Desiring things that are bad or could hurt another usually depend upon the circumstance that can cause the hurt." We don't deny a person their desire, we seek ways in which the desire can be fulfilled without the harm. Why does a Non-empAθos person take-up smoking? Do they not know that smoking causes harm to themselves and to their family? The desire isn't the problem. Smoking offers nothing, in and of itself, for the first time smoker to make them desire it. One desires something else, that smoking represents, and smoking is only a symbol of that something.
To every problem there is a solution, and every problem carries with it the parameters of that solution. Every desire can be fulfilled without conflict with the desires of other individuals, and there is no desire that should not be shared with the community. Non-empAθos People, by placing judgement, much of the time irrationally, upon the desires of another, only cause pain and suffereing, and drive deeper the pilings upon which Hell is founded. We empAθos people must share this suffering and because of our smallness of numbers must hide ourselves in order to protect ourselves from the vastness of this suffering.
So, we are in Hell, a Hell not of our own creation, but a Hell that we plead for our deaf and blind G-d to bring to an end. We plead for the starving and suffering of our own people and of all the people of the world to cease, and we beg that greed and violence be replaced with compassion and peace. Our prayers go unfulfilled, so we believe that we are in Hell.
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