So at the end of all things is the truth, maybe. I don’t know, I can’t possibly know… But I have theories. What person doesn’t? Well I guess those with faith in God, but everyone has something they believe: whether it’s truly nothing, to just live and die, or to just be the best version of yourself and hope it does some good for this world. I will say that I don’t believe in the “Devil” or “Hell” in the biblical sense, I think Hell is a punishment of our own creation (or just living) and the Devil is man. I’ll tell you why in a bit, but if we talk about God being all loving and all knowing then there is no way you can lie to them or even force your way into them… but you can reject them. I believe that decision is entirely up to you with the summation of your life; does your Good outweigh your Bad? Do you really believe you’ve done everything in your power to leave a little bit of light in the lives you’ve touched? Yes, I know some people believe there is no way to God except through the son but is that all? Is it really so simple? Hell to me is this: living. It is exhausting and tiring and confusing and all of the things that distract from looking inward to ask yourself if you are making the right decisions based on what you believe to be the healthiest choice for you. That doesn’t mean that you are punished each and every day for grabbing a donut instead of a fruit, but it’s about how hard you try to do the best you can to not promote or engage in vices. You know how parents have stories about their kids just coming up to them and saying some wild shit about ghosts or souls or something? I think that’s a clue, but not the whole of it. Sometimes kids just be weird *shrug*. All of us know this world is a mess, getting messier, and it feels not only unfair but unjust. You can say what everyone throughout the years used to say which is “life isn’t fair”, but if that’s the case then who is more deserving of this “fairness”. “It just is” isn’t acceptable to me, especially as a Black person; because that means the ancestors I had and my people suffer(ed) meaninglessly. Also there is the internal struggle of hell, punishing yourself for your past or present decisions instead of understanding and working to overcome those problems. Some are just unable due to many different reasons (physical, mental, whatever) and that is unfortunate so the most we can do is to lovingly give them some form of peace as best we can. But that’s just me; if you have Good in you I don’t see why you would hoard that selfishly and not promote the Good. I know Good means different things to different people due to living situations and what the world offers, but I mean internally.
Now… the Devil is man, this one is going to be difficult but not really? War, murder, execution, torture, terrorism, famine, affluence, racism, sexism, greed, gluttony… I mean c’mon, it’s all there. All the things we don’t want to see or experience exist by a living individual who selfishly uses whatever they can to prevent another from everything that could be. To be honest, there are a lot more people willing to do good but they are afraid of the outcome of their choices. Whether it harms them or those they love, and that’s understandable. Hell, let’s even take celebrities for an example. You ever see a celebrity spend all of their time trying to be seen everywhere on everything and promote (not live) a lavish lifestyle, then when interviewed a few months or years they’re all “It’s a little sad because I can’t do the things I’d normally want to do”? It’s because they signed away their name to be seen. Some are just, to quote a wise woman, “poor unfortunate souls”; they were thrust into fame or shame before they were even aware of it, and most of that is also on us (the consumer) for promoting their misery. That’s entertainment. They deserve it for ‘X’. To me there’s this cyclical pattern where someone unexpectedly will be thrown into the spotlight and harassed to no end for saying something that is taken out of context, and without trying to understand swarms of people will just harass and demonize that person for something you were told by another. You could easily say “fuck them” and move on with your life, but some promote it, they seek to chastise and they find it FUN. The idea of a mob of people hi-fiving each other to torment another. You see what I’m getting at? The Devil may not be the fearful exaggeration we’ve seen in images, they could just as easily be a whisper in your head or a politician who promotes gun violence glibly or an affluent preacher or an institution that protects and promotes predators instead of the victims.
I have seen that there is more Good in people around me in various communities and more who want to promote Good, but are unwilling to communicate it because they just don’t want to talk about it because it’s too frustrating for them. “I want to help, but do the work for me”… These ones I have yet to come to terms with. Even I still have work to do, or maybe this is the work? Either way, I want to get to my end and hear “Thank you for trying your best”; as above so below.
*Not sure who created the image, sorry*
Something With Nothing 