Heaven, Hell, and the Trajectory of Finite Personality

2020 ◽  
pp. 162-175
Author(s):  
Michael L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Human Happiness ◽  
True Source ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Deceased People

This chapter focuses on Lewis’s book The Great Divorce. In this work, he imagines having had a dream about the irreconcilability of heaven and hell, the opposition of good and evil, and the necessity of choice. In that imaginary dream, Lewis witnesses deceased people who are allowed to visit the outskirts of heaven in order to consider whether they would like to stay. In many cases, the personalities involved are so trapped by their habits and desires that they justify their position and refuse to stay in heaven. As the chapter proceeds, it discusses hindrances to choosing God and heaven—such as desires that are out of balance (seeking a genuine good, but in a way disproportionate to other goods, such as God) and heretical ideas (identifying heaven and the good with an ethereal spirituality and evil and distance from God with the fact that we are physical material beings). The lesson surfaces that the Trinitarian God, who is Happiness itself and thus heaven, is our true good and ultimate fulfilment, the only way to human happiness. Hence, hell (and heaven too) is not a place or container: it is life apart from our True Source. Heaven, then, is life in proper relation to our True Source, which is ultimate happiness.

The Soul of Nietzsche'sBeyond Good and Evil

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maudemarie Clark ◽  
David Dudrick
Keyword(s):  
Good And Evil

A Multidimensional Theory of Suicide

Crisis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 416-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoon A. Leenaars ◽  
Gudrun Dieserud ◽  
Susanne Wenckstern ◽  
Kari Dyregrov ◽  
David Lester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multidimensional Model ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Suicide Survivors ◽  
Background Theory ◽  
Independent Verification ◽  
Suicide Notes ◽  
Interjudge Reliability ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Deceased People

Abstract. Background: Theory is the foundation of science; this is true in suicidology. Over decades of studies of suicide notes, Leenaars developed a multidimensional model of suicide, with international (crosscultural) studies and independent verification. Aim: To corroborate Leenaars's theory with a psychological autopsy (PA) study, examining age and sex of the decedent, and survivor's relationship to deceased. Method: A PA study in Norway, with 120 survivors/informants was undertaken. Leenaars' theoretical–conceptual (protocol) analysis was undertaken of the survivors' narratives and in-depth interviews combined. Results: Substantial interjudge reliability was noted (κ = .632). Overall, there was considerable confirmatory evidence of Leenaars's intrapsychic and interpersonal factors in suicide survivors' narratives. Differences were found in the age of the decedent, but not in sex, nor in the survivor's closeness of the relationship. Older deceased people were perceived to exhibit more heightened unbearable intrapsychic pain, associated with the suicide. Conclusion: Leenaars's theory has corroborative verification, through the decedents' suicide notes and the survivors' narratives. However, the multidimensional model needs further testing to develop a better evidence-based way of understanding suicide.

A Way Beyond Good and Evil?A Way Beyond Good and Evil?

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 6161 (3333) ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard W. Bloom
Keyword(s):  
Good And Evil

A Polanyian Rescue of The Abolition of Man

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-68
Author(s):  
Jon Fennell
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Objective Value ◽  
Essential Contribution ◽  
Good And Evil

The Abolition of Man, though short in length and casual in tone, is among the most important books of the twentieth century. The reason it possesses such significance is that it reveals through penetrating analysis the contemporary sceptical assault on the very possibility of rational morality and, indeed, on the very meaning of human life. In meeting and overcoming this assault, Lewis embraces the concept of objective value. But this concept is itself under attack in modernity, most notably in Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. There is, however, an effective response to this withering onslaught. It is found in Michael Polanyi's ‘fiduciary’ philosophy. This study shows how Polanyi's account of justification inoculates Lewis' objective value against Nietzsche's virulent attack, thereby preserving the defence of meaning and morality that constitutes the essential contribution of The Abolition of Man.

Rangda and the Goddess Durga in Bali

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-77
Author(s):  
Sarah Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Binary Opposition ◽  
Dynamic Relationship ◽  
The Witch ◽  
Purity And Impurity ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
Negative Attributes ◽  
The Way

This article examines Rangda and her role as a chthonic and mythological figure in Bali, particularly the way in which Rangda’s identity has intertwined with that of the Hindu goddess Durga— slayer of buffalo demons and other creatures that cannot be bested by Shiva or other male Hindu gods. Images and stories about Durga in Bali are significantly different from those found in Hindu contexts in India. Although she retains the strong-willed independence and decision-making capabilities prominently associated with Durga in India, in Bali the goddess Durga is primarily associated with violent and negative attributes as well as looks and behaviours that are more usually associated with Kali in India. The reconstruction of Durga in Bali, in particular the integration of Durga with the figure of the witch Rangda, reflects the local importance of the dynamic relationship between good and bad, positive and negative forces in Bali. I suggest that Balinese representations of Rangda and Durga reveal a flux and transformation between good and evil, not simply one side of a balanced binary opposition. Transformation—here defined as the persistent movement between ritual purity and impurity—is a key element in the localization of the goddess Durga in Bali.

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