Dr. V writes:
But only those who seek the really real in the pleasures of the flesh are truly mad. They are bound for a hell of their own devising as I suggest in A Theory of Hell. Excerpt:
To be in hell is to be in a perpetual state of enslavement to one’s vices, knowing that one is enslaved, unable to derive genuine satisfaction from them, unable to get free, and knowing that there is true happiness that will remain forever out of reach. Hell would then be not as a state of pain but one of endless unsatisfying and unsatisfied pleasure. A state of unending gluttony for example, or of ceaseless sexual promiscuity. A state of permanent entrapment in a fool’s paradise — think of an infernal counterpart of Las Vegas — in which one is constantly lusting after food and drink and money and sex, but is never satisfied. On fire with the fire of desire, endless and unfulfilled, but with the clear understanding that one is indeed a fool, and entrapped, and cut off permanently from a genuine happiness that one knows exists but will never experience.
That is insightful. I thought immediately of Las Vegas being the focus of Randall Flagg and his minions in "The Stand." I also thought of Dante - as one does in these discussions.
ReplyDeleteDamn, so my life really is just living in hell. It all makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteDid you catch his comma error?
DeleteComma after sense? I have no comma sense.
DeleteThe error is in this sentence:
DeleteA state of permanent entrapment in a fool’s paradise — think of an infernal counterpart of Las Vegas — in which one is constantly lusting after food and drink and money and sex, but is never satisfied.
It's an error I've talked about over and over.