As a Unitarian Universalist, I do not believe in heaven or hell. But as a Buddhist-curious, I do think it's worth contemplating what hell I keep myself in with my striving, what hell I condemn others to with my judgment and indifference.
What I believe first and foremost is that connection is the purpose of life, connection to each other but also to the larger universe, with its light and dark and mystery. The planetary bodies teach us the power of pull, the wisdom of drawing to a point of balance of our own trajectory with the gravity of those that need us. In those orbits, we are both free and bound. Better than bound, dedicated. Calm and kind. We gather in the commitment of love that will not let us go.
Yes, that's all very well and good (and hard enough!). But what keeps us from this planetary dance with each other?
Boundaries too brittle. Collapsing into atmosphere and burning up. Indifference that doesn't even bring us close enough to be in orbit, to care enough to circle, to do-si-do before spinning off on parallel adventures. Trajectories so self-willed that we rocket past worlds unexplored.
And what is cruelty? Pulling others into our control without honoring their own paths. Or worse, cheering when chance or poor choices or past patterns beyond their control catapult others into burning suns, endless cold beyond inhabited galaxies.
For myself, the work of keeping a soft front, hard spine, or to continue my extended metaphor, holding my path with ease, open to influence yet arcing toward the justice and love I want for myself, for my family, for the communities of which I am a part, and those beyond my sphere of influence.
Kelsey Atherton, member of my church who just preached on "the hell of the world is more than enough," tells us to love the hell right out of this world. Yes and yes.
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