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| The world concepts of "God" and "Devil"; "Heaven" and "Hell" |
24. As living beings are attracted by everything coming under the term "pleasant", while the opposite is the case with everything "unpleasant", then in all living beings there is present a strong desire for the former, which manifests itself in the processes mentioned in the Preface as the "struggle for existence" or "evolution".
These two factors, "good" and "evil", play such an important part in mankind's history that already at an early stage in evolution ideas and concepts had been formed of their origin.
It is not my intention here to deal more precisely with all the many phases of transformation these various ideas and concepts have passed through in the course of time, but just to point out that every one of them contained the same essence, the outer form and condition of which, at that time, was the very strongest reflection of the extent of its adherents' capacity for observation - whether they belonged to the more or to the less developed tribes or races - and that those concepts, each in its own epoch, have also formed the most life-giving and inspiring elements of their adherents' moral development, providing them with proportionate benefit and pleasure.
As man's powers of observation and sense perception became more and more highly developed, so he gradually became capable of imagining pictures nearer and nearer to perfection of the origin of the two factors mentioned above, and out of this long gallery of pictures the greatest and most perfect picture of all shines smiling upon us. This is the world concept of "God", the supposed originator of all that is good. But this picture's brilliant rays, however, are partially dimmed by dark rays from another picture which also has its place in the same gallery. That is the world concept of "Devil", the supposed originator of all that is evil. And naturally it was a matter of course that in accordance with these two concepts man began to form his own ideas of life itself. Although, for the most part, daily material life did not seem to indicate an eternal existence, yet all those ideas, almost without exception, have been expressions of a secret hope of everlasting life for the individual. But in cherishing the hope of an eternal life, the question naturally arose as to what form this eternal existence would take after death. And the individuals found a satisfactory answer in the conclusion that it must depend upon how one had lived in this material and physical existence. If one's life had been associated with "evil", one would naturally join the originator of this manifestation, while if one had been associated with "good", one would join the originator of that factor. Therefore individuals would have to take two stage sets into consideration for the supposed continued eternal existence after death, namely - a residence for the so-called "evil" or "ungodly" people and a residence for the so-called "good" or "saved" people. Here in the western world and in Christendom generally these two places are respectively known under the concepts of "Hell", and "Heaven" or "Paradise". |
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