Why It's Lonely At the Top

The human geniuses of the past few centuries stand victorious over many long-lasting issues that have plagued humanity, such as the lack of clean drinking water and the uncontrolled spread of diseases. For centuries, though, humanity has been unable to satisfy its desperate need for deep personal connections and meaningful friendships. In Notes from the Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky shows readers how to better connect with others by using his Underground Man to highlight the importance of humility in building successful relationships.

Dostoevsky portrays the Underground Man’s arrogance as a critical reason for his failed relationships. To humbly judge others, one must deeply appreciate his flaws and then forgivingly evaluate those around him. Otherwise, he risks elevating himself above those around him since people tend to criticize others more harshly than themselves. The Underground Man arrogantly judges others. For example, the Underground Man demonstrates his disdain for his schoolmates during his youth, stating that he was “amazed at the pettiness of their thinking” and that he regarded them as beneath him (68). In the Underground Man’s youth, his disdainful view of his schoolfellows encouraged them to hate and withdraw from him, and he eventually found himself without friends. Toward the end of his schooling, when he needs friends, his arrogance prevents him from connecting with others (69). Later, in the Underground Man’s adulthood, his contempt for his friends Zverkov, Trudolyubov, and Ferfichkin leads them to ostracize him. He scornfully describes Zverkov, Trudolyubov, and Ferfichkin, three of his former schoolmates, as “scoundrel,” “dullard,” and “little snot,” respectively (70-71). During dinner at the Hôtel de Paris, his prideful attempts to display his intelligence fail, and his friends exclude him. He laments, “They all dropped me, and I sat crushed and annihilated” (76). The Underground Man’s arrogance ruins his platonic relationships and ultimately hinders his romantic relationships as well. When Liza visits his home, she unwittingly shames him by viewing his state of poverty, represented by his tattered old dressing gown. He tells Liza, “You’d suddenly see me in this torn old dressing gown, abject, vile. I just told you I was not ashamed of my poverty; know, then, that I am ashamed” (124). Instead of humbly accepting responsibility for his living conditions, the Underground Man blames Liza for his embarrassment. He says, “I will never forgive you [Liza] for having found me in this wretched dressing gown” (124) and ultimately pushes her away forever (130). In this instance, his unwillingness to humble himself leads him to end his relationship with Liza permanently. Instead of esteeming others above himself, the Underground Man’s pride pushes away his platonic and romantic relations. 

After describing that people must be careful to exhibit a modest nature to build successful relationships, Dostoevsky depicts the Underground Man’s selfish desire to take from others without giving in return as a reason for his inability to connect with them. To exhibit humility, one must give up an aspect of himself in submission to another without expecting a return. Jesus Christ, for instance, demonstrated His humility by stating that He “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (English Standard Version, Matthew 20:28). While Jesus lived a successful life characterized by serving and giving, the Underground Man ruins his relationship with his only friend by greedily taking from him without reciprocation. He demonstrates his selfish desire to become the man’s only friend, stating, “I also once had a friend… I wanted to have unlimited power over his soul; I wanted to instill in him a contempt for his surrounding milieu” (69). The Underground Man encouraged his friend to push everyone else away, thereby becoming the sole influence in his friend’s life. Yet, the Underground Man was unsatisfied with everything the man could offer and pushed him away once he took all that he could. He says, “Once he had given himself wholly to me, I immediately started to hate him and pushed him away–as if I had needed him only to gain a victory over him” (69). In stating that he pushed his friend away once he had given himself up completely, the Underground Man shows that he views friendship as a medium by which he can freely and forcibly take from other human beings without remorse or restraint. Once he had taken everything he could from his only friend, the Underground Man became dissatisfied and pushed him away, leaving himself friendless again. Dostoevsky blames the Underground Man’s selfishness and grasping nature for his failed friendship, indicating that to make friends, one must humbly practice generosity and altruism. 

In conclusion, Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground is a poignant reminder of the importance of humility and selflessness in building successful relationships. Using the Underground Man, Dostoevsky masterfully depicts the common human desire to build substantial social connections with others and the typical failure to do so. Pride and selfishness often prevent lonely people from making meaningful connections with others and can lead them to blame others for their inability to connect socially. Since pride and selfishness originate from one’s undeservedly high self-estimation and lack of humility, these traits tend to distance people and make solid social connections impossible. Dostoevsky depicts the Underground Man’s selfishness and pride as the primary causes for his ruined relationships, urging readers to cultivate humility to build and maintain successful social connections. 

Mes Pesnées

On Truth and Reason

1. Two questions must be answered: first, does truth actually exist, and second, if truth exists, do we have the ability to discern what is true?

2. Truth. To live meaningful and happy lives, we must first accept that objective truths exist and can be found through the senses and the practice of reason. Alternatively, we doom ourselves to a life filled with murkiness, indecision, and aimlessness through the inability to know anything. 

3. We perceive reality through sense and reason. Sense is the basis of all knowledge, for we reason using the information we have gathered through exercising the senses. But how do we know that our senses do not deceive us? How can we know that what we see or feel is really there?

4. To refuse the notion that objective truths can be known induces chaos of mind, will, and spirit. 

On Indecision

5. When presented with any choice, we have three options: the decision to affirm, the decision to deny, or the refusal to make any decision whatsoever. The decision not to decide is usually wrong. 

6. An indecisive person is like a buried seed that refuses to sprout and seek the sun’s light. He is too afraid of life to live. 

7. We make decisions every day but often fail to consider why we make them. Why do we choose the friends we choose? Why spend our time on trivial matters? What is our purpose? Why choose to sin and spit upon the God who created us?

8. It is so easy to get caught up in earthly success. A life spent on the acquisition of wealth, the improvement of the physical body, or even the progression of one’s virtue with no transcendent purpose in mind is not a life well spent. We must examine our mortality and remind ourselves that purpose must be anchored to something or someone above physical existence.

9. 1 Samuel 16:7. “The Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” God, help me see as you see!

On Time

10. Like wet soap, always grasped at but never held onto. But not for lack of trying.

11. It is all too easy to live in dreams of the past but just as easy to be swept away by the future’s tide. 

12. “I don’t have time right now.” But we only have the time to do what truly matters to us.

13. The only way to truly waste time is to spend it unintentionally.

On Perspective and Wonder

14. Spend a year, a lifetime, or a thousand lifetimes studying nature. Choose to examine the natural realm at the largest conceivable scale or at the smallest possible level, and you will be overwhelmed with a similarly incalculable amount of information. For example, take the largest star and the smallest dust mite. Both are interminable in complexity and seem to possess infinite details and features. Both are too complex to be fully comprehended, even by the more complex human brain. 

15. Our solar system contains entire planets. Our planet is made of uncharted land and vast, barely-explored oceans that extend for thousands of miles beneath the surface. Trillions of complex organisms exist on the earth, each of which is uniquely created. Humanity has studied its surroundings for thousands of years but has barely scratched the surface of knowledge that can be obtained. There are worlds of complexity within worlds. 

16. Contemplating the smallest atom or tiniest bacterium boggles the mind just as much as trying to mentally take in the expanse of the universe.

17. How is it possible to feel alone in a room full of people?

18. So similar. Humans share a common anatomy, a similar ability to grow physically, reason, and a similar capacity to change the world. So different. Humans appear so outwardly different, make radically different decisions, and vary greatly in the scope and virtue of their effect on the world around them. 

On Self

19. Your values determine who you are and who you will become. If you want to change who you are, first change your values. Don’t just change them on paper. A real change in values should have a measurable effect on your life, the lives of those around you, and your environment. I cannot say that I am going to value speaking in a self-controlled manner over the ease of speaking whatever comes to mind, but not change the way that I speak. 

20. Everybody shouldn’t know everything about you. 

21. No business or money is worth risking your life to defend.

22. Life is already dark with strife and hate. Choose instead to color the world with bright joy and love.

23. It is all too easy to mistake the absence of vice in oneself or another for the presence of virtue. The two are not the same. 

A Conjecture Regarding Creation

24. Conjecture: Natural matter must have been created by an unnatural, intelligent force. Imagine the natural realm as a cardboard box inside which everything inside the cosmos has been placed. Somebody must have placed it there.

25. Consider the cardboard box. Only something greater than the system (existing outside it) could have created it. In the same way that an un-assembled box could box could not be put together by a man standing in the middle unless he reached outside of the center, a closed system cannot be created from the inside, but could by a man standing outside of it. 

26. So, any origin or assembler of a closed system must exist outside of it. In the case of nature, this means that the origin must have been supernatural. 

27. Since the origin is supernatural, it could not be understood by humans. It never operated on human terms (i.e. inside the box). If the origin acted in the natural realm, perhaps some muted, incomplete truths regarding its nature could be grasped. 

Our Hunt for the Whole

CALEB is a clay doll who has been created with a hole in his heart. He sleeps deeply atop a work table in a workshop. He has no knowledge of who he is or where he has come from. He only knows that he wishes to fill the hole in his heart.

THE VIRTUES: The gods of answers.

INTERNET: The god of will.

SELF-IMPROVEMENT BOOKS: The gods of human happiness and success.

THE ARCHITECT: The Creator and owner of the factory

Caleb: (Slowly stands up from the table, blinking slowly) Where am I!? Who am I!? Why am I empty?

The Virtues: We are the lords of Answers. You will find the remedy to your pain, the plug for your hole, by searching for the Architect in this workshop.

Caleb: Very well, if this Architect can fix me, then I will not stop until I find Him.

The Virtues: Caleb is walking, but where is he going!? It seems he is aiming toward Computer, Internet’s palace.

Caleb and Internet meet face-to-face, with Self-Improvement Books waiting in the background.

Caleb: (Speaks quietly) Who are you, and what must I do to fill this hole in my heart? 

Internet: I know how you can become whole. “Remove the judgment, and you have removed the thought ‘I am hurt’: remove the thought, ‘I am hurt,’ and the hurt itself is removed” (4.7).

Caleb: So by ceasing to think that I am not whole, I can, in fact, become whole?

Internet: Precisely!

Self-Improvement Books: No! If you wish to become whole, you must work, and “...the doing of something well is better when it is more difficult” (1105a10-12). You must remove clay from other parts of your body, and use the removed clay to fill the hole. It will be difficult, but if you succeed, then you will become whole.

Caleb: I will do whatever it takes to fill this hole!

Caleb begins to remove the clay from his arms and legs and uses it to make a ball.

Self-Improvement Books: You are now ready to plug the hole in your heart. 

Caleb: No! Now, I have more holes than I started with. Besides, this ball is much too tiny to fill the hole in my heart; there is not enough clay in the world to fill it! I cannot fill this hole alone.

[INTERNET exits, DILEMMA enters].

The Virtues: Here is Dilemma, the goddess of Truth! She loves to cause anxiety with her questions. Be wary, Caleb!

Dilemma: Hello, friend. 

Caleb: Who are you? We cannot be friends; we have never spoken before!

Dilemma: No? But I have met you. I have met everyone; nobody exists who is not my friend. If you want to fill the hole in your heart, then you must find your Creator. He can heal you.

Caleb: Very well, then. I will find this Creator, and He will fill the hole in my heart. 

[Dilemma exits the stage]

The Virtues: Caleb searches so vigorously for his Creator! He first looks under a pile of wood.

Caleb: These wood planks cannot be my Creator, but I can see large footprints in the sawdust underneath them! My Creator must have been here, for these footprints are much too large to have been left by a toy, but where has he gone now?

The Virtues: Caleb follows the footprints, and they lead to a dress that has been masterfully woven out of red yarn.

Caleb: My Creator must have left this here, for no toy has the hands to grasp and weave yarn so excellently. He must be a master weaver. But where does this thread lead…?

The Virtues: Caleb follows the thread of yarn, which leads him to a notebook that lies face-up on the ground. He gazes intently at the notebook, in which are written complex math equations in beautiful writing.

Caleb: This writing is so strange! I can recognize some of the figures, but they are far beyond my understanding! They must have been left here by a very intelligent Being.

The Virtues: Where is Caleb looking? Does he notice the Architect watching him from a stool in front of His work table? 

Caleb walks toward the Architect.

Caleb: Sir, who are you? 

Architect: I am your Creator.

Caleb: How am I to know if you tell the truth!?

Architect: Remember your journey. The footprints, larger than the very life you live, are mine; The dress, more beautiful than you could imagine, is my creation, and the math, of which you understood just enough to know that you could never fully understand it, is mine. I, who made you, can fix your hole!

Caleb: Where were you this entire time!?

Architect: I have been right here from the very beginning. 

The Despair of Optimism

    

    For thousands of years, humankind has struggled with the extraordinary task of understanding the purpose of suffering. People who believe God created the natural realm commonly struggle to understand why a gracious Creator would allow His creation to experience tragedy. Meanwhile, atheists often frame the existence of suffering as proof that a caring god could not have organized the universe. If the creator of the universe truly loves his creation, then why allow them to suffer at all? The doctrine of philosophical optimism seeks to explain the purpose of suffering by teaching that every physical event, including tragedy, is supernaturally aimed at achieving the best outcome. In his Candide, Voltaire satirizes philosophical optimism using the characters of Pangloss and Candide to show that his readers should abandon optimism and search for other ways to rationalize tragedy.

Voltaire uses satire to demonstrate that philosophical optimism encourages faulty reasoning. At the beginning of Candide, Pangloss summarizes philosophical optimism and affirms his belief in it, saying, “It is demonstrated… that everything being made for an end, everything is necessarily for the best end” (2). Pangloss’s philosophy leads him to several comically foolish conclusions about everyday objects, and Voltaire writes so that the flaws in Pangloss’s thinking are readily apparent. For example, Pangloss asserts that “noses were made to wear spectacles,” although spectacles are designed to fit noses, and that “legs were visibly instituted to be breeched,” though breeches are designed to cover legs (2). The human body has featured both the nose and the legs for thousands of years – they are not new developments – while spectacles and breeches are relatively recent inventions. Since humans existed long before spectacles and breeches, the human body could not have been designed for them. Instead, spectacles and breeches are human inventions intended for the body. To state that the purposes of the noses and legs are not to perform the essential functions of sense and ambulation but to carry glasses or fabric is to trivialize their worth. Voltaire satirizes philosophical optimism, using the impossible notion that the human body was designed for human creations to demonstrate that optimism encourages faulty reasoning. If optimism encourages defective rationale, it should be abandoned in favor of a better philosophy. 

Voltaire also demonstrates that philosophical optimism undermines good judgment of character. Candide, hungry and tired, accepts money and food from two strange men dressed in blue (4). Voltaire highlights the men’s impure motives, writing that they flatter Candide by complimenting his stature, though he measures to a less-than-average five-foot-five, and claim that they will “never allow a man like you [Candide] to lack money” (4). Common sense encourages people to be highly skeptical of unsolicited gifts from strangers as they are usually given with impure motives, and people with good judgment tend to question the motives of flatterers. Accordingly, Candide initially rejects the strange men’s gifts but later remembers Pangloss’s teaching that “all is for the best” and accepts the presents, allowing his optimistic view of life to override his common sense and good judgment (4). He suffers physically for his unwise choice to trust the strange men, as they kidnap him and force him into the Bulgarian military, where the soldiers beat him so severely that his body requires three weeks of care under an expert physician to heal (6). Candide’s decision to depend on philosophical optimism rather than good judgment ends in his being taken advantage of by strange men and suffering at the hands of the Bulgarians. By demonstrating that optimism damages the perception of human character, Voltaire provides a compelling reason to abandon it in favor of a more pragmatic philosophy.  

Furthermore, Voltaire highlights how philosophical optimism devalues human life. Pangloss contracts a terrible sexually transmitted disease from Paquette that rots his nose away, causes him to grow sores, dulls his eyes, twists his mouth, blackens his teeth, causes a violent cough, and will eventually kill him (8). Paquette’s disease is widespread. Given any army of thirty thousand men, Pangloss estimates that at least twenty thousand have the disease (10). Speaking of the illness, he says, “It was an indispensable thing in the best of worlds,” for Columbus’s discovery of chocolate and cochineal, what Pangloss calls the “best end,” necessitated Columbus contracting the disease and bringing it to Europe (10). If the discovery of chocolate and cochineal justifies the loss of human life, as Pangloss believes, then chocolate and cochineal are worth more than human life. The idea that any piece of candy or dyed garment is worth more than human life is unnatural and false since human life is priceless. Voltaire intentionally uses Pangloss’s character to demonstrate that optimism encourages an unnatural devaluing of human life.

Voltaire satirizes various flaws in philosophical optimism to encourage his readers to seek other methods of understanding tragedy. Optimism offers an attractive answer to suffering, that humanity must experience tragedy now to achieve an undefined “best end” later (2), but Voltaire believes that optimism’s drawbacks outweigh its advantages. He believes that optimism is a dangerous philosophy that severely harms human life by causing people to trust indiscriminately, reason improperly, and underappreciate life, and that people would be better off without it. Voltaire believes one can avoid the damage that philosophical optimism causes by abandoning it and seeking other methods to understand the world. He uses Candide and Pangloss to exhibit the flaws he sees in optimistic thinking, encouraging his readers to abandon it and seek to understand tragedy in other ways. 

Blaise Pascal's Passionate Plea

    

    One of humanity’s most outstanding questions is, “What comes after this life?” The answer to this question can completely alter the course of one’s existence on earth. Knowing that a paradisiacal realm waits for those who adhere to specific religious values powerfully motivates people to obey these values. For example, many of history’s most influential religious figures, such as Montanus and Muhammad, gained immense influence over the lives of their followers by professing to hold secret knowledge about the pathway to Heaven. However, knowing that no future exists after death means life is meaningless.  People who believe life is pointless often become depressed, unexcited about life, and suicidal. In his Pensees, Blaise Pascal reveals two essential truths about human nature and eternity, forcefully urging his readers to confirm their safety in the afterlife by seeking God.

    Pascal begins by asserting that all humans should want to be eternally safe. Since human life on earth is fraught with sadness and turmoil, all people should be deeply motivated to seek a better life after death. Pascal describes earthly life as devoid of true happiness, saying, “You do not need a greatly elevated soul to realize that in this life there is no true and firm satisfaction, that all our pleasures are simply vanity” (160). While most people do not live wholly miserable lives, and even the most unhappy person still experiences temporary pleasures, every earthly source of enjoyment, like youth and sensuality, will eventually fade. By describing earthly life as one filled with imperfect feelings of happiness and vain pleasures, Pascal suggests that everyone should seek Heaven’s true happiness in the afterlife by serving God. Additionally, Pascal argues that the prospect of enduring Hell’s eternal torment should strongly motivate people to avoid it by seeking God. If the God of the Bible exists, there are only two possible destinations for the human soul after this life: Heaven or Hell. Pascal condemns those who refuse to consider what comes after death, saying, “This indifference in a matter which concerns themselves, their eternity… amazes and appalls me: it strikes me as wholly monstrous” (159-160). To “know only that on leaving this world I either fall into nothingness forever, or into the hands of an angry God, without knowing which of these two states will be my condition in eternity” (161) and not attempt to seek a third option indicates an unnatural lack of “human interest and self-love” (161). Making no effort to escape mortal danger while knowing one is in it is contrary to the human instinct of self-preservation, and there is no greater danger than to “fall into the hands of an angry God” (161, 171). Pascal uses the current pain of life and the prospect of future agony in the afterlife to motivate his readers to seek a better destination after death. 

After encouraging his readers to search for eternal safety, Pasal reveals where to find it: through obedience to God. Pascal describes the choice of whether or not to serve God as an extraordinary “wager” that determines one’s eternal destiny (154). One who chooses to live as if God exists by obeying the commands in the Bible will not lose even if he is wrong. Pascal says, “Let us weigh up the gain and the loss by calling heads that God exists… if you lose, you lose nothing” (154). The non-existence of a creator necessarily means that humanity and human life exist without meaning or purpose. Therefore, one who devotes his entire life to the service of a non-existent creator would only have used up a meaningless life and would have no reason to grieve over the lost time. Additionally, being obedient to the moral rules found in the Bible is incredibly conducive to the development of human virtue, even if God does not exist. Pascal says that obeying Biblical principles will cause one to “be faithful, honest, humble, doing good, a sincere and true friend,” virtues that all morally upright people desire to embody (156). If God exists, though, the benefits of obeying Him multiply exponentially. Those who follow Him will experience an “infinitely happy infinity of life” after death (154). Humanity desires happiness more than anything else in the physical world, and people often make life-altering choices to acquire it. For example, people often bring new children into the world, embark on entirely new careers, and move to new regions to become happier. Still, Pascal claims that one can attain happiness by simply seeking God. If Pascal is correct about the existence of God, then choosing whether or not to seek Him is humanity's most significant choice. By demonstrating that one will always benefit from obeying Biblical rules even if God does not exist, Pascal assures his readers that seeking God is the right choice.

Pascal reveals vital truths about the afterlife in his Pensees to motivate his readers to seek eternal safety through God. Humans are imbued with the natural desire to pursue both the security and prosperity of their brethren. Pascal has reasoned to the conclusion that God exists but notices that many of his fellow humans are indifferent both to the existence of God and so choose not to obey Him. Pascal believes that God will punish people who disobey Him and thus fears for the spiritually indifferent. He writes his Pensees as a desperate plea to spiritually indifferent people, in which he imploringly urges them to avoid eternal punishment by seeking God.

Consolation of Growth

“Why do you sit here weeping in front of my garden?” I stood up slowly and noticed an old, dark-skinned woman standing before me. Her eyes were a warm green that matched the color of her gardening gloves. Atop her first-stained apron stuck a name tag that said “Growth.” Behind her lay a gate, through which I could see an expanse of beautiful multicolored fruits, vegetables, and flowers that seemed to radiate with life. I scrambled up from the pile of dead leaves upon which I sat onto my feet and offered her my hand to shake. “I weep because I am sad! ‘Woeful songs turn out to be my consoling companions” (Boethius 1).’ No matter what I attempt to change or who I seek for advice, I cannot figure out how to better myself!”

“Follow me through my garden,” Growth declared, “and I will help you.” She led me into a grove of beautiful apple trees that stretched for miles. Their leaves were a bright, verdant green that matched the color of the woman’s eyes and were mixed with beautiful red apples that shone with dew. Though rough with new bark, the color of their trunks nearly matched the brown of her skin in hue. Each of the trees’ roots snaked lazily through loose, wet soil before dropping deep into the ground, while their branches expanded up and out and seemed to embrace the heavens. The woman deftly grabbed an apple with her left hand and slid a knife out of her tool belt with her right. She began to cut away at the apple and sang, saying,

“These trees, 

Whose trunks now reach heights,

That scrape the very sky, 

And whose roots create a vast maze of angles,

That even cunning Theseus could not solve, 

Began as seeds, 

Nearly too small to be grasped, 

Now stand as pillars, 

That transcend human reach, 

Enjoining worlds.”

I did not notice that Growth had finished signing until she had tossed her knife aside and handed me a tiny black seed. She then spoke, “To understand the nature of Growth, you must first realize that the point from which one begins does not determine his potential to rise and grow. Though smaller than any other seed in my garden, the apple seed grows into the largest plant in my garden.”

We sat for some time, the length and breadth of which I could not measure, as I stared at the seed in my palm. Eventually, Growth stood and began to walk deeper into the grove. After a few moments of walking, she turned back toward me, asking, “What are you still gazing at? / Why does your sight still prop itself down there?” (29.4-29.5).  I quickly stood up and ran to catch up with her. Eventually, we emerged from the trees into an expanse of vibrant multi-colored lilies.  Growth knelt on the ground and gestured for me to join her. Bowing her head toward the flowers, she began to sing, 

“These lilies, 

Whose entire being,

Can be swallowed by a small hand, 

Possesses unparalleled beauty,

For the very trees,

Which tower over the rest of Creation, 

Still bow to the simple beauty of these flowers:

The only stars that man can touch….”

Growth rose slowly and said, “Some plants may grow large, like the apple tree, and others may grow little, like the lily. Though the lily is more challenging to see than the apple tree, its petals have grown in beautiful patterns that the tree could never imitate. True growth is not determined by size.”

We continued walking along the garden’s path, passing groves of fruit trees, patches of sprawling vines, and fields of crops. Before long, we reached the end of the garden, where a dry, nearly barren patch of ground lay. Many large, thorny weeds and a few broken, browning seedlings were interspersed throughout the patch.

Pushing aside a few serpentine weeds with one of her gloved hands, she reached deep into the patch and brought out a tiny seedling whose roots still clung to a handful of soil. Holding the baby plant up to my face, she sang,

“Seedlings cannot grow among weeds, 

Darkness withers in the light,

‘The highest good cannot do evil’ (Boethius 114)

Hatred overgrows love, 

Virtue swallows vice, 

Even death cannot take someone, 

Whom life still claims, 

This is Earth’s truest rule:

One side cannot gain

Unless the other loses.

These seedlings cannot grow because they are surrounded by weeds that steal their nutrients and water. To succeed, you must first eliminate the weeds surrounding you! Either they must lose, or you must lose. You cannot compromise because ‘You can never pay Paul without robbing Peter” (More 45). Having finished speaking, she held a hand out to me. I took it, and we walked together through the garden’s exit gate, emerging into my backyard. 

I started a garden there. My seeds were tiny, and I spent much time uprooting the weeds that surrounded me. Though they grew slowly, with Growth working by my side, each plant grew beautifully. 

Years later, having worked hard for many long hours under the sun, I completed my garden. There I rested, Consoled.

"Until Hell Freezes Over"

Either the presence of a negative stimulus or the absence of a positive stimulus causes pain. For example, fire physically burns skin because of the great heat that it carries. At the same time, icy water shocks the human body because it lacks heat. The Bible portrays Hell as the perfect embodiment of pain: the concentrated target of God’s hot, consuming anger and His cold, empty absence. However, humanity often over-focuses on God’s anger towards Hell’s occupants. It mistakenly neglects to consider the terrible reality of His separation from Hell. People who fail to comprehend both aspects of Hell possess an incomplete motivation to obey God and thus escape it. Dante illustrates the social, emotional, and physical horrors of a cold hell in his Inferno to encourage his readers to escape Hell by obeying God.

Dante first describes the mental horrors of a cold hell. On his journey across Cocytus, Dante spots two men frozen together in a hole, with one man gnawing on the other’s head “as a hunk of bread is chewed in hunger” (32.127). Upon being questioned, the spirits reveal themselves as Count Uglino and Archbishop Ruggieri (33.13-14). On earth, Archbishop Ruggieri shut Count Uglino and Count Uglino’s sons up in a tower where they starved to death one by one. In Hell, Count Uglino is constantly reminded of the “despair and pain” of his life by his killer’s proximity (33.15). Archbishop Ruggieri’s proximity to Count Uglino is a mental prison because it prevents Uglino from forgetting the pain of his physical life. The presence of Dis, or Satan, also functions as a mental prison. Upon arriving at Judecca, the home of infamous traitors like Judas Iscariot and Brutus, Dante sees Satan for the first time (34.62-67). Dante says, “How faint I then became, how turned to ice… I did not die, did not remain alive… deprived of life and death” (34.22-27). He describes Satan as a terrifying, gigantic, ugly creature with three faces; enormous, scaly, black wings; claws; and teeth large enough to crush a human (34.37-57). His brief encounter with Satan petrifies Dante, but Satan will terrorize Judecca’s other residents for eternity. 

Dante also emphasizes the emotional horrors of a cold hell. While journeying across Antenora, he notices that several souls cannot weep because their tears have frozen solid in their eye sockets (33.97). These tortured souls, who could in the past relieve their grief by crying, can weep no longer. As Dante says, their “weeping itself forbids the souls to weep, and pain which finds a barrier in their eyes turns back within to make the agony grow” (33.94-96). Suppressing sadness over time leads to a substantial increase in mental and emotional pressure. The souls cannot relieve their sadness without the ability to cry, and their grief will continue growing for eternity. Brother Albergio also reveals that some traitorous souls are taken to Hell before death (33.129-135). These souls, robbed of the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones, must cope with the horrible prospect of being eternally separated from their families.

Dante finally details the physical terrors of his cold Hell. Early in his journey through Cocytus, he notices a man whose ears have been painfully frostbitten off (32.51). He also describes Count Uglino’s revenge on Archbishop Ruggieri for murdering the count and his sons. Dante says that Uglino tears his teeth into Ruggieri’s neck and gnaws at his brains, flesh, and skull. Until Uglino’s anger subsides, he will likely continue to feed on Ruggieri’s brain. Dante then details the terrible torture of Judas Iscariot and Brutus in Judecca, the lowest and coldest region of Hell. He first describes the torture of Judas Iscariot, saying that Satan’s claws “peeled away his [Judas’s] back and often left it nude of any skin.” At the same time, Satan chews Judas “headfirst” (34.62-65). These traitorous men will likely continue to suffer excruciating tortures at Satan’s hand for eternity.

Dante weaves many illustrations of the torture of Hell’s occupants throughout his Inferno. The fear of pain, experienced by oneself or others, is one of humanity’s strongest motivators. People frequently choose to die rather than face pain. Fearing for his readers’ souls, Dante writes his famous Inferno to encourage them to escape Hell. People who comprehend the horror of God’s fury towards hell occupants but do not understand the implications of his cold absence from Hell lack a complete motivation to escape it. Knowing this, Dante intentionally encourages his readers to avoid Hell by describing it as a horrible, painful, cold place devoid of God’s presence.