One of my favorite quotes regards purgatory. And I always look at it from a very level perspective, and I always feel like I’m the one who is meant to suffer and that my suffering will help others.
“Know much about purgatory? It’s a place between heaven and hell where those who were left behind and unable to get into heaven continue to suffer. A place of struggle and pain. In other words, the world we are in now.” —Vincent Volaju
What caught me about Vincent’s situation in the movie is what leads to the full quote about purgatory. He doesn’t want to live anymore (IMO) and wants to take everybody with him. Such an old trope. I love it.
I am not religious, and I’m not an atheist. I am, at best agnostic because I believe in the multi-verse. I have tremendous tolerance towards religion or anything based on the following conditions :
- You don’t harm children.
- You don’t harm the elderly.
- You don’t harm animals.
After that, it’s just a tossup because I believe all religions are murky, fingers in your brain, a type of psychological warfare. They play upon Man’s incessant nature to search for something more; Man wants to be something more and be forgiven for all that they have done.
If you look at the works of the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, at all… There is one overriding theme, and I believe it was covered in the magnificent and impressive Zeitgeist. The first one, not the rest of them. But the first act of Zeitgeist is fantastic as it highlights it takes the mythos out of religion to show that they’re all the same.
I’ve linked to Zeitgeist (above) because I am not going to blow by blow that one, but it’s a fantastic compilation of religious #0 issues (comic book nerd here) that are selling the narrative of their faith, all the while being a composite of some other religion that has a history dealing their faith.
For what I’m talking about to make sense, you need to see Zeitgeist, Act I.
The rest of the movie is fantastic. It achieves, in my humble opinion, its goal of trying to open up one’s mind to see a more significant, more underlying issue that has taken hold of society. It’s the roots, bloody roots. That’s a music reference. Look it up.
I don’t want this post to be about Zeitgeist, but I do want to use this as an opportunity to talk about opening your mind.
How does any of this relate to purgatory?
I feel like I’m betwixt heaven and hell, and I am here to suffer. And that is all I do. I suffer. I am no demigod, I am no saint, I am no sinner… (Okay, maybe I am a bit of a sinner, lol). I am no Messiah, and I am none of any of that.
I’m just a jackass who has repeatedly and consistently fucks up and stumbles through life, somehow succeeding despite myself … And I haven’t even dropped the post about how much of a fuck up I am yet. Oh boy.
The funny thing about what I’m putting out here is that it falls into two main categories. The first being my love of Cowboy Bebop, and the second being my love of Type O Negative.
As I started writing this, I was just rambling down my feelings. Pretty much normal when I want to post something of interest, and I say the word quote betwixt. And then it flooded back to me :
Betwixed birth and death
Every breath regret
I pity the living
Envy for the dead
Emotionally stunned
In defense – I’m numb
I’d rather not care than to be aware
Be scared
A portion of lyrics from my absolute favorite Type O Negative song, Anesthesia. Just look around at my blog. There are several references to it, posted videos that likely won’t work anymore because you too can suck a dick, and I said the word betwixt.
That song drives me into that movie, it drives me right into Vincent Volaju. The evil that he Vincent Volaju commits, it’s atrocious. You have to see the movie (linked here for sho); it’s a fun watch.
One of these days, I will get around to finishing my book, “If I were rich, I’d be a Super Villain,” and all of that will make sense. Not that the book would, either.
The inspiration for that book, besides the rather ridiculous title, is Anesthesia and Vincent’s comment. It’s about how easy it is to go from good to bad when you don’t care, and I don’t ever want to be a person who doesn’t care. I am an amazing human, and anybody who does not understand or recognize that’s their loss and can eff themselves.
I know ranting a little bit here, but I want to be sure to articulate this as best as I can, and that is to say this :
You control whether you are good or bad or go to the proverbial heaven or the proverbial hell. It is upon yourself to escape purgatory, and how you act as human dictates that.
I can’t tell you what is right or wrong, but I can tell you that things are within the scope of our law, legal system, and daily life framework.
It’s your job, not anybody else’s, to follow the law. It is your job, it’s not anybody else’s, to ensure that you are a good human.
Is it so f’ing hard to be a good human, better than we are where now? We are in a position where society is falling apart and or decaying at an alarming rate.
All this is because people act inappropriately and are entirely fueled by emotions and no intelligence.
It blows my mind that people are not willing to take responsibility for their actions and continue to blame others. It blows my mind that people act like children. Blows my mind.
What’s important about all of this stuff, and I want to try to wrap it into a little ball, that you own your own shit.
You have to be a good human and the ultimate statement, something that The Reverend and I speak about on a daily basis, “Be Excellent To Each Other“.
And yes that is from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It is the greatest single statement I have heard in terms of how to conduct yourself as an eff’ing human.
Ain’t nobody gonna is upset with you if you are nice to them, and then as a sub-context that you’re not committing a crime. -kastle
I know I have gone on and on since I’ve had a little more free time. I have put a little more effort into writing, and in the particular context we’re talking about now, I’m standing in my kitchen, yes standing, dictating to my Yeti, and I’m angered. I’m outraged by humanity.
And you know what, this is why I would be a supervillain. Or maybe even a anti-super villain like The Punisher. He is my favorite Marvel character, by the way. Him or Thanos.
I don’t understand what’s wrong with people and that they can’t behave like civilized adults. It says if people want to go to hell for the evil deeds that they’re doing. It’s as if they don’t even believe it doesn’t matter what they do.
Theologically speaking, one should have a fear of God inside their heart and mind to navigate down the middle between right and wrong. All these things are balanced, and purgatory is the middle; purgatory is the balance.
And so I stand in my kitchen, a previously noted, being very agitated over the fact that I’m in the same place as all these other jackasses talking. Those who aren’t capable of thinking aren’t capable of having rational conversations. They are just raw sure emotions, and that’s not balanced.
I feel like I’m in purgatory, left behind like I’m in a Kirk Cameron movie. Uggh. Shitty reference.
All of this is a rant, and I feel it covers where I think purgatory is and how people can effectively fix their situation. Or not. Who cares?
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