Daily Advice 11.23.20

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 18:20:02 GMT

For today, a passage from Paradise Lost. The scene is just before the creation of the Earth. Satan and a third of the angels have rebelled against God, and been defeated. Now the rebel angels, having been cast into Hell, are debating what they should do next. Should they go back to Heaven and beg God for forgiveness?

No, says Satan:

Farewell happy Fields

Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail

Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings

A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.

The mind is its own place, and in it self

Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.

I find that when I am at my worst, my mind is at the root of it; my mind, and the cluttered tangle of emotions and resentments that so often fill it. If I can pause and still myself, I can change my perspective and look at my situation again with fresh eyes. I often then find things aren't as bad as I thought; a little food or water and some fresh air are often enough to turn everything around. But if I insist on clinging to emotion and refusing to change, then I, too, can make a Hell of Heaven. I sometimes even manage the same level of drama-queenliness which Lucifer demonstrates in this passage. "Profoundest Hell, receive thy possessor!"

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Daily Advice 11.23.20