A God Walks Through Fire

The gods face challenges, and the gods impose challenges. The challenges created by gods often appear as infinite challenges, but they are never infinite. A seemingly infinite challenge can be overcome with applied wisdom over time. I have heard one sick account which seems ripe for inspiring fear in children and in adults with childish minds, the story goes that one of the gods has prepared fiery coffins to meet you in the next world. The coffins are made of pure flame, and the lids are of an unearthly weight. You, now in the afterworld, but with a body that is apparently human, struggles and writhes in pain. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth, and bellows from the burns. What a sadistic god! Torturing those who are weak or who have by some measure failed is not a virtue of a god, so this is either not a powerful god, or more likely the stories are false, or this is a temporary trial that the god presents.

Aloysius, I know many a boy who could be set on the right path if the right intervention is done at the right time, and even some adults can be reformed given sufficient resources. for example, this is why some countries like Norway have lower recidivism rates for prisoners, with offenders committing serious crimes once and then never again; whereas in the U.S. the offenders commit repeatedly. The difference being the way the convicts are treated by the system, and the efforts toward rehabilitation with punishment, so we know that serious offenders can be reformed by human policies, yet people allege that the Christian god’s solution is eternal fire, and eternal punishment for finite crimes? Ye of little faith! An all powerful god can reform all manner of men.

So in this story, there you are in your fiery coffin, and you scream in pain all of day one, you scream in pain all of day two, you scream in pain all of day three, and then what? Do you scream in pain all of day four, day five, day six? Or do you take a moment of reflection to ponder the nature of your pain? What do we know about pain in the human body? Pain in the body is information. There are receptors in human tissue called nociceptors, and those send signals to the processing centers in the brain whenever the nociceptors detect that there is ongoing tissue damage, or the potential for tissue damage. The brain converts those signals to a form of pressing anxiety and to a form of aversive motivation. That is all pain is - pain is subjective information. That is one of the reasons persons can experience phantom pains in limbs that have been amputated and no longer exist. Consider, in your coffin furnace, are your tissues being damaged by the combustion? Certainly not, otherwise the process would not last very long. Is there potential then for tissue damage? Again, no, for there is clearly no realistic potential for damage if such damage then never occurs. So what is your pain then? What are you screaming about?

The human body has the ability to produce pain, and the human body has the ability to suppress, and completely ignore pain. On day seven, you come to terms with this. On day seven, you realize that sensation is not reality. You realize that your mind is what retains control of the world around you. It is the mind that creates happiness, joy, or suffering. The mind that maketh you weak, and the mind that maketh you strong. You realize, that you must possess the virtue of the gods in order to stand with them.

Did you know that in your Earthly body, one of the neurotransmitters that the brain uses to suppress pain is the neurotransmitter called serotonin? Low serotonin levels, such as that which occurs in persons who fall into clinical depression, lead to a reduced ability to suppress pain. High serotonin, means easier suppression of pain. Your serotonin level is determined largely by how you view your standing in the social hierarchy in which you find yourself. If you see yourself as being at the top of the social hierarchy, then your serotonin spikes, and if you see yourself at the bottom it quickly falls. When you see yourself as a god, you increase your perceived status, you embrace your infinite ability to create your own mental state, and fire ceases to be relevant. You stop feeling the pain of the fire, and you begin to feel the joy of the fire. Promptly, the infinity of signals being sent by your nociceptors shall cease, and now with the channels clear your brain can send signals to the spiritual equivalent of the pectoral muscles, and you realize, the lid on your coffin was not that heavy after all. You stop weeping, you enjoy the pain, you get on with what needs to be done.

You have been baptized by fire and passed the test, and the gods now respect your virtue. The god of fire then casually says to you that you could have taken that step a lot sooner. You did not need to seemingly die in order to get to this breakthrough. You could have realized it when you were still on Earth. Raise your status, be a god, do what must be done with virtue, to create a heaven on Earth. The first virtue of the gods is to walk through your fire now, and to enjoy the pain. Aloysius, you must walk through fire now. Walking through fire is a focus on the process as you pursue worthy goals. Walking through fire means every time your attention is pulled away from your focus, that you are able to bring your attention right back to that which is most important for your long term progress to those worthy goals. This is why you concentrate on the breath in mindfulness meditation. 5 seconds inhale, 7 seconds exhale, always with attention on the breath. It is a practice that when done consistently, shall strengthen your fortitude and mental muscle. That focus is what you must do until what you believe will be your last breath. Yet it shall not be your last breath, for you are truly eternal, for with focus and virtue, you are one with the gods.