Thursday, 13 February 2014

The Good That Men Do

Pummairam, Luis Castelar and Wanda Tamberly all learn about time travel. Pum and Wanda are recruited by the Time Patrol whereas Luis' values are too different. Although he fails utterly in his intended new Crusade with the stolen timecycle, he does some good from the Patrol's point of view by:

escaping from the Exaltationists;
kidnapping Stephen Tamberly;
kidnapping Wanda Tamberly.

By interrogating Stephen, he learns that they had been held by Exaltatonists in Machu Picchu. By conversing with Wanda, he relays that information to her. She informs the Patrol who are therefore able to attack the Exaltationists at Machu Picchu immediately after Luis' escape. Unfortunately, Luis had wounded but not killed Merau Varagan so that two of Varagan's men were in the process of taking him elsewhere/when for medical care. Raor also escaped despite having been stunned by Luis.

Luis is convinced that he will go straight to Heaven if he dies fighting for Christendom. It amazes me that so many people are convinced that:

there is a hereafter;
they know what it is like;
they will be OK in it;
others will not.

And yet they differ: Evangelicals; Catholics; Muslims; some Hindus etc. Islam and Christianity, Jihad and Crusade, influenced each other. What Luis believed about his death in battle, we unfortunately hear from some people who commit suicide and mass murder now.

My view is:

a hereafter is unlikely;
if there is one, it is unknown till we get there;
it needs to be an opportunity for continued growth, not a good or bad final destination.

2 comments:

Jim Baerg said...

"it needs to be an opportunity for continued growth, not a good or bad final destination."

"Leaf by Niggle" by Tolkien, has long struck me as one of very few depictions of an afterlife that would be worth having.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Jim!

And now I just thought of how "Leaf by Niggle" reminded me of Lewis' THE GREAT DIVORCE. Theyw were both, in different ways, stories about Purgatory.

Ad astra! Sean