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| "Slothful Penitents" (1868) in Purgatory by Gustave Dore (1823-1883) |
To thicken the soup of your thought on this question, you may want to read about the philosophy of absurdism (which my good friends at Wikipedia define as “the conflict between the human tendency to seek inherent meaning in life and the human inability to find any”).
Ever read the play Waiting for Godot (1953) by Samuel Beckett?
"Purgatory is the condition or process of purification or temporary punishment" according to Wikipedia. Taking apart this statement you get "temporary punishment." This means that God is directly keeping you from entering heaven. That in itself sounds horrible, to know that God does not believe you are worthy enough to enter heaven.
ReplyDeleteI, not being Catholic, do not know much about purgatory myself; however, after reading about the play Waiting for Godot I do have a little understanding of the horrible time spent while you are in purgatory.
The two main character in the above play mentioned were waiting for "Godot." This "Godot" that neither of them knew personally was supposed to come and save them from the place they were currently waiting. While in purgatory they had nothing meaningful to do. They contemplated suicide but neither wanted to leave the other.
My conclusion about purgatory is that you are waiting for God to grant you access to heaven for an undetermined amount of time. This wait can suck the life out of your body and leave your spirit depleted. It is worse to wait forever for God to decide if you are worthy than to go to spend the rest of your life in Hell.
Campbell makes the statement that Purgatory is worse than Hell because he himself knows the feeling of living in Purgatory. Purgatory is about waiting, and that is all Campbell does with the rest of his life. He waits for someone to find out his true identity. I liked what Nik Razo said, “While in Purgatory they had nothing meaningful to do.” I think that is what the true “Hell” of Purgatory is: no purpose. Humans desire purpose. Humans need something to wake up for. In Purgatory, what is there to live for? I think Wikipedia has an interesting definition of Purgatory. I wonder if Campbell would classify his Purgatory as a “process of purification” or “temporary punishment?”
ReplyDeleteAllie is completely right about Campbell waiting for someone to find out his true identity. He is walking in reality, but the world in his mind is Purgatory. His connection to the real world ended when he lost his wife Helga. The love Campbell had for writing was the only thing he lived for; unfortunately, his writing was inspired only by his love for Helga. Part of his soul died when he lost the one thing that fueled his reason for living. This is why Purgatory is worse than Hell. In Purgatory, the mind simply wanders. It is free to think about what could have been, but what’s worse is that this state of mind will last forever. There is no Hell or Heaven. There is only the thought that the person was neither good enough for Heaven nor sinful enough for Hell. Campbell states that Purgatory is worse than Hell because he knows no other pain than being completely alone and lost could be worse than an eternity of flames.
ReplyDeleteWhy couldn't Campbell accept the fact that he loved Resi and Resi loved him? Why he couldn't he let that relationship pull him out of Purgatory?
ReplyDeleteI believe Campbell claims that Purgatory is worse than Hell because Purgatory is nothing. In all reality, most people would say that Hell was the worse option. Hell is at least some sort of answer even if it's not a good one. It's an end. It's not a question. Purgatory is nothing. It's just waiting for all of eternity without any kind of certain ending or answers. No one likes having a question that they can't answer or no one will answer for you. Purgatory is a bottomless pit without emotion that you can't do anything to get out of. Hell isn't a place that anybody wants to be in, but it is a place. It's an absolute, while Purgatory is emptiness.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think Campbell felt “worthy” enough to be loved by anyone other than Helga. In my opinion, he had already died to himself before he lost Helga, losing all identity he had ever known. You can’t love someone or feel good enough to allow someone to love you if you don’t know who you are to begin with. He exclaims purgatory is worse than hell because it’s like God held him from crossing over to Heaven. That sounds horrifying! I can’t think of anything worse than to see all your loved ones go in, while God looks you in the face saying, “Nope, I don’t know you.”
ReplyDeleteI do believe that purgatory would be worse than hell. Purgatory, as I have come to know it, is basically nothingness. One neither suffers nor benefits from purgatory. That feeling of nothingness I find quite frightening. Even the thought of suffering seems better than an absolute end of anything else. I believe that this is why Campbell stated that Purgatory would be worse than Hell. Suffering is at least something, but Purgatory is a lack of anything.
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