The notion of spending my last moments concerned what others thought of me and
hoping for them to forgive me doesn't appeal to me. What I hope for at the
moment of death is a sense of expectation and looking forward to what comes
next. Looking forward strikes me as a more worthy way to "sum up a life" than
looking backwards does.
From: "s3raph...@yahoo.com [FairfieldLife]"
<FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com>
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2015 4:02 AM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Last rites
One of my favourite writers has always been Robert Anton Wilson (RAW). He
wrote some sci-fi/fantasy, of which the best known is probably the Illuminatus!
Trilogy. I've given his fiction a miss as I have a limited attraction to sci-fi
but his non-fiction books like Sex, Drugs and Magick and the Cosmic Trigger
trilogy are entertaining, witty and passionate defences of his libertarian,
anarchist and esoteric take on life. He was influenced by such fringe prophets
as The Beast (Aleister Crowley) and the crackpot psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich.
And he was a friend and defender of Tim Leary.
One feature of Wilson's writing was always a heartfelt hostility towards
Christianity - especially Catholicism, the faith he was indoctrinated in as a
child. Now, I'm not a Catholic but even I thought that sometimes his attacks on
that denomination were a bit over the top. Whatever.
Anyway, death comes to us all and for Wilson the year 2007 was his last. I was
intrigued therefore to hear him saying in those last months that what absorbed
him more than any other rumination at that critical period was the thought that
if he'd hurt anyone during his lifetime he hoped that they could forgive him.
When I heard that I immediately thought: Bejesus! if someone were to challenge
me to encapsulate the essence of Christianity in a sentence then I reckon that
saying "a Christian would be someone who at his life's close hoped that anyone
he'd ever hurt could find it in themselves to forgive him" is as good a try as
any. That's the true Last Judgement.
The last moments of a person's life have always been considered of particular
importance in most religious traditions and no doubt the Last Sacrament in
Catholicism is a more-or-less inadequate attempt to capture something of what
Wilson was expressing. The caricature that is our stereotype of such situations
is of a fearful man or woman on their deathbed wracked with fear and shame at a
life's wasted opportunities and guilt over shabby deeds done - in other words,
someone wrapped up in their own selfhood. That has to be a most un-religious
state! What I liked about RAW's quote is that he wasn't being morbid but was
looking outwards *towards others* he may have distressed.
Rather touching (and *not* in a sentimental sense). And it reminds me of a
thought I've often entertained: Christianity is *not really* about whether you
believe in God, the Trinity, the Virgin Birth, . . . , but is actually about "a
way of life" - love, mercy, pity - and the traditional dogmas are just window
dressing (essentially trying to say in the language of myth what is
inexpressible in literal speech).
It's not that I want to paint RAW as having had a "deathbed conversion" - he
didn't need one! An agnostic like Wilson was closer to the message of Jesus
than any confirmed Christian who also happens to be a prig and really believes
that sinners are destined to eternal Hell.
#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432 -- #yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp {border:1px solid
#d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:10px 0;padding:0 10px;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp hr {border:1px solid #d8d8d8;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp #yiv4817295432hd
{color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:700;line-height:122%;margin:10px
0;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp #yiv4817295432ads
{margin-bottom:10px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp .yiv4817295432ad
{padding:0 0;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp .yiv4817295432ad p
{margin:0;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mkp .yiv4817295432ad a
{color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor
#yiv4817295432ygrp-lc {font-family:Arial;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor #yiv4817295432ygrp-lc #yiv4817295432hd {margin:10px
0px;font-weight:700;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor #yiv4817295432ygrp-lc .yiv4817295432ad
{margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432actions
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:11px;padding:10px 0;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432activity
{background-color:#e0ecee;float:left;font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;padding:10px;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432activity span {font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432activity span:first-child
{text-transform:uppercase;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432activity span a
{color:#5085b6;text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432activity span
span {color:#ff7900;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432activity span
.yiv4817295432underline {text-decoration:underline;}#yiv4817295432
.yiv4817295432attach
{clear:both;display:table;font-family:Arial;font-size:12px;padding:10px
0;width:400px;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432attach div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432attach img
{border:none;padding-right:5px;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432attach label
{display:block;margin-bottom:5px;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432attach label a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 blockquote {margin:0 0 0
4px;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432bold
{font-family:Arial;font-size:13px;font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432
.yiv4817295432bold a {text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 dd.yiv4817295432last
p a {font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432 dd.yiv4817295432last p
span {margin-right:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432
dd.yiv4817295432last p span.yiv4817295432yshortcuts
{margin-right:0;}#yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432attach-table div div a
{text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432attach-table
{width:400px;}#yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432file-title a, #yiv4817295432
div.yiv4817295432file-title a:active, #yiv4817295432
div.yiv4817295432file-title a:hover, #yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432file-title
a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432photo-title a,
#yiv4817295432 div.yiv4817295432photo-title a:active, #yiv4817295432
div.yiv4817295432photo-title a:hover, #yiv4817295432
div.yiv4817295432photo-title a:visited {text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432
div#yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg #yiv4817295432ygrp-msg p a
span.yiv4817295432yshortcuts
{font-family:Verdana;font-size:10px;font-weight:normal;}#yiv4817295432
.yiv4817295432green {color:#628c2a;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432MsoNormal
{margin:0 0 0 0;}#yiv4817295432 o {font-size:0;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432photos div {float:left;width:72px;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432photos div div {border:1px solid
#666666;height:62px;overflow:hidden;width:62px;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432photos div label
{color:#666666;font-size:10px;overflow:hidden;text-align:center;white-space:nowrap;width:64px;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432reco-category {font-size:77%;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432reco-desc {font-size:77%;}#yiv4817295432 .yiv4817295432replbq
{margin:4px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-actbar div a:first-child
{margin-right:2px;padding-right:5px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg
{font-size:13px;font-family:Arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg select, #yiv4817295432 input, #yiv4817295432 textarea
{font:99% Arial, Helvetica, clean, sans-serif;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg pre, #yiv4817295432 code {font:115%
monospace;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg *
{line-height:1.22em;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-mlmsg #yiv4817295432logo
{padding-bottom:10px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-msg p a
{font-family:Verdana;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-msg
p#yiv4817295432attach-count span {color:#1E66AE;font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-reco #yiv4817295432reco-head
{color:#ff7900;font-weight:700;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-reco
{margin-bottom:20px;padding:0px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor
#yiv4817295432ov li a {font-size:130%;text-decoration:none;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor #yiv4817295432ov li
{font-size:77%;list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-sponsor #yiv4817295432ov ul {margin:0;padding:0 0 0
8px;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-text
{font-family:Georgia;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-text p {margin:0 0 1em
0;}#yiv4817295432 #yiv4817295432ygrp-text tt {font-size:120%;}#yiv4817295432
#yiv4817295432ygrp-vital ul li:last-child {border-right:none
!important;}#yiv4817295432
