Happy are they who can use the hells of others to avoid their own. The Dark Christ does not take our sins away; he rubs our faces in them and shows us the circumstances whereby we might come to regret them. In this way He teaches us that we do not love enough without teaching us how to love more; the latter is up to us.
I felt it in my chest for several days: The hell of losing control over our creations; its ultimate expression is perhaps the aircrash. Loss of life and property are great and messy, and the victims often have time to understand their fate. Those on Flight 123 had more than half an hour. They wrote letters to their loved ones, some of which survived the Gehenna of the crash. Even photographs from inside the plane before it went down were taken (I can’t find them on the Internet).
Dead, 520; survivors, 4 (it’s hard to believe). The largest single-craft disaster in aviation history. Twenty years have passed.
Here is one survivor’s record of her experience. It is scarier than any book’s or movie’s fiction.
Here is where the unidentified dead lie in 123 urns.
Here is the transcript of the CVR with the full recording in several parts (blue links on left). If you do not believe in a Hell, listen to the MP3 of the flight’s final minute–and be damned as I was.
The feeling stayed in my chest for days. “I do not love enough,” I thought. I felt compassion to all. How fragile we all are, and how damned by entropy: Whether by the violent forces of a plane crash or the slow deterioration of the body, somewhere, somehow we shall end.
Now the feeling is leaving me, and I only have the memory of it: I am left with the knowledge of how to approach life and the world, but not the direct guidance of that strange emotion. I suppose knowledge will have to suffice until the Dark Christ comes to redeem me once more.
But just out of curiosity, how often does the Dark Christ have to redeem you? Is once not enough? If he is eternal then his redemption has no begining or end. Why would you need to be redeemed a second time?
Sometimes the redemption doesn’t “take.” You know how human nature is.
The Dark Christ has not, and will not, die for your sins. He makes you realize that, in a world so fragile and sad, there is no point in hating or making a fuss over petty matters. He is the personification of that fragility, sadness, terror, and forlornness.
First of all, practically noone on this board reads the language every single one of your links is written in. Secondly, since I was curious about this “Dark Christ” of which you speak and googled it. I remain uninformed, as most of the hits concern a Dead Can Dance song.
I can most certainly empathize with the folks having to go through that horror, and I can appreciate the heaviness of impending doom.
But if you’ve got something to say about it, ditch the cryptic bullshit and just say it.
Yeah, but the vast majority of us don’t, and your OP reads as if you mean for this to be of interest to more than just those Dopers who read Japanese. At this moment, however, I’m not sure what your thread’s point is. Is the primary purpose to discuss the plane crash? Or, are you wanting to delve into this “Dark Christ” of yours?
I don’t mind this thread remaining open, but we need clarification from you.
Reading about the plane crash had an effect on me. I call this effect, or mental state, or interaction between the mind and evil the “Dark Christ.” It is dark because it is not happy stuff, as opposed to the mythical Jesus Christ who fills one’s heart with sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows.
Nevertheless, it is Christ because it changes how you see the world and interact with people in a positive way, although the darkness remains. It is also analagous to Christ in that the suffering of others leads one to redemption.
I hope that’s suitably mundane, pointless, and clarified.
Anyone who would “bring” that sort of terror and suffering just to try to “teach a lesson” to bystanders is a real asshole of the highest degree and unworthy of any praise. You do not teach a child to love by beating the shit out of him, after all. Isn’t Christ’s mission to bring comfort to those who have suffered?
Furthermore, I feel deeply sorry for anyone who needs a plane crash to teach them compassion, and I distrust the veracity of that “conversion.” Momentary sympathy is a normal human reaction to tragedy. Most forget “the lesson” relatively quickly, much like generosity to the poor which only happens at Christmas.
Through chance, I avoided being a plane crash victim. I was supposed to be on TWA flight 800, but changed my reservation at the last minute. Had I not, I would be dead. The lesson I learned from that was that life is fleeting and I’d best enjoy the time I have left to its fullest potential, not that Christ was killing people and causing grief and anguish to the victim’s families to make me “love more.”