~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"My greatest wish for humanity is not for peace or comfort or joy. It is that we all still die a little inside every time we witness the death of another. For only the pain of empathy will keep us human. There's no version of God that can help us if we ever lose that."

"Without the threat of suffering, we can't experience true joy. The best we get is pleasantness"

(Neal Shusterman - "Scythe")

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Let it begin!" Lucifers beaming voice roared over the room. His supporters clapped enthusiastically. Lilith, the winged Goddess who stood next to him, loudest of all.

But Jachwe had his admirers as well. He wasn't truly popular but commonly accepted. You couldn't say the same about Luce. He was way too nosy and vain- always prowling along with an aura of complacency. That drew attention to him like flies to a rotting corpse in Jachwe's world.

Ugly things lead to something good. It wasn't pretty for the eyes to watch nor for the nose to smell but from the moulding flesh came something new. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. No matter ever got lost, it only changed its form and became something else- a story of never-ending endlessness. Jachwe was so proud of his brilliant idea.

Lilith chose that moment to wrinkle her tiny nose. "Why do you let them die? Isn't that a waste? I didn't expect you to be that cruel and nasty."

"It's not! I'm not!" Jachwe protested. "It's necessary." Again he prepared to explain what maybe was impossible to understand. They had to see it by themselves. He was onto something.

"All men must die. Death means to put more effort into living. They will reach for farther purposes. It will enable them to bring the span of their lives to maximum use. There won't be latitude or laziness. They will use their time given on earth to work towards their goals in life. They will care more for themselves and their beloved ones, plus they will leave behind a better place than they found." He was sure to have finally discovered a way to create a second Utopia.

Jachwe watched Lucifers's and Lilith's reaction. They looked taken aback. "Just wait and see for yourselves", he added meaningfully. Some things were impossible to explain. You could only understand by seeing it in action.

"Oh, sure! I'm really curious to see that concept for myself!" The angel leaned closer and watched death again fully fascinated. "And once they die? What happens with them?"

"They will change to something else." Maybe he'd done the cherub wrong, and he indeed was able to see and understand. Jachwe was eager to explain.

"But look at that" Luce's face featured a mildly amused smile while he pointed to some humans digging a grave, and to others piling some wood for a pyre. "They give their dead back into dust and ashes. I see what you mean. But look again- they pray for their undying souls. They invented the concept of Heaven." Luce smile turned ugly. "Heaven is a lie. There is a place like Heaven, up here for us, but not for them. They haven't got the slightest idea how wrong and utterly right they are at the same time. I like your creativity, Jach." Only the devious sound of his voice contradicted the compliment.

"Maybe it is, maybe they haven't. But that is just not important. Not for them. They believe, and that's enough. By believing in something you make it real in a way. That's what makes them like us." Sometimes Jachwe was too consumed by his eagerness to catch the mockery in his fellow's words.

Something else went unnoticed too. Without being seen another God had entered the scene. One Jachwe adored very much. His creation wasn't perfect yet, but his concept was rather great and he loved his colorful and creative ideas.

Four- headed Brahma clapped him on the shoulder with one of his four arms.

"You know in my world there is a similar concept. I call it 'the circle of life'. One will be rewarded in his next life when he lived a good life in the previous one. This motivates them. And it gives them countless chances to make it right. Same as we are given numerous tries. My world has been running successfully for quite a while now."

He started to type in a text on the generator they used for WorldPad. Some seconds later an orange circle blinked, informing Jachwe about a new message.

"I believe in you! Keep up the good thinking!" it read.

Brahma turned around to leave and tend to his own world, followed as usual by Shiva and Vishnu, as well as Shatarupa, his closest admirer. If he could, Jachwe was sure he'd grow a fifth head to follow her every move.

"But death is cruel!" Luce still insisted childlike, ignoring the latest on-goings. "We can eliminate all evil. We aren't that weak. So you don't want to do that? That's malevolent, isn't it? I just don't understand how that should lead to a paradisiac world." He seemed truly lost.

"In my hell, no one ever has to die. There are strict rules telling my demons what to do. They know there's punishment for them- fire and heat when they disobey." He pointed onto his hellfires.

In Jachwe's opinion, that was true cruelty: No one was truly happy, no one was getting rest, no one was ever redeemed, there was no salvation, but in a way, it was working. To his utter frustration, he had to admit that.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Me miserable! Which way shall I fly
Infinite wrath and infinite despair?
Which way I fly is hell; myself am hell;
And in the lowest deep a lower deep,
Still threat'ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the hell I suffer seems a heaven."

(John Milton - "Paradise Lost")

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~