Quotes by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Italian writer-Hell is close by

That reminds me of the joke about the priest who didn't feel like saying mass on a Sunday morning and called in sick only to go golfing. He shot 12 under par and had two hole-in- ones.
An angel asked God why he let him play so well.
God answered, "Who is he going to tell?"

The quotes reminded me of a favorite head game I used to ask my students to play.

A basic principle of punishment in Dante's Inferno is that one is forced in hell continually to suffer a literal version of the sinful practices of her or his life. Paolo and Francesca allowed themselves to be carried away with a storm of desire, and now they are whirled continually in a powerful wind.

The game is to choose a bad person of history or the present and imagine how that person would have been punished in Dante's hell. For example, what might Dick Cheney have had in store for him? Any suggestions for Cheney and others?

Interesting. I like the second.

Fighting the Good Fight
I believe that any individual who has spiritually awakened in our time, to the degree that he or she finds a higher and deeper motive for living, is going to be driven to fight the good fight in one way or another. Whether it is through engaging with the struggle to evolve consciousness or fighting to save our world from climate change or nuclear war, the spiritual impulse cannot be separated from the moral compulsion to make the world a better place. And in order to fight the good fight, we have to engage, we have to get into the ring, not just stand outside it and be philosophers.
It takes guts and integrity of motive to fight the good fight. It takes a passionate interest in life itself. It's easy to stand on the sidelines, shaking your head and commenting on how tragic things are. But if you really care, you are going to be in the ring, trying to make the world a better place. And only from that position will your words and your thoughts and your insights have weight. When you live an engaged life, your sense of self gains depth and power and authority, and your philosophy is no longer abstract. You become a person who can really make a difference, because you are actively participating, you are digging deep, and you are pushing up against the edge of your own potential.

A.C

I'm closer to the Golden Dawn
Immersed in Crowley's uniform
Of imagery
I'm living in a silent film
Portraying
Himmler's sacred realm
Of dream reality
I'm frightened by the total goal
Drawing to the ragged hole
And I ain't got the power anymore
No I ain't got the power anymore

I'm the twisted name
on Garbo's eyes
Living proof of
Churchill's lies
I'm destiny
I'm torn between the light and dark
Where others see their targets
Divine symmetry
Should I kiss the viper's fang
Or herald loud
the death of Man
I'm sinking in the quicksand
of my thought
And I ain't got the power anymore

Don't believe in yourself
Don't deceive with belief
Knowledge comes
with death's release

~ Bowie

"the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil... is for good men to do nothing"

E. Burke