[jack_pp]

Rabbi Haim once ascended to the firmaments to see the difference between the worlds. He first visited Gehenna (Hell).

He saw a vast hall with long tables covered in the most magnificent foods. But the people sitting there were skeletal and wailing in agony. As the Rabbi looked closer, he saw that every person had wooden slats splinted to their arms, stretching from their shoulders to their wrists. Their arms were perfectly straight and stiff; they could pick up a spoon, but they could not bend their elbows to bring the food to their own mouths. They sat in front of a feast, starving in bitterness.

The Rabbi then visited Gan Eden (Heaven). To his surprise, he saw the exact same hall, the same tables, and the same magnificent food. Even more shocking, the people there also had wooden slats splinted to their arms, keeping them from bending their elbows. But here, the hall was filled with laughter and song. The people were well-fed and glowing. As the Rabbi watched, he saw a man fill his spoon and reach across the table, placing the food into the mouth of the man sitting opposite him. That man, in turn, filled his spoon and fed his friend.

The Rabbi returned to Hell and whispered to one of the starving men, "You do not have to starve! Reach across and feed your neighbor, and he will feed you." The man in Hell looked at him with spite and replied, "What? You expect me to feed that fool across from me? I would rather starve than give him the pleasure of a full belly!"

[treetalker]

The Judeo–Christian God really has a thing for attaching people to wood.

[lo_zamoyski]

Humor aside, to appreciate these recurring themes, if you will, requires knowledge of, e.g., typology. Here, the cross with Christ nailed to it is transfigured into the new Tree of Life. Other important typologies are Christ as the new Adam, Mary as the new Eve, and Mary through her womb as the new Ark of the New Covenant. Noah's ark and the Ark of the Covenant are not called arks coincidentally, either. And the Church is often called the Barque of Peter.

[embedding-shape]

Long time ago I did my confirmation (ex-protestant), but I seem to recall that wood is used a lot because it's a symbolism to man's mortality and frailty. Then after/with the crucifixion it also became a symbol of sacrifice and redemption in connection to mortality and frailty. But someone who remembers their studies better might offer a better explanation to why it's so popular.

[PlatoIsADisease]

This is somewhat a variant of the cooperate situation in the prisoners dilemma.

I find it interesting to dress it up in religion, because the optimal situation is to defect, and if everyone knows the game, you get a worse outcome. Religion can cause people to be selfless and you get a better outcome for most people.

I've always thought to teach people religion, but defect yourself. In a modern secular world, teach everyone ascetic stoicism. Myself, follow some sort of Machiavellian/Nietzsche/hedonism.

[vacuity]

The optimal decision in the Prisoner's Dilemma is to defect, but in the iterated version, where multiple Dilemmas occur and people remember previous results, Tit-For-Tat is optimal. The real world is even less reminiscent of the Dilemma, so it's not at all clear that the Dilemma's conclusion applies.

(Tit-For-Tat: Prefer cooperating, but if the other person defected on the previous turn, defect on the current turn.)

[AIorNot]

Ignoring myth and belief differences

The purpose of the article and the story above was simple - you and I are the same ultimately

The golden rule is just that- when we recognize ourselves in others we act to minimize pain in others as we would to ourselves

Imagine the world as a one person play with each role played by the same person but in different costumes: you

[krackers]

It's not zero sum though? You lose nothing by feeding your neighbor. In the real most things aren't quite zero sum either.

[lo_zamoyski]

So you're a liar and degenerate psychopath.

[barbazoo]

Hell is only hell because of the people in it. I like the idea of being among likespirited people in the afterlife.

[CrimsonRain]

thank you for sharing

[testing22321]

I can’t help thinking this applies to universal healthcare in the US.

It would be cheaper and get better outcomes, but is still opposed because “working together is socialism”

Meta: downvotes to prove my point.

[cfinnberg]

I had the almost the same thought. It reminds me of every time I hear Americans saying that they don't want their tax dollars going to the "wrong people" (even if the majority of support is going to people that actually needs it).

[mionhe]

Meta: down votes here prove no such thing. If you are downvoted it's because you read the article that had nothing to do with politics, the comment on a vision of heaven and hell that had nothing to do with politics, and then you made it about something that is very politicized in the US.

Both the article and comment you commented on eschewed a trite political message and tried to say something real and human.