A Postscript to the Frenchie Story

Thoughts About Heaven & Justice

 

By Enrico “Danny Dolo” Dandolo)

 

(With Redactions Made by the Devil)

 

-P-

 

Paris was ambivalent about the Bible’s description of Paradise. “Mansions” and “streets of gold” were pretty much a mixed bag to him. I mean, he liked the idea of fancy accommodations but thought that the use of precious metals should be limited in a spiritual place like heaven.[1] More importantly, even if those descriptors were meant as metaphors, they didn’t tell him what mattered to him the most.

 

Would he be reunited with loved ones?

 

Would he be capable of independent thoughts?

 

Would he have to be at church all day?

 

However, Paris viewed the Bible’s paucity of information about heaven as an opportunity to fill in the blanks. He liked the description he wrote in “A Scattering of Blossoms” and believed that the Almighty would favorably consider his vision. In fact, Paris eventually came to believe that heaven would be exactly what he wanted it to be. He was so fervent in that belief that he once nearly came to blows over it with a homeless man he met at a rest stop outside Wheeling, West Virginia.

Still, poems like “This Spare Autumn Day” and “Only That the Sun Sets” supply radically different visions of paradise from what Paris imagines in the Frenchie Costello narrative. And unlike the fantastical imagery and rapturous mood of “A Scattering of Blossoms,” neither of these poems advance a distinctly Christian idea. At best, they suggest that death may bring about a desirable transition into what Immanuel Kant called noumena,[2] things in themselves, not the perceptions we have of them. Of course, this has been an attractive notion to Romantics for ages, and Paris was among their number, but only if such a state included the promise of serving some important future or eternal purpose, the kind of transcendental thing that E.E. Cummings suggests in “When God Lets My Body Be.”[3] Paris liked the idea of perpetual serenity even if such a state precluded the possibility of pursuing his ambitions and doing things just for fun. Indeed, he was willing to accept whatever God planned because he was convinced that he was a part in the planning process since the beginning of time and that reality, both physical and spiritual, was whatever his imagination believed it to be.

 

-P-

 

Now, the major takeaway from the Frenchie story is obvious �" At least to anyone who occasionally shakes his fist at the Gardener - It’s always better when you don’t get too worked up about justice, particularly if you are defending yourself. If the Gardener gave every man what he deserves, she’d have more in common with Conqueror Worm than anyone would like. And in the long run, she’d opt for grace anyway, because the temptation to lower her standards would always be on the table, which would be a morale killer for the angels and terribly upsetting to those previously condemned. Ironically, grace is probably the only thing that works in that regard.

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[1] Although Paris is right about the Bible’s dearth of information about heaven, it mentions more than “mansions” and “streets of gold.” It also describes the place as a kind of crystalline city with bejeweled walls and assures us that specific rooms have been prepared for its lucky inhabitants. Moreover, the Bible tells us that a beautiful river runs through it and that the Tree of Life grows there. It also mentions that everything is “new,” and that none of its citizens will be distinguished by race or national origin. More importantly, the Bible tells us that we will be free from mourning, heartache, and pain because we will be in the presence of God forever.

 

[2] According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a noumenon exists independently of our perception, while a phenomenon can be perceived. In general, the modern age (science) rejects the existence of noumena.

 

[3] “When God lets my body be / from each brave eye shall sprout a tree / fruit that dangles therefrom / the purpled world will dance upon / between my lips which did sing / a rose shall beget the spring … “