Thursday, November 13 - The macabre arts

When I see that picture, immediately what came to mind was a story from India about hell and Buddha. A man, filled with hate, jealousy, and envy, falls down to hell for his misdeeds. Everything he has done was an act of evil, heinous or treacherous. As he begins his descent down into hell, he see's an entire plane of existence with people exactly like him, hate filled, jealous, and envious of each other. As he sees this, he cries out to Bhudda to ask for forgiveness. Bhudda's voice then echoes throughout hell and tells the man "You have only done a single good act your entire life, and that is you saved a spider from death. This spider shall help you." and a single spider thread fell down to the man from heaven. The man began to climb it but there was a massive crowd of damned souls who looked up at the man climbing and began climbing out themselves. The sheer weight of everyman in hell had broken the thread and everyone descended once more into hell.