no hell

I watched a documentary on the development of the devil through human history. After discussing it with a friend we realized our image of 'terror' resembles the image that was held of 'the satan' in the Dark Ages. As 'the satan' became Satan it's image changed from that of wolf at the door to imp in the bushes, and the church was the one to thank. Soon enough the church with it's infinite powers of control gave birth to ideals that still hold strong in our current understanding of the world. Women were burned at the stake and religions were made to destroy each other.

In the American and French revolutions, the romantic idea of Satan evolved as the cast out angel who stood against the tyrannical power of the god of the church. In the 70's this image revived itself in a psychedelic fashion (i.e. Benicio Del Toro in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). I fell asleep and didn't watch the end on the documentary but it was nice to realize the devil (like many things) has always been subject to our collective interpretation.