Three writers' words on two kinds of pain

Extracts from L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery's Green Gables letters have appeared in several articles in the past. 

Ephraim Weber, the recipient of these letters, was someone to whom she could express her true thoughts and feelings about many mundane, metaphysical and philosophical topics and experiences. She was very lucky to have this kindred spirit in her life.

She covered a lot of ground: she wrote about envy, writing, religion, the flowers in her garden, books, housework and many other things. Her letters also contain some amusing anecdotes. 

The inspiration for this article comes from some thought-provoking words that she wrote about two kinds of pain. 

As with the extracts in the previous article, this one was chosen because it reminded me of something that I had read in the works of other writers.

Two kinds of pain
L. M. Montgomery said this in a letter dated May 8th 1905:

“...I agree with you in regard to one kind of pain. There are two kinds, don’t you think! The pain God sends to us and the pain we bring on ourselves; the former is the fire of heaven, the latter the flame of hell. 

God’s pain is indeed one of his ministering spirits. Great mysteries of soul-birth and soul growth are bound up in it and if we have the courage and the endurance to make a friend of it it will bring great gifts to us. But the pain we bring on ourselves through folly or wilfulness or even simple blindness! Ah, it is horrible; it is degrading; there is no fine, high ministry in it; it burns and scars and defaces for our punishment.”

This is strong stuff; it is all very biblical. It contrasts the purifying flames of Purgatory with the everlasting fires of Hell. 

This is not the place to go into the events in L. M. Montgomery's life that caused her to develop these ideas about pain – and at this point the worst was still to come. For now, I just want to give examples of two other people's words on two very different kinds of pain.

A few more quotations from L. M. Montgomery's Green Gables Letters

Many elements in the life, letters and works of L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery are of great relevance to this blog; several topics and publications associated with her have been featured or referenced on here in various articles in the past. 

This article contains some further extracts of interest from The Green Gables Letters, which were written by Lucy Maud to her pen friend Ephraim Weber between 1905 and 1909. 

Each of these extracts reminds me of something that I have read in the works of another writer.

More wise words about writing
Everything that L. M. Montgomery has to say about the art of writing, the compulsion to write for example, is of great interest and worth highlighting. 

This is her advice to Ephraim Weber:

“...don’t give up writing; it’s the best method of soul cultivation there is; even if you never published another thing the writing of it would bring you a beatitude.”

This reminds me of what Steve Hassan has to say about how cult leavers benefit from writing their story down.

The battle between the Orange and the Green
The connection between Irish Catholics and the colour green  has been mentioned earlier. Their long-term enemies the Irish Protestants favour the colour orange. 

The battle continued when Irish people emigrated to the New World. 

This amusing anecdote describes an incident outside the building of L. M. Montgomery's American publisher L. C. Page & Company:

“In July a big party of Orangemen were going on a picnic. At the Boston North St. station, they saw a copy of Anne of Green Gables bound in green on a newsstand. They took, or pretended to take—they were likely half drunk—the title as a personal insult, marched across to the Page building, the band playing horrible dirges, and nearly mobbed the place. One of the editors came out and told them that although the title might be offensive “the heroine, Anne, had hair of a distinct orange hue.” Thereupon they “adopted” Anne as their mascot, gave her three cheers and went on their way rejoicing.”

So the Orangemen accepted Anne's orange connection and overlooked the green. 

This story has made me think of the rejection by both the Red and the White sides in the Wars of the Roses of a member of Anthony Armstrong's Prune family because he wore a pink rose!  By coincidence, L. M. Montgomery says in one of her letters that she much prefers pink roses to red ones.

A scene of special interest from a Dion Fortune occult novel

There are a few scenes in Dion Fortune's occult novels that have particular relevance to some of the material on here. 

These scenes contain familiar elements; they provide supporting evidence for some key theories about certain metaphysical influences and phenomena; they enable people to put similar experiences into a wider context and learn some useful lessons.

This post features one of these scenes. It caught my attention when I was skimming through Dion Fortune's novel The Demon Lover (1927). It describes the negative effect that a girl who is being controlled by an evil entity has on someone she encounters.

Bad energy repels the doctor
A mediumistic young girl called Veronica Mainwaring is a major character in The Demon Lover. While she is harmless in herself, everything changes when she comes under the hypnotic influence of a black magician called Justin Lucas.

After his death, he uses her to help him drain children of their vital energy so that he can materialise; some of the children die.

Possessed by the spirit of Lucas, a huge mastiff goes crazy and kills the doctor's son; this man had hoped to marry Veronica, so Lucas saw him as a rival.

Veronica is taking her morning walk when the doctor drives past in his dog cart:

“He gave her one glance, and shaking the reins, drove swiftly past without any other sign of recognition than was conveyed by that look of hate and repulsion.”

The doctor knows nothing but senses everything:

“...there was something about the girl which did not fall within the laws of his three-dimensional universe. What it was, he could not define, even to himself, but he hated and dreaded her as children and dogs hate and fear, without reason assigned, yet with an unerring instinct.“

The doctor senses that Veronica is overshadowed by Lucas's malign influence, he is repelled by the negative energy around her, and his intuition rightly tells him that she was somehow involved in his son's death. No wonder that he hates and fears and hurries away from her. 

Veronica behaves in a similar way towards the huge killer dog that she has inherited from Lucas. She is a dog lover and at first she quite likes the friendly old thing, but this changes after he comes under the evil influence of the dead Lucas:

“...to Veronica...the whole ‘feel’ of dog, kennel, and surroundings was so repellent that she drew hastily back and hurried away from the yard and its sinister occupant.”

Three cult-related exercises with a wider application

Steven Hassan's books Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind contain much good advice about supporting and rehabilitating people who have escaped from destructive cults. People who want to help cult leavers and cult leavers who want to help themselves will find these books very useful.

I have mentioned some of Steve Hassan's suggestions in previous articles inspired by his books. Some of the techniques and practices that he promotes have a wider application: for example, people who have escaped from dysfunctional families - some of which can be very cultlike - and are trying to process the past and rehabilitate themselves may also find them worth trying. 

This article features and expands on three pieces of advice that are best followed in sequence: tell the story, rework the story and salvage as much as possible from the time spent in captivity. 

1) Telling the story
Steve Hassan says that cult leavers are stronger for being able to share their personal stories. He also says that the written word is a powerful medium of communication, and that writing the entire story down helps the writer to process and gain a better perspective on the experiences.

This is all very true, but the story-telling exercise may be very time consuming and it may be difficult to know where to start. 

This applies even more to people who are trying to come to terms with and move on from many years of neglect and ill-treatment at the hands of their families. People who are both cult leavers and members of dysfunctional families will have a lot of material to process.

A spreadsheet for topics and timelines provides a good structure and framework for the narrative, and using it to record key elements in someone's life may save time in the long run.

There are so many variables and different stories to tell that it is impossible to design a 'one size fits all' template. 

A good way to get the ball rolling is to set up column headings and sub-headings for basic, useful and important information. It is advisable to start with key items such as people, addresses, dates and milestones. Lists of elements such as food and clothes, schools and jobs, toys and pets, books and music, entertainment, outings and travel will help to fill out the picture of the past. Other categories could include accidents, illnesses and painful incidents such as a family breakup. Political events and news items that made a big impression may also be worth recording.

It is best to concentrate on one aspect at a time and follow it through in sequence over the years of dependency and captivity.

More quotations from Dion Fortune's occult novels

I have found Dion Fortune's occult novels worth reading more for the occasional neat summaries and thought-provoking, commentary-inspiring remarks than for the plots and people and elements such as robes and rituals, magic and mystery, temples and ceremonies and the Old Gods. 

The quotations in this article come from The Goat-foot God (1936), in which there are descriptions of both occult and everyday activities. The contrast can be very amusing: people invoke the god Pan and fry sausages for example!

Some spot-on comments 

“An empty mind's as uncomfortable as an empty stomach.”

Some people's unsatisfied hunger for knowledge, for food for their minds, does indeed make them very unhappy. The article about the 'eat or buy books' dilemma is relevant here.

“You don’t know what you do want, but you do know what you don’t want.”

This is exactly how many dissatisfied people feel, and not just when  they have not got the right people to interact or share their lives with: it could apply to someone who is trying to find suitable work or the right place to live for example. They don't know what they want because they have never seen or experienced it, but they do know that whatever is currently available to them is not what they want.

The Goat-foot God describes how it feels when someone starts to get an idea of what it is that they have been wanting all this time:

“Doing your best to carry on on wrong lines till you feel you will burst, and then suddenly getting the clue that opens everything out to you.“

I know from experience how liberating it is when the answer finally comes and an escape route from a life that is all wrong opens up: “That's it! That's what I'll do! That's what I want!”  

A few quotations from Dion Fortune's occult novels

In addition to her non-fiction books, the occultist Dion Fortune wrote five novels. While the stories themselves don't inspire commentary, some of the expressions and observations in these novels really stand out and are worth highlighting. 

This article contains a few propositions that particularly resonated when I first came across them.

Beggars can't be choosers

“...it does not do to be angry with life unless one has private means...”

From The Winged Bull (1935)

These wise words may be painful to read and difficult to accept, but they are very true. This may be a bitter pill to swallow, but the difference between operating from a position of weakness and operating from a position of strength is often a matter of financial independence. 

Some people just can't afford to have any feelings or views; they would make things worse for themselves and lose what little they have by challenging someone or something. 

People who have private means, money that is not dependent on the employment market or the whims of other people, are very fortunate: they don't need to put up with the hardships, ill-treatment and injustices that wage slaves and penniless people are forced to endure. 

They can afford to take a stand and fight for their cause.

Independence of mind is another great advantage

“People who value public opinion are at a very great disadvantage in dealing with people who don't.”

From The Sea Priestess (1938)

This proposition complements the one above.  It can also apply to people who overvalue the opinions of the people around them.

People who value public opinion can indeed be greatly handicapped when both dealing and competing with people who don't. 

People pleasers and others who care very much what people in general think of them are operating from a position of weakness. They may feel that they can't afford to get angry, say what they really think or do what they really want to do. Fear of negative reactions and manipulations such as criticism, disapproval, reproaches and rejection may hold them back and keep them in their place while people who don't care what others think of them forge ahead. 

People who are indifferent to public opinion operate from a position of strength. They have independent means – on the inside. They can afford to be straight with other people. They have the courage of their convictions; they take their own path through life, going where the other lot can't follow. 

Anyone who has both financial and psychological independence is very fortunate indeed.

“Intelligent people don't join cults”

Steven Hassan's informative and thought-provoking book Combating Cult Mind Control, his best-selling 'Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults', has inspired a series of posts. The final article,  A few points about helping cult leavers, mentions his books Releasing the Bonds and Freedom of Mind as additional resources for people seeking information about cults and how to get members out of them. 

These books, which were published after Combating Cult Mind Control, appeared from their online descriptions to be more of the same, with much repetition of key points, advice and useful information and more case histories; I assumed that I wouldn't find anything that I would want to comment on in them. 

I have since read through Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs, which is a revised and updated version of Releasing the Bonds, and I came across a small amount of material that I want to highlight.

This article features more of Steve Hassan's wise words on the subject of people who join cults. 

A misconception about intelligence
Freedom of Mind lists some common cult-related misconceptions and errant beliefs held by many people, including the idea that intelligent people do not join cults. 

While this conviction may have come from personal experience - it may be the result of having encountered people from the lower levels of certain religious cults for example – it definitely does not apply in all cases. As Steve Hassan tells us, intelligent people do join cults:

“Many people have a hard time believing that bright, talented people— often educated, and from good homes-—could fall under the control of a cult. They fail to realize that cults intentionally recruit smart people who will work tirelessly for the cause. Many of the former cult members I have met are exceptionally bright and well educated. They have active imaginations and creative minds. They have a capacity to focus their attention and concentrate. Most are idealistic and socially conscious. They want to make a positive contribution to the world.”

All this makes sense. Such people may also be recruited because they are a good advertisement for the cause and may attract others of their kind into the cult.