subject: The Ultimate Punishment For Man [print this page] What is the worst thing to befall a man? What is the worst thing to befall a man?
It depends on the kind of person. In this regard, you can find two types of people in the world: individuals for whom isolation may be the worst fate, and individuals whose inner life is rich enough to withstand even isolation.
Needless to say, the overwhelming vast majority of humanity belong to the former category.
That is why the worst possible punishment in the Bible was not death, but exile - isolation. Despite the "eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth" nature of the Old Testament, the first punishment ever meted out by God was for murder, and the punishment was nothing more than exile.
"Nothing more" to our sensibilities, perhaps, which could easily imagine much more draconian measures, but a profound psychological truth is revealed here: Much more than anything else, a man cannot stand to be ignored. And God's punishment for Cain, who murdered his brother Abel, was to wander the earth with a mark that warned other people to avoid him.
It was, in effect, a prison without walls.
Isolation, exile, being ignored - they sound like relatively easy fates, but they're the hardest to bear since human beings are social creatures who need to interact with other people, and it pains us all the more to not only be unable to socialize but to be deliberately ostracized, too. To be shunned by other people makes us feel bad about ourselves.
That is the worst fate, to feel bad about yourself. Those with a truly rich inner life are usually exempt from this fate. Indeed, many spiritual seekers deliberately isolate themselves, generally for years - but then again, there is always the danger of insanity, too. For several a wild-eyed holy man has come down from the mountains or out of empty wastes to proclaim God's revenge.
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