Choosing Heaven

Timothy Chester

Today, we're focusing on Chapter 9, a pivotal moment in the narrator's journey. Chapter 8 concluded with the narrator in profound depression, reeling from a Hard-Bitten Ghost's cynical assertion that the "Bright Country" was merely an "advertisement stunt" and that its water would be "like a machine-gun bullet". This left the vibrant landscape looking "unbearably sinister". The narrator then witnessed a woman Ghost refuse a Solid Spirit's help to become solid, despite being told "Shame is like that. If you will accept it... you will find it very nourishing". Her refusal led to the Spirit summoning a thundering herd of unicorns, sending both the Ghost and the narrator fleeing in terror, leaving the immediate outcome uncertain for the narrator.

Timothy Chester

In Chapter 9, the narrator's frantic flight brings him to open country where he encounters George MacDonald, who appears as both a shining god and an old weather-beaten man, becoming his guide and teacher.... MacDonald explains the "Refrigerium", or "holidays" for the damned, clarifying that "if they come here they can really stay". He emphasizes that for those who leave the "grey town," it becomes Purgatory, and this beautiful country, while not "Deep Heaven," is the "Valley of the Shadow of Life," which will have been Heaven from the first for those who stay. This is tied to the retrospective nature of eternity: when "full grown," both good and evil retroactively shape one's past, meaning the saved will truthfully say, "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven," and the Lost, "We were always in Hell". MacDonald sternly corrects the idea that Heaven is a mere "state of mind," stating, "Hell is a state of mind... But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself.". He declares that "All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell," as they always prefer "something they prefer to joy—that is, to reality"

Timothy Chester

MacDonald illustrates this choice through various Ghosts. One, Sir Archibald, returned to the grey town because his sole earthly obsession, "Survival," was meaningless in Heaven where everyone had already "survived," and he "cared nothing about joy". Another, a "silly, garrulous old woman," is questioned whether she is "a grumbler, or only a grumble," illustrating how a persistent mood can consume the self until "there will be no you left...just the grumble itself going on forever like a machine". An Artist Ghost, valuing his reputation, immediately vanishes when told his earthly art is "completely forgotten on the Earth" and "dead out of fashion," prioritizing fame over reality and joy. MacDonald explains that the Solid People cannot simply go into Hell to rescue the Ghosts, as they have already come "immeasurable distances," and "The sane would do no good if they made themselves mad to help madmen". Leaning on MacDonald, the narrator finds his own "going tolerable" and his senses quickened, suggesting his own growing solidity in the presence of reality.