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Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Aug 30, 2024 • 12 tweets • 5 min read • Read on X

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You never want to make a deal with the devil - but if you do, pray for a loophole!

Goethe’s Dr. Faust is the story of a man who sold his soul to the devil, and lived to tell the tale

Here’s what it can teach you about life, happiness, and outwitting Satan himself…🧵

The story begins in Heaven where the Devil makes a bet with God:

I bet I can corrupt your favorite human being - Dr. Faust

God takes this bet, believing that Faust’s soul will remain righteous

On Earth, Dr. Faust is a scholar who is dissatisfied with life

He’s well educated but unfulfilled, yearning for true happiness

Searching for a solution, he turns to studying the dark arts

Not much later Mephistopheles (Satan) appears, offering a deal...

Satan’s terms are simple:

I give you power, BUT if you find happiness, I get your soul

Faust accepts this deal, desperate to escape his meaningless life

Faust first searches for happiness in romantic love

With Satan’s help, he seduces a beautiful woman named Gretchen

The affair brings great scandal, however, leading Gretchen to her ruin

Faust regrets the affair, and realizes romance cannot bring true happiness

Faust then turns to larger ambitions

He seeks happiness through politics - becoming advisor to the Emperor

With Satan’s help, he saves the country from a crash, wins wars, and proves a wise statesmen…

Yet he laments a life of glory isn’t fulfilling either

Finally, Faust uses Satan to enjoy a life of mysticism

He meets many Greek mythological heroes, and even fathers a son with Helen of Troy...

Yet Faust laments not even mysticism and unworldly bliss can make him happy

Distraught, his heart grows wicked

In old age, Faust rules over land bestowed to him by the emperor

His heart now hardened, Faust asks Satan to steal more land owned by two peasants

Satan obliges - murdering the peasants to Faust’s despair

Overrun with guilt, Faust has an epiphany of what true happiness is...

Seeking to repent, Faust meditates on his last ambition:

Build a utopian society that frees mankind from suffering

He envisions such a society, and sighs, finding a moment of true happiness

On cue, Satan leaps in to steal Faust's soul…

However, God intervenes and saves Faust… but why?

Faust lost his bet to Satan, but Satan lost his bet to God - he couldn’t truly corrupt Faust

Though Faust lived a life of debauchery, his heart never truly abandoned The Good:

He died wishing for the good of others...

Thus Faust teaches that true happiness is the redemption of a pure heart

Coincidentally, this is how you "outwit," Satan:

Not with a clever head, but a loving soul

Redemption and happiness is possible for all, even the wicked, but only if you never stop striving for The Good

If you enjoyed this thread, consider reposting the original post below

And follow if you would like to read more threads about life's Truth, Beauty, and Goodness!

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More from @SeanBerube4

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 24

Dante’s Inferno has 9 circles:

The deeper you go, the darker it gets

Yet one kind of soul is so depraved, even Hell itself rejects them

Here’s the sin too pitiful for even Satan to claim…🧵

First lets recap the structure of Dante’s Hell

The first circle is Limbo:

It’s a realm of peaceful sorrow, reserved for virtuous pagans

The next 8 circles are divided into 3 subsections

Upper hell consists of circles 2-5

These cover the sins of incontinence (lust, gluttony, greed, wrath)

These are crimes of natural desires that have become perverted...

The more heinous and unnatural evils begin in Middle Hell

Read 18 tweets

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 20

Tolkien’s best story wasn’t in Lord of the Rings

It was published posthumously:

A forgotten dialogue on how God would save Middle Earth from death

This story might change how you see the crucifixion forever…🧵

Tolkien’s story “Athrabeth Findrod ah Andreth,” appears in the book “Morgoth’s Ring”

It follows a conversation between Finrod, an immortal elf, and Andreth, a wise woman

They’re plagued by a haunting question:

“Why do men die?”

Andreth believes death is a curse:

“We were not made for death, nor born ever to die”

She believes it was a punishment for man’s sinful nature

Finrod is troubled by this answer

Read 18 tweets

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 17

Dante’s Inferno is packed with horror:

Decapitations, eviscerations, and demons clawing the damned

But there’s a method in this madness of Hell:

Every punishment has a purpose

Here’s what Dante’s Hell reveals about God’s justice, and his love….🧵

The poem begins with protagonist Dante lost in a dark wilderness

He’s in exile because he “wandered from the straight and true”

This wilderness is both literal and spiritual:

Sin has mired his soul and threatens his salvation

Dante gets accosted by 3 beasts — a leopard, lion, and she-wolf — but an unlikely savior appears to his rescue:

Virgil, the deceased Roman poet, saves him

He reveals Dante’s deceased love, Beatrice, sent him to rescue Dante

Yet he bears bad news

Read 15 tweets

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 12

One myth shaped the soul of Western Civilization

It inspired Rome, England, Charlemagne — even the American Founders

Dante modeled The Divine Comedy on it too

Here’s the myth behind the greatest minds and dynasties of the West…🧵

Virgil’s Aeneid is the myth behind the empires

Written in 19BC, it follows Aeneas — a survivor of the Trojan War from Homer’s Iliad

Aeneas has a special destiny from the gods:

If he follows their bidding, he’ll found a grand empire

Aeneas’ adventure is a classic hero’s journey, like Homer’s Odyssey

What makes it special, however, is Aeneas’ piety:

Most heroes of antiquity were motivated by selfish glory

Aeneas, however, was motivated by selfless duty — honor the gods and his men

Read 14 tweets

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 10

The Reign of Terror was a bloody nightmare

Tens of thousands were slaughtered in the name of virtue and equality

And one man fueled it all

Here’s the tyrant, and his ideology that fueled the worst nightmare in French history…🧵

Maximilian Robespierre was born in May 6, 1758 in Arras, France

He had a miserable childhood:

His mother died when he was 6, and his father abandoned his family

How did Robespierre handle his grief?

Robespierre sought escapism in his studies

He was studious and hard-working, educated in rhetoric, literature, and the classics

By age 23, he graduated university with a law degree and a fervor for justice

Read 18 tweets

Sean Berube

@SeanBerube4

Jun 3

CS Lewis, Tolkien, and Chesterton were all inspired by one writer

His works shaped Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia, and countless other tales

Here’s the writer behind the writers —

And his books that inspired the greatest thinkers of the 20th century…🧵

George Macdonald was a 19th century author

He was a pioneer of the fantasy genre, and a personal mentor to Lewis Caroll

On the surface, he wrote simple children stories

But his worlds were also imbued with a hidden genius

Macdonald had a special influence on CS Lewis, who wrote:

“I have never concealed the fact that I regarded Macdonald as my master”

He helped inspired both Chronicles of Narnia, and also Lewis’ return to the faith

Chesterton and Tolkien shared similar praise…

Read 15 tweets

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