Under the mountains is a house.
A road runs down to it. The mountain hides it.
No one knows how to reach it.
There evil people are bound with ropes
and held in narrow spaces. No one escapes
from this house, but the just need not fear it.
This is the house of the setting sun.
This is the house on whose foundation
the sunrise mountains rise.
This is the house of the monster
with gaping jaws and the raging lion-guards.
And here also are the gardens of the goddess.
~Babylonian Description Of The Underworld
Every religion has an ethical standard, a set of rules on which people's behaviors is judged. And every
religion, including the religions of the goddess, speaks of some kind of punishment for wrongdoing. Yet,
when we look around, how often we see selfish and uncaring people richly rewarded for their actions!
There is the victimizing boss who moves up the corporate ladder. There is the selfish lover who receives
pleasure while denying it. There is the uncaring parent who enjoys life at the expense of children. Why
are these people not punished?
This problem of evil is one of the great philosophical and religious questions humanity faces. We face it time
after time, generation after generation, culture after culture. And no definite answer is ever reached. In the
religious of the goddess, we find images of punishment of evildoers, as well as rules for living in harmony
with her wishes. If we cannot settle the problem of evil, we can try to activate the good within ourselves.
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