No one seems to talk about Hugh Hefner anymore. He has been dead for almost five years and has now been forgotten. His case is instructive because it shows the folly of pursuing worldly vanities. He has now been forgotten. What remains is only his legacy. And what is his "great" legacy, pray tell? Being the first guy in America to put nude women pictures on the covers of magazines? trying to sleep with as many women as possible? That's pathetic. History is littered with men who lived for no higher calling then finding their way inside beautiful women. That's nothing special.
Moreover, Hugh didn't make the world a better place. If you just respond by saying, "why do you care? He lived his life having fun. That's all that matters." I don't have a problem with "having fun" -- within moderation and reason -- but you should have fun whilst making the world a better place. And as far as I can see, Hugh didn't make the world a better place for his fellow sentient creatures. Much is expected to whom much is given. He was given much in life in the form of wealth, but squandered it on merely selfish pursuits. As such he represents a life that a twenty-first century man ought not to emulate. Instead, the twenty-first century man ought to emulate people like Jesus, Maximillian Kolbe, Jack Lalanne, and Martin Luther King. All such men lived admirable lives and actually contributed to making the world a better place in their own ways. But, regrettably, the story of Hugh is unlike theirs. His story is similar to the story of many who lived lives of inward-directed luxury in their earthly Sojourns. There is, then, some wisdom in Jesus of Nazareth's proclamation that it is harder for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to enter the eye of a needle. For much is expected to whom much is given.
In closing, I commend to you all this opinion piece penned by the New York Times Columnist, Ross Douthat, shortly after Hugh passed on to purgatory. (I unreservedly say he passed on to purgation because I am, after all, a universalist, and believe in the final redemption of all sentient beings -- even of the devil and his angels (if such there be)).
In closing, I commend to you all this opinion piece penned by the New York Times Columnist, Ross Douthat, shortly after Hugh passed on to purgatory. (I unreservedly say he passed on to purgation because I am, after all, a universalist, and believe in the final redemption of all sentient beings -- even of the devil and his angels (if such there be)).
