the Earthly Paradise

[Matthias Wasser]

Originally Posted by Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 'Problem of Evil'

Suppose that there was an omnipotent and omniscient being, and he informed us that he had created other universes that contained no living things, and in which he constantly intervened, so that those worlds were massively irregular. Would such actions be morally problematic? The idea that they would be seems to me very implausible.

In the sign of Libra, not very far away by cosmic standards, there is a planet - call it Kolob or Perelandra or Gliese 581 g or whatever you like - which is abundant in flowers, and four rivers run through it. Its flora and fauna were placed under Novalis' protection long before she was an Archangel, or before they were flung so very far, and her angels - only the least Dissonant - are still charged with its curation and development, though angels of Creation and Animals are involved as well. It bursts with life, new life of all sorts but one; the methane Pishon river runs underneath arctic cap, the arsenic Gihon along the northern surface, grounds for strange and wondrous things.

The radiation levels are just right - DNA transcribes perfectly, which would impede evolution if it were undirected; telomeres do not shorten over cell cycles. Animals shriek in pleasure as they are eaten, or once their teeth have worn out and they can no longer eat themselves. Seraphic statisticians closely monitor pollen levels and ant colony behavior, watching for any systems on the threshold of self-awareness, then double- and triple-checking - for the law of Flowers holds across the planet, and violence comes only when absolutely necessary.

Vapula would give anything to see the planet, and has projects to that end; alas, Infernal tethers are so difficult to find where there are no men. He does not know that there is a small tether to the War on its surface, where every year a fallen angel comes, and coils around its branches, and sighs, and sits silently with the gardenkeeper for a bit, until she says:

"We know that I am a protector and that you are not.

"But I tell you: do not conclude that you can engage in brinkmanship.

"Because if you do, and our brothers beside me do - and you know they do - then this is all that is left.

"And you know which one of us can accept that."