“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Mark 8:36
And so it is thus that the adventures of Jax and Lila, the rock & roll burnouts, continue...
Act 1: A Little Love
Operating under the influence of a spirit of pure hedonistic nihilism, Jax and Lila rampage through the Garden of Eden with bloodthirsty glee. Their faces are smeared with blood they have squeezed from the flowers; their hands are stained with the gore of the beauty they have maliciously destroyed. Will they ever pay the piper? Will they be taxed by death for the destruction they have wrought?
Will the gardener come for his psychedelic reckoning?
A warning of their impending doom-by-drowning flashes before their eyes intermittently, and though they are standing in an alley in the rain, Lila seems grateful to be cleansed of her sins. Jax, however, is still bitter. He leads Lila to a rooftop party, where he is showered with adulation by an exclusive group of friends and fans. His ego is shaved and clean, and basks in the artificial height of worldly success. In truth, he is drowning in the ballroom of sin at the bottom of the sea.
Finally, the flood arrives. Jax and Lila are washed down the drain, into the psychedelic sewers of the ego. What lies beyond the rainy alley? Who can traverse the maze of life beneath the dirty streets of power?
What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
In the sewer, Jax and Lila discover an idyllic wonderland, a new Garden of Eden populated with fantastical creatures that glow with luminescent peace. Foxes, peacocks, and birds live in harmony with each other among an array of colorful plants that sway in rhythm with the waterfall that cleanses all their sins. Our heroes are faced with the realization that there are no "petty virtues," and that, down here at least, the trees are not sinners.
If the trees are clean down here, does that mean the trees are clean up on the surface? Am I projecting my own filth onto that which is inherently innocent? Is my sin such that I can't even see beauty when it's dripping down my face, as a result of my having defiled it?
Am I a burnout, or a monster?
Jax and Lila return to the surface with a new perspective. They have been humbled by the grace and mercy of God. They have come face-to-face with His unconditional love in the sewers of their own unrepentant degeneracy and lust, the last place they would ever expect to find Him.
They are not the same people they once were.
While having a picnic on the river, the banks of which are still littered with the empty packaging of their former junk-food spirits, they appreciate the beauty (albeit with scarred and battered hands), and treat the trees and butterflies with the respect their mutual Creator deserves. Jax and Lila have found repentance. They have been forgiven.
But will they continue on the path of life, or veer off into destruction?
Act 2: I Can't Be Your Drug
Humbled by their experience of the divine, Jax and Lila find themselves at a crossroads. You're not my spouse, so why are we sharing this motel room? I love you, and/or but... do I? Are we in love, or is this just another drug? In any case,
This is sinful, right?
Jax and Lila check out of the dead-end motel of their own former sinful habits. They cruise the streets of worldly distraction in a harried, existential frenzy. They are in search of an escape. Many false deities along the broad, well-lit path to hell promise an eternity of electronic stimulation, wealth, and power. Golden idols of all kinds tempt them to apostasy. They even pass an heretical "Christian" church that preaches a false gospel and advertises the search for "your" truth (as opposed to the truth) under a garish neon cross that is indiscernible from all the other glitz and glamour on the highway to perdition. While struggling to keep their car in the narrow lane of truth, Jax and Lila broadside a city bus, perhaps loaded with the souls of the distracted and condoomned, before screeching to a necessary halt under an overpass, just outside of town.
We need to catch a breath. What even are we doing here? Have we confined and limited our purpose to the desires of the flesh?
Are we in each other's way?
Act 3: Free At Last
The storm is finally over. Jax and Lila have made peace with each other, and themselves. God is at the center of their lives. As it turned out, their relationship wasn't meant to be. The foundation wasn't solid, and to become the people God created them to be, it proved necessary for them to separate. They still have fond memories of each other, from the time they caught a bus in the jungles of Mexico, to waking up behind the wheel of a car speeding through the desert. Man, haha, those were the days. Crazy times. I will love you forever, babe.
It's time to move on.
"We can't go any lower
our water ain't that deep"
Free At Last
Jax and Lila are happy, and know that they will meet again in the heavenly cantina beside the crystal sea. The bonfire of life will burn in perpetuity on the colorful beaches of the underground lake, and the butterflies will dance forever with the foxes and the trees. The underground lake will rise to the surface, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And they will live forever. And their joy will never end, and their smiles will never cease. Together, yet also free.
