The Hellscape of Human Choice: Democracy, Consciousness, and the Future We Choose

5/7/2026

By: Rev. Paula Josephine Sadler

There comes a moment in history when humanity must stop and honestly ask itself:

What are we becoming?

Not what political party we belong to. Not what religion we claim. Not what slogans we repeat. Not which media source we consume.

But deeper than that:

What kind of people are we choosing to become through the leaders we elevate, the systems we tolerate, the fears we amplify, and the truths we ignore?

Over the past several weeks, I began creating a series of symbolic digital artworks I called the “Hellscape” series. These images were not created merely to shock people or provoke outrage. They were created as emotional, spiritual, and psychological mirrors reflecting the fear, division, cruelty, confusion, extremism, and moral crisis many people around the world are currently feeling.

The images emerged from a larger reflection on history, democracy, religion, power, and the dangerous consequences of collective human choices.

Why “Hellscape”?

The word “hellscape” felt appropriate because many people today are experiencing modern life as emotionally, politically, spiritually, and psychologically exhausting. There is a growing sense of instability, fear, division, outrage, disinformation, extremism, and dehumanization spreading through societies across the world.

I found myself reflecting on Inferno and the idea of descending through symbolic circles of human failure:

• greed,

• corruption,

• hatred,

• abuse of power,

• violence,

• pride,

• cruelty,

• betrayal,

• and moral blindness.

In many ways, modern society often feels like humanity is reliving these same cycles.

The “Hellscape of the Supreme Court,” “The Hellscape of MAGA,” “The Hellscape of the White House,” and “The Hellscape of 2026” were visual metaphors attempting to capture that emotional and spiritual atmosphere — not merely political disagreement, but a larger crisis of consciousness.

These images explored:

• fear versus compassion,

• authoritarianism versus freedom,

• truth versus propaganda,

• inclusion versus exclusion,

• and love versus control.

At the center of these works was a painful realization:

Democracy itself does not guarantee wisdom.

A free people can choose wisely. But a free people can also choose badly.

And history repeatedly shows that societies often do not recognize dangerous leadership until after great harm has already been done.

The Peril of Human Choice

During these reflections, I wrote what became a central theme of this entire project:

The Peril of Human Choice

Freedom Without Wisdom Can Lead a Nation Into Darkness

We now find ourselves living in a time where many people across the world have lost faith in institutions, truth, and one another, and in that fear, anger, and division, societies sometimes choose — or allow — leaders and systems that deepen suffering rather than heal it. Democracy gives humanity the freedom to choose, but freedom also includes the possibility of choosing poorly, and history reminds us that nations often recognize dangerous leadership only after the damage has already begun.

The great challenge of our time is not simply who holds power, but whether humanity still possesses the wisdom, compassion, critical thinking, and moral courage necessary to recognize the difference between leadership that serves the common good and leadership driven by fear, control, greed, division, or blind loyalty.

Yet there is still hope if humanity is willing to learn from history rather than repeat it. We move forward not through hatred, revenge, or blind allegiance, but by rebuilding a culture rooted in truth, empathy, accountability, education, and shared humanity. We must begin choosing leaders not by slogans, outrage, celebrity, fear, or tribal loyalty, but by their actions, integrity, compassion, humility, and demonstrated commitment to justice and the well-being of all people.

The future of democracy — and perhaps humanity itself — depends upon whether enough people are willing to awaken, think critically, reject manipulation and dehumanization, and remember that freedom without wisdom, conscience, and responsibility can become destructive. But when guided by love, truth, and genuine concern for one another, humanity still has the power to heal, to evolve, and to choose a better path forward together.

The Nine Circles of Modern Society

While reflecting on Dante’s imagery, I also began considering what the “modern circles of hell” might look like in today’s world. They are not literal places beneath the Earth, but conditions humanity continually recreates through fear, greed, ignorance, extremism, and moral failure.

1. The Circle of Moral Decay

The abandonment of truth for power, profit, and manipulation.

2. The Circle of Greed

A world where wealth is prioritized over human suffering.

3. The Circle of Wrath

The constant fueling of outrage, division, and tribal hatred.

4. The Circle of Ignorance

The rejection of education, expertise, history, and critical thought.

5. The Circle of Pride

Leaders and institutions unable to admit wrongdoing or learn from mistakes.

6. The Circle of Envy

Resentment manipulated into political and social weaponization.

7. The Circle of Consumption

Endless exploitation of people, resources, labor, and the environment.

8. The Circle of Power and Control

Authoritarianism disguised as patriotism, religion, or “law and order.”

9. The Circle of Betrayal

The betrayal of democracy, compassion, truth, and our shared humanity.

These circles are not isolated. They feed one another.

And history shows that nations, institutions, and empires often collapse when too many of these forces become normalized.

The Hellscape of 2026

Perhaps the most emotional image in the series depicted transgender people carrying crosses up a hill resembling Golgotha or Calvary while angry crowds surrounded them with Bibles, condemnation, and fear.

The image was not meant to attack Christianity itself. Rather, it explored the painful contradiction between:

• the teachings of love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness attributed to Jesus,

  
  

  and

• the ways religion can sometimes be used as a weapon of exclusion, control, fear, and judgment.

At the center stood an empty cross illuminated by light with the words:

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

That image reflected a deep spiritual question: How can human beings claim divine love while simultaneously denying the humanity of others?

And yet even within the darkness, the image contained hope: an angel extending compassion, light breaking through storm clouds, and the message:

“There is a place on Earth and in Heaven for you.”

The Future Is What We Choose to Become

Eventually, I realized the series could not remain only in despair.

If art only reflects darkness without offering a pathway forward, it risks deepening hopelessness.

So a final image emerged: a crossroads between two futures.

One path led toward:

• fear,

• propaganda,

• authoritarianism,

• hatred,

• environmental destruction,

• greed,

• and division.

The other path led toward:

• empathy,

• justice,

• education,

• healing,

• diversity,

• compassion,

• truth,

• and shared humanity.

At the center stood ordinary people holding light.

Above them were the words:

THE FUTURE IS WHAT WE CHOOSE TO BECOME

That sentence became the answer to the entire “Hellscape” series.

Not despair.

Not surrender.

Choice.

Humanity still has the power to choose differently.

A Song for Consciousness and Peace

As these reflections deepened, I felt inspired to create a song in the spirit of the peace and consciousness music of the late 1960s and early 1970s — music that emerged during the Vietnam War era when artists called humanity to awaken beyond violence, fear, nationalism, greed, and division.

The song became:

The Future Is What We Choose

It asks humanity to confront:

• war,

• greed,

• extremism,

• attacks on women,

• attacks on transgender people,

• religious nationalism,

• propaganda,

• and the manipulation of fear.

But it also asks humanity to remember compassion, wisdom, critical thinking, accountability, and love.

Because the future is not predetermined.

It is built by the choices we make every day:

• what we reward,

• who we empower,

• what we normalize,

• what we tolerate,

• and whether we choose fear or humanity.

Reflection

History is not merely the story of what happened.

History is the story of consequences.

Every generation inherits both the wisdom and the failures of those who came before it. And every generation must decide whether it will repeat cycles of hatred, greed, authoritarianism, and division — or evolve toward greater compassion, justice, truth, and shared humanity.

The greatest danger facing the world today may not be any single leader, movement, ideology, religion, or government.

It may be humanity’s failure to consciously recognize what we are becoming while there is still time to change course.

The future is not something that simply happens to us.

The future is what we choose to become.

Final Reflection: The Soul Sickness of Humanity

I like everything we have written, but there is one final truth that must also be spoken honestly and directly.

There are those who are suffering at the hands of others — at the hands of governments, oppressive leadership, fanatic religion, authoritarian regimes, corrupt systems, and cruel ideologies. But then there are also those who participate in these oppressive systems who feel completely justified in what they are doing. They feel completely right. They revel in power, and they revel in the suffering of others. There is a sadistic type of pleasure rooted in self-righteousness and indignation, where people actually believe that God is directing them to callously strip away the rights of others as some kind of false moral duty.

They cannot see that they are like so many millions before them throughout history who followed leadership that caused enormous suffering in the world.

From the Spanish Inquisition to the Salem witch trials, from lynching and slavery to the oppression of women, from endless wars of violence and religious wars to wars fought for land, power, domination, and control — humanity has repeatedly justified cruelty while convincing itself it was righteous. We have seen hatred directed toward minorities and LGBTQIA+ people throughout history. We saw the gay bashings and the ostracization of gay men during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, rooted in fear, ignorance, and hatred. And now we are witnessing new waves of violence and hatred directed toward transgender people throughout the world — imprisonment, beatings, killings, and relentless cruelty.

There is utter hatred simply because someone does not fit how another person thinks they should look or act. Because they are “too feminine,” “too masculine,” “not feminine enough,” “not masculine enough,” because they wear makeup, wear certain clothes, or express themselves in ways others do not approve of.

And then comes the hatred that follows.

We must ask ourselves: Where does this soul sickness come from?

How does hatred and violence toward others become sanctioned by church leadership, families, governments, societies, legal systems, presidents, and people in power? Is it possible to help people so full of hatred see that their self-righteousness is causing the suffering of others?

But perhaps an even more difficult question is: What do we do with people who actually revel in the suffering of innocent people and children?

One of the most horrifying movements I have witnessed in my lifetime is the MAGA movement. Many people put on their red hats and openly say things like “send them back to their country,” without caring about due process, without caring what process immigrants are already in to become citizens, without caring how people will be harmed, separated from families, or dehumanized. They do not care that many immigrants have worked here, contributed here, paid taxes here, built lives here, and strengthened this country in ways they may never fully understand.

Then there is the hatred toward transgender people. So many simply dismiss transgender people as mentally ill while feeling completely righteous in their own beliefs. They act as though they are the supreme authority on gender, sexuality, and identity. Religious fanatics proclaim there is only “one way” — “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” — while labeling LGBTQIA+ people as sinners, abominations, or threats to society. They force their religious views onto everyone else, and if you do not conform, they say you are unloved by God — or at least by their version of God.

It is such a sickness to behave this way while believing yourself morally superior.

This is not the Golden Age of America.

The truth is that America has never truly had a golden age. For all of our democracy and freedoms, there has always been tremendous oppression and darkness woven into our history — from the Puritans and Pilgrims to slavery, the oppression of women, the oppression of minorities, the criminalization of LGBTQIA+ people, class division, the plundering of other countries’ resources, the greed of industrial barons and corporations, endless wars and conflicts, the horrors of forced sterilization and lobotomies, the indignities inflicted upon Japanese Americans, Indigenous peoples, Black Americans, and countless others.

When exactly was this so-called “golden age”?

We cannot stand in good conscience and simply say, “Look how great we are,” without honestly confronting the suffering that built and sustained much of this country and much of the modern world.

Yes, there has been tremendous progress in science, medicine, technology, industry, and law. But none of that erases the suffering that also existed alongside it. It does not matter how much advancement we have achieved if amends have not been made for the harm done in the past — and in many cases, the harm still being done today.

Even worse are those who caused the suffering — or the descendants and systems that benefited from it — who now say, “The past is the past,” as though no accountability, healing, recognition, or amends are necessary. They refuse to even acknowledge that the damage still echoes into the present day in 2026.

The truth is that we are not so different from the religious wars, tribal wars, and ideological conflicts that have plagued humanity throughout history. We have our own versions of those wars here in the United States.

And now we find ourselves in one of the most devastating moments in modern democratic history — a desperate attempt to roll back the clock to a mythical America and a mythical way of life that never truly served everyone. A return to segregation, the oppression of women, the criminalization of LGBTQIA+ people, and the ostracization and excommunication of people simply for existing as themselves.

Some people call this morality. Some people call this the Golden Age. Some believe one man is bringing this era back.

But why would we ever want to return to that?

We cannot go backward. And we should not want to.

This is not the 1950s, nor should we romanticize a time that caused so much suffering for so many people.

Whatever good came from previous generations — advancements in technology, science, art, medicine, community, and innovation — we can carry forward those positive things without recreating the oppression, cruelty, and exclusion that also existed alongside them.

Because anything built upon the suffering of others has a problem in its foundation.

That foundation must be corrected. Amends must be made.The stories must continue to be told so the past is never repeated.

If we truly want to move forward as a country and as a global community, then the future must be rooted in empathy, compassion, understanding, accountability, inclusion, and shared humanity. There must be a place for everyone at the global table. No one should be forced to conform to another person’s religion, ideology, or rigid beliefs about gender and sexuality.

Women are equal. Minorities are equal. LGBTQIA+ people are equal. Transgender people are equal. All people are equal.

No one has the right to force others into conformity through fear, violence, oppression, criminalization, or hatred. No one has the right to deny another human being the opportunity to live a happy, joyous, authentic, and free life.

And those who are causing the suffering of others through hatred, violence, oppression, authoritarianism, and cruelty must be held accountable. Society itself must take responsibility for allowing these systems, organizations, governments, and movements to flourish unchecked.

We must not forget. We must not become numb. We must not stop telling the truth.

Because if humanity forgets, humanity repeats.

I pray: God save us from ourselves.

A Prayer for Healing the Soul of Humanity

Divine Creator of all that is, God of every name, every people, every heart, we come before You in truth, not in perfection.

We acknowledge the suffering that exists in our world—the harm done in the name of power, in the name of fear, in the name of religion, in the name of righteousness.

We acknowledge the pain carried by those who have been oppressed, silenced, excluded, judged, and harmed for simply being who they are.

We acknowledge the ways humanity has turned away from love, and the ways we have allowed fear, hatred, and division to guide our choices.

And we ask, with humility:

Help us to see clearly.

Help us to recognize where we have chosen wrongly—as individuals, as communities, as nations, as a world.

Help us to release the illusion of superiority, the addiction to being “right, "and the false comfort of self-righteousness.

Soften the hearts that have hardened. Open the minds that have closed. Reach those who revel in power and awaken them to compassion. Interrupt the cycles of harm before they deepen further.

Protect those who are suffering. Strengthen those who are targeted, marginalized, and afraid. Surround them with love, dignity, safety, and truth.

Remind every soul on this Earth: They are worthy. They are sacred. They belong.

Guide us toward leaders who embody wisdom, integrity, and compassion. And more importantly, help us become people who are capable of recognizing and choosing such leadership.

Teach us to choose love over fear, truth over propaganda, unity over division, and humanity over ideology.

Let empathy become stronger than hatred. Let accountability become stronger than denial. Let justice be rooted in compassion, not cruelty.

Help us to remember that no one is outside Your love. And that no human being has the right to deny that love to another.

May we have the courage to face our history, the humility to make amends, and the wisdom to create a future where no one is excluded from dignity, freedom, and belonging.

God, save us from our own ignorance, our own fear, our own cruelty.

And lead us back—back to love, back to truth, back to one another.

Amen.