Since it is Easter and being conventional just doesn’t feel like it, I decided to spend a few words on a topic that common sense situates at the antipodes of what is generally repeated these days. I am referring to the practice (definitely imbued with fascination) of making pacts with the devil (the transaction of which involved surrendering one’s soul) that figures of all ages have, more or less profitably, decided to adopt. Now, apart from the fact that the problem is far more significant than one might initially imagine, the question of success, that is, how much the man is able, not only to honor the stipulations imposed but more importantly, to enjoy the benefits placed in return with his soul, always remains open.
Transactions with the devil: “Get your soul out!”
The trouble starts punctually with precisely this last item of exchange: does it exist, and does he possess it? And then, what (here it would behoove us to insert the reinforcing “devil”) does the devil do with it? Do you need low-wage servants? I doubt it… So what? Perhaps it is just a whim to take away followers from his arch-enemy? But if so, politics could be an excellent training ground (which is not to be ruled out at all). The whole deal is based precisely on the nonsense of exchange, that is, on the (ideological) assumption that there is a contrivance to subvert reality through itself. Remember the black cat in the movie Matrix? It perfectly renders the idea: a deal with the devil is made possible precisely because there are “loopholes” that confront the “real” with the “possible” understood in its meaning without constitutional limits.
Things get complicated
In short, these covenants are not simple to draft either and are often even disadvantageous. Some may rightly object that the shared mechanism of private funding is no less, and in that sense, I can only approve without reservation. But let’s consider the history of the most famous singers. We can only conclude that the excess of possibilities obtained in exchange for the 21 grams of vitality is beyond the reach of any ordinary mortal! Let’s leave Faust or Dorian Gray aside and think of a character like Robert Johnson. I do not wish at all to offend the sensibilities of genuine blues lovers. Still, regardless of their intrinsic worth, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, the Beetles, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, and Micheal Jackson have achieved far more impressive recognition than the (paltry) fame of the Mississippi guitarist! More importantly, they have kept their souls intact and ready for their final journey.
The devil’s rules are damn cryptic!
Of course, at this point, the only assumption still standing is that the exchange never took place according to the terms. Did it happen that Lucifer, dutiful and rule-abiding, always realized that the game was not worth the candle after finishing the handshake? That those puny 21 grams are just smoky remnants of a decomposing body? In light of the facts, the hypothesis becomes as likely as ever, and, indeed, the “alone” to the devil can only trigger a genuine adversarial second only to the legal proceedings that men know how to put up!
In this (no doubt curly) talk, I have momentarily ruled out the possibility of the whole deal being made between counterparts coexisting within the same individual. Jung would speak of the Shadow, and after all, does not its integration represent the most sublime and regulated contract of mutual aid that the candid ego can enter into with an outcast substratum but still its own? I do not think that there can be any doubt that the object in question is indeed the soul (not in the strictly Jungian sense) and that the benefits, although always subordinated to an inescapable reality, are certainly more tangible and, above all, usable than any other stipulation that the authors’ imagination has supposed possible.
Conclusions
So, if you wish to make a deal with the devil, try. Still, if you do not pay any attention to the unending paperwork that banks, insurance companies, and various service providers place before you, this time, weigh carefully how much you can put on the plate. Otherwise, you risk finding yourself with a fistful of flies and, what’s more, paying dearly for it!
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