The Parable of the Onion

Take Dostoyevsky’s fantastical parable of the onion. A very wicked woman dies and is tossed into the lake of fire. Her guardian angel devises a plan to rescue her. Because she was so wicked, the angel does not have much to work with—nothing, in fact, except for an onion the woman once pulled out of her garden and gave to a beggar. The angel asks God if this good deed might be enough to get her out of hell.

And God has a mediating proposal: “You take that onion…hold it out to her in the lake, and let her take hold of it and be pulled out. And if you can pull her out of the lake, let her come to Paradise, but if the onion breaks, then the woman must stay where she is.

It’s a deal!

So the angel stands on the shore of the lake of fire, holds out the onion, and tells her to catch hold so she can be pulled out. She does and is almost free when everyone else in the lake sees what is happening and grabs hold of her feet, so they can be pulled out with her. Because she is a very wicked woman, she begins thrashing about.

Kicking them off, yelling, I’m to be pulled out, not you. It’s my onion…not yours ” And as soon as she says this, the onion breaks in half and she falls back into the lake of fire, where she remains to this day. Take care of who you’re becoming. You might have to live with yourself forever.