Saturday, July 23, 2005

Living Hell

A lot of pagans, and others as well, are of the opinion that hell does not truly exist, that it is a fantasy place invented by religous leaders in order to frighten the gullible masses into compliance with their social order they would seek to impose, and in fact have done so pretty sucessfully. There is certainly some validity to this idea, and relifgous leaders have prety mcuh used the threat of hell for exactly this purpose.

However, as a Hellenic pagan, I am not so sure this is the entire story. Hell fits into my mythology, and many others as well. So I have always wondered, if hell does exist, just what exactly is it, and where? Why was it created? And by whom?

I have come to the conclusion that if hell exists, we are ourselves the creators of it. Hell is the make-up of our deepest fears, and if we let those fears, and all our negative aspects, gain control of our lives, we are literally building our own hell one day at a time. With our greed, our envy, our hatred, our anger, our arrogance,al the negativity with which the human race has been afflicted fromt he beginning of it's existence. After all, since all energy can neither be created or destroyed, but only changes form, then what becomes of the energy of our negative emotions when we die? What if we become sobound up in that negativity, are controlled by it to such an extent, that our very life essence becomes entrapped within it, and contains us therefore after our death?

I used to wonder, if there is a hell, who would go there? What about Hitler? Surely he would qualify, if anyone would. I acaully saw a vision pertaining to this, in a dream. Hitler was standing in a desolate landscape, surrounded by mud as far as the eye could see. To his left was a very steep embankment, also muddy, up which he desperately yet futilly tred to climb, always sliding back down to the level muddy ground beneath him, as a raging leopard, it looked to be, stalked him relentlessly. After some time, the leopard pounced Hitler, and began thrashing and gnawing mercillessly at him, tearing into him, while he screamed in pain and agony, yet aware of the hopelessness of his situation. For this was to be his eternal fate, from now on, throughout eternity, without any let-up, save when the beast let up long enough to allow him to make still another useless run up the steep muddy hill,at which point he would slide down yet again, to be mauled all over again. What a fate, I thought when I awoke. Yet, fitting.

The leopard was obviously, to my way of thinking, Hitler's own cruelty and unreasoning hatred, projected right back at him. While the landscape itself could have been Hitlers' own bleak outlook for the world that he himself had once so mercilessly ravaged. A hell that he, not any deity, had created. And one that he is apparrently stuck with. It would almost be cruel to taunt him by saying somehting like, "make the most of it", becuae that is what in a sense he has all ready done.

No wonder people prefer the thought of reincarnation to that of hell, when you stop to think about it. Not that this, if true, necessarilly negates the possibility of reincarnation, or any other type of aftelife philosophy. Remember, we make our own way. That could to a great many people indeed be some form of reincarnation. And remember, if you make your own hell, it only stands to reason that you can also make your own heaven. It's just how you live your life today that paves the way to one or the other.

2 comments:

Dave said...

Hell does exist. Heaven does exist. The Bible is abundantly clear on what and where "Hell" is. Revelations is a good place to read....and before you start, many who are non-Christians read Revelations and other books of the Bible and dismiss it because they can't understand the symbolism. There is a lot of it in the Bible.
This is why Bible Study is so important.
One has to study the Word to understand it.
But God does exist, Hell does exist, and Jesus DID die to save us and God works everyday in my life.

The Science of Things According to the Timekeeper

SecondComingOfBast said...

I disagree with your assessment of heaven and hell though we might not be so far apart as you might think. After all, what you create in your mind can be as real as, or maybe more real than, physical reality. Especially after you die, when that is all you are left with, whatever you have created for yourself-be that heaven or hell. Only I'm not so sure that it is really permenent in the eternal sense, as th universe is based on constant change. Perhaps we won't know until we arrive at our respective personal self-created abodes.

Be that as it may, thanks for the comments. Also, wanted to say I checked out your Blog, and enjoyed it. Good luck with it, and to you and yours, and especially good luck and well wishes to your son in the military, and may he make it back to you safely.