FA+
Shop
Journal 15 - Hell
15 years ago
General
Dear Journal/Readers,
No this isn't another rant about how much my life sucks, this is more of a think-tank. For years the concept of hell has fascinated me and frightened me at the same time. Ever since I was a kid and being raised as a Catholic (yes a catholic), all I ever heard about was how hell sucked and how it was most likely everyone was going there.
First, Appearance:
Most TV shows and movies always seems to depict hell as some sort of fiery underworld. I continuously see a vast underground cavern, pits of lava, and superheated air. Sometimes there is a sky but it's made out of either smoke or fire. Dante's Inferno (the book not the video game), depicts hell in multiple layers with various features on each depending on what sin got you there. D&D describes hell in the same way, only with 9 layers of hell instead of 7 but each layer having it's own unique topography. In later additions of D&D however the appearance of the 6th layer has changed. It was throughout many years an angled slope of a steep volcano, from which boulders would constantly roll down. You had to be on your toes constantly or you could fall off the edge and if you did, you ceased to exist. Now it's a land like you're walking through someone's insides; there are lakes of bile and stomach acid, giant boils and zits, a forest of hair... (shudder)
Then you have other movies that depict hell that aren't so mainstream. Take "What Dreams May Come", a Robin Williams movie. I was intrigued at their depiction of hell as just being a pretty rotten and miserable place to exist. I distinctly remember the entrance to hell being an aircraft carrier named The Cerebus. It was rather interesting.
I saw a documentary on people who had "near death" experiences. It had described the usual people who saw the light and heard voices saying "its not your time" and hearing the long lost voices of their lost family members. But it more importantly focused on the few that said they saw hell. The first guy described hell as a prison cell. There was no where to sit but the floor and it was ice cold, no windows, and only the most bare minimum of light to remind you of why you were there. Everything was just cold and concrete or metal. Every so often he'd get fed, but never enough. Each meal he received was just under what he needed to cure his hunger and thirst, and just made him desire food and water more. The biggest torture of all was no one would tell him why he was there, and this was his existence until he was revived. Another woman described hell as a choking crushing blackness that just envelops you and prevents you from really seeing or doing anything. All you can really do is float there and try to breathe, and that's a constant struggle against the oppressive weight of this place.
Now here's my take on hell. Weather it exists or not I am not fully convinced of. I had the concept of hell driven into me ever since I was a child. I was told "bad people go to hell" and "sinners go to hell". I was told I was going there since I was gay, and because of my sexual kinks, and because I stopped going to church and because I denounced god...all sorts of things. I believed for the longest time because I have an attraction towards cubs and because I have had intercourse with animals I was definitely going to hell. Then thanks to some religious propaganda, I thought I was going to hell because of even the littlest things. This Chick Publications pamphlet described a fairly average guy, someone that could be just about anyone we know dies and ends up in hell because of all the little things he did. It even tallied up the sins he committed when he was a very young child and quotes some bible verse that says that your sins are always tallied and youth/ignorance is never an excuse or something akin. If that is the case, then South Park pretty much had it right with the population of heaven just being a thousand or so, and the population of Hell skyrocketing into utter disarray. By that logic, that means everyone goes to hell when they die and gets punished for every bad thing they've done for all eternity to suffer and rot and rythe and never receive any comfort.
...and then there's the issue of weather or not you even get punished at all. If the "devil" tempts you to commit sin, why would he punish you for doing what he wanted? If that was the case he'd be doing "God's" will, and typically throughout every mythos I've come across the entity that represents "the devil" (despite the concept of a devil and a single entity of evil being a purely christian thing) He has no desire to do his master's will. Lore states that Lucifer the Morningstar was placed in charge of Hell as punishment for challenging god. His job was to police and govern the souls of hell until the end of days. Well, first off here's the issue. Why would Lucifer in theory want to tempt souls into hell then? My logic tells me that the only reason to tempt souls into hell was to "protect" them from God or just to spite god and keep them out of heaven. I would suspect and think that god would want souls in heaven so he can be close to the people he created, if he truly "loves us". So why punish the people in hell? Generally don't you want to reward people for what you want? On the other side of the coin I can see how he'd want to lure people in and then take out his anger and frustration at being stuck in hell on the souls tapped there so he takes out his problems on "us". But more realistic I can see hell as a place where everyone can live out every sin they've ever wanted without inhibition. An instant-gratification paradise where people can do whatever they please. I see it more as an inverted utopia of sorts. You wanna fuck little kids, well there they are go do it. You wanna steal and murder, well there's plenty of stuff to steal so get out there and do it. To me it seems like a game where everyone gets to do whatever they want, but at another person's expense.
Now my vision of hell? Hell if it exists, would in my opinion be custom tailored to fit the individual and not have a constant basis for existence. Hell is whatever environment could presumably be the most uncomfortable/unbearable for you to have to spend the rest of eternity locked in. Take me, I am afraid of lava and fire and anything really hot. I hate bugs and stuff related to insects. So I can imagine that my hell would look alot like your typical hell where I am constantly crawling with bugs and standing on hot rocks next to lava - or worse I'm forced to have to live in the lava burning and suffering for all time. That's what I at least think It would be like.
Personally the concept of hell just seems like something created by Christianity to scare you into behaving. Its not unlike the old "boogey man" tactic. IE if you dont do your chores the boogy man will get you, if you don't do exactally as I say, this will happen to you. Parents have used it for centuries to get kids to behave it's just the M.O. has changed as time has gone along. I honestly don't think it exists. I'm afraid of the possibility that it does, but that's also because I've had all that brain-washing.
So does hell exist?
No this isn't another rant about how much my life sucks, this is more of a think-tank. For years the concept of hell has fascinated me and frightened me at the same time. Ever since I was a kid and being raised as a Catholic (yes a catholic), all I ever heard about was how hell sucked and how it was most likely everyone was going there.
First, Appearance:
Most TV shows and movies always seems to depict hell as some sort of fiery underworld. I continuously see a vast underground cavern, pits of lava, and superheated air. Sometimes there is a sky but it's made out of either smoke or fire. Dante's Inferno (the book not the video game), depicts hell in multiple layers with various features on each depending on what sin got you there. D&D describes hell in the same way, only with 9 layers of hell instead of 7 but each layer having it's own unique topography. In later additions of D&D however the appearance of the 6th layer has changed. It was throughout many years an angled slope of a steep volcano, from which boulders would constantly roll down. You had to be on your toes constantly or you could fall off the edge and if you did, you ceased to exist. Now it's a land like you're walking through someone's insides; there are lakes of bile and stomach acid, giant boils and zits, a forest of hair... (shudder)
Then you have other movies that depict hell that aren't so mainstream. Take "What Dreams May Come", a Robin Williams movie. I was intrigued at their depiction of hell as just being a pretty rotten and miserable place to exist. I distinctly remember the entrance to hell being an aircraft carrier named The Cerebus. It was rather interesting.
I saw a documentary on people who had "near death" experiences. It had described the usual people who saw the light and heard voices saying "its not your time" and hearing the long lost voices of their lost family members. But it more importantly focused on the few that said they saw hell. The first guy described hell as a prison cell. There was no where to sit but the floor and it was ice cold, no windows, and only the most bare minimum of light to remind you of why you were there. Everything was just cold and concrete or metal. Every so often he'd get fed, but never enough. Each meal he received was just under what he needed to cure his hunger and thirst, and just made him desire food and water more. The biggest torture of all was no one would tell him why he was there, and this was his existence until he was revived. Another woman described hell as a choking crushing blackness that just envelops you and prevents you from really seeing or doing anything. All you can really do is float there and try to breathe, and that's a constant struggle against the oppressive weight of this place.
Now here's my take on hell. Weather it exists or not I am not fully convinced of. I had the concept of hell driven into me ever since I was a child. I was told "bad people go to hell" and "sinners go to hell". I was told I was going there since I was gay, and because of my sexual kinks, and because I stopped going to church and because I denounced god...all sorts of things. I believed for the longest time because I have an attraction towards cubs and because I have had intercourse with animals I was definitely going to hell. Then thanks to some religious propaganda, I thought I was going to hell because of even the littlest things. This Chick Publications pamphlet described a fairly average guy, someone that could be just about anyone we know dies and ends up in hell because of all the little things he did. It even tallied up the sins he committed when he was a very young child and quotes some bible verse that says that your sins are always tallied and youth/ignorance is never an excuse or something akin. If that is the case, then South Park pretty much had it right with the population of heaven just being a thousand or so, and the population of Hell skyrocketing into utter disarray. By that logic, that means everyone goes to hell when they die and gets punished for every bad thing they've done for all eternity to suffer and rot and rythe and never receive any comfort.
...and then there's the issue of weather or not you even get punished at all. If the "devil" tempts you to commit sin, why would he punish you for doing what he wanted? If that was the case he'd be doing "God's" will, and typically throughout every mythos I've come across the entity that represents "the devil" (despite the concept of a devil and a single entity of evil being a purely christian thing) He has no desire to do his master's will. Lore states that Lucifer the Morningstar was placed in charge of Hell as punishment for challenging god. His job was to police and govern the souls of hell until the end of days. Well, first off here's the issue. Why would Lucifer in theory want to tempt souls into hell then? My logic tells me that the only reason to tempt souls into hell was to "protect" them from God or just to spite god and keep them out of heaven. I would suspect and think that god would want souls in heaven so he can be close to the people he created, if he truly "loves us". So why punish the people in hell? Generally don't you want to reward people for what you want? On the other side of the coin I can see how he'd want to lure people in and then take out his anger and frustration at being stuck in hell on the souls tapped there so he takes out his problems on "us". But more realistic I can see hell as a place where everyone can live out every sin they've ever wanted without inhibition. An instant-gratification paradise where people can do whatever they please. I see it more as an inverted utopia of sorts. You wanna fuck little kids, well there they are go do it. You wanna steal and murder, well there's plenty of stuff to steal so get out there and do it. To me it seems like a game where everyone gets to do whatever they want, but at another person's expense.
Now my vision of hell? Hell if it exists, would in my opinion be custom tailored to fit the individual and not have a constant basis for existence. Hell is whatever environment could presumably be the most uncomfortable/unbearable for you to have to spend the rest of eternity locked in. Take me, I am afraid of lava and fire and anything really hot. I hate bugs and stuff related to insects. So I can imagine that my hell would look alot like your typical hell where I am constantly crawling with bugs and standing on hot rocks next to lava - or worse I'm forced to have to live in the lava burning and suffering for all time. That's what I at least think It would be like.
Personally the concept of hell just seems like something created by Christianity to scare you into behaving. Its not unlike the old "boogey man" tactic. IE if you dont do your chores the boogy man will get you, if you don't do exactally as I say, this will happen to you. Parents have used it for centuries to get kids to behave it's just the M.O. has changed as time has gone along. I honestly don't think it exists. I'm afraid of the possibility that it does, but that's also because I've had all that brain-washing.
So does hell exist?
I'd do more, but gotta run ;_;