Practical Christian Mysticism

Religion may be becoming more and more unpopular, but Hell is considered downright offensive. The mere mention of Hell, especially an acknowledgement of its existence, can make anyone sound like a radical or religious “wacko”. Even among many Christian mystics I read or speak too, the old idea of a Hell, with it’s fire, menacing demons, creative-yet-nightmarish torments, and malevolent overlord seems rather antiquated. A black-and-white “do or die” eternal judgement bothers all but the most narrow-minded of casual philosophers. Despite all this, I do believe in Hell, and I think the current absurdities surrounding the Heaven and Hell mindset is caused by our own lack of understand and depth.

I believe in Hell for the simple reason that I see so many people already living there. People have the ability to create the most miserable and self-destructive delusions in their own minds, I highly doubt a little thing like death could relieve them of it. The first key to understanding Heaven and Hell is to realize they are not destinations, but rather extensions of our current reality. We don’t wait till death to “go to Heaven” or “go to Hell” are given the choice now.

Pope John Paul II did a lot to promote the mystic understanding of Eternity, as well as insight no small amount of controversy, by explaining that sin and salvation or Heaven and Hell are “states of being”. (reference) This is not a new concept as all mystic disciplines, Christian or not, teach that our outward reality is mostly a reflection of our internal mind. Those who are greedy, selfish, cowardly, hateful, cynical, or just plain grumpy live misery created by their own attitude and actions. Alternately, those who practice humility, charity, forgiveness, temperance, and courage become inwardly fulfilled and joyful.

It is a great deception that people are happy or sad based on what life has given them (a lie usually spread by the cynical). The truth is people’s lives are what people chose to make them. In fact, I am tempted to over-simply the battle between good and evil as: God gave us free-will and the Devil spends his time trying to convince us we “have no choice”. Those who feel they are “victims” and “out of control” are miserable, while those who believe their lives are their own responsibility are often successful and fulfilled.

People say “what kind of God sends people to Hell?”, but again, that reflects the “victim” mindset. Did you ever think that people choose Hell? “But no one would ‘choose’ to be tormented for all eternity!”…. well, they choose be tormented now, why would that change? I got a lot of support on this too. It would seem I am not the only one who believes we choose Hell, some authors suggest we make our own Hell as well.

In “The Great Divorce”, C.S. Lewis portrays Hell as a place very similar to our own world. The damned start their lives in Hell in a condition identical to when they died, as they become discontent they move to bigger houses and more affluent conditions. This Hell is like a great circular city where the center is unpopulated and full of abandoned houses, while the outer circle is full of large and affluent housing spaced farther and father apart from one another. A “bus” from Heaven comes and offers to ferry those in Hell. Even when those in Hell choose to go the Heaven, they find it uncomfortable and awkward, and decide to return to Hell. I especially liked the part where an occupant of Hell said they were leading a “Bible study”.

In Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” comic, he portrays Hell as a place where souls go and even chose to torment themselves. In “The Sandman”, a person’s mind becomes their reality upon death. If their mind is warped and twisted, they live a warped and twisted reality. If their minds were pure and their thoughts clear, they became enlightened upon death and lived wherever they wanted (and some didn’t die at all).

In “Johnny the Homicidal Maniac” by Jhonen Vasquez, Hell is very similar to C.S. Lewis’ Hell. Jhonen Vasquez’s Hell, people get whatever they want, and not only do they chose to be miserable, but they sit around blaming God for it anyway. I find this interesting because Jhonen Vasquez is most definitely NOT a Christian nor a mystic. However, simply by observing the corruption of mankind and the world around him, Jhonen Vasquez determined that Hell couldn’t be much worse than most people’s present reality anyway.

Jesus Christ Himself said that Eternal life was “knowing God” (John 17:3). Eternal life does not simply mean “living forever”, it means living in an Eternal state, a state of being where we are connected to God. This is such an important concept in Christian mysticism because the mystic journey of one of being not doing. For those who experience God now, Heaven is already found, for those who live alone in their own minds, living is Hell.

(Image at top of article taken from Animaniacs, Episode 30. They are screaming after being doomed to listen to “whiney protest songs from the 60s” for all eternity.)