Hell -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 13:13:53 02/27/08 Wed
Author: Shannon
Subject: Hell

Dr. Jackson's suggestion of Hell as an "exstistential disposition"--or the eternal rejection of divine love in the face of that very love--reminded me of C.S. Lewis's imaginary dialogues with George MacDonald on the natures of Heaven and Hell in The Great Divorce. In the voice of MacDonald, Lewis aptly describes this idea of perpetual hatred and ego in the face of perpetual love:
"There are only two kinds of people in the end--those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.' All those who are in Hell, choose it." Again, later, "Hell is a state of mind--ye never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every shutting up the creature within the dungeon of its own mind--is, in the end, Hell."
Finally, the relation between our choices of such a "state of mind" here in lfe and the situation of our afterlives is also described:
"Not only this valley but all this earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the damned to have been Hell....Both processes begin before death....And that is why, at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the Blessed will say, 'We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven,' and the Lost, 'We were always in Hell."

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Replies:

Re: Hell and Jonah -- Betsy Peters, 06:03:53 03/04/08 Tue
Jonah, God, and Nineveh -- Betsy Peters, 06:15:26 03/04/08 Tue
- Re: Jonah, God, and Nineveh -- j.jackson, 06:36:12 03/04/08 Tue
  - Re: Jonah, God, and Nineveh -- Erin Risch, 20:30:30 03/09/08 Sun
    - On suicide -- Betsy Peters, 10:01:30 03/11/08 Tue
    - Row against the storm to stop reciprocation -- Betsy Peters, 10:08:38 03/11/08 Tue