What Is Hell? Does It Mean the Absence of Heaven?
What is Hell? What is its structure? It would be helpful to start talking about Hell with an example which helps us to understand the structure of Hell and answer the question ‘What is Hell?’ We all have bad memories of getting sick. Perhaps one of the most painful memories of our childhood is when other family members were enjoying each other’s company, or even eating our favorite food, while we were sick or recovering and could not have a good time. The feeling that everyone experiences in these moments is a pathetic fallacy of regret and pain caused by powerlessness. Perhaps this was also the time of our first serious encounter with regret.
This example may have sparked something in your mind. However, the answer to the question ‘What is Hell?’ is closely linked to the concept of birth. In our previous lessons, we learned about different types of birth. We came to understand that not all births have the same outcome. Just as a healthy or robustly healthy birth can give us the opportunity to enjoy the world’s resources and blessings throughout our lives, a defective, weak, or sick birth can lead to a lifetime of hardship.
In this situation, we cannot condemn the world and hold it responsible for the situation that we face. The world freely offers its resources to everyone. It is our own limitations that deprive us of the opportunities and pleasures of the world. The world does not withhold any of its blessings or beauties from anyone. However, each individual is able to use them to the extent that they are in harmony with the world’s living conditions.
The same thing happens when we are born into the hereafter. By referring to the relationship between the mother’s womb and the world as well as the world and the hereafter, we can understand ‘What is Hell?’ Imagine that you go to a water park with your friends. You see boats, water slides, and a variety of other exciting and diverse rides. But you cannot use any of these devices because you have a broken arm. You watch your friends excitedly running around, and all you can think about is how much fun you are missing out on. It is not their fault, and the park officials have not put any restrictions on you, but it is your own situation that is keeping you from enjoying yourself.
A Hospital Named Hell
Our birth into the hereafter is also subject to similar conditions. All of us will eventually leave this world, regardless of our circumstances, and enter the hereafter. Of course, it would be better to say that we will enter the ideal living conditions of the hereafter, or Heaven. But the truth is that not all of us have the ability to connect with the living conditions of the hereafter. We will benefit from the opportunities, blessings, and wonders of the hereafter according to the type of our birth into it.
Certainly, the conditions of someone who is born healthy or robustly healthy into the hereafter are not the same as those of an individual who is born defective, weak, or sick into the hereafter. Naturally, if we are born healthy, we will be able to use the resources and blessings available in the hereafter without the need to undergo a period of treatment or go to the hospital of the hereafter. However, if we are sick, we must first receive treatment before we can use the same resources.
In response to the question ‘What is Hell?’ we must say that Hell is the state of being incompatible with the living conditions of the hereafter. This state results in enduring the pain of treatment in the hospital of the hereafter. The hereafter does not play a role in our incompatibility with its own living conditions. In fact, our suffering is due to our own incompatibility with its living conditions. It is like a deaf newborn who suffers because he was born with a hearing loss. The world does not impose this suffering on him, but rather it arises from the incompatibility between the structure of his being and the living conditions of the world.
As we explained in the previous lesson, this means that Hell is the hospital of the hereafter. People with weak or sick births are not capable of a healthy and efficient life in the hereafter due to their deeds. They must receive treatment in this hospital according to their defects in order to be able to enjoy the blessings of the hereafter.
It is not easy to bear the suffering and pain caused by incompatibility with the conditions of the hereafter. Perhaps if we have seen someone who has gone to the doctor to reset his dislocated arm or leg, we can better understand this pain. Additionally, a person in Hell experiences psychological pressure and regret for missing out on all the pleasures of the hereafter. This is because the system of the Barzakh is so magnificent that even the slightest lack of preparation for it can bring us grief, torment, defect, and illness.
The Hereafter: Unveiling Our Weaknesses and Defects
In truth, Hell is the consequence of our weakness and sickness in the Barzakh and the hereafter. While we are in the world, we do not become aware of the weaknesses and defects of the tools that we will need in the living conditions of the hereafter, unless we compare ourselves to the given standards. Think of a mountaineer who does not understand the lack of oxygen until he climbs to high altitudes. Naturally, he does not see the need to carry this vital element with him. However, as soon as he reaches a high altitude, he experiences the symptoms of oxygen deprivation, such as shortness of breath, headache, fast-beating heart, dizziness, and so on.
Because the world is a womb for development, it does not show us our defects. It is upon going to the hereafter that we will enter the environment of being judged and held accountable for our deeds, and we will find the answer to the question ‘What is Hell?’ just as a fetus who is unaware of any physical defects in his body in the womb, and he faces judgement upon entering the world. Our entry into the hereafter will also be the beginning of the assessment of every tool that we need in the living conditions of the hereafter. The absence of any of them is equal to suffering, torment, and Hell.
The conditions we face when we enter the hereafter are exactly the same as those of a fetus when he enters the world. When a fetus is born, each of his organs is examined individually. Any unhealthy organ can cause a particular pain and suffering for a newborn baby. In the same way, we will be responsible for all the flaws and weaknesses that we will take to the hereafter. With a little attention, we can see that if a fetus is generally healthy and ninety-nine percent of his body parts are in good condition, at the moment of birth, that one percent unhealthiness becomes evident. The smallest defect in a fetus reveals itself at birth and troubles him, whether it is a missing enzyme, a malfunction in the respiratory or digestive system, or a lesion in the brain or heart. Our body reacts to the smallest disorders with pain, even in everyday life. Therefore, it is natural that any incompatibility between us and the living conditions of the hereafter will also manifest itself in the form of pain, suffering, or burning in Hell. It is only there that we will truly understand ‘What is Hell?’
In this article, we examined the structure of Hell. We answered the question ‘What is Hell?’ pointing out that Hell is the hospital of the hereafter for people who will not be born healthy or robustly healthy. In fact, our pain and suffering in Hell are due to our incompatibility with the living conditions of the hereafter. Besides, we will regret missing out on the pleasures and opportunities of the hereafter, and that regret will only add to our suffering and torment.
What are your thoughts on Hell? Do you think it is a hospital where we can change and adapt to the living conditions of the hereafter? Share your views with us.