RESURRECT DEAD ON PLANET JUPiTER

A Saturday afternoon discussion of Hell

It’s raining outside. I feel like writing in the vein of a 19th century transcendentalist.

Over the last few days I’ve been strangely attuned to a particular conception of hell that seems to occur and recur across space, time and culture. It’s something that I believe deserves some detailed analysis by a wide range of intelligent humans of various skill, training and talents.

At the very least, this vision of “hell” is something deeply engrained in the human psyche, almost like instinctual imagery. The idea of this experience seems so similar and accounts of this place are drawn together by such a fine and strong thread, that I’m inclined to grant its experience total validity. Whether the source of this vision is internal and chemo-genetic in origin or a truly ‘spiritual’ or non-physical, is a question of personality. It’s impossible, at our level of knowledge and capacity of intellect to conclusively ‘prove’ this either one way or the other. The fact that the experiences are real and that they describe a startlingly consistent vision is all I’m here to discuss.

So what is this vision? You already know it. It’s all around – deep in our shared and meaningful symbolism. I’ll give you a head start. This cartoon, by my personal hero, Nicholas Gurewitch, pretty much sums it up.

That’s all for now.