“In Hades, where he
was in torment, he looked up
and saw Abraham far
away, with Lazarus by his side.”
--Luke 16:23
In Luke’s parable, the rich man, in
Hades looks up and sees Abraham and Lazarus “far away.” And when the rich man asks for some comfort
from Abraham, he is told to remember that, “between us and you a great chasm
has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot,
nor can anyone cross over from there to us” (Luke 16:26). Though these images may never have been meant
to express an actual geographical space, the literal Inferno of Dante, for instance, that image of an unpassable chasm
certainly speaks to a kind of metaphysical or theological understanding of the
distance between Heaven and Hell. And it makes me wonder, if not where, then what
is Hell, and perhaps even why?
Some
thoughts:
What is it
we mean when we speak of Hell? –Traditionally when we speak of Hell, we speak
of a place of torment and punishment --not unlike Dante’s depiction in his
famous Inferno. Popularly, we
think of Hell as expressing the negative component of God’s judgment. If God is pleased with us He sends us to
Heaven, if God isn’t happy with our behavior here on earth we are sent to
Hell.
But, as I was reading Dante the
other day, I began wondering if perhaps the unpassable gap between Lazarus and
the Rich Man is found not in God’s wrath or pleasure, but in what they (the
souls, the people, the sinners) themselves desire—what they seek (even in the
after-life). This certainly seems to be the
lesson of Dante. Hell isn’t imposed upon
us; it is given to us. A gift. It is found not necessarily in what we
deserve, but in what we desire at the Final Judgment. The sheep (cf. Mt 25: 31-46) want sheepness
–they want to rest in God, they want the peace of God, the joy of being
comforted in Him. The goats want
something else: goatness; they still hunger to rut, hunger to acquire more stuff,
perhaps to taste one more victory, one more flavor, one more sensation –security?
satiation? revenge? They long to satisfy one more longing. One more desire.
They still long for something so much that they can’t let go of the longing
itself.
The more I think about it, the more
it seems to me that Hell is a hunger within that won’t die. Hell is a longing
we won’t ever satisfy –that won’t be satisfied, for something that –in
actuality-- cannot satisfy.
For a little insight into this, I
would again turn to Dante. In his Inferno, twice we catch a glimpse of the
sinners heading toward Hell revealing their eagerness to get there. In Canto III and in Canto V we see the souls
eagerly approaching their eternity. In
Canto III it is Virgil who says of the souls:
“…they are eager to cross the river.
For the justice of God so spurs
them on
their fear is turned to longing.”
(III.124-126)
And then in Canto V, Dante writes:
“Always there is a crowd that
stands before him:
each soul in turn advances toward that judgment…”
each soul in turn advances toward that judgment…”
(V:13-14)
What Dante dramatizes so
clearly here is the drama of the soul in search of itself. This picture of the “damned”
eager to reach their “damnation” is really a picture of the soul seeking its
own fulfillment.
I think what we
learn from Dante’s contemplation of the question of eternity and final
judgment, is that those who look at God and say –this isn’t fair. Hell isn’t fair! God is just being a judgmental old
oppressive patriarchal fuddy dud!... are missing the point. God truly is Love. And God loves us so much
that He sacrificed His own son for our salvation; that we might spend eternity
with Him. But, God will not impose
Himself upon us. He lets us choose. He allows us to make that Final Judgment.
And the great distance we see between –for instance—Lazarus and the rich man is
simply one of choice. If I’m right, if
Dante is right… Sartre got it wrong.
Hell isn’t other people; it’s just us.
This day God sets before you two choices… Fire and water, Heaven and Hell, Life and Death… --Who will you choose
to be?
