The most revealing vision of Hell in art for me comes from an atheist. J P Sartre’s play, “Huis Clois” or “No Exit” premiered in May of 1944 just before the liberation of Paris. The world then understood the depths of depravity that was the shame of World War II. Factories of death and humiliation were killing innocent Jews. The world had seen evil on a scale that it had never before seen and, thankfully, has not seen since. It was understandable that many people were thinking about Hell. Many were living through a Hell.
The play is a single act. Three people, Garcin, Ines, and Estelle, are left in a room alone. As the story unfolds, we come to realize they are dead and damned. They expected Hell to be a place of torture, and all there is for them is a room and each other. Soon there is torture as the three go into a dance of deception, attack and defense. Their crimes are revealed and each take turn condemning the others. Torture exists, but the three are the authors of the Hell, not the victims. After the Ballet of cruelty, the doors flings open. Anyone or all three can flee the Hell they are creating. Most telling, none of the three have the courage to walk through the door. We understand they will torture each other for all eternity. As Garcin puts it at the end of the play, “Hell is other people.”
The play echoes the words of Jesus about “weeping and gnashing of teeth.“ The torture of the outer darkness comes from separation of man from God and fellow man. The image of gnashing teeth is one of self torture and being driven mad by rage, much like the three in Sartre’s vision. I was recently asked in another post about my understanding of Hell. I understand this is huge topic and very controversial as seen by the flap over Rob Bell’s last book, “Love Wins.” I maybe wrong, but from my experience and my theological understanding, people separated from love will become warped. For them, other people do become Hell. I know that God does not want anyone separated from love, and that all should be saved. I take no joy from thinking others are in Hell, or that others are separated from love.
Will all be saved, or will some be damned? I remember the humility of one my New Testament professors who simply said she was glad that she had nothing to do with that decision. And she was right; it is not our judgment, but that of Jesus. I know there is a parlor game of who will or who won’t be in Hell. Though if we played that game after the death of St Stephen, would our anger put St Paul (before his conversion) in the will be going and after his conversion in the won’t be going? I also think that such a question gets in the way of loving others. I am a man who is limited in that question. I also know being separated from love is an outer darkness. I must give thanks that it is not up to me to condemn another to hell, mines is to love my fellow man.
Finally, I know many will not be satisfied with my answer. They want certainty and any saying that the judgment of individuals has to be definitive and I am just avoiding the question. To say I know the door has been flung open by the cross of Jesus means that should say that many of the innocent will not walk through the door or that my God will torture those who simply questioned and were skeptical. Maybe they are right, though I suspect not.
I know when Jesus came to separate the goats from the sheep there were a great deal of surprised among the people as who was a goat and who were sheep. All we can do is walk through the open door of love for as Paul reminds us, “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
I appreciate your humility in this post.
In even asking these questions there is a subtle process that you are engaging in, and I would like to draw your attention to these processes. Please understand that I have no desire to judge you for these processes, I simply want to point them out:
You are telling yourself stories. These are stories about a place that you have never seen (hell) a state of being that you have never had (torture, damnation) and the salvation from this state of being that is offered by a character in the story (God, Jesus).
Now just notice this process. This is a process of the mind. The mind has amazing capacities. Foremost among them is the capacity to have experiences that we can access without actually having to reference our senses. In other words, we are all capable of experiencing states of mind that exist separate from our senses – that exist only in our imagination.
This is not a pathology. This is a wonderful super-power. Imagination lets us consider the consequence of our actions without actually having to SUFFER the consequences of our actions. Imagination is a key feature in our ability to understand the universe, to create technology and to manage and negotiate our relationships.
It does have two shortfalls however:
1) We human beings are unable to turn off our imaginations. Given this we are all prone to create subjective experiences for ourselves out of thin air. If you have ever practiced meditation, then you have had the opportunity to study this process as it occurs. The point is we do it all the time and we are mostly un-aware of it.
2) Contrary to popular belief the imagination is not limitless. There are very definite rules and structures that you imagination follows. We also have a limited capacity to process information. These limits lead to inevitable distortions in our understanding of the world. We are “only human” after all.
Because of these two shortfalls, human beings (including you and including me) constantly make the mistake of forgetting or ignoring that our understanding of reality is both incomplete and distorted. Then we tell ourselves stories about the nature of reality and respond to these stories as if they were reality itself.
This is what I see you doing in asking these questions. You are telling yourself stories about the world and then trying to negotiate the world that you create for yourself by telling yourself stories. Try asking yourself a different set of questions instead: What assumptions am I making in asking these questions, and how do I know if these assumptions are true? Hint: The bible is a book with lots and lots of stories in it – some of them may even be true, but many of them are highly metaphorical, allegorical and even silly. These stores can be useful as guides, but they can just as easily be used as tools for self-delusion. As the Buddhists say: When I point my finger at the moon, don’t mistake the finger pointing at the moon for the moon.
I hope that this answer helps you in your search for the truth.