What Does Hell Look Like?

There is little doubt that the negative life-review feels like hell and therefore we could say that the NDE hell is proof of hell. Margot Grey says about the experience that, "The hell-like experience is defined as being one which includes all the elements comprehended in the negative phase (extreme fear or panic, emotional and mental anguish), only more so in that feelings are encountered with a far greater intensity."

But what does hell look like? And what exactly is hell?

Let me be quick to say that in the near-death research, these negative experiences do not happen to everyone. Also there seems to be less insight on why exactly they happen. Some researchers find no accounts or very few of hell-like experiences, like Moody who explains that his subjects have been mostly normal and nice people. Other researchers like Fenwick and Grey found that 15 percent and 12 percent had hellish experiences. P. M. H. Atwater in her large sample of over 3,000 near-death experiences found that 18 percent had "unpleasant experiences," and hereof only a third had experiences that were "truly hellish." What is interesting here is that Atwater found the 15 percent with adults, while only 3 percent with children.

The largest estimate made on life-reviews alone, was made by George Gallup and William Proctor in 1982, who estimated out of 8 million Americans, 2.5 million had experienced "the impression of reviewing or re-examining" their life. This is almost a third of the total number of near-death experiencers and this number is confirmed by Dr. Jeffrey Long who in his research also found about 35 percent had a life-review.

The term Hell that we use today can be traced back to the name "Hel" in Norse mythology. Here we find Hel as the goddess of the underworld Helheim. The English root is "Helan" and cross-checking this word, we find that it translates into "Celare" in Latin. Celare in Latin then translates back into "conceal" or "hidden" in English.

What we now have found is that hell is a hidden and concealed place. This fits with the Greek underworld Hades, which has the same meaning, "Unseen." And this brings us back to Plato's cave again where we can use the allegory to explain what hell is. Living inside the cave as our body, we live in a dark world of illusion made from the shadows of our ignorance.

In Saved by the Light Dannion Brinkley tells us that "I had felt the pain and anguish of reflection, but from that I had gained the knowledge that I could use to correct my life." This was also my experience, and it is also a general conclusion of the near-death research: "the sense of judgment and guilt does not exist."[xii] Becoming aware of our negative actions happens within a source of unlimited love. Moody found that there is no accusation or threat because people "feel total love and acceptance coming from the light." And, therefore, the review is more a kind of Socratic questioning to make the person "proceed along the path to the truth by himself."

The positive feelings of peace and joy are the most common emotions in the near-death experience, reported by 88 percent of people who have had near-death experiences. And as I mentioned before, Fenwick also finds that even among those who suffered a negative life-review, 15 percent, the near-death experience as a whole had been positive. This is an important finding that fits perfectly with my own experience. The fundamental nature of reality, our absolute nature of mind, has this quality of peace, joy, and love.

Brinkley explains that this can be compared to the non-judgmental compassion that a grandfather has for a grandchild. This is the same as in Buddhism where the mother meets the child-we are the children and the light is our mother. When we return to our mother, we are greeted with love and compassion. Therefore, in the near-death experience, "most of the individuals interviewed did not experience any reward-punishment crisis."

To make this point clearer, I will look into what it means to sin. Father Laurence Freedman opens the door to a deep understanding of what sin is by saying, "The Greek for sin means to miss the target. Sin is what turns consciousness away form truth. Being the consequence of illusion and selfishness, sin includes its own punishment. God does not do the punishing."

This statement fits very well with another near-death experiencer who explains that, "Nobody judges you; you judge yourself...Nobody says 'you've been bad'...You know better than anyone, because it's your thoughts and your motives...And one gets precisely and exactly what one deserves. It's utterly fair."

The Greek term for sin means that as an archer misses his target with his arrow, so our consciousness misses the target of the truth. The target of our consciousness is to be conscious and aware. If we miss this target, we "go wrong" or "fail to do, neglect." Another old Greek meaning of the word "sin" is that "I should lose my sight by Ulysses' hand." Here, sin means to be blind of the truth, and it is due to our blindness that we sin. This blindness leads a person to "fail of one's purpose," which again matches my experience of the negative life-review perfectly.

This makes us see a sinner as someone who is blind because the person's consciousness is turned away from truth, and, thus, the purpose of this person's life has failed. Now, if we look at the biblical term, "The Fall of Man," this in Greek is translated as "failure" or "error of judgment." Man has fallen by failing the purpose of life due to error in judgment. From this perspective leaving the Garden of Eden means that we have left our essence-the knowledge of who we are. Disconnected from our souls, we live in ignorance of our true nature, and this causes us to suffer.

So where then does this punishment come from? Here again Father Freedman explains that, "Being the consequence of illusion and selfishness, sin includes its own punishment. God does not do the punishing." This statement also makes sense if we look into the interpretation of hell. The Hebrew word for hell is "Sheol," and it takes us in this direction. The root of this word is "Shaal," which means "to ask" or "to inquire." In most religions, we find the Lord, God, or some servant inquires. In many accounts of near-death experiences, we also find that a being of light or an angel leads the person through the life-review.

For me, my experience was different. I was alone with myself, and it was me passing judgment on myself. Another near-death experience describes the inquirer in a way that is very similar to my experience, "It was me judging me, not some heavenly Saint Peter." This is also the view of Moody, who concludes that the judgment comes from within. We also find this perspective on the nature of reality in Buddhism, where Soygal Rinpoche says, "Ultimately all judgments take place within our own mind. We are the judge and the judged."

Rene Jorgensen is a philosopher of religion and member of the International Association of Near-Death Studies http://www.ReneJorgensen.com He is author of the book Awakening After Life in which he reveals the lost knowledge of religion gained from research of Near Death Experiences: http://www.AwakeningAfterLifethebook.com