Where does the imagery of Hell come from?

I recently picked up the novel The Rebels of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd and began to read. Within a few two pages I was reading “Doctor Simeon Pincher was a tall, thin man … with a sallow complexion and stern black eyes that belonged in a pulpit….For Doctor Simeon Pincher was a follower of Calvin.” Usually this would have been background information on one of the characters of the book, but this day it triggered something very different. It brought forth memories of an energy I encounter in my work.
In my Core Belief Releasing Work (which I’m now calling Soul/Source Connection – because that is what to truly does) I have run into this energy all too often. I do not like the insidiousness of this narrow, lack of joy, rule bound energy, which often I run into. It often displays itself as dressed as a man in black clothing with a mind as narrow as the thinness of their body. When I encounter this energy, no matter where it is attached, as it may be held in a charka, or in one of the selves, ie High or Masculine Self it is joyless, full of rules, holding the position if one lives by the rules, then one can find God. It is because of this belief it is often held in what we would consider our Spiritual levels.
Therefore, as I read these words in the novel, it not only triggered the memories of encountering this type of energy, but it also had me ponder on where and how these narrow minded, joyless beings had gotten the imagery of burning in hell, as this seems to be what they preach. Unless you obey the narrow rules you will burn in hell.
As I dropped into a meditative state and contemplated even more about the imagery of burning in hell the thought came to me that a person does not think of, write about or do artistic works unless they have seen and or experienced the scene or situation themselves or it is a part of their imagination.
Therefore where would the image of burning in hell come from? From all accounts, early man worshiped the sun and the earth. The early cave man drawings had nothing signifying burning in hell, so where did this concept come from?
Then the thought came to me. In the middle of the earth we have a core of magma, red hot burning rock, which would flame anything which touched it. Could it perhaps be that someone was meditating into the earth and allowed their minds to go deep enough to come into contact with this powerful magma? To an uneducated mind, it would seem like hell. A place where if you go you would burn. Is this where the original idea of ‘burning in hell’ came from? That you descended into hell, rather than above to heaven. I wondered, I pondered and the more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that this could very well be true. Someone at sometime had touched into the magma and it had terrified them and they had spun a story about it. From this fear had grown a tale until the name Hell was given to this space. A space in which we were to fear and not go!
It is through our experiences that we come to understand our environment and through our observation we learn about the laws of nature and man. It makes sense to me that one would not want to go to this hot place – hell, were one would burn and therefore do anything rather than that. Therefore the rules, which although giving you a narrow life style would though, keep you away from such a place.
Religion over time has brought much ritual and war to the planet. Much has been done in the name of religion, and yet early man worshipped the sun and the earth which gave life and supported them. We do not have to fear the magma, only understand it. After all many of our continents (and the Hawaiian Islands) are made from the stuff – magma is spewed from the earth in many different locations around the world, especially in the ring of fire which has been very quiet for many centuries now. Is it Hell – perhaps it is, but we do not need to live joyless, rule bound lives in order to stay away from it. We only need to be aware of it’s ever presence within the earth’s core and know it is a part of the whole.
After my meditative time of sorting out this question I was able to go on with my novel at peace within as I gazed upon the beauty of the world around me, living not in fear of magma, hell – but in rejoicing life as all good.
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