Does Hell Exist?

The concept of Hell portrayed in religion does not exist in a literal sense. There is no such a thing as a realm of eternal damnation to which you’re sent for all eternity based on an arbitrary measurement of good deeds and sins. Life would be infinitely depressing and pointless if you had a single opportunity to be judged (without knowing you were) upon which you’d spend eternity either in blissful reward of endless suffering.

But, there are true metaphysical points you could correlate with the religious concept of Hell.

Two things to know: first, external reality is at all times a reflection of your inner state; secondly, Consciousness can only perceive what it can already, or is ready to learn. This means that when the incarnation ends, if your Consciousness happens to be in such a state of trauma that all it can see or live in is that trauma, then all you’ll be able to see will be your trauma being expressed outwardly. Thus, in this type of situation you’re stuck in a state of trauma re-living it over and over – even in ethereal form.

This can sometimes happen when you’ve went through strong traumatic events for which you couldn’t find resolution during life, or if the moment of passing is particularly traumatizing for example. So this would be what I’d consider the closest thing to the religious idea of Hell: being in such a state of trauma that you’re stuck in your own personal Hell, out of not being able to perceive anything else.

Being in such a loop isn’t exclusive to the ethereal plane, nor to acute suffering. Picture the type of situation in life where you’re stuck reliving certain set of unpleasant circumstances over and over, out of which you can’t find your way out. Your consciousness is shaping your reality constantly, and it is involved in your finding of solutions, in your progress, and in your healing. But if your consciousness became so affected by a cyclical situation that it loses reference of what is not trauma, then that situation can sometimes become like a self-perpetuating hell-like scenario where you’re constantly in the trauma’s emotional space, then continually manifesting it outward.

This is why it’s important to a) become aware of repetitive situations in life where you might be co-creating out of painful memories, and b) then seek offer whichever healing you can find to whatever parts of you that have become stuck.

Being stuck in cyclical suffering is often also related to karma. So a word about this.

Not all religions teach about karma. But the ideas of of measurement of your actions in the afterlife, as well as the idea you go through the consequences of your choices, are nonetheless often present in various ways, such as “For whatever a man sows that he will also reap”.

When an incarnation ends, your choices and experiences during life are assessed, namely which choices ones brought about integration, healing, and wellness, and which were instead based in separation and suffering. The cumulative effect of those choices in your current spiritual progress and state is also measured, as well as the status of healing (or lack thereof) of each of your points of long-term unresolved trauma a.k.a. karma. These are relevant as they’ll determine the needs for lesson and experience in subsequent lives.

The moment of judgment in the afterlife usually depicted in religions, where you’re assigned to Hell or Heaven, is an allegorical portrayal of the spiritual reviews and assessment of karmic attributes that happens at that time. They’re also touching on the baseline notions you’re spiritually responsible for your choices during life, and that your awareness and choices can and will affect your own spiritual state and reality, as well as dictate the needs and options going forward. Which, again, may at point lead to co-creating situations of cyclical suffering out of unresolved trauma.

Still, there is no plane of fire and brimstone where you’re stuck forever for having “failed” at a single lifetime. On the contrary: the whole point of the physical reality and its experiences is your spiritual progress, so that you learn from and heal your own karmic attributes, until you’re eventually free from them.