If our minds truly do "split" at death, and one
half ("spirit") loses all memories and emotions and
goes on to reincarnate... and the other half ("soul")
loses its ability to think coherently and ends up in
a "heaven or hell" scenario...
Then it strikes me as logical that if I "go with the soul"
then Hell is my destination.
I have some god-awful memories... which have over
the years attained the status of "mental monsters" due to my ignorant nurturing of them.
But I'm capable of dealing with them, by and large, and functioning basically normally due to the mediating influence of my rational mind. Yet, sometimes I get overwhelmed by the memories, and that's when I'll take a nap (or have a couple beers) or do something physical to get out of the rut.
But I WON'T be able to deal with them, if the "true me" is my SOUL and I can't use reason to combat those feelings/memories. That's what I think Hell will be like... the monsters having a field day with you, as you end up in a new "objective reality" forged by them! They say we create our own reality to some extent here on earth...
But as the first Hermetic principle states: "The Universe is Mental."
The mind (in this case, the SUBCONCIOUS one) will make a Hell reality for me, which to myself (deprived of reason) will seem even MORE real than C1 reality! And I won't even be able to defend myself against the "demons" which will assault me, as my thinking will be that of an animal!
BTW... I have an EXTREMELY creative imagination... and the imagination is a subconcious property...
I'll wager that my Hell will put the most morbid visions of Clive Barker to shame. Pinhead the Cenobite, anyone? He'll look like Mr. ROGERS compared to my tormentors...
I should have left the horror fiction alone when I was a kid.
But to escape Hell? A way perhaps?
I've thought about the "soul union" spoken of by
Novak... but if the ego is the interplay between spirit and soul, then I WILL divide. My ego has always been a bit... SHAKY, shall we say.
I'm theorizing here, that the more EMOTIONAL you are... the more you LET YOURSELF FEEL... the more likely you will be to "pass through the Light" and just maybe get a nasty surprise...
But the more COLDLY RATIONAL you are... the more you stuff down feelings and memories... the more likely you might be to identify with the "spirit", chuck your memories into the light, and back off into the "void" to await reincarnation...
Thus, escaping Hell. I'd have "beat the Devil" and would have a SECOND CHANCE, maybe. And my "soul"? It would just be a non-sentient shell in some horror-scape in the collective unconcious... no big deal. I'll be elsewhere.
(I would LOVE to be able to visit ancient Egypt (perhaps the most spiritually advanced nation which has ever existed) and speak with one of their great Temple Priest/super-shamans, to ask them about this. I wonder what he'd be able to tell me? The Egyptians knew ALL ABOUT division theory...)
But anyway.
If division theory is correct, then perhaps the "real you" goes with the component you identified with the most in C1?
Poets and dreamers who've built up a pile of bad experiences, beware! I'll bet Edgar Allan Poe is in a Hell fit to blow Stephen King's mind...
Think about it... he had a vivid, morbid imagination... and was a VERY emotional person. He had a very RUMINATIVE nature to boot... and a tragic, traumatic life.
I shudder to think about where he is now. Trapped forever beneath the undead-crawling ruins of the "House of Usher" maybe, or fleeing the "Red Death" incarnate perhaps? Is the "Raven" pecking out his eyeballs as he lies in a Pit (with an axe-bladed Pendulum gradually descending for the millionth time) as we speak? Or something too horrific to imagine?
Yikes.
Perhaps there's a way out short of "soul union" though... and it's as simple as what most MEN are already experts at...
Stuffing emotions. Repressing bad memories. Living the LOGICAL life.
DISCIPLINE, U.S. Marine style... the key to "salvation" for me?
Any thoughts?

Chumley

Hi Dear ole Chum,

I think all these ideas are interesting and worth exploring and finding solutions to.

But don't forget, if you find yourself "there," wherever "there" is, you won't be alone with the constructs of your thoughts and imagination. 

It's okay if you prefer to feel separate now, but there is a part of you that knows you are not alone.  There will always be a true friend by your side, no matter how fragmented you appear to yourself now or in the future. 

Your true friend will not let you down.  You may see your friend as a guide, an angel, or just another Joe Blow who shows up on the street named Hell Boulevard, but help will be there.

love, blink