Many individuals who’ve had near-death experiences, briefly crossing into the realm of the afterlife before returning to life, have reported encountering various states of consciousness, including what they describe as “hell consciousness.” In this post, I aim to explore the concept of hell consciousness and how all of us can experience it, whether in the present or in the hereafter. Life is everlasting, and when we face death, it is said to be merely a transition to a different existence or state of consciousness that goes beyond the limitations of our physical reality governed by our five senses. Consciousness cannot die, so in theory, neither can we, despite the illusion of death, as we shift from one realm of consciousness to another. As John Lennon already discovered for himself, life is an interactive experience, and what we call death is, in actuality, just as interactive as life and not merely a passive experience. As John Lennon already discovered for himself, life is an interactive experience, and what we call death is, in actuality, just as interactive as life and not merely a passive experience.
The Psyche | Death & Hell Consciousness
The psyche and the Universe are indeed like the inner and outer worlds. Most people fail to realize that our psyche, both the conscious and unconscious, light and shadow, are capable of creating hell consciousness. What’s interesting about these near-death experiences is that many come back to life with a lot of insight to share with the world, and what they have come back to tell us is that everything they experienced through their psyche in hell or hell consciousness was all of their life issues feeding back on them. All of their inner demons, such as fear of abandonment, betrayal, unworthiness, loneliness, pain, and hopelessness.
Many have come back to tell us that scenes from their life begin to appear once their consciousness leaves this plane of existence and their physical body. As these life scenes play like a movie, we are put back in touch with so many things about our life that we forget and repress for one reason or another in the course of living. Things that we don’t want to remember or are too young to comprehend. In other words, as Carl Jung taught us, all of our feelings of inferiority that are part of the shadow and not the persona, the social mask we present to the world, which is essentially our compensation for what is hiding in the shadow (the unconscious).
These life scenes start from the very beginning of when we are conceived, and while in our mother’s womb, we understand how our body is made out of her body and how we are a part of her love, fears, and all of her life issues too. We are shown things about our biological father that we may have never known or were never told in the course of living. Things that, in some cases, unfortunately, can even make one’s skin crawl. If our mother experienced any form of abuse, interestingly, one senses it as a fetus inside her belly, which can sound and feel like thunder, and in those fights, we are programmed to mistrust men and that the world is a dangerous place to live, and that love is painful.
In these life scenes, once we cross over, we are put back in touch with how our worldview can cause so many problems and so much sorrow in the course of living. And how we may have bought into the doom-and-gloom messages reported by the media as we grow up. We are shown how what we think and do in life affects everyone around us, like a domino effect or ripples on a lake, reaching and touching so many more than we can possibly imagine. Years of our life play away as the body slowly dies. What’s remarkable about a particular testimony is that they understood how their worldview of humans and because they had lost all hope for humanity after seeing human beings like cancer cells, like a cancer ravaging our planet, is what they manifested in the course of living. Because of what they believed, they were diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
Summoning Light | The Inner Light
When one crosses over on their way to hell, all of those life issues are described as shadows, engulfing one in waves until completely consumed by them and falling into what one can only describe as hell. It has been reported as if one is falling into a suffocating black hole, which is naturally their own personal hell. And there, millions of others are caught up in their own private hells, grieving and suffering in so many ways. One’s unconfronted inner wounds, pain, and fear in the course of living are amplified millions of times in hell, and it’s nothing short of each individual’s version of eternal torment. It has been reported that each individual’s hell has a speck of light, but because one is so consumed in their own anger, fears, grief, loss, hopelessness, etc., one cannot see it, nor do they pay attention to it.
But in the midst of one’s misery, the more one calls on the light, the brighter it becomes. The more one summons their will to focus on the light, the brighter and more intense it becomes. So it occurred to them that if there was any way out of that place, out of hell or hell consciousness, it was by focusing all of their energy with every atom of their being and calling out to the light, and not necessarily with words, but with energy and emotion (e-motion, energy in motion). One then begins to see all those shadows without fear but realizes they are a representation of being trapped by one’s negative life issues that not only consume you after death but all during the course of living as well.
One then realizes that hell is simply a state of consciousness but very real, existing in both life and what we know as death, in which most are totally consumed by the traumas they suffered and created in the course of living. Our consciousness survives death, and we take both our positive and negative life issues with us to the other side. As above, so below, and so below, so above. As one summons the light, they are engulfed by what we regard as our guardian angel, or higher self, and as what has been described on the other side as a golden halo, our oversoul. When they asked why did they have to suffer in hell? They were told because of their ignorance and fear, fear of survival.
Fear & Ignorance | The Root of Hell Consciousness
Then one is shown more aspects of their life in more detail and realizes how ignorant one can be in the course of living because we are unaware of how the pieces of life create a tapestry that can be woven, unwoven, or rewoven by everything that we do. One realizes how we come into this world full of fear and rage and how every thread has a reason and a purpose. As we understand the fears and issues of our biological parents and why they are the way they are, we realize their programs and life patterns. One is shown how primarily fear and ignorance dominates the lives of so many on this planet. It has been described that, on the other side, for the very first time, one begins to see why they are the person they had become. When they asked their oversoul why so many are still trapped in hell and unable to be free, the guardian angel responded that they are already free but choose to stay stuck to negative patterns, memories, prejudices, and fear.
Why We Must Die Before Dying | Hell Consciousness
According to Carl Jung, individuation is a reconciliation of both inner and outer worlds, and it is through the world of opposites and the tension that accompanies them that gives rise to our wholeness. The triumph of consciousness over the unconscious begins with the wounding of the personality and the suffering that follows it. This initial jolt is what we refer to as “The call,” although not often recognized as such, it is our initiatic path toward self-realization and our liberation from suffering. The cure or solution to our problems should grow naturally out of the wounded individual, and one must find the light hidden in the darkness. As long as we feel victimized and bitter towards our life’s issues, traumas, and inner wounds, and as long as we seek to escape from our own suffering, we remain inescapably bound to them. This is what is referred to in psychology as neurotic suffering, as opposed to authentic suffering, which comes from our ability to accept our inner wounds and which are then purified.
Sickness and healing are inseparable aspects of a more extensive process revealed through their interplay. Just like the self-generating light of the sun, the ultimate source of our healing can only be found within ourselves. “In myths, the hero is the one who conquers the dragon, not the one who is devoured by it. And yet both have to deal with the same dragon. Also, he is no hero who never met the dragon or who, if he once saw it, declared afterward that he saw nothing. Equally, only one who has risked the fight with the dragon and is not overcome by it wins the hoard, the “treasure hard to attain.” He alone has a genuine claim to self-confidence, for he has faced the dark ground of his Self and thereby has gained himself… He has acquired the right that he will be able to overcome all future threats by the same means.” -Carl Jung.
There comes a point where our wounds and traumas become too much to bear, and one must tend to them. Accepting and overcoming our inner wounds is a natural death experience because as we die to the old self by summoning our strength and inner light, a new, more expansive, and empowered self is born. Generally speaking, people who embark on a helping profession as a healer and mentor want to address their inner wounds first, characterized by their life issues, beginning with their dysfunctional childhood, abuse, inferiority complex, etc. To heal themselves, they have to face their own shadows, unconscious aspects, and their own personal hell in the process of living so that they help others with their own healing processes.
Psychologically speaking, as one is unable to face their shadow, what hides from our conscious mind and awareness, thus concealing one’s true Self, can cause one to act in complete opposition to what one feels emotionally. If we suppress our problems and never face them in a constructive manner, our shadow or unconscious grows larger and darker in density. According to Freud, a traumatic or abusive childhood can cause what is referred to in psychology as repetition compulsion. It is our unconscious need to repeat those same traumatic events that show up in different situations from all sorts of relationships in one’s life but with the same underlying archetypal pattern. Every repetition makes our problems more complex, and our unconscious tries to heal us and help us develop a new relationship with the underlying pattern by re-activating them. To convert the venom into healing, so to speak. Essentially, this is what we experience in our own personal hells, whether we consciously choose and accept our suffering in the process of living by purifying it or whether we experience it after death. As our guardian or higher self wants to remind us, we are always free as long as we choose our freedom and liberation from suffering.
Don’t miss this post here: Are We Doomed Like Ancient Atlantis?
