By Israel Drazin
Among many good ideas, C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) offers readers an interesting concept about heaven and hell in his dream/parable “The Great Divorce.” He reveals that heaven is not a state of mind, but hell is.
Heaven is what is real on earth. People who see life for what it is and enjoy it are in heaven.
Hell is what people feel when they have wrong thoughts about the world, want things without value, and do wrong. People create hell when they are overly concerned about religion but not the enjoyment of life, ignore life’s beauty, seek a life filled with restrictions, paint pictures for the sake of painting rather than enjoying what can be seen, constantly complain, worry about self-respect, are overly involved in work or an avocation, feel that life must center around themselves, weep because children do not attain the goals they set for them, are a wife or husband who works “fingers to the bone” for the spouse without a life of their own, love because they need the other, carry resentments, and grieve over losses they cannot regain.
Humans choose whether they want to enter heaven, not God.
