Concepts of heavenly realms and hellish realms have always existed within theism. But do these realms actually exist, or are they simply stories to keep our moral compasses in check?
The short answer is yes. Heaven and hell do exist, but probably not in the way you would think.
Every religion has a concept of heavenly states of consciousness, and hellish states of consciousness. Let’s have a look:
- Christianity: Where the terms heaven and hell originate from
- Islam: Jannah is described as a place of eternal bliss, While Jahannam is described as a place of punishment
- Judaism: Olam Ha-Ba is a place of reward and closeness to God while Gehenna is described as a place of purification or punishment.
- Hinduism: Hinduism has concepts of nirvana while also believing in lower realms such as Naraka.
- Buddhism: Concept of Sukhavati which is a blissful state achieved through good karma, and Naraka as found in Hinduism.
- Sikhism: Believes in Sachkhand which is a state of spiritual union with God, and also Naraka
And the list goes on, not to mention new-age beliefs, indigenous beliefs, and so on. As I regularly mention, if a theme is recurrent in many different religions and spiritual belief systems, then it must be real.
But there’s some nuance to it.
See, hell isn’t a firey pit full of demons poking you with pitchforks as eternal punishment for your misdeeds as a human. Part of being a human is to misdeed. That’s the whole point of the learning process, of incarnating into these flesh suits to make mistakes and find our way through them.
It seems counterintuitive to me if you’re judged by the decisions you make as a human being. Would you judge a toddler for not knowing any better? Probably not, so why would god judge the soul’s decisions as a human who doesn’t know any better?
On the other hand, spending the rest of your days in a cloudy paradise seems… vanilla. Where’s the thrill, the adventure, the challenge? Part of what makes life beautiful… is that it’s real. Let’s face it, the way heaven is portrayed by Christianity is boring. Doesn’t sound much like true bliss to me.
From the logical mind, these concepts fall apart. They don’t make sense, at least not from the human intellect. So what’s the truth behind heaven and hell? How do these places work?
This is what I’m going to break down for you in this article so you can form a more comprehensive view of these polar different states of consciousness.
Are heaven and hell places?
Heaven and hell are not physical places, but rather expressions of consciousness that are tied into vibration, and karmic influences.
Beyond this reality are many different realms. What we’re experiencing here as humans is just one face of the interdimensional consciousness cube. Some realms are denser, meaning there is a higher capacity for suffering, while some realms are lighter, meaning there is a higher capacity for joy.
Our dimension is somewhere in the middle. As human beings, we can experience both deep states of suffering and high states of joy. People can have hellish experiences, and they can also have heavenly experiences.
And what determines the experience someone will have?
Their vibration of course. The higher the vibration of consciousness, the more heavenly the experience. The lower the vibration of consciousness, the more hellish the experience.
This means you can experience both heavenly experiences and hellish experiences on Earth due to your vibration, but the range of our experience in this realm is limited. We are unable to go to the lowest lows or highest highs because we simply lack the capacity as human beings.
This is where other realms play a role.
There exist realms of consciousness that are more extreme than Earth. This means the experience of consciousness can be denser in certain realms (where it may experience a higher capacity of suffering), and it can be lighter in certain realms (where it may experience a higher capacity of joy).
Let’s have a look at what the experience of consciousness is in higher and lower states, regardless of the realm it resides in.
Heavenly states of consciousness correspond with high vibrational energy (or light energy). This is the energy we experience when we connect more deeply to the source of creation, as the source is the highest vibration of consciousness – oneness.
Light energy is directly associated with the higher self, happiness, love, benevolence, virtuous behavior, positivity, and abundance. Angels are symbols of light energy which is why they’re benevolent entities that serve, help, and heal.
Light energy is the heavenly experience of consciousness and the highest vibration of energy. This means when a being experiences light energy, they are experiencing states of heaven, whether they’re in this realm or others.
Higher realms of existence facilitate experiences of consciousness that are blissful because higher realms inherently have a high vibration. This means the experience of consciousness becomes one of pure love, gratitude, joy, and other energies that correspond with a high vibration.
This experience is known as bliss, which is what souls experience in heavenly realms.
Hellish states of consciousness correspond with low vibrational energy (or darkness). It’s the energy we experience when we disconnect from the source, causing fragmentation, suffering, and experiences that are considered dark.
Darkness is associated with the lower self, suffering, hatred, malevolence, malbehavior, destruction, and hunger. Demons are symbols of darkness which is why they’re malevolent entities associated with horror, destruction, and suffering.
Darkness is the hellish experience of consciousness, meaning when a being experiences darkness, they are experiencing hell (to some extent at least).
Lower realms of existence facilitate experiences of consciousness that are horrific. This means the experience of consciousness becomes one of pure suffering by experiencing all facets of consciousness that are associated with darkness.
Why do souls go to hell?
Oof, we’re getting into complicated territory here. It’s hard to express from my little human mind, that’s why I made a diagram to (hopefully) depict the relationship between heaven (higher realms), hell (lower realms), and everything in between.
Here goes…
There are 3 realms (or types of realms) we can experience as souls:
- Lower realms (hellish)
- Middle realms (moderate)
- Higher realms (heavenly)
Reality is a middle realm. This means the range of experience a soul can have here is relatively moderate. In higher realms, the range of experience is more heavenly, while in lower realms, the range of experience is more hellish.
Even though we can experience both states of heaven and hell to some extent on Earth, our experience is limited. If we truly want to traverse into the extremes of consciousness, we must transcend the boundaries of this dimension.
If we pass into higher dimensions by incarnating into them, we experience higher states of bliss than we have the capacity to experience as humans.
On the other hand, souls can obviously suffer a lot here, but there is a safety net – death. The experience can’t get too horrendous because we die if it gets too bad.
Souls may traverse into lower realms to have extremely intense experiences that are best not to think about. But don’t worry because a soul won’t stay there forever. They travel into these realms because the soul needs to undergo some serious learning, but will eventually ascend back into the middle realms given they learn what they need.
In my perspective, the purpose of every soul is to find its way back to its source.
Souls branch off from the source to undergo soul journeys and experience individuality. The only way to get back to the source is to vibrate at the same frequency as the source (what we may understand as enlightenment).
Acquiring this wisdom to vibrate at these frequencies takes many incarnations and a whole lot of learning, but every soul will eventually get there, despite how convoluted its journey is.
The purpose of a soul journey
All souls come from the source because it’s the source of all consciousness. Imagine the source as the core of the onion. At this level of existence, there is no separation, it’s a state of totality with everything in existence. This is the deepest level of existence – the sea of consciousness without manifestation. It’s the only level of existence where duality does not exist.
From my understanding, all dimensions, souls, and experiences branch off from source to experience contrast.
Like vapor from the sea evaporating into droplets in the clouds, consciousness splits off from the collective to experience individuality. This is where the soul comes into play; a droplet of consciousness separated from the collective to experience individuality.
But why?
I believe a soul can experience more as an individual. Just think about how many experiences we can have in every shape or form, as a human alone. Infinite. Now imagine an infinite amount of souls branching off from the collective to undergo their soul journeys.
That’s a lot of experiences to be had!
But let’s translate that.
That’s a lot of information to be collected through the act of consciousness experiencing oneself endlessly, in every possible form. And why does consciousness want to experience itself endlessly?
Who knows. But I like to think that this is how the collective learns. I believe that the collective consciousness too is on a soul journey, that it’s also learning and growing and developing its understanding of existence and oneself.
This is a mechanism to do so. Therefore the more realms that exist, the more experiences can be had. The more experiences that can be had, the more the collective learns and grows.
Why do different realms exist?
Different realms act as different thresholds of experience. It’s a way for the collective consciousness to diversify experience.
Look at it this way.
Imagine god as an entire solar system. At the core of this solar system is the sun, the source of all light. The further you stray from the sun, the darker it gets.
The further a soul strays from the source, the more the darkness consumes it. Souls that are vibrating highly do not go into the lower realms unless karmically, they need to learn something from them. Souls that are experiencing darkness will only elevate to higher realms if they learn, heal, and evolve.
I think souls go into hellish realms when they venture too far from the light. Souls get lost, and in their incarnations, they may do bad things and suffer.
If a soul is suffering, they’re already somewhat lost. That’s why we’re here in the middle realms because we’re all lost to some degree. If we continue getting more lost, we may venture into lower realms. If we start connecting more with spirit (or source) we may venture into heavenly realms.
Heavenly and hellish realms serve a purpose in the grand scheme of spiritual evolution. We can’t look at one as being good and the other as bad.
All facets of consciousness, including the devil, are parts of god. God is the entire system of existence, you could say the creative force behind it. God branches out into many different expressions of consciousness, some of those being hellish.
Even though hell has a negative connotation because it’s an experience of consciousness associated with suffering, it too has a purpose, for it’s too a creation of god’s immense imagination. Therefore, hell is not a hidden place in the absence of god’s consciousness. It’s an expression of god’s consciousness which too serves a function in the grand system of god.
Hellish states of consciousness, or realms, act as mechanisms to teach a soul.
Think of hellish realms as boot camps for the soul. Troubled souls go to these boot camps to learn some harsh lessons that they may not have discovered during other incarnations. It’s like the hard-ass school teacher who takes no flack and has no sense of fun. You don’t enjoy the teacher’s classes, but you learn the most in them.
I believe every soul has been (or will go) to hellish realms along it’s journey to ultimately evolve. After all, the soul needs to understand the consequence of its action, the same way we must to learn.
How to acquire a ticket to heaven
Vibration is your ticket to heaven. Vibration is your ticket to hell.
If your vibration is high, you create a match for heavenly states of consciousness which creates a bridge into higher realms. As heavenly realms are high vibrational, your soul needs to experience these energies to incarnate into higher realms.
Likewise, the vibration of hellish realms is low. Therefore, if your vibration is at par with hellish realms, then you may incarnate into these realms.
Think of it this way.
Water cannot mix with oil. If you’re vibrating at the level of oil, you won’t be able to join the vibration of water. You will only be able to mix into the oil. If you’re vibrating at the level of water, you won’t be able to join the vibration of oil. The very nature of your existence, or your soul, attracts one experience of consciousness and repels the other.
When you die and incarnate, karmic energies will orchestrate what experience you will have, depending on your vibrational match.
This is how I think of states of heaven and hell. To incarnate into these realms of experience, you must be resonating at the frequency of that realm.
Therefore, the only way to escape hell and enter heaven is to raise your vibration by healing, growing, learning, and attuning your consciousness to states of love, gratitude, compassion, and other high vibrational energies.
You are here for a reason.
Regardless of what you’re experiencing here on Earth, you can turn it around. If you want to move up the ladder into heavenly realms, you must evolve your consciousness and connect more with god. I’m not saying you need to worship god, because you are god. But the path leads inwards, to spiritual service, to love, to connection. This is the pathway to heaven.
The path of spiritual evolution is synonymous with moving closer to the source. By evolving your consciousness, you are cultivating a deeper connection with the source, and if you’re doing that, you’re on the right path.
Of course, the journey can be confusing. It can be tough, it can be challenging and sometimes we will get lost in darkness. This is all part of the process. All you need to do is follow your pursuit of spiritual growth to connect more with spirit. If you’re doing that, then you are moving your consciousness in the right direction.
Have fun on this journey of consciousness, and enjoy the ride, through ups and downs!