THE AFTERLIFEClaudia White

IntroductionOne of the most famous interpretations of hell was created by Dante Alighieri in his narrative

poem, the Inferno. Dante writes with vivid detail by engaging all of the five senses with intensive imagery

to create the sensation for the reader than they too are in hell. Dante also incorporated in his hell various

creatures and landmarks characteristic of other mythologies, like Greek mythology, to enhance his

catholic vision of hell. Writing this poem in exile, Dante contemplated his life from an ethical, religious,

and philosophical standpoint, placing various political and religious figures of his life in different circles

of hell based on his judgement of their actions. It can be speculated that the writing of the narrative

poem the Inferno was a cathartic experience for Dante, as his fictitious trek through his own hell allowed

him to sort through his various emotions of anger and frustration of his exile and the political situation of

Florence during his lifetime. Dante’s vision of hell is composed of nine total circles, each with their own

sinners and corresponding punishment. Dante creates a sense of contrapasso when he created these

punishments, as they correspond to the sinners actions in life on both a literal and metaphorical level.

Dante contemplates the ideas of eternal damnation and hope for redemption as his descent into hell was

prescribed by God for Dante to learn the True way from which he strayed with his sense of worldliness.

But the question remains, if Dante has the hope of redemption, what are we to think of the redemption of

the sinners?

The Afterlife – My Own InterpretationGoing off of the question of redemption for the eternally damned, I have based my own vision of

the afterlife on the chance for redemption for all people. Rather than creating a hell based in eternal fire and great suffering, I have created an afterlife lacking the negative connotation of hell that offers a path of redemption for all sinners in the afterlife. My own afterlife, channeling the more archaic view, is not a place of punishment, rather a place of neutrality with a chance for redemption for sins committed in life. The idea behind my motivation of redemption is to honor the complexity of life and our actions; we are not defined by a singular moment in life, rather the sum of its parts, which includes complex motives that drive our actions. I believe that at our core, people naturally want to do good, but this nature can be derailed in so many ways that it is not a surprise that many people find themselves lost at some point in time and act wrongly. Basing my afterlife off of the steps of recovery, each sinner will travel through the levels of recovery in order to face their worldly actions and learn from them. Because I am seeking to honor the complexity of human nature with the incredibly personal element of belief of the afterlife, each sinner will travel through the levels of recovery based off of their life experiences, each sinner haunted by their own mistakes. Beliefs of hell, the afterlife, and religion are something that is very personal to us in life, thus each person’s descent through my own vision of the afterlife will embark on their own journey based on their life and beliefs, just as their beliefs were shaped by their lives. This relation between a sinner’s life and their experience of the afterlife is based off of Dante’s idea of contrapasso, which is the relation of a sinner’s punishment to their life. It is in my own afterlife that all souls are awarded the chance of redemption, of which they were deprived in life.

Circle One – Gathering Place for All Souls■ Thus the name, the first circle of my afterlife is the place where all souls

go – good or evil. It is almost like a train-station, in the nature that all of the souls meet in this point, and from here all the souls go onto different paths,

– Some souls who lived virtuous lives free of sin either go onto another life by their own will, or have the choice of eternal light, as their essence will be transformed into stars, so to guide others on their way as they did in life as reward for their virtuous lives

– Other souls who were not virtuous but were not sinners go strait into another body, having no recollection of the past. They are given the opportunity to live another life, in which they can learn how to live with virtue, but not punished for they did no wrong severe enough to enter the next levels

– Finally, the sinners move on to the second circle, in which they are sorted into three larger groups based on their actions in life

■ In my own vision I have channeled ideas of reincarnation, which brings truth to the phrase, “old soul.” I believe that life is full of natural cycles, and our souls which are as old as time follow this cyclic nature like anything else, such as the sun rising and falling, seasons changing, and the earth moving. The belief in the cyclic patterns of nature have been incorporated in many archaic beliefs, which I am using for inspiration in addition to Buddhism with the ideas of reincarnation. This channeling of various beliefs from different mythologies and religions is similar to Dante’s incorporation of Greek figures in his catholic-based hell.

Circle Two – Place of the Sinners■ This is the place in which the sinners go after leaving circle one, the

other souls having been sent on another path of reincarnation. This is the section in which the sinners are organized into three chambers by the nature of their sins in life, and within these three chambers are three smaller cells, which is a further specification of sin.

– Chamber one: Sins against self

■ Cell one: Suicides

■ Cell two: Drug users

■ Cell three: Slothful

– Chamber two: Sins against others

■ Cell one: homicides

■ Cell two: thieves

■ Cell three: traitors

– Chamber three: Sins against God

■ Cell one: dreadful

■ Cell two: prideful

■ Cell three: simoniacs

■ Cell four: this cell is not within a chamber and is isolated from the others; saved for the worst souls of all, who no matter their sin, have no remorse.

Sins

against

self

Sins

against

others

Sins

against

God

Circle Two – Chamber One

■ Sins against self – these sinners are those who committed actions in life that harmed themselves, which include suicides, drug abusers, as well as the slothful, or lazy. Each of these sins and their corresponding sinners are organized into separate cells,

– Cell one: Suicides – these are people who refused to face their problems in life and decided to end it all – an act which is incredibly selfish, as it is for one’s own purpose and leaves the rest of the world to clean up what they left behind. The sinners of this cell are Romeo and Juliet, from Shakespeare’s most famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet. who both committed suicide in the name of love. Though their deaths offered as a unifying agent for their families, they denied themselves the gift of life, by selfishly ending their lives.

– Cell two: Drug abusers – these people created their joys and happiness with synthetic chemicals, neglecting the beauty that life itself has already provided. They pumped their bodies with poison, damaging the vessel with which great beauty and love and happiness comes into the world, their body. The sinner of this cell is Alice, from the anonymously written novel Go Ask Alice. The subject of this authentic account was an avid drug user alive during the 1960’s who let her life spiral out of control with her drug usage, which ultimately ended her life before she had a chance at recovery.

– Cell three: Slothful and sullen – These are the people who were awarded with a unique and great potential, which they rejected by not living up to their abilities by embracing a life of inactivity and laziness. The sinner of this cell is Eeyore, because in life he did not live up to his full potential, thus neglecting his talents and abilities.

■ The physical environment of this chamber of cells is to reflect the emotions that controlled these sinners in life, which was an overall feeling of depression, sadness, emptiness, and loneliness. The physical environment that would best suit these sinners in this chamber is an eternal thunderstorm, creating a physical representation of the emotions that haunted them in life.

Circle Two – Chamber Two

■ Sins against others – In this chamber were people who in life, caused harm to others, including homicides, thieves, and traitors. Each of these sins and their corresponding sinners are organized into three separate cells,

– Cell one: Homicides – These were people who deprived another person of the gift of life, which in some senses can be considered theft. But because of the severity of the action of ending another life, it is in its own cell. The sinner of this section is Johnny, from The Outsiders by S.H Hinton. Johnny, in defense of his friend Ponyboy Curtis, stabbed Bob, one of the “Soc’s” a rival gang of their clan, the “Greasers.” Johnny took the life of another person, placing him in this chamber.

– Cell two: Thieves – Thieves were people who took from others, not as severe as taking human life, but still caused deprivation in some sense for another person. The sinner of this section is Baba, from Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. In life, Baba stole his dear friend Ali’s wife, and with her had a son named Hassan. Baba stole from Hassan a life of privilege by refusing to recognize Hassan as his son, thus robbing his other son Amir of a brother.

– Cell three: Traitors – Traitors are those who committed an act of betrayal against another person, which can have violent aftermath for the party betrayed. This is seen in the life of the sinner in this cell, which is Brutus, who is most famous for his betrayal of Caesar in life and in Shakespeare’s work Julius Caesar. Brutus betrayed his once friend Julius Caesar and conspired with the Roman senate to orchestrates his death on the Ides of March.

■ The physical environment of this chamber of cells like the first is so to personify the emotions that obsessed these sinners in life, and because these sins were orchestrated against others, they are surrounded by eternal winds, which represent the turmoil and destruction they caused

Circle Two – Chamber Three ■ Sins against God – these are the sinners who do harm against God, including

extremists, those who are prideful, as well as simoniacs. Each of these sins and their corresponding sinner are placed in separate cells,

– Cell one: Dreadful – These are the sinners that manipulated religion as justification for their own nefarious agendas, which I have dubbed the dreadful because there is no other word to encapsulate their actions. This sin is seen most commonly when someone uses religion as justification to eradicate a given population in order to reach a position of superiority. They are sinful towards God because they use the teachings of religion to enact great atrocities in life, which is harm towards God and contradicts the foundations of religion. The sinner of this cell is Christopher Columbus, who justified his harsh treatment of native peoples in the New World with religion in that he was seeking more converts to increase Church power.

– Cell two: Prideful – These are the sinners who are prideful, thinking that they are equal to or better than God, which is a sin against God so as undermining the power of God by placing one on the same level as a divine being or essence. The sinner of this cell is Icarus, who once given wings, felt he had the divine powers of flight, and because of this pride he felt he flew into the sun.

– Cell three: Simoniacs – These are sinners who use the Church to deceive others, most often with the purchase of false indulgences. This is a sin against God because it is a misuse of God’s teachings and involves the deception of believing individuals by an authority figure. The sinner of this cell is Pope Leo X, who built the lavish St. Peter’s Basilica funded by the purchase of false indulgences, riddling the papacy with corruption as it was the richest institution while the majority of the population lived in poverty.

■ The physical environment of this region, similar to the rest of the chambers, is to reflect the emotions that motivated these sinners actions in life, thus this chamber is filled with eternal fire, as these sinners felt an intense frustration with the universe, thus reflected in eternal flame.

Circle Two Cell Four – The Remorseless ■ Cell four: The remorseless – isolated from the rest of the cells and not

belonging in a chamber, rather concealed from sight away from the other chambers of my afterlife. Cell four is saved for those sinners who are remorseless and do not see the error of their ways. The sinners of cell four are different from their counterparts of the first cells because of their lack of remorse – most people by nature do feel the repercussions of their actions, such as guilt, sorrow, and remorse. It is because of this element of human nature that I have made my hell based off of steps of recovery, because people are incredibly complex creatures, and this should be honored and embraced by the opportunity of recovery. These sinners however do not feel these repercussions and face no guilt for their actions, thus neglecting to complexity and beauty that is within human nature. These sinners have committed a variety of different sins, but are organized here by their lack of remorse for the lives affected by their actions. Because of this neglect they committed in life, they are thus neglected in life by being isolated from the rest of the sinners of circle two.

■ One sinner in this section who had no remorse of their actions was Adolf Hitler, who was responsible for the death of millions of innocent Jews during the period of the Holocaust. He abused his powers of leadership in order to orchestrate a mass genocide in order to create his vision of a perfect world –at the cost of innocent lives. He felt no remorse for his actions, and was too cowardice to accept his demise by killing himself. This suicide would normally place him in chamber one, but because his other horrific actions for which he felt no remorse, he is placed in cell four, isolated from the other siiners.

■ The physical location of this region, like its counterparts, is so to represent the emotions that obsessed these sinners in life. Because these sinners had little remorse and felt very little for those they affected, this region is incredibly cold to represent the lack of emotions of these sinners in life, thus they are stuck in eternal snow.

Circle Three – Admitting the

Wrongness of Your Actions■ Now that the sinners have been organized, they are now able to begin

their journey through the afterlife. As I mentioned previously, the remaining circles of my afterlife have been based off of the twelve steps of recovery, which is most often used by addicts of some sort when they are seeking repentance for their actions. Rather than using these steps as literal inspiration, I was inspired by the emotions I would imagine an addict feeling when going through these steps, and then personifying these emotions to create a physical environment for each circle, similar the physical landscapes of each of the chambers in circle two.

■ Circle Three begins the sinners on their journey of self-healing and repentance, which they must start by realizing the wrongness of their actions in life. During this time, the sinners feel very lost and disoriented, having been thrown onto this journey after being put into chambers in the previous circle. This feeling of disorientation and confusion can be most related to Dante’s Dark Wood, which is where he finds himself at the beginning of the Inferno. The sinners of this region are to travel through this circle in order to find the error of their ways, or the wrongness of their actions. Because of these emotions of disorientation and confusion, the physical environment of this circle is indeed a forest, which has very little light and heavy foliage, forcing the sinners to look intensely into their lives in order to find where they went wrong.

Circle Four – Understanding the Effects of Your Actions

■ Now that the sinners have gone through circle three and have recognized that their actions in life were wrong, they now move on to the next part of their journey, which is understanding the effects their actions had on other people in life. It is important to note that because this is a personal journey for each sinner, the length of time spent in each circle varies between each sinner. The personal nature of my afterlife is especially apparent in this circle, because the physical environment endured by the sinners of this circle is to relive their mistakes from life and see the repercussions they caused other people. It is almost like each sinner is watching a movie of their life, which is exactly what they are doing – they are surrounded by images of their life and how their actions harmed others around them. Because of the nature of this circle, in that it forces each sinner to relive their mistakes and the harm it caused others, this circle often invokes great suffering for the sinners. Many try to escape these images but they surround each sinner to prevent such escapes. This circle also addresses the core goodness of human nature in that most sinners (except those in cell four) do feel remorse for their actions and want to do good in the world. It is because of this aspect of human nature that this level invokes such suffering, in that it reminds these sinners, who wanted to be good people, caused suffering to others. But this suffering endured by each sinner is necessary and must be accomplished to allow for their journey to continue, and allow each sinner in the end to indeed heal.

Circle Five – Finding a Higher Power■ Now that the sinners have understood the effects of their actions in

circle four, they now continue their journey into circle five, which is finding a higher power. This is a point of divergence for many people in life, as there are many different beliefs and religions that all preach of a different God. Regardless of these different religions, there is a higher power that presides over everything, and some simply assign this higher power to a God of some sort. Despite beliefs in life, each sinner in this circle seeks to find this higher power, facing various trials and tribulations of their own along the way. To reiterate, the nature of my hell is very personal, thus each sinner’s version of the afterlife is different. In this circle, each sinner has his/her own interpretation of the higher power they must find, as well as their own trials and tribulations along the way based on their life. These trials they face along the way are various temptations that tempted each sinner in life, and seek to do the same in the afterlife to detour them from their destination. Some of the more common temptations that sinners face are usually things like fame, fortune, beauty, as well as other items such as drugs and alcohol. These things are intended to invoke the very behaviors and tendencies that cause sin in life, and forces the sinners to muster enough inner strength to resist such temptations.

■ Because of the intentions of this circle mentioned above, the physical environment endured by the sinners in this circle is a maze, each sinner facing temptation around each corner, and at the end, finally reaching a higher power that which they seek. The environment of a maze reflects the frustration that the sinners face at this section, many feel the sensation of being lost or misguided when seeking out a higher power, as many feel in life when thinking about the existence of a higher power and in what form that higher power exists.

Circle Six – Repenting for Your Actions

■ Now that the sinners have found a higher power in circle five, they must repent for their actions in circle six to continue their journey. This circle is where my beliefs are similar to those of Dante Alighieri, in that because of his catholic background, he embraced the importance of repenting for sins which is what be based his own hell off of – eternal punishment to repent for sins. I do agree with the importance of repenting for sins, but reject the ideas of eternal punishment and hellfire without chance of redemption. This circle of my afterlife allows for the repentance of sins, but the journey continues and allows the sinners to heal themselves of their sins and then re-enter the world without recollection of past events, but an improved sense of morality in their soul with the idea of reincarnation. This allows each soul in the end to accomplish the goal dictated by human nature – to go good in the world, which inherently allows souls to re-enter the world in a better form.

■ The physical environment endured by the sinners in this circle involves the sinners reaching the light at the end of the maze of circle five, but being burnt by the light, leaving the sinners with severe burns and blisters. The light in this circle is representative of the higher power each sinner finds, and the hope that the sinners feel upon finding this higher power. The burns and blisters the sinners get from going too close to the light is representative of the great pain endured by the sinners from repenting, which is the inner torment of guilt that comes with owning up to the harmful actions committed by these sinners in life.

Circle Seven – Facing Your Emotions■ Now that the sinners have repented for their sins in circle six, they

continue on their journey into circle seven. Circle seven is unique from the other circles, in that it is not so much a step for recovery, rather a time of self-reflection. Thus far, each sinner has been forced to recall the mistakes of their life which has stripped them of their pride and dignity, leaving many of the sinners in disrepair. This circle is rather a manifestation of all of these profound emotions that are being felt by these sinners, which include anger, frustration, sadness, loneliness, and grief. All of these emotions being thrown at the sinners at once during this intensive journey leave the sinners incredibly overwhelmed, and circle seven is the physical representation of the sinners in this emotionally overwhelming state. In the journey from circle three to circle nine, I consider circle seven the low point of my after life. From a literary standpoint, this can be compared to a hero’s decent into the abyss from the Hero Cycle, in which they reach their lowest point. Despite this circle being the one with, in my opinion, the highest degree of internal suffering, it offers as a sense of hope. Because this is the low-point of each sinner’s journey, it can only go up or get better from here.

■ The physical environment of this circle is a vast ocean, in which the sinners are drowning. The sensation of drowning is a physical representation of the emotional turmoil the sinners are going through –an overwhelming amount of emotional suffering being thrown at the sinners from all different directions, surrounding them. This overwhelming of emotional pain is often compared to the sensation of drowning, as these emotions trap the sinner and force them to get through them rather than avoiding them, similar to drowning – you have to swim to get through it.

Circle Eight – Asking For Forgiveness ■ Now that the sinners have faced their emotions, they now must continue

their journey by asking for forgiveness in circle eight. In the previous circle, the sinners reached the lowest point of their journey by drowning in their emotions, they now have a renewed sense of hope as they embark onto the eighth circle, which is asking for forgiveness. The act of asking forgiveness is quite demanding for the sinners, as it requires them to put aside their pride and admit their mistakes and faults, which for anyone is a demanding and humiliating tasks that contrasts our natural want for superiority. But because this want for superiority along with the other flaws of human nature are what causes people to sin in life, the sinners must fight against these tendencies in order to complete their journey.

■ Because of the demanding nature of asking for forgiveness, the physical environment to be endured by the sinners is to climb a mountain. On their trek they will face great trials and tribulations, similar to circle five, that are there in order to hinder their progress. Unlike the more intangible distractions of circle five in the maze, the hindrances of this circle are more physical, such as high winds, snowstorms, and avalanches, which are typical for climbing a mountain. These hindrances are in a physical nature in order to make the sinner feel a sense of powerlessness against nature, therefore, against a higher power. This sense of powerlessness gives the sinner a sense of frustration during their trek, but allows them to gain a sense of humility to outweigh the pride that is naturally instilled in human nature. The sense of humility gained during this trek allows the sinner to continue their journey.

Circle Nine - Light ■ Finally, the sinners have made

it to the final circle – light. Now that the sinners have endured great but necessary pain and suffering, they can now go into the light in order for their soul or essence to be brought into the world again. The souls however, will have no recollection of their previous life, rather their soul will retain the qualities or characteristics gained through this journey. Because this journey is one very personal to each sinner, there is no set time as to how long it takes for each soul to travel through these seven levels, some take months, years, or even decades. Despite that, these sinners have now made it through this journey and will be brought into the world as improved beings in another life.

Conclusion

It is clear that Dante Alighieri’s vision of hell created in his narrative poem, the Inferno is

the most famous depiction of hell in literature. In the writing of the Inferno, Dante used his

catholic background as well as influences from Greek Mythology, and incorporated many figures

of the Florentine political and religious scenes in varying levels of hell. Dante was in exile during

his writing of the Inferno, which indicates that the writing of this poem was Dante’s own method

of coping with the political and religious situations of Florence during his life, prompting him to

look into himself and the world around him from a religious, ethical, and philosophical point of

view. I was inspired by this aspect of the Inferno the most, and when creating my own hell, went

on my own journey of questioning my own life and values, similar to Dante. I feel that the

creation of my own afterlife caused me to question so much of what I have been taught and

grown up with, and I feel that I have grown in this experience. It is important to question things

in life, including ourselves and our values. It is in questioning these values that allows for people

to truly find themselves and their identities. I, on my own journey of moral investigation, found

more truth to the phrase, “You have to be lost in order to be found” than I realized. It is the

values that we gain through life and religion that govern our thoughts and actions, and

questioning these values allows us to strengthen them – so that’s what I did when creating my

own afterlife, and from that I have grown.

FINISThank you for your time and attention