Hell and The Meaning of Life
You can live your whole life asserting that the meaning of life is loving people or glorifying God. There’s nothing wrong with that. But there is a difference between speaking phrases from books and teachings without conviction and uttering them with sure conviction because you've been to hell and back.
Only the person who has been to hell and prevailed knows with conviction why he lives. For in hell, you discover the meaning of life by staring death in the eye and overcoming your mediocrity.
As long as you haven't faced your mortality, all your answers to the question of meaning are fickle phrases or mere words. Virtue signalling to your community about eternal life, glorifying God or becoming one with nature. You’d abandon your faith or belief system in a blink of an eye.
But the person who journeys to the depths of hell will find meaning and conviction. Not because they witnessed hell—anyone can witness hell and still remain the same—but because in that desolate place they decided whether they’ll rot in hell or prevail?
Portal to hell
The portal to hell opens when you face your mortality. Eventually, we’ll have to confront the reality that death awaits each one of us. No-one escapes death.
Some of us are thrown into the portal through tragedy. Some of us never acknowledge the existence of the portal until it’s too late. While some of us willing enter the portal through our own volition.
Once in Hell
In facing your mortality you realize that anything before that moment has been hell. Your current reality is hell because your life is mediocre, your love is mediocre, your faith is mediocre, your courage is mediocre, your skills are mediocre, your convictions are mediocre, your passions are mediocre, and your relationships are mediocre.
Hell is made up of what-ifs and mediocre attempts at living well.
Most of us have been living under the illusion that our life is a piece of heaven. It's not—it's hell. Hell is living a mediocre life. So now we have a choice. Will we prevail or will we rot in hell?
The journey out of hell is filled with pain and suffering. Every moment in hell is an opportunity to purge yourself of your laziness, cowardice, vanity, greed, and lust. Not an easy task. You may spend days, weeks, months, or years in hell.
But when you’ve prevailed you will have found your meaning because you’ve forged meaning. And you no longer fear death because he has become your trusted friend.
There is no simple answer to what the meaning of life is. Neither is there a complicated answer that will suffice. So what will suffice? Enter the portal to hell and prevail.