If you are a real human being, it is very likely that in one form or another, you have been told to go to hell. Maybe quite literally. Maybe with “sign language”. Maybe with looks that could kill. It is not often that we are invited to go to hell on purpose, for a tour, so that we might learn a thing or two to help us get through all the hells we will eventually endure as human beings. Roughly 700 years ago, Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri wrote The Divine Comedy (which is not terribly funny – but lets us know the key character isn’t going to be dead by the end of the story). The unintended consequence of his writing was that it greatly informed the Church’s imagination regarding hell itself, which was a terrible, terrible misstep as his work was poetry not to be taken as some sort of literal guide for future travelers. His goal was, in part, to say something about the human condition. It resonated with people. So much so that this work is among the classics to be appreciated for all time.
Last week we began with Dante in the Dark Wood of Error, the beginning of the tale but the middle of his story. Dante is lost and afraid. The easy way out – climbing over Mt. Delectable – isn’t an option. His favorite philosopher-poet from antiquity, Virgil, showed up as a guide at just the right time – as they often do – to lead him out of the Dark Wood of Error. The bummer? The only way out was to go through hell – as is generally the case. Above the gate to the Inferno: Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here. In other words, what lies ahead on the only way out will not be easy. Cowardice must be replaced by courage.
Virgil leads Dante into the Inferno, an other-worldly place of torture and despair. The reason Virgil is taking Dante into the Inferno, through hell, is not to leave him there, but so that he can observe – every step and every level – and learn from it. What led to the souls being sentenced to their respective levels of torture? What types of sin lead to increasing suffering at every deepening level? Frequently, Virgil encourages Dante to ask questions of the damned, and sometimes, at Dante’s request, Virgil does the asking or prompting because Dante was too terrified to speak. Dante’s journey is a gift, an opportunity to see things differently so that he may live differently on the other side. This puts the entire work of the Divine Comedy into a category with which we are very familiar, especially around the holidays. A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, and The Family Man all represent the same general idea. The Church, unfortunately, got caught up too much in the imagery and missed the point. Instead of understanding it as a form of wisdom literature, the Church used it as an almost literal field guide to life after death for the damned and used it quite effectively to scare the hell out of people so that they would clean up their act. The Divine Comedy, however, rather than scaring the hell out of us about the afterlife, should wake us up to the challenges we face as human beings. Coming into greater consciousness, we are then able to wonder about our own lives, our own decisions, our own passions, using what we see in Dante’s story as a reference of sorts. That’s where Dante’s work takes on relevance and continues to speak even today.
The Inferno consists of nine levels, descending from the least offensive offenses that warranted an eternal sentence to the worst. Worsening grievances are accompanied by increasing severity of torture. As Martha Beck notes in her book, The Way of Integrity, the dominant theme running throughout all of hell and every offense that landed its victims there revolves around truth and lies. The lesser offenses, which comprise the first six layers of hell in Dante’s imagination, are what he calls errors of incontinence. You read that right! Babies who haven’t been potty-trained, adults who have lost the physical control they once had, and all others who have wet themselves while laughing too hard or have arrogantly sharted in private or at a party are all doomed to hell! Sorry. Okay, maybe Dante wasn’t talking about literal incontinence... Martha Beck suggests we think of the first six layers more along the line of innocent mistakes that result in our suffering. In Beck’s view, suffering naturally happens when we experience misalignment from integrity. She would agree that this could also be expressed as not living from our True Selves but from our smaller selves that, to varying degrees have been more influenced by the cultural forces around us than what we would call the Spirit of God residing within us. We live our True Selves more when we can distinguish the difference and live accordingly. Beck also distinguishes between pain and suffering: “Pain comes from events, while suffering comes from the way we handle events – what we do about them and, especially, what we think about them”(The Way of Integrity, 77). The Stoic philosopher, Epectitus, wrote similarly, saying, “What upsets people is not what happens to them, but their thought about what happens” (77).
Appreciating Beck’s insight here, it makes sense that all of hell is ordered by truth and lies. What lies have we chosen to believe to be true, even if intellectually we know otherwise? For the first six levels of hell, most of the suffering comes from giving into lies – some culturally propagated ones, some driven by lust and envy – that people simply were not challenging. They just moved forward, not examining their interior world and finding themselves in pain and subsequent suffering. The lowest three rings of hell are reserved for those guilty of the “errors of righteousness”, where we shift from innocence to consciously choosing to embrace a lie that works for us, doubling down in willful defiance of the truth. Murderers are consigned to ring seven because they have willfully chosen to lie to themselves about the inhumanity of their victim which allows them to justify their actions. A severe disconnect from the truth of our equality and connectedness. The last two levels are for liars of another level – those that lie deeply to themselves, to others, and to God. Why do these liars face a worse fate than murderers? Because, as Maya Angelou noted, “lying is the cornerstone of all vices” (120). Lying to and about ourselves, lying to others – especially the innocents – and ultimately lying to God are the chief offenses. Dante – and Beck and Angelou and Epectitus and C.S. Lewis and many others – recognize that this is where the worst evil is rooted.
One of the greatest gifts of Beck’s book is a method of checking ourselves using two phrases. First, she instructs readers to ask the simple question of what we are telling ourselves: are you sure? This simple pause can keep us from a great number of errors as it inherently reminds us of the need for humility before we launch into a verbal attack against someone (or ourselves). The second phrase she borrows from Byron Katie, who takes it to a deeper level: Can you absolutely know that thought is true? Katie’s phrase is strengthened by the word “absolutely” to quicken our attention. Both statements rely not just on the power of pausing in the moment to gain clarity, catch our breath, and act with intention. Both assume that the truth can be recognized on a deep level within us beyond factual analysis. They assume we have a built-in capacity, an inner voice that speaks truth. While it is the work of our lives to continually whittle away all the influences that are not true, I wholeheartedly agree with their core assumption. The Jewish story of creation has human beings being breathed into being. The divine nature is inextricably woven into us. The only separation between us and the divine is what’s happening between our ears. When we can slow down, the answers to the questions are you sure and can you absolutely know that thought is true whispers in our ears. Object if you want. I only ask you to consider this, and even try it. I have discovered that there is great power in this exercise that has incredible affect. Note: lies we must always hold in tension is our propensity to think of ourselves more highly than we ought – another lie we embrace for our own comfort. I understand the objections to the suggestion – yet I encourage you to embrace what may be very true about the exercise and try it instead of throwing it out because you see its limitations.
With all this in mind, let’s take a look at an infamous story from the earlier testament about a chapter in the life of Israel’s beloved Jewish King, David, when he was deep in the Dark Wood of Error on one particularly infamous occasion. He was no longer young, no longer fit for battle, no longer able to identify himself in the ways he used to, and it caught up with him. The “Man after God’s Own Heart” made mistake after messy mistake that cost literal and metaphorical life. He was lost. A guide showed up for him – Nathan – who, in his own abbreviated way took David through hell. Because the only way out is through. Take time and think deeply about every part of this story, the lies that were embraced the whole way through. David pretty much commits every sin that could take him to the ninth circle of hell. Can you identify them?
What are you struggling with currently in your life? Where are you suffering? What are you saying to yourself about your reality right now. Take some time and space. Are you sure about what you are hearing, seeing, interpreting, and believing? Can you absolutely know that thought is true? What is the Spirit of God whispering in your ear as you listen? Put pen to paper – journal this stuff out – it will help. As you work through this process, you will see more and more how you have settled for your small self and hear more clearly the voice of your True Self speak.
For exercises related to The Way of Integrity, and a discussion guide for each section, click here.