Been thinking about CS Lewis's ideas and thought on Hell

[MJDorry]

If, as Lewis has said, Hell may be the very place souls go to be left alone to do what they will–and when we also consider that it is, for all we know immaterial and our souls incorporeal–can it be argued that some form of perversion of physical satiation and its gratification still exist in Hell? Say a rapist or a drug addict went to Hell, would there be any continued expression and satiation of those perversions or would they merely be slave to a desire that belongs to a now-deceased body–and thus unobtainable–which they dwell in for eternity, always tormented by it? Or can they said to be tormented, but rather merely complacent in their present state?

 

[Used2beSherryG]

If, as Lewis has said, Hell may be the very place souls go to be left alone to do what they will–and when we also consider that it is, for all we know immaterial and our souls incorporeal–can it be argued that some form of perversion of physical satiation and its gratification still exist in Hell? Say a rapist or a drug addict went to Hell, would there be any continued expression and satiation of those perversions or would they merely be slave to a desire that belongs to a now-deceased body–and thus unobtainable–which they dwell in for eternity, always tormented by it? Or can they said to be tormented, but rather merely complacent in their present state?

I believe CS Lewis’ point was that a person wills their own damnation by letting their desires, however bent they may be, to be the controlling force of their life. they are their own little gods, and they choose freely to indulge their animalistic physical urges,denying that they are creatures made in the image and likeness of God, created for eternal life with Him. No one is SENT to hell, some freely choose to go there. what is is like is tormented, knowing there is a God and knowing that one is eternally damned and denied the heaven He promises, being with Him in absolute peace, joy and harmony.

 

[Edward_H]

Been a while since I read Lewis.

I thought one strong point he made about hell was that people would be at great distances from each other. No real opportunity to relate…no communion! So a rapist wouldn’t be able to inflict his torture on anyone either! There was an insubstantial-ness to everything…no sustaining pleasures.

Anyway I am rusty on Lewis and now am motivated to dig out the Great Divorce.

 

[MJDorry]

Been a while since I read Lewis.

I thought one strong point he made about hell was that people would be at great distances from each other. No real opportunity to relate…no communion! So a rapist wouldn’t be able to inflict his torture on anyone either! There was an insubstantial-ness to everything…no sustaining pleasures.

Anyway I am rusty on Lewis and now am motivated to dig out the Great Divorce.

Funny, The Great Divorce is part of the reason I was asking. I got it today for Christmas and just read it through. While Ghost do continue to get more and more distant, with their destruction of need, they had only to imagine a want into place, even though it was insubstantial. I guess then I should clarify: Is it more likely that a man (or woman) will remain eternally imagining their desires in front of them, as in the Hell described in The Great Divorce, or will they merely want for it in some way, but not even br able to retain it within their imagination? Eh, that question sounds confusing. Basically, if a man’s sin of choice in life was lust after pornography, say, would he be left with only the ‘remains’ of that desire, never to have it satiated again, but always slave to it–Like the grumbler who becomes the grumble–or would he be able to imagine a false screen in front of him, much like the rows of houses (Not that he isn’t still merely the desire instead of the desirer)?

I mean, it seems ridiculous to think that although a man in Hell might never experience happiness, and that although he really put himself there, that his perversions might be still be gratified in some capacity, even if only insubstantially.

 

[GEddie]

I think the key lies in the smoke- bodies of those in the Greytown vs. the solid, seminude bodies of those in the “Shadow of Life.”

A smoke body still allows perception and therefore desire, but no fulfillment. They cannot eat or even hold the apples or drink the water; the grass hurts their feet; and the constructions in Greytown being as unsolid as themselves, provide no fulfillment.

Whereas the solid bodies in the Shadow are all a body can be. And even the desires, once they have submitted to death, become glorious, ie. the horse in the second half.

ICXC NIKA

 

[GEddie]

I think the key lies in the smoke- bodies of those in the Greytown vs. the solid, seminude bodies of those in the “Shadow of Life.”

A smoke body still allows perception and therefore desire, but no fulfillment. They cannot eat or even hold the apples or drink the water; the grass hurts their feet; and the constructions in Greytown being as unsolid as themselves, provide no fulfillment.

Whereas the solid bodies in the Shadow are all a body can be. And even the desires, once they have submitted to death, become glorious, ie. the horse in the second half.

ICXC NIKA

 

[DavidFilmer]

The damned (in The Great Divorce) continue in their own sinful or selfish behavior, but derive no satisfaction from it.

“Son,‘he said,’ ye cannot in your present state understand eternity…That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, “No future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say “Let me have but this and I’ll take the consequences”: little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of Heaven: the bad man’s past already conforms to his badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why…the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven, : and the Lost, “We were always in Hell.” And both will speak truly.”

― C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce​

The Screwtape Letters is also recommended reading along these lines.