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Even Pope John Paul II said at a Vatican conference on June 28, 1999 that heaven and hell were primarily eternal states of consciousness more than geographical places of later reward and punishment. We seem to be our own worst enemies, and we forget or deny things that are just too good to be true. The ego clearly prefers an economy of merit, where we can divide the world into winners and losers, to any economy of grace, where merit and worthiness lose all meaning.
In the first case, at least a few of us good guys attain glory, although the vast majority of all of human history seems to be mere collateral damage to a God who is supposed to be merciful and compassionate. In the second case, God actually is as merciful and compassionate as the world Scriptures and saints seem to agree upon. A notion of hell has to be theoretically maintained, or humans have no freedom—and most religions have a similar concept—but it is interesting to me that the Roman Catholic Church has never declared a single person to be there, while it has declared tens of thousands to be in heaven!
Adapted from Falling Upward:
A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, p. 104
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