The Nine Layers Of Hell For The New Millenium
Dante Alleghieri wrote the Divine Comedy as a commentary on his times and the doctrines of the Church and society that led people to heaven or hell. One of the most profound parts of his fiction was the nine layers of Hell, much of which was adopted for a time by the Catholic Church.
However, today, the nine layers of Hell need to be re-examined in the context of our social norms. I was inspired by my trip into Chicago today to think of these things.
LAYER ONE (LIMBO):
12th Century: The unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ.
21st Century: Those that cannot make a decision, practice apathy, and do not get involved in the affairs of their community enough to understand what needs to be done for the good of all.
LAYER TWO (LUST):
12th Century: The lustful, adulterous and unfaithful.
21st Century: Those who are unfaithful to their oaths, vows, commitments and ideals in favor of immediate gratification, whether sexual, physical or emotional; those who betray others in pursuit of their own interests.
LAYER THREE (GLUTTONY):
12th Century: Those who hoard for the sake of consumption, especially food.
21st Century: Those who consume without regard for the sacred, including the body, the community, the society, the environment and the universe; those who put their needs always before considering the needs of others; those who are wealthy and manipulate the political process to assure they garner more wealth; those who do not seek to share their own blessings with others.
LAYER FOUR (AVARICE):
12th Century: The avaricious or miserly, who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them.
21st Century: Those who seek power and fame for themselves; those who are influence peddlers, war-mongers, and manipulate others for the mere sake of doing so; those who hide their motives and seek to pervert religion, law, custom or social norms for their own benefit; those who are wasteful, especially with the wealth or property of others; those who deny facts and truth in pursuit of their own power and prestige.
LAYER FIVE (WRATH):
12th Century: The wrathful who are always ready to fight, argue, complain and do not contribute to the good of society.
21st Century: Those who are hawkish for war; those who discriminate based on something other than the character and quality of the person; those whose only manner of seeking redress is violence; those who kill in anger; those who beat others, especially when they are the weaker; those who lack compassion; those who are abusive in the emotional, psychological or spiritual sense.
LAYER SIX (HERESY):
12th Century: Those who are unfaithful to the Christian faith or seek to introduce unorthodox reasoning into the faith.
21st Century: Those who are unfaithful to their own ideals, the ideals of humanity; those who testify falsely against others; those who lie or manipulate the truth to avoid consequences; those who blame rather than seek to resolve; those who criticize without participating in the process; those who are hypocrites.
LAYER SEVEN (VIOLENCE):
12th Century: Those who are violent.
21st Century: The psychopaths of the world, including serial murderers, despots, tyrannical dictators, rapists, pedophiles, abusive parents, arsonists, robbers; those who hold no regard for the rights of others, including those that order or promote atrocities.
LAYER EIGHT (FRAUD):
12th Century: Those who deceive other by fraud.
21st Century: Those who commit fraud, usury, usurpation of authority; those that condone such actions while holding the power, authority and responsibility for preventing or addressing these wrongs; those who work for corporate structures that deceive the public; those that sell fraudulently; those that sell without regard for quality of goods or services.
LAYER NINE (TREACHERY):
12th Century: Traitors and those that betray on a range of levels. (4 Zones)
21st Century:
Zone 1: Those who take the lives of others into their hands without regard for the risks or dangers.
Zone 2: Those who have committed acts that would have put them into two or more of the upper levels of hell.
Zone 3: Those that held utter contempt and disregard for their fellow human beings and the good of all in the universe.
Zone 4: Those who embraced evil not as an illness or pathology, but as a means of connection to all the world, treating all and everything with disregard for integrity and inherent value.
I would like to take the time to provide some examples for each layer, as defined for the 21st Century, but I don't have the time. But I did say that my inspiration for this post was my trip to Chicago today. Let me just say that most of the drivers in Chicago (and probably Boston, New York, Baltimore, DC, LA, the Bay Area, Rome, Madrid, the Autobahn) belong in the ninth layer of Hell. People that do not use turn signals... Drivers that cut others off for the simple purpose of going five feet in front of others... People that block the passing lane by doing 10-20 miles below the posted speed limits... People that drive recklessly... Pedestrians that cross in the middle of high volume/high speed traffic... Bus drivers that hog the road and leave no room for passing... And those who stand in the middle of traffic dressed like a fluorescent citrus fruit waving an orange wand and muddling up the traffic flow...
These folks all belong in the deepest regions of Hell!
However, today, the nine layers of Hell need to be re-examined in the context of our social norms. I was inspired by my trip into Chicago today to think of these things.
LAYER ONE (LIMBO):
12th Century: The unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ.
21st Century: Those that cannot make a decision, practice apathy, and do not get involved in the affairs of their community enough to understand what needs to be done for the good of all.
LAYER TWO (LUST):
12th Century: The lustful, adulterous and unfaithful.
21st Century: Those who are unfaithful to their oaths, vows, commitments and ideals in favor of immediate gratification, whether sexual, physical or emotional; those who betray others in pursuit of their own interests.
LAYER THREE (GLUTTONY):
12th Century: Those who hoard for the sake of consumption, especially food.
21st Century: Those who consume without regard for the sacred, including the body, the community, the society, the environment and the universe; those who put their needs always before considering the needs of others; those who are wealthy and manipulate the political process to assure they garner more wealth; those who do not seek to share their own blessings with others.
LAYER FOUR (AVARICE):
12th Century: The avaricious or miserly, who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them.
21st Century: Those who seek power and fame for themselves; those who are influence peddlers, war-mongers, and manipulate others for the mere sake of doing so; those who hide their motives and seek to pervert religion, law, custom or social norms for their own benefit; those who are wasteful, especially with the wealth or property of others; those who deny facts and truth in pursuit of their own power and prestige.
LAYER FIVE (WRATH):
12th Century: The wrathful who are always ready to fight, argue, complain and do not contribute to the good of society.
21st Century: Those who are hawkish for war; those who discriminate based on something other than the character and quality of the person; those whose only manner of seeking redress is violence; those who kill in anger; those who beat others, especially when they are the weaker; those who lack compassion; those who are abusive in the emotional, psychological or spiritual sense.
LAYER SIX (HERESY):
12th Century: Those who are unfaithful to the Christian faith or seek to introduce unorthodox reasoning into the faith.
21st Century: Those who are unfaithful to their own ideals, the ideals of humanity; those who testify falsely against others; those who lie or manipulate the truth to avoid consequences; those who blame rather than seek to resolve; those who criticize without participating in the process; those who are hypocrites.
LAYER SEVEN (VIOLENCE):
12th Century: Those who are violent.
21st Century: The psychopaths of the world, including serial murderers, despots, tyrannical dictators, rapists, pedophiles, abusive parents, arsonists, robbers; those who hold no regard for the rights of others, including those that order or promote atrocities.
LAYER EIGHT (FRAUD):
12th Century: Those who deceive other by fraud.
21st Century: Those who commit fraud, usury, usurpation of authority; those that condone such actions while holding the power, authority and responsibility for preventing or addressing these wrongs; those who work for corporate structures that deceive the public; those that sell fraudulently; those that sell without regard for quality of goods or services.
LAYER NINE (TREACHERY):
12th Century: Traitors and those that betray on a range of levels. (4 Zones)
21st Century:
Zone 1: Those who take the lives of others into their hands without regard for the risks or dangers.
Zone 2: Those who have committed acts that would have put them into two or more of the upper levels of hell.
Zone 3: Those that held utter contempt and disregard for their fellow human beings and the good of all in the universe.
Zone 4: Those who embraced evil not as an illness or pathology, but as a means of connection to all the world, treating all and everything with disregard for integrity and inherent value.
I would like to take the time to provide some examples for each layer, as defined for the 21st Century, but I don't have the time. But I did say that my inspiration for this post was my trip to Chicago today. Let me just say that most of the drivers in Chicago (and probably Boston, New York, Baltimore, DC, LA, the Bay Area, Rome, Madrid, the Autobahn) belong in the ninth layer of Hell. People that do not use turn signals... Drivers that cut others off for the simple purpose of going five feet in front of others... People that block the passing lane by doing 10-20 miles below the posted speed limits... People that drive recklessly... Pedestrians that cross in the middle of high volume/high speed traffic... Bus drivers that hog the road and leave no room for passing... And those who stand in the middle of traffic dressed like a fluorescent citrus fruit waving an orange wand and muddling up the traffic flow...
These folks all belong in the deepest regions of Hell!
posted by Jim Downey at 6:55 PM
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