Salvation and Damnation...

You live the life of a saint and at the end of it experience the divine rapture of heaven. Every fiber of your soul hums along with some paradisical rhythm. Isn't heaven beautiful?

But...such is the beauty of hell that even being in the throes of pain, you can glimpse heaven. Long before the world was born, joy and pain formed some magical bond that survives to this day. Pain brings tears to your eyes and so does extreme happiness. It doesn't matter whether you are completely consumed by pain or happiness, there is a similarity between the two -a feeling of sudden awareness of self, a great explosion of emotion, an acute feeling of being utterly and thoroughly alive...Your body starts to shake as if the intensity of the feeling is so great that it can no longer contain the experience.

All the world seems to melt away except for you and the source of your joy/pain.

Such is the beauty of hell that it is only an alternate dimension of heaven. They are linked somewhere, perhaps by some stormy wormhole but they are linked. Many have discovered this secret tunnel between the two. Somewhere between paradise and hades, lies that feeling...

That feeling of being truly alive...the most powerful feeling that exists.

But such is the tragic beauty of hell that it is a lot more generous with its pain than heaven is with its ecstasy. It is so much easier to experience that feeling through pain than through happiness. After all what remains in this world that could possible generate a tide of happiness that massive? Floods of pain are unleashed all the time, but happiness?

And so, seekers of that intense feeling become seekers of pain. They don't even realise it. Pain has become like a drug. Like a creature left in the dark for too long, they are addicted to it. Happiness is fleeting and sporadic. Why should they invest their passion in happiness?

Happiness is a brief blossom while pain is a faithful lover. So which one would people seek?

Alas!! In their hurry to devote themselves to pain, people forget how wonderful happiness is...pain might make you feel alive but it destroys you piece by piece, it devours your inner world. Happiness might be elusive but it lifts you up and restores the peace you need to stay sane.

Hell heaven...heaven hell...both lead you to a similar place. It depends on you, which dimension you'd rather travel in to get there.