In relation to hell in the Bible, we find that the Hebrew word for hell is “Sheol” and if we look into the root of this word, we find that “Shaal” means “to ask” or “to inquire” about something. Also when we look at the English “Helan,” we find that it comes from “Hel,” the goddess of the underworld, Helheim, among the Norse gods. And when we translate Hel into Latin we find that it translates into “Celare.” Celare again means “concealed” or “hidden” in English, which brings us back to the truth being hidden for us when we sin through having false consciousness.

   Also in Greek afterlife we find the Greek god Hades, who is the god of the underworld, and if we translate Hades we find that similarly to hell as hidden it means “unseen.”

   What is hell then? All of these interpretations of hell fit perfectly with the actual events experienced in the life-review of  people who actually die  and have Near Death Experiences. First, we start with the extremely powerful sensation beyond human comprehension of leaving the body and entering the other dimension. Then we add the dissolution of our false consciousness and the life-review in this intense power and we can see how this experience can be painful beyond description.

   Through this we can now try to understand what hell is by going back into the life-review:

            I became distressed when I was shown and re-experienced unsavory parts of my life in the life review. I was judging myself and ashamed that my soul family had to experience this in my life review with me…Then I became disoriented when I started to experience things in my life that I had no reference to. My soul family again came to my rescue with loving support that got me through it.

   Here David tells us that he became distressed when he re-experienced some of the less positive parts of his life. While he was judging himself and became disoriented, he also experienced that in the light his soul family supported him with love and compassion.  

   Another experience, Jacqui, explains that the Light was: “Very strong but welcoming and not disturbing…well maybe a little bit but I found it extremely profound and felt peace, love, beauty, warmth, an amazing experience.”

   What this points us to is another conclusion from the NDE, which reveals that even those people who have negative or distressing elements in their experience, still see their NDE as positive on a whole.

   In my study, I asked the NDErs about the following statement: “Would you say that your experience was positive on a whole?” Here all of the people who had “distressing elements” in their experience said “yes.” When I asked the opposite as control question: “Would you say your experience was distressing on a whole,” only 1 person, 6%, answered “Not sure.”

   Melanie tells us that, “The goal was to bring me to awareness,” and from Dave’s testimony we can learn that:

If I had to choose between the terms ‘truth’ and ‘information’ I would pick information…But there was never a question of their being truth contained in the information presented to me.

   We can now begin to see hell as the inquiry into our life through the deserting of our actions, and if we see sin as false consciousness together with truth as valuable, then we no longer need to see hell as punishment.

   The evidence from NDEs is much more likely to support the idea of Purgatory, where our soul is purified before our entry into heaven through the inquiry of the life-review. NDE research does not support hell as eternal punishment, and in my study I found that 85 percent disagreed with the statement: “Hell is eternal punishment,” where 71 percent said that they strongly disagreed.