It always baffles me that people are so easily scared into sacrificing free-thought for blind obedience because they are threatened with Hell. Being ever-inquisitive about human behavior, I couldn't help but ponder this topic. What immediately came to mind was Murakami's book 'Kafka on the Shore.' In the book, Murakami blurs the line between reality and imagination as well as the past and present in a surprisingly cohesive way.
In the book, from what I gathered at least, Murakami equates our fears with the subconscious mind and our desires with the conscious one. Our conscious mind functions, and can only be distinguished from the subconscious one, because it recognizes order, pattern, harmony - everything that we are familiar with basically. Our subconscious mind, on the other hand, is asleep - it is an "abyss" if you will, that the conscious mind can perceive but set no limits on. We do not know what dwells in the subconscious, and as human nature would have it, we fear that which we cannot comprehend.
It is in the subconscious that the Hyde to our Jekyll is always in hiding, lying in wait for the right moment to strike. It is in the subconscious that the Morlocks dwell, waiting to feast on the Eloi that reside in our conscious. We do not dare wander into this strange forest for fear of what lies in wait. Instinct kicks in and we avoid it at all costs. That's not to say anything necessary dwells there, but the conscious mind may perceive it as such.
Heaven is thus, the conscious mind - the embodiment of everything that we are familiar with. It is a collection of personalities - friends, families, you name it. Further, in this "Heaven," we can acquire everything we have ever wanted, everything that our conscious mind has filtered and identified as desirable.
Hell is the opposite - it is a never-ending pit filled with dangers that we cannot even fathom. Here lies primordial darkness, the dark recesses of the metaphysical Universe that cage demons and sinners. Of course, these demons are nothing more than representations of our darker personalities. But when people are told that they will be tossed into it should they not convert to a religion, they will naturally choose the safer route. They do not wish to be left exposed to their subconscious.
This is all just musing of course. There is no way I can back up my theory, but it seems to make the most sense to me when considering why the idea of Hell has always been so popular and continues to be so. It's about more than just good versus evil. It's about a clash of personalities, of the conscious mind fighting to maintain control, and sanity as a result, over the subconscious mind. In this regard, I will sum up with an appropriate quote by Marie Curie:
"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
