it is a circle

Last year I read Eat, Pray, Love. Great book, even though I am sure some of you have differing opinions but after all are entitled. During her travels to Bali she visits an old medicine man, Ketut, he was talking about meditation and in his meditation he has gone both down and up, meaning he has gone both to heaven and hell. When asked what hell is like he stated it is the same as heaven, love. He said the difference is that to get to heaven you go through seven happy places while to get hell you go through seven sad places. At first when I read this I thought - CRAZY! There is a place for good people and a place for bad. Hitler is in hell, Mother Theresa is in heaven. End of story. I have often thought about this idea. Tossed it back and forth in my head, could it possibly be right? My father has often told me that we should always leave room in our thinking for the possibility that we are wrong. I often fail but I at least attempt. The little church group that has prominence in our town focuses a lot of their practice on the end times. They are very caught up in the final battle, signs of evil and and the like. A friend of mine stated, do they know that Jesus defeated the devil already? Of course we have all heard the story, Jesus having been willing to go to the cross defeated death and all it's power. He then went down and fought with the devil and rose victorious. Right. OK. BUT there are still bad people in the world, women who pimp out their kids for drugs, men who beat and rape their wives, people who plan mass murders, children who murder children, politicians who conduct genocide, religious who promote suicide don't these people DESERVE to go to hell? I was reading my current thrill "Borrower of the Night" by Elizabeth Peters and in it she was describing the torture the peasants were put through during the Peasant's Revolt in Germany during the great schism of the church. As she was describing these people who implemented this torture I thought to myself 'Oh I hope these people are burning right now.' WHAT?! Becca why are you wishing ill on these people that God loves just as much as you? In that moment was I any better then the torturers, I was wanting them to be burning for all eternity in a terrible place where their sins would be rubbed in their face over and over again. HOW TERRIBLE IS THAT! If I believe that I deserve grace then don't these humble beings as well? Would I like my sins and imperfections rubbed in my face day after day forever and ever? If we really want to be honest all of us deserve to rot in a dungeon for the pain we have caused on God's creation. We hurt our friends, we say mean things to our families, we treat our "enemies" like they are the devil. I know I have been guilty of all of the above and more. If God loves each and every one of us equally and He loves us all unconditionally then wouldn't his forgiveness extend very very far past the reaches of mine? Remember the murderer who was hanging on the cross? Jesus forgave him in an instant with the full knowledge of what he had done. Catholics believe in purgatory, easiest way I grasp it is a cleansing of the soul to be prepared to see God. So let's take that into consideration in regards to Ketut's idea of the circle. Maybe he is right. Maybe the really mean people spend a long time in the 7 sad places before they get to sit in the all encompassing power of God's love where as the general population gets to go through the 7 happy places. Or maybe he was smoking too much hookah (I have no idea if he smokes hookah) one day. I don't know, doubtful I ever will but it is a thought worth pondering.