Dante

Dante's Inferno is considered a medieval view of the afterlife. But one aspect of this version of life in hell that few people realize is that there are no chains. The demons do not have pitchforks pushing people back into their respective eternal tortures and Lucifer is not at the gate of hell deciding which torture you deserve to suffer. Newly arrived damned souls just sort of wander around until they come to where they feel they belong.

For Dante, the after-life is a continuation of the fore-life. If you were buffeted by metaphorical winds and storms of sexual passion while you were alive, you would find yourself buffeted by actual winds and storms after you died. If you were immersed in the ice of an absence of love or compassion, you would find nothing changed in the great beyond.

Dante was saying that people make their own heaven or hell on earth. One does not acquire heaven or hell based on what they believed but where they feel most at home. Someone who was devout when they were alive but nevertheless managed to screw themselves into a tiny bubble of anger and hatred would feel uncomfortable and out of place in heaven. Eventually, they would leave for more infernal climes.

Eternity then is just a reflection of the temporal life. If hell is eternal, it is because for some people there is no hope of ever pulling out of their suffering. They dwell on their hate and nurture it, angrily throwing off any attempt by others to get them to stop. It's not that the damned SHOULD abandon all hope; it is that they have ALREADY abandoned hope and will never know anything but anger and suffering in their lives.

Purgatorio is for those who recognize negativity of their lives and seek to free themselves from it. Those whose lives are filled with love or are victorious over suffering and achieved a happy and loving life know that they are already in Paradiso.

Mass is over. Go home now.