Question
Does the Writings say that Heaven and Hell are conditions of the soul, not geographic locations? Therefore, Paradise and Hell have no existence other that in our own souls?
First Answer
Sufi writings say the same thing
Sufi writings say the same thing, and Baha’u’llah once studied among the Sufis of Kurdistan. But the Sufis did not deny the existence of Heaven and Hell. They deny they are “geographic locations” as the old Muslim philosophers had taught for centuries (i.e. Paradise was just beyond the fixed stars…fixed in a crystal sphere, and Hell was under the earth in great caverns of fire). The Sufis said we create our Heaven or Hell, depending upon the condition of our soul at death. In other words, if our soul is in Heaven at death, a Heaven is created for us. If our soul is in Hell at death, a Hell is created for us, in the Unseen World, which is as real as this World, but is ethereal instead of physical. The Unseen World exists in every location where the physical cosmos exists. For years Baha’u’llah used the title Baha’u’Din, the name of the founder of a popular Turkish Nashqabandi Sufi sect. Baha’u’llah wore a Dervish Turban of the Naqshbandi Sufi Sect from the time He lived among the Naqshbandis (1863-5) until his death in 1893.