There is a dark place that exists…deep inside of us: perhaps in the heart, perhaps in the mind, perhaps in the soul. But it is a dark space that is a certain kind of hell. When something is weak, or broken, the darkness from that hell seems to find its way into the spaces in between that which is whole and that which is not.
Often in life, things are taken from us when we least expect it. Something like that warrants a particular kind of sadness, and the dark place that such a deep sadness can take us is a certain kind of hell. Many fear the hell that threatens when this life is at its end…but perhaps we should fear the one that lives inside of us, while our hearts still beat. Once you have been there you can never be the same. Hell does that to you. Just like the deep sadness that opens the gates, hell itself is transformative by its very definition. It is truly a ‘visible darkness.’ It is a prison that incarcerates a person from the inside out.
I have been to hell. And I have escaped hell. And every once in a while…I think about going back.
L.B. Conrad
lamandabeesleyconrad.com 