Is hell exothermic or endothermic?

Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.

Adolf Hitler if, one night last week, I took the liberty of visiting Heaven; I thought it befitting that I should devote some time and thought to Hell. However, lest my readers who read the article last week think that this time also it is about a dog called Hell; I will be categorical and state that no dog ever should be called Hell. There certainly are human beings and places on earth that may be called Hell - but definitely not a dog. I cannot imagine a person foolish enough to call a dog Hell. If there is such a person, he or she must have been thinking of a rat when he or she named the dog Hell. To be sure, there is the hell-hound: a hound of hell or a name given for a fierce and cruel pursuer; and, the hell-kite - a fierce bird of prey or a wantonly malignant or cruel person; but never should a dog be called Hell.

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict Hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically these traditions locate Hell under the Earth's external surface and often include entrances to Hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include Heaven, Purgatory, Paradise, Naraka, and Limbo.

Tradition, which do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward, merely describe Hell as an abode of the dead "a neutral place located under the surface of Earth. Modern understandings of Hell often depict it abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally underground, but this view of Hell can, in fact, be traced back into the ancient and medieval periods. Hell is often portrayed as populated with demons who torment the damned.

Many are ruled by a death god, such as Nergal, Hades, Yama or the Christian/Islamic Devil - Satan or Lucifer. Whilst in almost all religions the ruler of Hell resides in Hell; in Islam, the Devil does not actually reside in Hell.

Hell appears in several mythologies and religions. It is commonly believed that Hell is inhabited by demons and the souls of dead people. Hell is often depicted in art and literature - perhaps most famously in Dante's Divine Comedy.

But, whatever or where ever be Hell, I would say that Hell or Heaven is nowhere but in our minds. As Oscar Wilde said: "We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell". The mind of man in disarray, more often than not, leads him on to Hell. For mortal men there is but one hell, and that is the folly and wickedness and spite of his fellows; but once his life is over, there's an end to it: his annihilation is final and entire, of him nothing survives. I have lived on earth for a considerable number of years and I have been thinking seriously that this has to be Hell on earth. With poverty, crimes of all kinds from mothers killing their own flesh and blood to molesters, liars, cheaters, etc.. I'm thinking I really did live before and somehow died; and now, I am in Hell.

Everyone likes to joke about whether we live in hell, or if we are gliding toward hell, going to hell in a hand-basket, or just acting like we belong in hell. However, the fact is, here on earth, we live in between heaven and hell.

Thus, we experience aspects of both. This can be taken metaphorically or literally. Every human being is born under a set of circumstances that predestine a more heavenly or more hellish life. Due to free will, we have the power to make our lives better, or worse. Our choices in life determine the outcome. Thus, while you are here in this world, try to make it a better place for all to live. If something in the world disturbs you, meditate on the best that could happen under the circumstances.

If you feel depressed about a situation, get active. Do something so you feel like you contribute to the solution. If you are victimised by circumstances or individuals, fight back, get help, do not take it lying down.

Here on earth, we have a choice whether to move humanity forward or backward. Make your choice; condition and control your mind and you will realise that both Hell and Heaven are but illusions - as illusory as life itself.

As I have often mentioned in my previous ramblings; I have been a very fortunate person when it came to having the right kind of teachers. At SOAS (Sultan Omar Ali Saiffudin) College in Brunei, our Chemistry teacher was a very lovable Scottish gentleman called Mr. Mac Knight.

Apparently, during his student days, his thermodynamics professor had written a take home exam for his graduate students. It had one question: "Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? Support your answer with a proof."

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools off when it expands and heats up when it is compressed) or some variant.One student, our lovable Mr. Mac Knight, however, wrote the following:

"First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So, we need to know the rate that souls are moving into Hell and the rate they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving.

As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell.

Since there are more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and all souls go to Hell.

With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. Of course, if Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Ms. Therese Banyan during my Freshman year, 'That it will be a cold night in Hell before I sleep with you,' and take into account the fact that I still have not succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then 2 cannot be true, and so Hell is exothermic."

He got the only A.

Well readers, keep thinking, keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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