Life as a Backward Extension

In The Great Divorce George Mac Donald tells our narrator that "ye cannot in your Earthly state understand eternity." (GD, 69). He talks about how anyone who is in Heaven will see the valley that they are in and also their life on Earth as an extension of Heaven and that those in Hell will see their lives both in the gray town and on Earth as Hell. He claims that mortals misunderstand this; that when you have the horrible moments on Earth that you believe that no possible reward could be worth the pain you are in or for those who believe that they can take the punishment if only they can have the pleasure of this one sin that the reward will reach back and make life better or the punishment will reach back and ruin the pleasure of the moment.

This is the one thing that is really visible that Lewis and Williams seem to totally agree upon. In Descent into Hell Pauline is tormented throughout her life by an apparition of which she is terrified. Later she learns that this apparition was the embodiment of her decision to help her ancestor. When she meets up with the martyr she is not able to take up his burden on her own, but the doppelganger took the burden for her and she discovered that her fear of herself throughout her life was the way she helped her ancestor. The terror that she had lived in showed itself as something better once she was "saved."

This is something that I would have never considered before reading these two books. I realize that both books are fiction and that much of what is seen in the books is speculation that is not meant to be taken as fact, but the idea is very intriguing. As of right now, I'm not sure what I think about this idea. I think that from the mindset of someone who will end up in Heaven it is something that I would want to believe. To know that for sure everything that you go through in life will be worth it in the end, even seem to you later like it was something good all the time would be a great encouragement to someone. On the other hand, knowing that everything that you did in life will eventually have all of the pleasure sucked out of it by becoming a part of the Hell that you end up in is not a positive thought at all. I guess what I'm wondering about is if it were true is there any indication for mortals of this possibility? Somehow Lewis and Williams both thought of this as a way for Heaven and Hell to work backwards to change life into the best or worst that it could have been, but did either one of them believe that it would happen? Could life turn into just an extension of what is to come in the future?