the ending of he who created the beginning

STACKEDNATURAL ⇉ 229/327 (part 1)

We’re building a new religion

Dean: yessir I did

John: let me see

Dean:

it is taken for granted in-universe that heaven is the default destination for human souls after death, and hell is an exception, only for those who are not admitted into heaven (s6e20), who have made deals trading their souls (s2e1 ff.), or are killed by hellhounds (s15e3). evidence is sorta scant, but we know that souls generate energy and hell is significantly weaker than heaven, by all accounts. if demons draw some power from souls (confirmed by crowley in s5e20 and reiterated in s6e20, compare s6e11) and we know that angels such as castiel can do the same, then an angel's incredible magical strength compared to a demon's makes perfect sense. heaven is more powerful because heaven contains more human souls. (not accounting for the metaphysical differences between demonized human souls, aka demons, and soulless grace-entities, aka angels. presumably their "essence" is a contributing factor, at least in how they store this energy.)

we also know this must be true because guilt, the emotion, was used as evidence in dean's trial by osiris. raphael claims (again, in s6e20) that someone being devout "trumps everything"—it makes their sins not count against their admittance to heaven. but, why would that have any affect? because their lack of guilt due to adherence to a religious creed negates their guiltiness regarding their misdeeds. they cannot be charged guilty (legal) and thus sent to hell, since their lack of guilt (emotional) outweighs that factor. in dean's case, his harmful actions aren't as compelling as the evidence of his emotional guilt over failing to save people's lives; thus, his heart is heavy, and he is guilty.

dean's beliefs about his own actions, rather than the actions themselves, are enough to damn him in a system we know heaven utilizes to determine a soul's entrance to heaven. meanwhile, people who feel no guilt over harmful actions also go to hell, presumably only in cases where there is no overriding factor such as piety.