The performance ‘Illumination’ should rather be called ‘A Season in Hell’, as most of its text comes directly from this collection of prose poems. But neither the collection nor the performance is about hell ‘down there,’ but about the hell we create around and within ourselves. We are afraid to admit who we truly are. We are afraid to show ourselves to others. We deliberately overwhelm ourselves with sensations so that we don’t have time to stop and see the world without illusions. Trapped in a cage of things we love, or that have simply clung to us, we resist what is outside and silence what is within. We tremble with horror spiced with pleasure when we hear about cruelties happening in the world, but we prefer not to think about our own inner beast. We want to be happy, so we overeat, get drunk, and seek satisfaction in the hope that this will grant us peaceful sleep. But sleep doesn’t come – and in the morning… what comes in the morning? Another chase after the wind? Is this really all there is? Sweets and rotten teeth. Our stomach hurts. On the other hand, there are experiences that may seem unpleasant to us, but can help us: a visit to the dentist, a cold shower, a sweat bath, confession.