By Mesha Oh
He was now in his late 60s and he felt old and tired. He had once led an exceedingly hectic life, travelling, socialising and pursuing many passions. But now he was very withdrawn, keeping largely to himself. Numerous physical ailments had sapped his vitality.
Often, he would think, “How absurd this life is! I worked almost half a century chasing wealth and fame, but I must leave behind all my worldly possessions and attainments behind for good when I die, which is possibly quite soon.” He would also muse on the many challenges he had gone through over the years, including the ailments that had now reduced his body to a frail skeleton. “How absurd it is—having to face all these challenges if ultimately the end is that I must die and go into non-existence forever! Is it really worth going through all of this if everything, including my very existence, finishes with my death?”
If death was to put a final end to all his attainments, he had concluded that life was totally absurd. Further, having to suffer further decay of the body, with all the physical and mental trauma that it entailed, till death finally overtook him didn’t seem to make any sense at all. Sometimes, he wished he simply hadn’t been born. Why have to go through all this pain if it ultimately ended with his final, irrevocable non-existence with his death?
One day, he went over to a friend’s place for lunch. The conversation turned to what had become a pet topic for him to obsess about—how absurd he felt life was.
“Why do you say life is absurd?” his friend asked.
“Well, since the moment I die I will leave behind all my possessions, attainments and relationships, it does seem absurd to have spent almost all my life pursuing them,” he explained. “Moreover, if death means a complete end to my existence, having had to face so many challenges almost all my life seems totally pointless: it might have been better had I not taken birth in the first place. And then, if what awaits me now till I die is further decay of the body and increasing physical and mental pain, it does seem absurd for me to have to go through it all if it finally ends simply with my eternal non-existence upon my death.”
His friend kept silent for a while and then answered, “I get what you mean. Life would indeed be absurd—utterly absurd—if it finally ended with death. If that were the case, then all the pains we have gone through on account of having to face various challenges, all our deeds, all our relationships and so on would be totally pointless. But there’s actually excellent news for us: the fact of the eternal Hereafter, of life continuing after death, forever. Life doesn’t end with death—which is only the death of the physical body. Rather, there is a Hereafter, where we continue to live even after we have shed the body, our condition in the eternal Hereafter being determined by what we had done with our life while on Earth. That being the case, you can see how the fact of the Hereafter makes life utterly meaningful. If there is no Hereafter, I would definitely think that life is utterly pointless. It is the fact of the Hereafter that makes this life of ours just the opposite—exceedingly significant.”
He kept silent, reflecting on her words. He had never had a serious conversation with anyone before about such existential questions, and what she was saying really intrigued him.
“Do please go on,” he said, eager to know more. “I hadn’t ever thought on those lines before. I had never given this concept of the Hereafter much thought. I considered it as just so much mumbo-jumbo.”
“What I’m saying is actually very simple,” she responded. “Our life here, which lasts for a few decades or so at the most, is a test, the most significant and meaningful test one can conceive of. Here, we are being continuously tested for how we spend the limited number of moments that we’ve been given on Earth, what we do with the gifts that the Creator has blessed us with, how we handle relationships, how we respond to challenges, and so on. Our test gets over at the moment of death, which is simply the moment we drop the physical body that we temporarily inhabit while we are here on Earth. But death doesn’t mean that we become non-existent. We are not the body, and so, when the body dies, it does not mean that we also die. Rather, with death we enter the Hereafter, a new, post-death phase of life, which is eternal (unlike our stay on Earth, which is short and temporary) and where our condition depends on how we had led our life while we were on Earth.”
“Oh…how very interesting!” he remarked. “How truly fascinating! You’d be surprised I’ve never thought much about all this before, although it’s so very important!” he interjected. “I wish my parents or my teachers or other elders had taught me at least something about this. That way, I wouldn’t have wasted much of my life doing things I shouldn’t have, and also, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to fall into a depression, thinking life to be an awful burden.”
“Well, better late than never!” she replied. “It’s really good that you brought this topic up today. Not many people care to discuss these matters, being so immersed in chasing the fleeting pleasures of the world.”
“Okay, so could one say that our life consists of two phases: the pre-death phase (the phase before the death of the physical body) and the post-death phase (the phase following the death of the physical body)? Or, in other words, life here, in this world, and life in the Hereafter?” he asked hesitatingly.
“Yes, exactly,” she replied.
“And you seem to say that the way we lead the pre-death phase of our life shapes the way that the life in our post-death phase, our life in the Hereafter, unfolds,” he continued. “And you also say that, in contrast to the pre-death phase, this post-death phase of life is eternal, that it continues forever. Did I get you right?”
“Yes, true,” she said.
“Well, if that’s the case, then the pre-death phase of our life—every moment of it—is really so very important, so very meaningful, isn’t it? It shapes our eternity! The way we spend it determines our eternal Hereafter, isn’t it?” he asked, surprised at his questions, for he had never before thought this way.
“Yes, yes, yes!” she answered.
“Oh, if that’s really the case, then it’s really wrong of me to think of this life as absurd and pointless,” he said firmly. “If one recognizes the reality of the Hereafter, this life comes to be seen as exceedingly meaningful. If the eternal post-death phase of my life, my eternal Hereafter, is determined by how I spend the temporary pre-death phase of my life, then every moment of the pre-death phase of my life holds immense importance for me and I must spend it in the right way, rather than moaning and groaning about it, isn’t it?”
“Yes, you are absolutely right, and I am so glad you realized all this!” she replied, smiling. “It was because you didn’t factor in the reality of the Hereafter that you thought of life as absurd. But now you know better!”
They burst into a hearty laugh. At that moment, it struck him what an immense difference just one simple concept—the Hereafter—had made to his attitude towards and understanding of life. All of a sudden, life seemed so meaningful!
“Thanks a lot for helping me open my eyes! I am so very grateful!” he exclaimed.
“Hmmm, now let’s get back to lunch!” she joked.
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