Beyond the Grave.....

My mind has turned recently, in an entirely non-morbid way, to one of the biggest topics of all: life and death.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
Awaits alike th'inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

So wrote Thomas Gray over 260 years ago in his ‘Elegy Written in a County Churchyard’.

He was entirely right. Regardless of how we live our lives they end in the same way: all paths alike lead to the grave. Much ink has been spilled and many words have been spoken, reflecting on what might lie beyond. With various degrees of certainty heaven, hell, bliss or oblivion have been promoted by preachers, philosophers and magazine columnists. Martyrs have endured the flames, suicide bombers have strapped on their vests of destiny and quieter souls have bowed their heads in prayer, each in the hope of a greater life after death.

What lies beyond the final closing of our eyes none can know for certain. Faith promises a gateway to eternal life, scepticism suggests an end of the road. Either way, there is nothing I can do about the reality of it. No amount of faith will alter my final demise if all that I am comes to and end at death; no amount of scepticism will obliterate God if the presence of God awaits me. How strange it is then that I should ever allow myself to treat the question of life after death as if it were a fantastically difficult version of a Rubik’s Cube that I ought to be able to solve if only I were to think long enough and hard enough about it.

All of this suggests that I ought to concentrate on something that I can do something about: life before death.

‘God is love’ wrote St John; ‘love is all you need’ wrote John Lennon.  If St John is right so too is John Lennon. What this means for me is that I can spend considerably less time thinking about the other side of the grave and considerably more time determining how I will live this side of the grave.

As Thomas Gray observed centuries before the advent of our empty celebrity culture, nothing of substance will remain of our fame, riches or ambition. What might remain on earth, if we are truly blessed, will be lasting memories in a few hearts of love that we gave and love that we shared.  To hell with the rest……