Ephemerality
The coming and going of people remain inexplicable until we accept the existence of life after death. However, on the other hand, if we reject life after death, everything becomes meaningless.
The Fabian Society was founded in 1883-84 in London, establishing a democratic socialist state in Great Britain as its goal. The Fabians put their faith in evolutionary socialism rather than in revolution. They were pioneers in British social and economic reform and were mainly concerned with eradicating poverty and ignorance through education.
The society’s name was derived from the Roman general Fabius Cunctator, whose patient and evasive tactics in avoiding pitched battles secured his ultimate victory over stronger forces. Early members of the society included George Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, Annie Besant, Edward Pease, and Graham Wallace. Later joined by Webb’s wife, Beatrice Webb, Shaw and Webb were the outstanding leaders of this society for many years.
Beatrice Webb’s diary, published after her death, became very popular. Here is an excerpt from it, written in 1943 during the Second World War:
“Everything and everyone is disappearing—Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin. What an amazing happening, and well worth recording in my diary. But that also will suddenly disappear.” (1943)
What outstanding people come into this world, show their metal, and then suddenly disappear; as if their appearance and disappearance were not a matter of their own choice but the responsibility of someone or something else, who summoned them back quite arbitrarily—like marionettes disappearing at a tug of their strings!
This coming and going of people, this ephemerality of life, remains inexplicable until we accept the existence of life after death, as the prophets foretold. Considering this truth, everything seems to fall quite satisfactorily into place. If life is transient, we can accept it as being so and have no regrets.
However, should we reject the actuality of life after death, everything is rendered void and meaningless.
