Journey Through
the Dark

In this world of tests, man has the freedom to do as he likes. However, in the world Hereafter, he will have to face the consequences of his actions.

Arthur Koestler, the famous British writer and thinker, committed suicide with his wife, Cynthia, in his London home in March 1983. At the time of his death, he was 77 years of age.

Why should a man with everything that one could wish for in this world commit suicide? He had won renown as a scholar and writer and had acquired sufficient wealth to leave £400,000 to a British university for research in parapsychology.

His suicide was due to his overwhelming horror and frustration at the evil perpetrated in the world around him—feelings reflected in the many books he wrote. For example, in his famous Darkness at Noon (published in 32 languages), he excoriated the so-called people’s system of the Soviet Union, which perpetuated all the cruelty and exploitation it was supposed to eradicate.

In a collection of his discourses published in 1974, he puts his finger on the crux of the matter: “There is a striking, symptomatic disparity between the growth curves of technological achievement on the one hand and ethical behaviour on the other.” He subsequently expresses his disillusionment with modern civilization when he writes: “We can control the motions of the satellites orbiting distant planets, but we cannot control the situation in Northern Ireland.”

In this world of tests, man has the freedom to do as he likes. In the world Hereafter, he will have to face the consequences of his actions. He will receive a reward or punishment based on it.