Is it the end of the world or the end of me which is important?

Thanks to God the Almighty

Scattered Thoughts

Especially in the past, anything about the "end of the world" fascinated my mind a lot. At times, I pick up on this subject and would delve into it spending a lot of time, reading the Bible in this context, watching some internet videos, jumping between pages on the internet looking for interesting evidences, etc. Finally, I would get tired and quit on thinking about it.

I believe many of us, like myself, would like to spend time in exploring on the end of the world events either to feed our curiosity or to learn about the possibilities of escape or to just have some fun reading about it or to use the facts to defend some of our personal ideals, etc.

Whatever the reasons are, to the most part, the time we spend on this could be considered a waste.

There was a time it occurred to me that, end of the world for me is really the end of my personal physical life on this earth. Let us just say that the event of  the "end of the world" occurs before my natural death. Still, if it is the end of the world, then it is going to be certain that it will take my physical life along with it. So, it would not change in any way the fact that my physical life ends.

In general death is one of the very very few marvelous things that is well known and certain to happen any moment in my life (as it is the case with any of us). Simply because every day so many people die. There is nothing we can do about this event other than to yield to it when it occurs. Infants die, children die, youths die, adults die and old people die too. No human, irrespective of their status or race or age or strength, can escape the event of death when it really visits.

It was said that a certain king of France whose last moment was fast approaching, exclaimed, "Behold that I, with all my power, am unable to make death wait one more hour for me !"

If you want to have some reality check on your understanding of death, I would like to recommend you to read at least the few initial chapters of the book "Preparation for Death" by St. Alphonsus Ligouri.

So, it is very certain for my personal death to occur either before or during the process of this mysterious 'end of the world' event. Moreover, even if  I survive the end of the world like calamities, would I not die any moment after that grave disaster. So, personally, it is my own death which is more meaningful on this "end of world" occurrence rather than just the "end of world" event itself.

Our good things and our evil things are uncertain death alone is certain - St. Augustine. It is uncertain, whether that new-born infant will be poor or rich, whether it will have good or bad health, whether it will die young or old but it is quite certain that it will have to die - St. Alphonsus.

Is not the "end of the world" like an abstract thing and so is not the "end of my physical life" a concrete thing?. Can I not say that the end of myself a reality and the end of the world an imaginary one?.

Some may not like the idea of talking about death. I wonder why? However, I humbly thank God for I am blessed to admire death and its surrounding things. In Bible, it says: The day of death is better than the day of one' s birth. It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting: for in that we are put in mind of the end of all, and the living thinketh what is to come. [Ecclesiastes 7:2,5]

In comparison to all the things that happens in this world, death opens the gate of the true reality and mystery.

Death takes the eyes of a good man to eternal things. Death undeniably attaches a tag that reads "temporary" on everything of this world.

Death fools the wicked in their thinking that they can continue doing wicked things. Death scares the people who are too dependent on this worldly things. Death opens the doors to our emotions to learn how much we really were in love, without our complete awareness, with the one who is dead. Death ends a person's physical presence on this earth. Death does a lot and whatever it does, most of it cannot be explained. Death escapes the limited and imperfect wisdom that is born of this earth. We cannot be this much sure and say the same on any other event that happens in this world.

More a person is possessed by or is embracing the spirit, whether the Good one or the bad one, lesser he or she will be scared of death.

There are two kinds of people who are certain not to fear death. One are those who live a saintly life loving God almost every moment of their life. Others are those who live a life possessed by evil spirits visibly or invisibly and knowingly or unknowingly. 

 On the other hand, so far I personally have not been able to find anything in this world, so much good or joyful to make myself peaceful and make me truly desire to continue staying here for more. Vanity of vanities, said Ecclesiastes vanity of vanities, and all is vanity - Ecclesiastes 1:2

None of the affairs in this world also could truly make me sad when thinking about leaving this place. I would like to thank God for this blissful stance. At this time, I remember one quote by St. Augustine - God mingles bitterness with earthly pleasures, that we may seek another felicity, whose sweetness does not deceive.

What I would like to mean by the term "affairs of this world" are the things that do not conform to God's standards. God is the Good spirit, eternal and is Love. Things that do not conform to God are too human and temporal in nature. These are formed and/or run with materialism as a major (direct or implicit) goal. "Worldly things" portray a coward nature. They provide a defeated/pathetic feeling. They (that are the material things) display an arrogance or they manipulate the dependents with sinful objectives. They demand forcefully a material dependence and submission from its followers. They portray cowardice because there is no courage to embrace or talk about God or Goodness (especially in the present time); Its followers will feel defeated or pathetic because there is no other way but to yield to the standards of the world if one choose to live a life that is not disturbed by this temporary world; It displays arrogance by daring (without shame) to disassociate or disclaim God (the Supreme Spirit) from all the things, especially the good. It blinds its people and absolutely sweeps their minds to the demands it makes to forcefully bond them for the most part of their life. Venerable Fr. Louis of Granada discourses extensively and clearly about this world in the context of spirituality in a section of his book - The Sinners Guide. Please click here to read this chapter online.

That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil (note: the evils of afflictions and punishments, but not the evil of sin itself): I the Lord that do all these things [Isiah 45:6,7]. We all are illiterate of Godly matters intentionally (because of the reason that it escapes our view of understanding and science) or unintentionally; We are unwilling to accept the spiritual matters; We are sinful enough to turn even Godly things towards material benefits. We simply do not get it.
 

There is a saying like this: "Death puts life into perspective". It really does. From this, we could say, if one does not look and ponder enough about death when living, he or she would not have a good perspective of life or he or she would not live his or her life with eternal meaning.

In other words, if I die today, or to be more specific, if I die in few seconds from now, then, would I be truly content with my (physical and spiritual) life lived up so far to this point of time.

Again, let me just assume that, I will live only for, say, 21 days more from today. Suppose that I am also well informed of this event and of the absolute fact that there is no escape. Suppose that there is no doubt about this. Then, will not my every moment certainly be different compared to the same 21 days had the fact been not revealed to me at all.

Few wise people of the past (that I have read about) have been blessed to recommend to live our each day as if it is our last day.

End of the world is actually not the end of the world I live in but the end of my life in this world. After my death, at least to the faculty that a human being has, what this world or the word world has to do with me anyways?


In Luke 12:20, our Saviour Jesus Christ says this. But God said to him: Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee: and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?


Thanks be to God.

Reference:
Preparation for Death - St. Alphonsus Ligouri - Please click here to access/download it online