Fear of death, fear of life, and the false haven
Religions are forever discussed, but their disagreements forever eluded. I think Hamlet had it right when he said,
“But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pitch and moment,
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.”
The Bard laid it out clearly, and Ernest Henley wrapped it up with: “It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.”
But religions, if nothing else, command an enormous annual contribution of wealth, influence and control.
Jim Geiger
Bangkok
