Childhood's End

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…is the greatest science-fiction novel ever written. The concept of the book is riveting, and its language rises to literary heights. What’s it about? Well, I won’t summarize the entire story; but at the end of the book the human children of the world become non-human entities that swarm across the Earth and destroy the planet. I’ll quote one character—Jan—an adult who remains on Earth and witnesses the apocalypse:  

                The buildings round me, the ground, the mountains—everything’s
          like glass—I can see through it. Earth’s dissolving…. The light!
          from beneath me—inside the Earth—shining upward, through
          the rocks, the ground, everything—growing brighter, brighter,
          blinding—
         
The author concludes this description of a cosmic transformation:
 
         In a soundless concussion of light, Earth’s core gave up it’s hoarded
         energies. For a little while the gravitational waves crossed and re-
         crossed the solar system, disturbing ever so slightly the orbits of the planets….
         There was nothing left of Earth: They (the non-human children)
         had leeched away the last atoms of its substance. It had nourished them,
         through the fierce moments of their inconceivable metamorphosis, as the
         food stored in a grain of wheat feeds the infant plant while it climbs
         towards the sun.
         (Childhood’s End, Copyright 1953, 1981,1990, 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke,
          electronic edition copyright 2012 by   RosettaBooks, LLC)     

 
So, what does this science-fiction scenario have to do with Quakerism?
 
Well, as a Christian Quaker, I believe that at death we return to God. But what
does that mean? Does our soul dissolve in the Divine Substance, our individual
memories and personality disappearing? That would be—I think—like the
metamorphing children in Clarke’s story. Or do we preserve our individuality and
continue to act in freedom although transformed by the Eternal Presence? For what
it’s worth, the New Testament teaches the latter idea. In this dichotomy, I opt for
the latter although I freely admit there’s no scientific evidence for the idea. Still, I
can’t help quoting my favorite Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 13:12: “For now we see 
through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I 
know even as also I am known.” (KJV)   
 
~ Richard Russell