Feel the Power

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          Now thou must die in the silence, to the fleshly wisdom, knowledge,
          reason, and understanding; so thou comest to feel that which
          brings thee to wait upon God; (thou must die from the other,) that
          brings thee to feel the power of an endless life, and come to
          possess it. (George Fox)
 
I find George Fox’s words above to be personally relevant. Mine is a divided soul, half of which is rationalist and skeptical, half of which is mystical and believing. I don’t know that I would want my rational self to die, however. That way lies fanaticism, in which Biblical literalists declare that the world and universe are only 6,000 years old and that Jesus really walked on water and turned water into wine. Rather, I want my rational self to recognize that it is encompassed by a spiritual dimension which transcends scientific skepticism.

Then, there is Fox’s comment about feeling “the power of an endless life.” Fox is no doubt thinking of the soul’s survival after death, of its acceptance into The Eternal, which many of us call “God.” I hope Fox is right. I hope, after dying, to find my personality still alive, freely interacting with God and all humankind. But I recognize, or rather my scientific/rationalist side recognizes, that death may bring oblivion with no personal consciousness of anything.
         
And yet—metaphorically—Fox’s thought is still true. When we live, we are part of all life, of our friends and family, of the billions of strangers in the world, and of the natural world that we call the Universe.  When we die, that world—that Universe—in all its mystery and beauty continues. That life is endless. That life is eternal.

~ Richard Russell