It appears that we moulder to a heap of senseless dust; to a few worms, that arise and perish, like ourselves. Jesus Christ asserts that these appearances are fallacious, and that a gloomy and cold imagination alone suggests the conception that thought can cease to be. Another and a more extensive state of being, rather than the complete extinction of being will follow from that mysterious change which we call Death. There shall be no misery, no pain, no fear. The empire of evil spirits extends not beyond the boundaries of the grave. The unobscured irradiations from the fountain-fire of all goodness shall reveal all that is mysterious and unintelligible, until the mutual communications of knowledge and of happiness throughout all thinking natures, constitute a harmony of good that ever varies and never ends.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Shelley argues that death is not the end of consciousness but a transition to a better state free from suffering. He claims that evil does not survive death and that ultimate goodness will reveal all truths.
- In plain terms
- Death is not the end; we move to a better state where there is no pain or fear.
- What can you take from it?
- Trust that existence continues beyond death in a harmonious state.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What evidence supports the continuation of thought after death?
- How does the idea of eternal harmony change your view of mortality?
Another view
The claim relies on faith rather than empirical evidence.
More from Percy Bysshe Shelley
This much is certain, that Jesus Christ represents God as the fountain of all goodness, the eternal enemy of pain and evil, the uniform and unchanging motive o…
Permalink to quote #186 This is Heaven, when pain and evil cease, and when the Benignant Principle, untrammelled and uncontrolled, visits in the fulness of its power the universal fra…
Permalink to quote #188 The nature of a narrow and malevolent spirit is so essentially incompatible with happiness as to render it inaccessible to the influences of the benignant God.…
Permalink to quote #185
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