The Power of Hope

December 8, 2023

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest.
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

This is an excerpt from “An Essay on Man” by Alexander Pope (1688-1744) in which he alludes to hope in life after physical death.

The hope that we will survive death is universal. Those few who do not believe this believe that their existence ends at their death. The only hope they have is for the temporal.

It is difficult for many of us to believe that we end at our death. Why? Because we know on some level that we are not only a body but a soul. The life force within is so great that our ego cannot imagine we would cease to be. But our soul knows that one day, we will shed the body. Would our soul ever tell us that it will die?

The essay states we are never blest now but only in the future. But in reality, we are blessed now because some of our hopes are indeed fulfilled in ways we never could have imagined.

As the poem states, we are disconnected from our essence, so we dwell outside our natural world, but here we wait for the reunion between our soul and the Great Essence.

Inquiry: Why do you believe or not believe in a life beyond death?

Dear God,

Grant that hope eternally springs forth from our hearts. Amen.

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