JOURNEY THROUGH THE DARK

and natural relief for someone whose only alternative was pain and suffering.” (The Guardian, London, March 13, 1983) Applying this theory to his own life, Arthur Koestler separated himself from a world which was not of his own making and which he did not have the power to change. He saw that man opened his eyes in a world of brightness only to enter the dark realms of death. He saw that despite extraordinary progress in technology, the moral progress of humankind was still to be attained. Man could control satellites, but man could not control man. Animals never killed their own species, but human beings were eternally plotting the death of their fellowmen. He could see that man planned to reform defective systems of living by making the optional use of human and physical resources, communism being one such attempt, but such ‘reforms’ had proved abortive, bringing more darkness than light to the human situation. Frustrated beyond measure by these glaring defects in human existences, Koestler committed suicide. No amount of worldly success gives one fulfilment. Everyone wants more, but everyone achieves less. This is the reason for lack of fulfilment and consequent depression. Man, by nature, wants eternal life and total fulfilment. He wants to live in a perfect world and enjoy being in the ideal situation. But the planet Earth is a limited world, while what man desires can be achieved only in an unlimited world which lies in the world Hereafter. Life cannot but appear meaningless to a person who has no conception of the afterlife. The significance of the present world can be understood only in the context of our present life being followed by the Hereafter. Unless this notion is ever-present in the human consciousness, a descent into negativism is inevitable. In the face of an inexplicably hostile world, such shocking incidents of the more sensitive souls being pushed irrevocably towards suicide will keep coming to the fore. o