The Search for Eternal Life

The last few weeks in Literature, we've been studying philosophy/ ancient Greek literature/ world views. It's very interesting to read about what the Greeks believed and what ideas shaped there thinking for centuries. But more than that, I find myself saddened by how misled these people were. Among the works that we've read in the past week or two are, "The Search for Everlasting Life" (from The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest works of literature in existence today), "The Death of Hector" (from the Iliad, by Homer), "The Return of Odysseus" (from the Odyssey, by Homer), "The Brevity of Life" (attributed to Semonides), "On Early Death" (by Lucian), "Unhappy Dionysius" (author unknown), "Elegy for Heraclitus" (by Callimachus), The Fables of Aesop, Antigone (by Sophocles), The Death of Socrates (by Plato), and Two Images from The Republic (by Plato). If you are familiar with any or all of these works, then you know that many of them deal with the same three key questions: What is the meaning of life? Is there a life after death, and, if so, how do I obtain it? What is the best way to live your life? Of course the questions I just listed are not by any means an exhaustive list, but the three questions that kept popping into my mind as I thought over all these poems, stories, and plays. Socrates wrote extensively on the question, "What is the best way to live?" Because he never believed in the gods of the Greeks. However, although he was wise in not adopting the Greek 'gods,' he never found the love and satisfaction of being forgiven by the true God. He was sentenced to death on the charges of 'denying the existence of the gods and corrupting the young men of the city' but without the true God, he died for nothing.

In "The Search for Everlasting Life," a king named Gilgamesh's best friend, Enkidu, died. He could not live in peace after this because he feared death. Because of this, he travelled long and far to meet a man named Utnapishtim, who has obtained eternal life. Gilgamesh embarks on a most daunting and before unattempted journey to reach Utnapishtim. Along the way, he meets a woman named Siduri. Upon his explaining to her his quest to find eternal life, she replies, "Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking. When thte gods created man they allotted to him death, but life they retained in their own keeping." She goes on to say something to the extent of, "Live it up while you can, bud. This is the only life you're gettin'." (Although as I'm sure you will believe she does not use that exact terminology.) Finally, Gilgamesh reaches Utnapishtim. Just when he is leaving again, Utnapishtim says that he will find a plant in the water that will restore his youth-- Gilgamesh finds this plant, but a serpant takes it away. In the end, despite his best efforts, Gilgamesh dies. Sad story, no? But it accurately displays how fleeting this life is, and how hopeless when we do not have the assurance of eternal life. Utnapishtim, who is the "Noah" figure for the Greeks (he supposedly survived a huge flood cast by the gods because the people awoke them from their sleep) was seemingly given eternal life merely by chance. How great is the God that we serve to not merely give us eternal life as a matter of chance or because we weren't the main source of His wrath at that particular moment.

If you have read this far, I commend you greatly. The point of this whole post is this: the Greeks lived in spiritual darkness for years upon years. Their faith rested in the whims of the gods-- if the weather was bad, it meant the gods must have been angry. If you were too noisy and accidently woke the gods from an afternoon nap, they sent a flood. Death and life were left in the hands of 'gods' who were no better than we-- in many cases, worse! But the Greeks were not the only ones confused. Still today, people all over the world live in spiritual darkness and decay. Here in Japan, with less than .1% of the people claim to be Christians, I can see first-hand the horror and hopelessness that surrounds a nation that needs the Lord. I think that Gilgamesh represents a lot of people today who are looking for eternal life-- but looking for it in the wrong place. Eternal life does not rest in the hands of gods, but in the ultimate hands of the one true God, the One and Only. The search for truth can end for many, if we are willing to share it.