Down through history, many have believed that death could solve problems.
About the middle of the 6th century before Christ, a boy was born to a wealthy nobleman in India in the province of Bihar. His name is Mahavira. His parents, though well-to-do, belonged to a sect that looked upon birth as a curse, and upon suicide as a blessed privilege. When their son, Mahavira, reached his 31st year they ended their lives by voluntary starvation. The young man, moved to the depths of his soul, renounced the world and its cruel ways, divested himself of all clothing, and wandered through western Bengal as an ascetic. From his life a new sect was born, the Jains, which had a considerable effect upon India, including Gandhi, the revered man we know who would starve himself to death on the basis of policy.
Some notable ancient Greeks also believed that death could solve some things. A Greek scholar, D.W. Palmer, complied an impressive list of quotations from Greek lyric poetry, drama, philosophy, and rhetoric to establish the fact that in the Greek world there was a widespread belief that death is preferred for those whose life is a burden. By it one was delivered from the troubles of earthly existence; death brings rest from one’s labors.
Socrates expressed this on one occasion when he said: “And if there is no consciousness but it is like a sleep when the sleeper does not even see a dream, death would be a wonderful gain” (Socrates’ words in Plato, Ap. 40, C-D). Josephus, the historian, wrote about the oppressed of his time: “They had no opportunity to put up a strong fight, but reckoned it a gain if they died, a misfortune to live” (Josephus, Ant. 15. 158).
The Easter faith is counter to such “pro-death” views. It opts for life. When death starts to look inviting, one must be reminded that one “is still here,” and to that fact one must bow.