Conan Consoles Daris

Conan The Rebel, XIII.

Conan reminds Daris that she is "'...born of a warrior folk...'" (p. 133) and then expounds:

"'Death comes to us all when fate wills it,...'" (ibid.)

This reminds us of "brave Horatius." 

It might be best to quote the remainder of Conan's remarks in full:

"'...whether we spoil our lives by skulking in fear of the end or enjoy the world while it is ours and depart it uncowed. Jehannan died in glory, in joy. He had had his revenge and he was giving his comrades back their own lives. If his belief was true, at this moment he, made hale again, rides a unicorn through the queendom of Ishtar, toward a tower where a beautiful woman waits to become the mother of his children. If his belief was wrong, well, then he has forgotten, he is at peace. He wanted us to remember him, Daris, but I do not think he ever wanted us to mourn him.'" (ibid.)

Here we meet Conan the Philosopher. His remarks inspire several thoughts.

(i) Don't mourn.

(ii) In Plato's Phaedo, Socrates says that death is either another country where we will meet the great men of the past or a dreamless sleep. In the latter case, eternity is a single night. However, people have imagined other possibilities.

(iii) Bearing children in the hereafter? Not usually but, again, every possibility is imagined by someone.

(iv) I have ordered from the Public Library a recently published book, The Case For The Hereafter by Chris Carter. I am prepared to consider evidence, if any, and in any case am interested in the various phenomena, like near death experiences, spiritualism, apparitions and apparent memories of previous lives, which are cited as evidence. The whole subject is frustrating. On the one hand, spiritualists cannot establish regular, verifiable communication in the way that we can unquestionably speak by telephone with someone across the Atlantic. On the other hand, we will all die soon and will then know - or not know as the case may be. If there is no hereafter, then we will never know. That is what makes this question different from any other. If an eclipse is predicted for noon tomorrow, then, in the afternoon, we will either know that there was an eclipse or know that there was not an eclipse. But we cannot know that we no longer exist.