Life is but a dream…

(Updated 12-21-2012)

I’ve been asked to talk about some of the themes in my novels TERMINUS and BEYOND JUSTICE. One of the most important of all ideas in these books is that of eternity, something to which I’d never given much thought until my mother passed away in 2003.  Shortly after her passing, while mourning her, I was given a divine glimpse of what our earthly lives are like when held up to the perspective of eternity.

Think about this: (Mortal) Life is but a dream. Does anything that happens in a dream really matter in the reality of your waking hours? I once solved a technical problem on the cello when I practiced the music in a dream. When I awoke, I could actually play the lick that had been giving me so much trouble.

Our mortal lives are like those few deceptive minutes of REM sleep, when compared to the reality of our eternal lives. When we die (funny, it’s euphemized as “falling asleep”) we will actually awaken to the reality of our eternal lives.

How fleeting are those dreams during REM sleep–a few minutes–compared to some 16 hours awake. And how much more so 78-90 years of mortal life compared to eternity?

And what will have mattered of our mortal life? Only the things that positively affect your REAL life (eternity.) Just like the only things in my dreams that matter are the things that positively affect my waking hours (e.g. finding the solution to a technical problem on my cell0.)

Do you remember that movie starring Keanu Reeves, The Matrix?  Do we really know what reality is in the context of eternity?  What is real and lasting and what is just an illusion of reality?

Listen to the sage words of King Solomon:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes. 3:11)

C.S. Lewis called mortal life the “shadowlands,” a dim copy of the real thing in eternity.  This was so well-illustrated in the finale of his Narnia series when all the characters realize that their entire mortal lives have been lived in the shadowlands and that “the dream is over, the Holiday has begun!“

What things of eternal value are you striving for today? Will it matter in 20 years? Will it matter in eternity? Don’t waste your energy on passing things. Before you know it, you’ll “wake up” and wonder why you were killing yourself for that promotion, for that new car, for the dream house, for whatever.

On one’s death bed, no one ever regretted not spending more time at the office, not closing one more deal, not getting that fancy car. What they always wish for is just another hour with their child, spouse, friends. For some, they are comforted by the fact that in just a short while, they will “awake” and be reunited in eternity.

In George Frederick Handel’s epic oratorio the composer recites a scripture that hints at the brevity of our lives in comparison with eternity.

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed”
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Today, why not spend some time with your loved ones and make some deposits of eternal value into the account of eternity!

So teach us to number our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

“Behold, I tell you a Mystery” Handel’s Messiah

Joshua Graham is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, winner of the International Book Award and Forward National Literature Award. His thrillers include DARKROOM, LATENT IMAGE and BEYOND JUSTICE, and TERMINUS. Graham's works have been characterized as thought-provoking page-turners.

Legal Notice: All information on this website and blog are from Mr. Graham's personal experience and insight and should not be viewed in any way, directly or inferred, as qualified professional advice.

All creative writing on this website or Mr. Graham's books: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. (novels, short stories)