To Die Is Gain

About the Author: 

Aaron P. Debusschere is the husband of one and father of three. He holds degrees in philosophy, theology, and education, and is currently completing a dissertation on the Augustinian roots of Vatican II’s ecclesiology. He blogs with his wife at www.theromanticcatholic.wordpress.com.

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Persons of the dialogue

Socrates, Paul, Luke, Crito

Scene

The Prison

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Paul: Listen, Luke, there is a man on trial before the assembly. His words come faintly, but I have been straining to hear him speak. It seems that he has been condemned to death and he is thanking the people for it.

Luke: Who is he?

P: I don’t know. From what snatches I’ve made out, he sounds like a philosopher of sorts. He speaks of truth, virtue, justice, but principally now of death.

Socrates: “The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows.”^[i]

P: Indeed, God only knows.

L: What is that, Paul?

P: God alone knows which is better: life or death. It seems the man’s trial is over and they have taken him away to be executed.

L: Not to be executed yet. Look! They are bringing him into the next cell.

Crito: Socrates, I must speak to you now that the guards have left.

S: What is it, Crito?

C: Some of the men in the assembly were not inclined to condemn you to death but would prefer exile. Some—and myself, of course—have money we can put toward bribing the guards and paying for a ship to take you away from here. Simmias and Cebes, and others also, are willing to put their money toward such an end. You could go to my friends in Thessaly where you would be safe from harm.^[ii]

S: Thank you, Crito. Your heart is faithful, but I would not think of it. Death is not such a bad thing for a good man. Did you not hear my defence?

P: I certainly did. Snatches of it anyway, and you spoke with great nobility of spirit.

S: Goodness! In the excitement I completely missed the presence of men in the next cell. I ought to introduce myself. This is my friend Crito and I am Socrates.

P: God’s gadfly.

S: Oh yes! You liked that bit of my speech, did you? Haha! I thought it was quite clever myself. And who might you gentlemen be?

P: I am Paul, like you a man condemned for preaching the truth, and this is Luke, who has been a most faithful companion in my imprisonment.

C: Are you also a philosopher?

P: I suppose you could say that, though I did not pursue wisdom: Wisdom pursued me. Wisdom broke me and restored me to life.

S: You speak of Wisdom as though it were a man.

P: Indeed I do, Wisdom has become incarnate. The gospel I preach is the life, death, and resurrection of Wisdom made man.

S: Death and resurrection, eh? Tell me more about Wisdom’s death.

P: He is the man Jesus of Nazareth, God’s anointed, the Christ. He was executed in Jerusalem some thirty years ago for claiming to be God.

S: And was he?

P: He certainly was.

S: What evidence did he give?

P: First, he claimed it. He announced to the Jews that he was one with God, and he proclaimed the coming of God’s kingdom. Second, he performed countless miracles: he walked on water, calmed storms, cast out demons, cleansed lepers, healed the blind, the deaf, and the lame, raised the dead, turned water into wine, and multiplied loaves and fishes. But most importantly, he himself rose from the dead on the third day.

S: And did he give testimony of the world hereafter?

P: He certainly revealed to us the coming resurrection, which we will all enjoy. After he rose, he spent forty days with his disciples before ascending into heaven. While he remained, his body had been transformed such that he could pass through locked doors or move from one place to another in a moment. He required neither food nor drink, but he retained the scars from his crucifixion. When he left, he went to prepare a place for us and sent his disciples to proclaim the gospel to all creatures.

S: Hmm, the change in his physical state is extraordinary. You are certain he was not a ghost?

P: Most certain. He ate a morsel of fish to prove that he was flesh and bone. One of his disciples placed a hand in his side and testified that he was whole.

C: But how could he pass through a locked door?

S: Well, if he is God, then it would be no difficulty. You know the stories of Zeus coming as a ray of light.

C: I suppose so.

S: Paul, I am interested in this death and resurrection bit. I knew a man, a native of Pamphylia by the name of Er, who had died in battle and on the twelfth day was lying on his pyre about to be burned when his life was restored.^[iii] He described everything that had happened on the other side of death. Each was punished or rewarded for the life he led; the just spent a thousand years in heaven, while the unjust spent a thousand years in hell. At the end of those thousand years, they chose a new life that reflected the disposition of their souls and returned to the earth. It proved to me that the soul is immortal.

L: You mean to say that the soul returns to a new body after a thousand years?

S: Yes, so he testified anyway. He said that some returned as animals, while some animals returned as men.

L: And did you believe him?

S: That the soul is immortal? Certainly. That it returns as an animal? Of that I am less certain. It simply speaks of the importance of a just life, since the deeds of this world have an impact on the next.

C: But it could have been a dream. How did this prove to you the immortality of the soul?

S: It simply confirmed what I had already come to know. My dear Crito, do you not think that the soul is immortal?

C: Certainly not. It ceases to exist at death when all that remains is an empty body.

L: I can testify to the emptiness of the body. As a physician, I have been present at many bedsides at the moment when the soul passes from the body. It happens in an instant. The one moment the body is full of life and in the next, the person who was present has gone. The eyes that once served as a window to the soul stare up as an empty chasm. But I do not believe the soul simply ceases to be; it merely separates from the body. Otherwise, there could be no resurrection from the dead.

S: You are right, Luke. If the soul simply ceased to be at death, neither Er nor Jesus could have been restored to life, or they would have been different men entirely.

C: But this does not prove that these men were truly dead, but only that they may have been sleeping. What proof do you have that the soul is immortal?

S: My dear Crito, as Luke has testified, it is not difficult to recognise the difference between sleep and death. Did either of you witness the death of Jesus?

P: No, I have only known him in the Resurrection, but others did and have testified that he was certainly dead. A soldier pierced his side to ensure that he was dead, and they placed him in a tomb.

S: There you have it. A soldier would be hard pressed to mistake sleep for death. And I can testify that Er was certainly dead, for I fought with him in the battle and was among those who gathered his body and was present at the pyre when life was restored to him.

C: But, Socrates, I want to hear how you arrived at the immortality of the soul before these men came back to life.

S: Very well, Crito. It can be known in this way. All things have their own proper good and their own proper evil; its good is that which allows it to flourish, and its evil is that which corrupts and destroys it. For the body, its proper evil is disease, “which weakens and destroys it, till finally it ceases to be a body at all.”^[iv] Yet the soul is unaffected by disease, but remains whole; rather, the proper evil of the soul is injustice, though it does not destroy the soul or separate it from the body, does it?

C: Of course not.

S: Indeed not. The soul remains whole and intact even if the body is cut into pieces, for nothing can be harmed by the proper evil of another thing. Yet, neither can any amount of injustice destroy the soul. If the proper evil of the soul cannot destroy it, then the soul must be immortal. Does that satisfy you, Crito?

C: Yes, Socrates.

P: Now, Socrates, you said that the soul must be immortal if there is resurrection—which we both hold to be true—since if the soul were to cease to be after death, then the risen Jesus or the risen Er would have to be different men entirely. You say this because it would require new souls to be placed in their bodies. Is this correct?

S: Certainly.

P: Then it is the soul that makes a man?

S: You mean that I am Socrates because my soul is that of Socrates and not that of Paul?

P: Yes, and after you die, your soul continues to be Socrates though your body should decay and cease to be a body?

S: Yes, I would agree to that.

P: Then after the soul has taken up a new life does it continue to be the same man?

S: I suppose it would have to be, if I am to be faithful to my conclusions.

P: You would say, then, that after you die and your body decays until it ceases to be a body, and your soul has continued to exist for a thousand years either in heaven or in hell, when your soul at last is to choose a new life and it takes up the life of an Egyptian princess, that Egyptian princess would be Socrates?

S: Haha, I see what you mean. And now you are my gadfly!

P: Haha, that may be so, but I also have my own gadflies. I believe God has arranged things in such a way that great gadflies have lesser gadflies upon their backs to bite them, while the lesser gadflies have lesser still, and so ad infinitum.

S: Indeed! And I believe you may be right, and the Egyptian princess would not be Socrates. Please continue with your examination.

P: Very well. If Er’s story is correct, then after a thousand years, your soul might be of the disposition to take up the life of an animal . . . perhaps of a gadfly. Homer might have taken up that of a songbird. But if I were to ask anyone, “is Homer that songbird” or even “might that songbird be Homer,” the response would be an immediate and emphatic negative, because Homer is a man who lived hundreds of years ago, while that songbird is simply that: a songbird.

S: Yes, I see, but what of another man?

P: Well, it would be much the same process. “Is Homer Socrates?” No one would think twice before denying it.

S: That is true.

P: Then the soul does not take up another life after those thousand years.

S: Then death is a greater benefit than I had first thought, for there is no end to the soul’s freedom from the concerns of a body.

P: I did not say that.

S: Then what do you say happens to the soul?

P: Well, it continues in heaven or in hell until the end of time when its body is restored.

S: The same body it had on earth?

P: Yes.

S: So I will receive back this very same body that I have now?

P: Yes, though with different qualities.

S: What different qualities?

C: Perhaps the ability to pass through locked doors.

P: Exactly, Crito. Your body will have been made a spiritual body, which can pass through locked doors or move from one place to another in an instant, and would not be subject to disease, hunger, or thirst. Your body will be perfectly obedient to your will.

L: And it would no longer be subject to death.

S: That sounds wonderful, but why should I receive my body back? Would it not be enough to live forever as a soul?

P: Certainly, it would be enough that our souls should enjoy eternal delight in heaven or suffer eternal punishment in hell, but it is more fitting that our bodies should enjoy the same rewards or the same punishments as the soul, since our bodies are accomplices in both the good and the evil that we do in this life.

S: Yes, I would agree to that.

P: Further, we know that Homer is neither that songbird nor Socrates, not because we are certain his soul does not dwell in them, but because Homer, Socrates, and the songbird have different bodies. A human is composed of body and soul, but this human is composed of this body and this soul. Death is unnatural to humanity, since the person disintegrates when the body and soul are separated. Their unity must be restored if the person is to be whole.

S: What do you mean that death is unnatural to humanity? All men die, so surely it must be natural.

P: It has not always been the case that men died. Death came into the world through sin, through injustice. The proper evil of the body was introduced with the introduction of the proper evil of the soul. Because the body and soul are a single complex whole, the body that cooperates in the injustice of the soul experiences its own proper evil.

S: Then death is not of man’s nature, because he is by nature a body and soul composite. But all men die, because all men commit injustice.

P: Exactly.

C: That sounds so hopeless!

S: What do you mean, Crito?

C: It is one thing to believe death is inevitable simply because it is the way of created things to die, but it is another to believe death is inevitable because men are evil.

S: I see what you mean.

P: But there is hope, Crito, for not all men are evil.

C: But if all men die, then they must all be evil.

P: And yet, not all men are evil. Jesus died, though he was not evil; he committed no injustice and yet was put to death unjustly.

C: But you said he was God. If that is so, then he is no man.

P: But that is the beauty of it! This is where our hope lies! Jesus is God indeed, but he is also man. If he were only God, he could not have been put to death. God himself became a man so that he could take on all our injustice and suffer the punishment for it: death. But in dying he conquered death and rose from the dead so that in him we may be restored to fullness of life in him. No longer does death hold power over us for we have hope in the resurrection. For it was written by the prophet, “He will swallow up death in victory.”^[v] Where, then, O death, is your victory? Where is your sting? For thanks be to God, we have victory in Jesus Christ!^[vi]

S: Indeed, if this is true, then death is no longer a curse on humanity but a benefit. For eternal life with a body that has all the qualities you described is certainly better than life on earth, even if there had been no death. And such a spiritual body would no longer be a deterrent to the pursuit of wisdom, but perhaps even an aid.

P: Exactly as it was intended in the beginning.

C: Socrates, during your defence, you said that death was one of two things: either it is an eternal sleep or a journey of the soul to another world. It seems that you and Paul agree that it is the latter, but how do we know it is not simply an eternal sleep?

S: Well, I had believed it was not simply sleep on account of Er’s testimony; however, Paul has shown that Er erred in his testimony—though perhaps my memory is not perfect and I embellished it—and if Er simply dreamt it, then death would certainly be but a long sleep.

P: I do not say that all Er said was false, but only that a single soul does not take up two bodies; rather, one body and one soul are proper to a single person. There remains much truth in what Er said of the next life.

S: Nevertheless, if death is but an endless sleep, then it is the greatest injustice, for neither would the just be rewarded nor would injustice be punished. Rather, the just would be punished, for they would not be able to enjoy the goods of life or pursue wisdom, while the wicked would be rewarded by being free from any punishment. No, God requires justice; if not in this world then in the next.

C: Then why did you claim in your defence that if death is an eternal sleep then “to die is gain”?^[vii]

S: For the men of this world, Crito, it would be a gain, for it would free them from the pain and suffering of life. But you know that the pursuit of wisdom is far more important than freedom from suffering, and suffering can be a means of obtaining wisdom.

P: Indeed, “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”^[viii] a hope in the resurrection.

S: Exactly. For a just man, death is a gain not simply because it frees him from suffering, but because it brings the reward of eternal life and freedom from the corruption of both body and soul.

P: That’s right, but only for a just man. Death comes for us all, but how we live determines what will happen to us when we die. This is why I have dedicated my life to proclaiming the gospel of Christ. “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”^[ix]

C: If that is so, why should we continue to suffer disease, loss, and injustice? We are all just men here. Let us end our lives together. Luke is a physician, let him dispatch us.

P: No, Crito. It is not so simple. The just man does not flee from suffering but endures it. He may look to death with hope, but he does not think to take God’s prerogative into his own hands. Further, none of us knows the precise state of his soul, but God alone. It may very well be that a man we all consider just has committed great injustices known only to God. Rather let us work out our salvation with fear and trembling.^[x] Each of us will die in God’s good time and then shall we reap the harvest of our actions either in heaven or in hell. How I long to die that I may see the face of my Lord, but if it is his will that I remain here to serve him a little while longer, may his will be done. But I see that the guard is calling me to my execution. Farewell, all of you, and may we greet each other with affection on the other side of death.

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[i] Plato, Apology 42a.

[ii] See Plato, Crito 45a–c.

[iii] See Plato, Republic 614b.

[iv] Plato, Apology 609d.

[v] Isaiah 25:8.

[vi] See 1 Corinthians 15:55–57.

[vii] Plato, Apology 40e.

[viii] Romans 5:3–4.

[ix] Philippians 1:21.

[x] Philippians 2:12.