I'd rather there wasn't an afterlife, really. I'd much rather not be me for thousands of years.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a preference for the absence of an afterlife, valuing the finite experience of life.
In this quote, William Golding shares a personal reflection on the concept of an afterlife. He implies that the idea of living for eternity, possibly in a state of existence detached from one's current identity, is less appealing than the temporary and finite nature of human life. The quote prompts us to consider the value of our mortal existence versus the idea of an endless existence that may lack the qualities we cherish in our current lives.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the philosophical implications of mortality during a seminar.
Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.
The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell.
Maybe, he said hesitantly, maybe there is a beast. The assembly cried out savagely and Ralph stood up in amazement. You, Simon? You believe in this? I don't know, said Simon. His heartbeats were choking him. [...] Ralph shouted. Hear him! He's got the conch! What I mean is . . . maybe it's only us. Nuts! That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum.
The mask was a thing on it's own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-conciousness.
Man produces evil as a bee produces honey.
Utopias are presented for our inspection as a critique of the human state.
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.
I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free, and then realizing that my freedom is not independent of everybody else. Then I am arriving at that circle where one works on oneself as a gift to other people so that one doesn't create more suffering. I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.
Now the relation which, in the sphere of nature, being and semblance or sensation bear to one another in this antithesis, is the same as that which in ethics exists between good and pleasure or feeling.
Much of what ails our modern life is exactly because we reduce the value of a human being to a number, say salary or consumer power.
The Church right now has more fashion than passion, is more pathetic than prophetic, is more superficial than supernatural.
And whatβs he then that says I play the villain?
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