Al-Beidha , Jordan
Archaeological work began at this site in 1958, and has over years led to the belief that this place has been occupied by people from 8500 to 5500 years BC. This period in the history of mankind marks the move from hunter-gatherers to settled communities, a significant advance. As people settled down to live in one place, so their religious beliefs began to grow. Nearby these dwellings pictured for the living are burial places for the dead, showing that those Neolithic communities became aware of a future life beyond death.
One of the Ancients has written of the Creator, ‘He has set eternity in the hearts of men’. [1]
An insight which gives credence to the views held by Charles Dodgson. Robert Douglas-Fairhurst’s biography quotes from the author’s diary entry, written upon his retirement from his Mathematical Lectureship at Christ Church : There is a sadness in coming to the end of anything in Life .. Man’s instincts cling to the Life that will never end.’ Instincts which seem to go back millennia.
This long-view of life and living is in contrast to the ‘Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die’ seemingly common among many people around today. As said by Dr Murray Banks, ‘Live each day as if it were your last, and one day you will be right.’ Correct – but only in the sense that it will be the close of life as you/we know it.
What then?
[1] Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes 3:11
Perceptions & Pictures 