Man lives in this world as an unthinking, pleasure-loving, materially ambitious creature, who enjoys having friends and riches. He revels in all this. Then a strange event takes place. Death comes unannounced, without his leave. He stops in his tracks. His eyes become sightless. In an instant he is bereft of all his worldly possessions—all that he holds dear—and he is carried away to the solitude of the grave.

This event makes plain the reality. It wordlessly conveys man’s sudden fall from power to powerlessness, from light to darkness, from material repletion to nothingness. Before death, he finds himself in a world where his will is his own. After death, he will be ushered into a world where he will be forced to bow to the will of Another.

Were man to remember this reality, his life would be transformed. It would then appear inane to oppress the poor, hapless individuals in his clutches. He would realize that it is fruitless to oppress others if tomorrow he would have to come under the control of Another. He would feel ashamed of having indulged in the idea of his own greatness, because greatness that does not endure is of no value.

The world before death is the stage of sowing the seed; and the world after death is the stage of finding its result. Death is a compulsory eviction from the world of test to the world of Reckoning.