And this we must absolutely recognise to be a fundamental truth. For whilst the philosophers cannot prove that anything at all actually exists; the mathematicians cannot prove that anything is absolutely true; and the quantum physicists cannot establish that anything comprises our reality; we must conclude that our native human reason has, empirically, proved itself to be correct. Human reason is based upon much more than scientific theory; and it provides us with a single, most reliable method of access to the truth. If we must abandon reason, we are completely without hope in our search for truth.

A DISCOURSE OF REASON

Either the soul is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead. Live then, as if you were eternal. - Andre Maurois

In the film Labyrinth, the heroine is confronted with a classic puzzle. She comes to a place where there are two doors, one leading to certain death and the other leading to life; her dilemma is that she must choose. Fortunately a certain amount of help is at hand, each door has a keeper and she is allowed to ask each of them any one question she likes though sadly, one of the keepers is a liar. The great problem then is - not knowing which person is telling the truth - how to formulate a question that will guarantee her safe passage to the next scene.

Sarah successfully solves her problem by means of the application of logic. She knows that one keeper will tell a lie which, of course, is the opposite of truth, whereas the other will tell the truth. But because she does not know who is the liar, asking a question like, “Which door leads to life?” cannot be of any benefit. If this question is asked, the truthful keeper will indicate the correct door and the liar will indicate the other door. This would give her only an even chance of choosing the correct door.

The solution turns out to be incredibly simple, though the logic can take a bit of time to sink in: the question she asks is, “Which door will he say leads to life?”. If this question is asked of the liar, the answer will be a lie but if this same question is asked of the truthful keeper, he will answer truthfully relaying the other’s lie. In each case the answer will be the same; that is, the door leading to death will be indicated, regardless of which keeper is questioned. Of course, the appropriate action can then be taken with full confidence. Because this approach recognises the lie as the logical opposite of the truth, it is possible to derive useful information from the liar: powerful stuff is this logic.

Let us consider the correspondence between this scenario and our own eternal situation according to Christian tradition. If indeed free will is employed in the matter of eternal destiny, as it is proposed in the Bible, then it is by personal choice that we effectively choose the door by which the world to come is entered. In Christian doctrine, we are also told that one of the doors to the next world leads to life: ‘For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction … but small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life83’.