A quote I think about a lot was written by T.S Eliot in his poem The Waste Land. The quote goes “I will show you fear in a handful of dust.” Eliot shows us the root of fear is death and receiving the things you desire won’t eliminate fear. The reason I like this quote so much is because it reminds me that death is not something that should be feared. This quote references Greek mythology, specifically in a conversation between the Sibyl of Cumae and Apollo. Sibyls were oracles in Ancient Greece. Apollo fell in love with the Sibyl of Cumae and offered her anything she desired in return for immortality and her virginity. The Sibyl of Cumae requested from Apollo, “To live for as many years as there were grains in a handful of dust,” Petronius, Gaius, The Satyricon. The Sibyl of Cumae was in the service of Apollo and did not want the immortality that was granted to her. The eternal life granted to her was too much for her to bear, with her body becoming more decrepit and carrying the burden of unlimited knowledge. The spiritual root for fear is a fear of death, but the Sibyl did not fear death, she desired death after receiving immortality. This is contradictory to a normal human desire for immortality and unlimited knowledge. When Eliot writes, “I will show you fear in a handful of dust,” he shows the reader that conquering death will cause a desire for it due to an inability to bear the effects of gaining immortality. This makes death an inevitability and pointless to be feared.
Pure Litterateur 