The Great Final Secret of all Life

His father went to debtor’s prison when he was only 12.  What an idea.  Put someone in prison until they repay their debt, but don’t give them an opportunity to work and earn money to repay that debt.  It must be why young Charles was so influenced by it.

Early life, before his father went to prison, was good.  Charles had the freedom to wander the countryside and even play in an old castle.  I imagine this is the point in his life where he saw the beauty of family, being the second oldest of 8 siblings.  He would go on to father 9 of his own children and it was said of him that family and domestic life were important to him.

When his father went to prison, Charles stopped going to school to work in a boot-blacking factory.  Working long days, Charles earned 6 shillings a week which is roughly $1.50 a week in 1824.  Calculating currency from the 1800’s and converting it in today’s numbers that we can understand is imprecise, but either way, $1.50 a week was not much money for a family to pay off debt and live on, so I’m sure Charles learned first-hand what poverty truly was.

When his father received an inheritance and was released from prison, Charles went back to school, but by age 15, he was forced to quit school once more to work and help the family.

It is quite astonishing that a young man with so little schooling would go on to become a journalist and world-renown writer.  The job that Charles took after leaving school the second time would be pivotal in guiding him to that career in writing.  It is possible that had he never been forced to quit school a second time, the world may have never known the name, Charles Dickens.

Dickens was very much influenced by the world around him.  Upon a simple internet search, you will find a plethora of information on his life, writings and how his writings were influenced.  It is not my goal to add another essay about his general life.  Instead, I want to look at one genre of his writings.

My first introduction to Charles Dickens, was reading “A Christmas Carol” when I was a boy.  At first, I didn’t want to read it because it wasn’t science fiction or fantasy, two of my favorite genres, but it didn’t take long to fall in love with this small book.  I was moved by my glimpse of the spirit life as shared in this Dickens classic.

Dickens’ work in “A Christmas Carol” reflects the unseen world.  The unseen world is what we will see when this life is over.  It is a world that is living and vibrantly active.  We don’t see that world now, but there are evidences of it in the lives and world around us.  “A Christmas Carol” brings that unseen world to light in a beautiful way.

The idea that a hard-hearted and unrepentant man could be shown his faults in a loving but firm manner is an idea worth sharing.  If only we could all have the opportunity to see how we impact the world around us, we might be more concerned with how we present ourselves.

But it is more than how we act toward our fellow traveler’s because there is so much more to our existence than just what meets the eye.

The unseen world exists, but so few are aware of it.  I understand that seeing is believing, but have you never seen a miracle?  Miracles themselves are proof of a world we do not see.  How can a miracle be special or supernatural unless it comes from a higher power?  And if there is a higher power, then it must be God.  And if it is God, then why don’t we believe His word in the bible?

At the very least, have you ever had a coincidence so wild and crazy that it made you wonder if there was more to life than this?

Some call miracles a coincidence.  If you are prone to call miracles a coincidence, then at what point does a coincidence become a miracle?

And what about everyone who passes through the veil of this life before us?  Have you never been to a funeral and wondered if this is all there is?

Charles Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” in 6 weeks and created a new literature genre in the process.  Christmas stories are now a vibrant part of our life and they had their origin in a 31-year-old-man’s process of understanding and communicating life.  After publishing “A Christmas Carol” in 1843, Dickens wrote a Christmas book every year (except 1847) until 1867.  There is a reference that when Charles Dickens died, it was asked, “Then will Father Christmas die too?”

“The great final secret of all life” is a line from Dickens book “Little Dorrit,” which was written, reflecting on that time in his life when his father was imprisoned for debt.  What an astute way to refer to the grave and what lies beyond this physical life we all see.  Life after death is a great mystery and the last secret to be revealed, one which none of us will know until we take that final step through the curtain to the other side.

There are evidences of the unseen world that can be found today.  If you want to know more, then a great place to start is by reading the bible.  If I may encourage you, start by reading the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  You will find the original Christmas story in there and a whole lot more.