Irrelevance

All the questions at the public meeting that day were about life beyond the grave. The Master only laughed and did not give a single answer. To his disciples who demanded to know the reason for his evasiveness he later said, “Have you observed that it is those who do not know what to do with this life who want another that will last forever?
“But is there life after death or is there not?” persisted a disciple.
“Is there life before death? – that is the question!” said the Master enigmatically.

from Anthony de Mello, S.J., Prayer of the Frog