But the word of the Lord stands forever. The Word did not come into being, but it was. It did not break upon the silence, but it was older than the silence and the silence was made of it. The latter quotation suggests that life is to death as words are to silence. Similarly, just as life ends in death yet draws its meaning from the mystery which death veils, so also, as I mentioned at the beginning of today's lecture, the questions of philosophy end in a silence that no longer has use for questions.
Life is, in fact, full of such mysteries and paradoxes.
The few we have touched upon here in the fourth part of this course only represent the tip of the iceberg. Our dreams, for example, put us in touch with a huge area full of mystery and paradox. If we had more time we could look in greater detail into some of these other dark and interesting aspects of our lives. But instead we will return in our final session to the question with which this course began and examine the way it too reveals the paradoxical mystery at the heart of human experience.