Spinoza

Selection from – Ethics – Part IV. Of Human Bondage, or the Strength of the Emotions (Page 19)

Spinoza's Words: (a free man thinks of life rather than death)

Proposition LXVII. A free man thinks of death least of all things; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death but of life.

A free man is one who lives under the guidance of reason, who is not led by fear but who directly desires that which is good, in other words who strives to act, to live, and to preserve his being on the basis of seeking his own true advantage; wherefore such an one thinks of nothing less than of death, but his wisdom is a meditation of life.

Comment:

Spinoza was probably thinking of the vast majority of people at the time who were preoccupied with the afterlife and who conformed their lives in light of a final judgement.