I have started reading Vico's "The New Science." His opening paragraph grabbed me a bit so I thought I would quote it.
"The natural law of the nations was certainly born with the common customs of the nations. Furthermore, there has never been a nation of atheists in the world, because all nations began in some single religion. The roots of these religions all sprang from man's natural desire for eternal life, a desire, common to human nature, which arises from a common sense, concealed in the depths of the human mind, that the human soul is immortal. But however hidden this cause, its effect is equally evident: that, when faced with the final afflictions of death, we wish for a force superior to nature by which to overcome them, a force that is to be found only in a God who is not identical with, but superior to, nature herself, i.e. an infinite and eternal mind. And when men stray from this God, they become curious about the future."
And this is from Augustine:
"For as animals, by shunning pain, show that they love bodily peace, and, by pursuing pleasure to gratify their appetites, show that they love peace of soul, so their shrinking from death is a sufficient indication of their intense love of that peace which binds soul and body in close alliance. But, as man has a rational soul, he subordinates all this which he has in common with the beasts to the peace of his rational soul, that his intellect may have free play and may regulate his actions, and that he may thus enjoy the well-ordered harmony of knowledge and action which constitutes, as we have said, the peace of the rational soul. And for this purpose he must desire to be neither molested by pain, nor disturbed by desire, nor extinguished by death, that he may arrive at some useful knowledge by which he may regulate his life and manners. But, owing to the liability of the human mind to fall into mistakes, this very pursuit of knowledge may be a snare to him unless he has a divine Master, whom he may obey without misgiving, and who may at the same time give him such help as to preserve his own freedom. And because, so long as he is in this mortal body, he is a stranger to God, he walks by faith, not by sight; and he therefore refers all peace, bodily or spiritual or both, to that peace which mortal man has with the immortal God, so that he exhibits the well-ordered obedience of faith to eternal law."
What I get from these two quotes is essentially two things:
1) The only thing that brings peace of mind to men is the promise of immortality.
2) Mere knowledge of immortality's promise will never give man peace of mind because of his fallen state. He must know that there is an infinite, eternal God who is the giver of immortality, and he must trust and obey him as his divine Master.
And then there is Gillian Welch who sums up my hopes and desires on this topic quite nicely:
Nobody knows what waits ahead
Beyond the earth and sky
Lie-d Lie-d Lie
I'm not afraid to die
And there the work of my own hand
Be broken by and by
Lie-d Lie-d Lie
I'm not afraid to die
Sometimes it finds me fast asleep
And wakes me where I lie
Lie-d Lie-d Lie
I'm not afraid to die
Forget my sins upon the wind
My hobo soul will rise
Lie-d Lie-d Lie
I'm not afraid to die
Lie-d Lie-d Lie
I'm not afraid to die