This blog post briefly explores how the story of the ‘man who has lived for 14,000 years’ from the play Man from Earth raises questions about belief and truth.
During my academic leave, I suddenly felt like engaging in cultural activities and started searching for plays. One with an intriguing premise caught my eye: a man who confesses to fellow professors that he has lived for 14,000 years, and the heated debate that ensues over his claim. Despite the implausible premise, the plot strangely drew me in, sparking my curiosity and leading me to see the performance. The play fully met my high expectations, so the desire to introduce it in an essay came naturally.
The title of the work I saw is ‘Man from Earth’. This play is a stage adaptation, a remake of the film of the same name. The original film itself originated from the concept of a short story by writer Jerome Bixby. In other words, a single idea was reborn in various forms: first as a novel, then as a film, and now as a play.
The plot is as follows. John Oldman, a professor who has been teaching for ten years, suddenly announces he will resign and leave for another place. Finding this strange, his fellow professors hold a small farewell party and ask him why. After repeated questioning, John confesses he is a being who has lived for a staggering 14,000 years, adding that he moves to a different region every ten years to hide his ageless appearance. At first, no one believes him, but as John presents logical, airtight evidence, his colleagues become increasingly bewildered.
Having existed for 14,000 years, John was a friend of Van Gogh, a companion who discovered the New World with Columbus, and a disciple of Buddha. During his long life, he earned over ten degrees, met beloved women, started families, and saw many children. But the time he could maintain any of these things was never longer than ten years. John kept wandering like that. His colleagues couldn’t believe John’s story and kept asking questions, trying to find flaws. They found themselves in a state where they couldn’t quite believe the airtight evidence John presented, yet couldn’t disbelieve it either. As the conversation wound on, they asked John if he had ever met anyone from the Bible. John finally revealed he was one of the figures from the Bible and explained the circumstances like this. During his time as a disciple of Siddhartha Gautama, John was profoundly moved by his teachings. Resolving to spread these ideas to the West and enlighten people, John traveled to Europe, joined forces with like-minded individuals, and put his plan into action. Astonishingly, according to John’s account, the biblical figure he equated himself with was Jesus Christ. It was the most shocking statement yet. His companions declared him mad. Among them, Edith, a devout Christian, screamed blasphemy and even fainted.
Personally, being non-religious, I could watch this play without any qualms. I cannot know the feelings of religious audience members. They might have been enraged like Edith, or they might have watched the play without much concern. While watching the play, I felt as if I were sitting in the living room with John and his colleagues during their discussion. The immersion was incredibly high. However, there was a scene where a character smoked, and I was startled by the actual smell of tobacco. They had lit a real pipe. I understood the intent was to realistically convey the situation to the audience, but I could sense the audience momentarily flustered by the sudden tobacco smell. While this momentarily disrupted immersion, their dialogue remained as tense and fast-paced as a ping-pong ball darting back and forth across the table.
Honestly, I didn’t get a strong sense that the play carried any particular message. Rather than directly stating a thematic intent, it seemed to offer food for thought by delivering a fresh shock about the existence of Jesus. The idea that the absolute entity of religion, which we often take for granted without question, might have been human like us, and that it has changed over time to the point where its original form is unrecognizable, is a deeply unsettling proposition. I believe there must have been an inevitable reason for religion to transform so drastically from its original form, much like building a house or eating food to survive.
Watching the play, I recalled many moments we encounter in life. It made me realize how much we take for granted in our daily lives. John’s story reminded us how much the things we know can change. I felt it conveyed the message that while we often fear change, we must understand it is a natural and inevitable process. These thoughts heightened my immersion in the play and made me focus more intently on every line spoken by each character.
If John’s words are true, then Jesus, who was once an absolute being, becomes just a human like us, and Christianity loses its supernatural power. This raises the question: what exactly is religion? Because if you believe John, nothing could be more futile. Not only John’s claims, but many other things can easily disprove religion. Because its essence cannot be seen. Because too much time has passed since it began. Because it has transformed too much over time. Despite these flaws, people rely on religion to an unimaginable degree. Why does religion receive such widespread support and deep trust?
People believe in religion for countless diverse reasons and purposes. I think self-comfort plays a significant part among those reasons. Living a life of less than a hundred years, humans encounter many unexpected moments. We live each day amidst realities that are hard to bear—the harshness of a world where you fall behind if you don’t strive hard, the self-loathing that makes you feel like you alone are weak. Amidst this, the constant desire to justify oneself, to be comforted, to be acknowledged, is only natural. In a way, it seems fair to say we believe in God to overcome weakness, to become stronger. Indeed, people around me have said that believing in religion helps them steady their minds and not be greatly swayed by chaotic external stimuli. I too have considered trying religion when I desperately needed something to lean on.
So how do people who don’t believe in a specific religion find self-comfort? They too seem to seek self-comfort and satisfaction through a deity. To be precise, in this case, it’s not a deity but a supernatural being. For instance, we often see people who believe only heaven understands their true feelings, which no one else comprehends. Here, humans ascribe the meaning of a supernatural being to heaven. In other words, if we focus on self-comfort among religion’s many purposes, the definition of religion broadens from the narrow sense of believing in a specific god to encompass any supernatural being that brings solace to the heart. From this broadened perspective, even I, a non-religious person, could be said to have religion if I seek and lean on a supernatural being.
As the play nears its end, amid the spiraling chaos, John finally confesses that all his stories were fabricated. John chose to cover the truth and provide stability rather than reveal it and confuse people. He told a white lie to protect the desperate faith of ‘Edith’ and her companions in Jesus, allowing them to find comfort. This aligns with my own thinking. Jesus, once suspected of being merely human, regained his divine image, and his companions could once again find peace and solace.
Debates about religion and faith are always a hot topic. Through this play, we gained an opportunity to reconsider the essence of faith and its underlying aspects. I felt that the effort to uncover the hidden stories and truths behind faith is more important than unconditional belief. Ultimately, whatever faith we hold, what matters is the meaning it gives us and the impact it has on our lives. The play ‘Man from Earth’ was an excellent work that posed these questions.
Moreover, this play prompted me to revisit my own beliefs and values. We often take too much for granted in life, yet beneath the surface, countless stories and truths we don’t know may lie hidden. This play reminded me how crucial it is to constantly question ourselves, alongside the effort to uncover such hidden truths.
Even after the play ended, I couldn’t shake off its lingering impact for quite some time. John’s story wasn’t mere fiction; it made me reconsider the many questions and doubts we encounter in our daily lives. And I realized how profoundly meaningful those questions are to our existence. Through this play, I gained a broader perspective on the world, and I believe that is the greatest gift this work gave me.
