Thursday, July 29, 2010

We All Die.

Sorry for the cryptic title, but if there was only one fundamental truth in the world that would be it. Perhaps it could be rephrased to something like, "everything will cease to exist.". However, I like mine because it deals with living things, in particular human beings.

Given the events in my recent life it is probably only natural to be contemplating on death and things which surround it. Memories of loved ones who have died invoke a strange number of emotions to mind... even more so those of age who are in the act of dying. These are realities I am familiar, and even perhaps experienced with.

It is not death in itself that perplexes me so much as how people view it. Recent conversations with others recently have surprised me. There seems to be an almost innate knee jerk reaction in any conversation dealing with death, even more so when my beliefs are mentioned. I believe dead person is no different from a dead tree or other living thing... they simply cease to exist.

I find no comfort in the ideas in which so many cling, that there is an afterlife or some great "thing" in which a consciousness can live forever. I am very comfortable with the idea of death being an ending, others however aren't so much for this idea. When speaking about this sort of thing many people simply out right deny what I say, others run as far away from the topic as possible.

I was more than shocked about this, to see that amount of fear and anxiety from something as simple as a conversation about death. I've never known this sort of fear, because ceasing to exist has never bothered me. I blame these overzealous reactions on a culturally imposed phobia of death. Religious mythologies have huge roles to play in these phobias but I do feel that they are more so influenced by the ego and a tendency to reject the unknown.

In cultures that are more group orientated death tends to be more celebrated, however in most modern cultures selfishness (even if it is unconscious) tends to play a huge role in death. Such things like freezing bodies and heads come to mind, any way to perpetuate the self. The Christian influence of an afterlife also feeds heavily on this ego driven ideal.

Perhaps I am over thinking this. But I'm currently seeing a person close to me age, and begin to fail. It is only a matter of time before this person ceases to exist. A nearly non-religious person now seeing a looming death is suddenly talking about heaven, and quickly trying to mend what "sins" that have been committed. A survival mechanism of extreme selfishness.

Something to ponder about I think.

2 comments:

Kelly said...

When I was a kid, I really feared the idea of death. Total blackness... forever. Nothing to look forward to, for sure. I think everyone can agree, if you were to dwell on it too much, it could freak you out a bit.

Anyway, I got used to the idea of death, became bored with it and moved on.

Then later, I kept having, along with everyone else that lived with me, experiences with ghosts. I know it sounds nutty and everyone jumps to the conclusion/assumption that they don't exist but that doesn't mean much to me.

I know for a fact they exist. Anyway, my point is that those experiences, plus the fact that so many people with Near Death Experiences have basically the same experiences or pattern to their time of nearly kicking the bucket leads me to believe there is an afterlife. I don't think it's the fairy tale afterlife that so many Christians go on about but I do believe there is one.

Eh, I'm not here to change anyone's mind. People will believe what they want. I'm just stating my beliefs. Take care, dude. We can't always agree. Heh heh.

Dark Slander said...

Kelly,

Thanks for the comment, the idea of ghosts and that other sort of plane of existence has never really occurred to me.

Although I don't personally believe in such things, there are substantial amounts of claims from countless others. Perhaps if I had such first hand experiences I may reconsider.

Although I feel the vast majority of such paranormal activities concerning the dead are hoax, false perceptions and delusions there is still a high frequency of unknown accounts which have no logical explaination.

You are someone I've chatted with for an extensive period of time so I really wouldn't consider your experiences hoaxed, or even falsely perceived(given your great depth of intellectual perception.)

You've given me quite the heavy load to think about. I appreciate that.