On Death

This is a really cool comic. It's called "Fleep". (Seriously, go read it.)



Why do we fear death?

Do we fear death?

I think, on some level, we all do. But why?

Do we fear the total cessation of our senses, the idea that we will never again see a rainbow, hear a catchy melody, savor a delicious meal? The idea that we will have no more ideas? That our consciousness will die? This doesn't make sense to me. We go to sleep every night, where we lose every bit of our sensory perception, yet we have no fear. We lose our conscious minds. There is always the possibility that we will never wake up, and we would never know it. But this isn't a scary thing. It's a thing we face on a day-to-day basis, no worries whatsoever.

Do we fear the loss of our loved ones, the idea that we will never see them again? Maybe. But it seems to me that part of what makes love so beautiful and transcendent is not its permanence, but its impermanence. We forge our deepest, most passionate loves in the fires of transience, knowing that they won't last, maybe not admitting it to ourselves, but aware nonetheless. When we realize love doesn't last, we pursue it all the more intensely. Everything is so much more precious when it's mortal.

Do we fear the unknown, the dark embrace of a cold, forsaken void, the idea that something awful is waiting for us on the Other Side? If our consciousness doesn't disappear, then it recedes back to where it came from, or perhaps it goes somewhere else entirely. If it goes back to where it originated, then there is nothing to fear. We don't fear the time before we were born; there is clearly nothing horrible awaiting us there. Why would post-death be any different from pre-birth? We have no reason to believe it would be. The truth is, we can't have any knowledge of what it's like after we die. So why imagine it to be something horrible?

The point is this: Don't fear death. There are things far more worthy of your fear, like eugenics or ignorance or apathy or that guy in "Fleep".

-Me