On death
June 9th, 2007 by 
admin
‘In demeanor I am not normally morose. I am often jovial and I do not take most things too seriously. Yet I am prone to occasional bouts of depression. It is partly for this reason that I find myself thinking so much of death recently. The other reason is simply that I had previously extinguished most of my natural fear of death back when I became suicidal in college. Also, a few years ago I walked away from a serious car accident that could have easily killed me. So while others do not even think of their demise I purposely turn my mind towards it. This has especially been the case over the last 6 months, following a cold day last December when I saw a motorcyclist crushed like a rag doll in a fatal crash with a car just 10 feet in front of my eyes.
But why do I purposely think on death? Because death focuses my mind. If I remain aware of my mortality, I will concentrate my energies while alive on those things that matter. And those things do not include going out to movies, watching TV, hanging out with friends, or even drinking good wine (although eating good chocolate is something that matters!). What many people seek, to leave some sort of legacy or have some effect upon the world, also seems to me trivial and meaningless. Whether in 100 years, 1000 years, or in 1 million years, any man\’s work will be destroyed by the ravages of time. Wait a billion years and the universe itself will die out and nothing created by humans will remain. If all human works are evanescent, why strive to create them? What good even world domination and universal worship if all will forget in but a few thousand years’ time?
No matter what happens after death, I cannot but conclude that the only meaning in life is to be found in goodness, not greatness. While any man can live a grand life and change the world, few can say as they lay dying that they became what they could be. Flowers and trees do not need to strive to be complete, but humans must strive and suffer if they are to hope to be truly human and truly good. And just as a plant or animal has innate qualities, so do humans. And to lead a good life one must use those qualities to the fullest.
In his trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien described death as “The One’s gift to mankind.” One of the key subplots in the trilogy is the love and eventual marriage between Arwen (an elf) and Aragon (a human). For Arwen, to choose marriage with a human means that she must renounce eternal life and become mortal. And yet she chooses it. The reason why such a choice can be rational is easier if we compare life to a game–what is more interesting and worthwhile playing: a game with no way to win or lose or a game in which winning and losing are both possible? Most would say the second kind of game. Without mortality there can be no real winning or losing–just eternal playing. It is the finite nature of the game that gives it meaning, just as with our lives.
So what does this have to do with this blog? Simply, my own mortality is the impetus behind this blog. What use working a normal job and having normal hobbies when I know what is right and what is wrong and I have the qualities to be a revolutionary? Whether I succeed or fail, I fight because the fight is just.’,
[originally published 19 May 2007]
Posted in Ethics | 