I contemplate life and death quite often recently. Why is that? A number of things have inspired these existential thoughts. For one, I am at the age where many of my peers have begun having children, so there is a lot of new life in my world. I have also, unfortunately, been affected by loss of life and the potentiality of death in this world too, both personal and impersonal. These existential stresses have manifested in an urge to chronicle my thoughts about life and death and share images that represent the delicate, yet savage dichotomy between these two realities. I am doing this because I believe a better understanding of life, and also death, will give us more respect for both, make our lives more enjoyable, and make death seem less mysterious.
What are my personal experiences with life and death? I remember being both terrified and fascinated by death from an early age. A haunting early memory of death comes to mind as a write this – an old man collapsing and dying as he stepped out of an elevator at my grandparents’ retirement home. I was young, and my parents made efforts to shield me from what was happening, but I understood that the man had died. It made my blood cold and my palms sweat. It was very unsettling. Not as traumatic as growing up in a war zone or the ghetto, but still a spooky experience.
The recent Coronavirus pandemic, in its sheer scale and seriousness, has definitely helped exacerbate these existential thoughts. The mass casualties, both here and abroad, have devastated our collective morale. We have, and are still suffering from loss of life on a global scale, by the hands of a disease that has swept, like wildfire, across borders and oceans. It has been frightening.
I have been affected by other recent health issues of friends and family too, and some grief in other departments. There have been health scares and “close calls” at home, grandparents of both myself and some friends are no longer with us, a friend from home died in a car crash recently, and a good friend has been dealing with a serious form of cancer, a situation that has brought the fragility of life and finality of death crashing to the forefront of my consciousness.
There is new life in my world, though, too. I have two little nieces who are just the sweetest girls in the world. Friends of mine have begun to have children too, and I am constantly greeted by their joyful little faces on social media posts and in person. Such innocence in the face of a child cannot be found anywhere else, and we can do nothing but celebrate and nurture this new life.
Moving on, what do we know about life and death as a society? Since the origin of civilization and human consciousness, our understanding of life and death have mostly been derived from religious texts, institutions, and officials. I have mentioned in a previous post that I am not on board with religious institutions and their interpretation of reality, so I definitely am skeptical about the concept of an afterlife (and Reincarnation for that matter). I am also skeptical that life came from a higher power/creator. Darwin’s theory of Evolution provides a much clearer explanation of the origins of life, and as far as we know, there is no scientific proof for an afterlife, Hell, or Reincarnation.
The philosophical approach to life and death, irrespective of Religion, seems to focus on trying to understand the significance of death to our present lives. Philosophy encourages us to live, and be at peace with the present moment, something I myself have encouraged in a previous post. This approach, to me, is more sane, responsible, and honestly, easier than believing in an afterlife. After all, if you didn’t have death, you wouldn’t have life. They complement each other and each is necessary for the existence of the other.
Why am I touching on this topic? Why do I want to share this information and think about death? Most people try to avoid serious topics like life and death. I agree that it is unhealthy to obsess about death and dying and I hope I am not making anyone uncomfortable by asking them to contemplate such issues. However, a healthy understanding of life and death can bring about a greater respect for both, resulting in, I believe, a happier life and a more mature and respectful attitude towards death. In this blog post, I have mentioned that although thinking about life and death can seem overwhelming, pretentious, and frightening, we should consider contemplating it for the sake of bettering our lives, and cushioning the blow of death, making it less devastating and mysterious.
What are my personal experiences with life and death? I remember being both terrified and fascinated by death from an early age. A haunting early memory of death comes to mind as a write this – an old man collapsing and dying as he stepped out of an elevator at my grandparents’ retirement home. I was young, and my parents made efforts to shield me from what was happening, but I understood that the man had died. It made my blood cold and my palms sweat. It was very unsettling. Not as traumatic as growing up in a war zone or the ghetto, but still a spooky experience.
The recent Coronavirus pandemic, in its sheer scale and seriousness, has definitely helped exacerbate these existential thoughts. The mass casualties, both here and abroad, have devastated our collective morale. We have, and are still suffering from loss of life on a global scale, by the hands of a disease that has swept, like wildfire, across borders and oceans. It has been frightening.
I have been affected by other recent health issues of friends and family too, and some grief in other departments. There have been health scares and “close calls” at home, grandparents of both myself and some friends are no longer with us, a friend from home died in a car crash recently, and a good friend has been dealing with a serious form of cancer, a situation that has brought the fragility of life and finality of death crashing to the forefront of my consciousness.
There is new life in my world, though, too. I have two little nieces who are just the sweetest girls in the world. Friends of mine have begun to have children too, and I am constantly greeted by their joyful little faces on social media posts and in person. Such innocence in the face of a child cannot be found anywhere else, and we can do nothing but celebrate and nurture this new life.
Moving on, what do we know about life and death as a society? Since the origin of civilization and human consciousness, our understanding of life and death have mostly been derived from religious texts, institutions, and officials. I have mentioned in a previous post that I am not on board with religious institutions and their interpretation of reality, so I definitely am skeptical about the concept of an afterlife (and Reincarnation for that matter). I am also skeptical that life came from a higher power/creator. Darwin’s theory of Evolution provides a much clearer explanation of the origins of life, and as far as we know, there is no scientific proof for an afterlife, Hell, or Reincarnation.
The philosophical approach to life and death, irrespective of Religion, seems to focus on trying to understand the significance of death to our present lives. Philosophy encourages us to live, and be at peace with the present moment, something I myself have encouraged in a previous post. This approach, to me, is more sane, responsible, and honestly, easier than believing in an afterlife. After all, if you didn’t have death, you wouldn’t have life. They complement each other and each is necessary for the existence of the other.
Why am I touching on this topic? Why do I want to share this information and think about death? Most people try to avoid serious topics like life and death. I agree that it is unhealthy to obsess about death and dying and I hope I am not making anyone uncomfortable by asking them to contemplate such issues. However, a healthy understanding of life and death can bring about a greater respect for both, resulting in, I believe, a happier life and a more mature and respectful attitude towards death. In this blog post, I have mentioned that although thinking about life and death can seem overwhelming, pretentious, and frightening, we should consider contemplating it for the sake of bettering our lives, and cushioning the blow of death, making it less devastating and mysterious.
RSS Feed
