(Wanted) Dead or alive

A) Is there any reward if we die?

1. The title is ambiguous:

a)      All days are the same. It’s just another boring day.
b)      I am not willing to give up yet. Perhaps another day.

B) Now, what if the doctor told you that you had six months left to live?

2. This is a possible answer:

“When I got the six-month prognosis, I cried for days. I felt a little angry to begin with and wondered, why me? Then I started telling my family and closest friends. I think once you’ve repeated the news four or five times you become numb to it.” [1]

3. This is the definition of numb:

- Deprived of physical sensation, feeling, or responsiveness. [2]

4. This is another example:

“I’ve been pondering situations in which a person realizes, with (let’s say) around 99% confidence that they are going to die within a set period of time… You understand something of probability, and so while you might hope for a miracle, you know better than to count on one. This means that even if there exists a .0001% chance you’ll live for another 50 years, you have to act as though you’re only going to live another six months.” [3]

C) What does it mean ‘99% probability?’

5. In few words it means that, under similar circumstances, out of 100 people 99 will die, while 1 will survive.

6. But what was the probability that you would have ever been born? Was it a certainty? Was it null? It seems that probabilities do not apply to matters of life and death. Life is just a miracle which we have to accept as such- if we hadn’t been born, we wouldn’t know the difference. This kind of oblivion is also the meaning of death- it doesn’t make any difference at all. 

D) Is apathy towards dying the solution?

7. Both of the previous articles adopt a passive stance towards the aspect of dying (numbness or preparation). In fact, with all due respect, the lady in the first article does not even understand that she had been numb all her life (apathy towards death is equivalent to apathy towards life). The second article uses the verb ‘to act’ in the form of ‘preparing’ (yourself to die). Thus it suggests a passive attitude towards the aspect of dying (thus more or less it agrees with the first article). Thus according to the common view you should just sit down and wait to die (no matter what a doctor may finally tell you).

E) Should we feel sympathetic for those who publicize (their) death?

8. Well we all are going to die. Feeling sympathy for those who are about to die won’t really change anything (it won’t even save us). This is not to say to feel apathy. Instead it means that when we cannot do anything about it, we had better feel more sympathy for those who are going to live- and don’t brag about it.

F) What if someone told you that you were going to die in 75-80 years as soon as you were born (as soon as you had some sense of what is to be living and dying)?

9. How many people do realize that someday they are inevitably going to die before a doctor tells them so? In fact very few of us (if anyone at all). Listen to the sparrows chirping on the tree outside your window. They are acting like crazy, oblivious of anything except their mating and singing (and expecting that you will share some pieces of bread with them!). Now take a walk on a crowded street along the coffee shops, and listen to the chattering of people, talking about everything all the time, talking nonsense just for the fun of it.

G) Do we really avoid the problem of death?

10. Fear is a sentiment, more or less involuntary, which paralyzes the body, as well as our senses. Under great stress, we feel unresponsive and unable to make decisions. This is what the previous people in the coffee shop were murmuring about: They were talking nonsense or about trivial things because they just wanted to blow off steam. But when they get home, do the same people think about serious things, or do they just think about the coming football match, or their next day at work? How many of us are really prepared to die, thus have also reconciled ourselves with the aspect of death? Why are we caught by surprise when the time comes, although we already knew that someday it was going to happen?

H) Is to be aware of death different from to be aware of life?

11. The sparrows chirping on the neighboring tree have never seemed to care if they are dead or alive. They just chirp all the time because they do this by instinct. The people who talk all the time, and seem to laugh or cry without reason, show the same behavior as the sparrows. If you asked them what was their last important deed for the future of society (or for themselves), they would reply something like: “Well, I bought (or I am willing to buy) a new car.” “Last good deed? What are you talking about? Are you crazy or something?” “Don’t bother. Have some fun…”

12. Have these people ever cared about life (except from their own?) Is having fun the meaning of life? Will items of technology solve our existential problem (no matter what the cost might be to the environment?) Will human beings ever become more reasonable and responsible towards their personal lives and the meaning of life in general? Living our lives oblivious of what happens to the world and to others is similar to paying no attention to life on its own. This is why people who have never thought about the aspect of death, have never thought about the meaning of life as well.

I) How can we get rid of the preoccupation of death?

13. People who laugh at the first opportunity are the same people who will continuously cry if something bad happens. On the other hand, there are people who adopt a heroic stance towards death. They are usually ambitious in ordinary life- they want everything and they want it now. Either passively or actively respectively, both these people are ignorant about the meaning of life- you cannot fight or murmur all your life about something which will eventually kill you (death).  Besides ignorance there is also indifference. There are people who show a general lack of sentiment- they rarely laugh or cry.

14. While ignorance is an aspect of a person who has never fought for his life, indifference is an aspect of a person who doesn’t even care to fight. But it seems that there is a way to deal with the aspect of death without conflict. I believe the key element to release ourselves from the ‘death instinct’ is to accept our fear of dying (but not necessarily death as an inescapable natural process or as a dead end). It is such an acceptance and understanding what brings about creativity. When the time comes for us to die, we shouldn’t feel ‘betrayed by God,’ even victorious, or simply confused.  

15. Technology may extend human life expectancy in the future up to some hundred years. But what is the point of living longer if we don’t know what to do with our lives? Bees for example (as a prototype of the ultimate superorganism) have been living on this planet for hundreds of millions of years, performing a divine act (pollination), producing an excellent product (honey), living a heroic life (defending the colony against predators), while an individual bee lives just for a month. Is living ‘longer’ or ‘better’ the right answer?

J) So what if I was told that I was going to die in six months?

16. Personally I would try to extend my life for just another day. I wouldn’t prepare myself for anything (something like going on a long trip). I would go out for a coffee with a friend of mine, as I usually would do, I would tell him about what was going to happen to me, and then I would keep on talking about the same things we have always talked about: nonsense. “The sun is so bright today.” “Just let me listen to the sparrows chirping once again.” I am no better than anybody else but I like to treat myself as if I were better. That would be the time to prove that I truly am. I don’t really want to belong to the 1% of the lucky ones. It’s their illusion. 

K) Wanted dead or alive…

17. The preoccupation about death exists as long as we are alive. Therefore death is a problem of the living (intelligent) beings. When we are dead we have no concern about anything. Suffering is not for the dead but for the living, who think about their lost loved ones. But when we cry about those we have lost, are we sorry for them or for ourselves?

18. While death is the ultimate stage of life, death itself is a pre-condition. It is something like emptiness (the vacuum). While it is nothing per se, it includes all possible expressions of life that may ever come about. Thus when we die we go back to that state of nothingness, and decompose ourselves into the tiny fundamental bits from which anything can be recomposed. There is certainly no perpetuation of our own ego. This is why treating death as something horrible and devastating is egoistic.

19. If death is just a condition, have we ever been alive? Is life just a dream within a dream? Does an oak tree, which may live for centuries, know the difference between being alive and dead? Do people want to live because they want to make something out of their lives, or do they live like oak trees, growing older as time passes by? How many of us have devoted our lives to helping other people, or to finding a new medicine? Should we devote our lives to some preoccupation about how to beat death, or had we better just surrender to the miracle of life, no matter what eternity might be?

L) There is a warrant hanging on the wall. But the face is missing…

20. Anyone who puts his face on the warrant may enjoy life for a while...

[1]: [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/10877799/How-would-you-cope-if-you-only-have-a-few-months-to-live.html]

[2]: [https://www.google.gr/search?q=numb]

[3]: [https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/pvDrPdnj8Mmh9ogfv/what-would-you-do-if-you-only-had-six-months-to-live]

9/10/2018

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