There are few things that have the power to bring our life into focus in the same way as death. It causes us to deeply examine our own mortality. Not too long ago I was in the presence of death and I became an unwilling participant in the kind of reflection that is occasioned by death’s arbitrary and indiscriminate character. The inanity of the human condition is not to actively engage in the reality of one’s impending expiration. We are all passively or subconsciously aware that at an appointed time, we will all be carted off on that celestial flight to the beyond, behind the veil that leads to the great unknown.
It is a burdensome morsel of knowledge and the hope has always been that we are able to apply the knowledge of our date with the eternal footman in meaningful ways, ways that enrich the remainder of our physical existence. There have been offerings, y.o.l.o –you only live once ,for example which is supposed to challenge us to live with the zest and zeal of a being who knows that their time shall come, some sooner than others. Interpretations have however varied and it has instead been understood by some sections as an invitation to partake in unfettered debauchery and self indulgence, which in its entirety is also fulfilling, some would argue.
As long as one is serving one’s best interest and his decisions on how to fashion his life are born exclusively of personal consultation, then there is no reason to judge. Speculation about the afterlife is also for most an intellectual curiosity more than anything. The promise of eternal life or the threat of eternal damnation in the pits of hell has not been effective in determining the method with which individuals run their lives.
The idea of postponing pleasure is alien to the human consciousness and as such the notion of foregoing earthly pleasures for the purpose of eternal existence at the feet of God in heaven has been met with a dour reception. People just are not having any of it.
My observation has been however, that the fear of death, awareness of our mortality et cetera are clever aspirations with highly important application in our daily lives but it is an ambitious undertaking. To be asked to live each moment as if you could die the next, such that when the great wizard strikes, the joke is isn\’t on you, is one of those sensibilities I feel that exist outside the realm of practical possibility. And so let us live our lives as we have always done, like we are never going to die.
