Death: Where Knowledge Stops

Death is perhaps one of the most taboo subjects of conversation in "polite society" in most cultures. There is good reason for this. There are no "experts" on the subject of death. We have no scientific knowledge beyond the medical evidence of the cessation of function of the human body, which constitutes the act of dying. Nothing in available science can prove or disprove religious, philosophical and parapsychological claims of a continuation of human existence in some form beyond the final moment of existence on this earth.

I am not alone in the belief that all religions are founded on the desperate need of every human being to explain this terrible prospect of non-existence looming inevitably in our future. The hopelessness of the situation is such that it might explain the creation and existence of the so-called "religious genes" I discussed in a previous blog - a safety valve, perhaps that redirects the attention of the human being away from the finality of death to a soft cushion of beliefs in eternal life, resurrection, reincarnation, heaven or whatnot. We need to believe in something or risk insanity as we contemplate nothingness.

Man is the only creature on earth to our current knowledge that has the ability to think beyond his life, to a time when he will not exist any more, at least in the form he has today. The prospect is daunting and I'm sure everyone has spent a few sleepess nights trying to come to terms with the idea. This is the point where most men and women turn to religion for comfort and solace. A few brave souls who declare themselves to be "atheists" focus on the present and purport to believe that "it all ends here". It's such a dismal outlook that frankly, I believe that if everyone adopted this attitude, suicide rates would go through the roof. Perhaps it was no accident that as soon as the atheist communist regime in the Soviet Union ended, people rushed to reopen the churches and returned to religion full strength.

It is no accident that I'm writing this article today. A couple of weeks ago, the most precious person in the world to me - my mother - died. It's very hard to take philosophically the death of a loved one. For once, my meandering mind froze on its tracks and emotions ruled my world. Those of you who have read my articles in the past may have already surmised that I'm neither religious nor atheist. I try to balance myself in a family whose beliefs run from deep religiousness to complete atheism and I can usually understand their points of view. Yet, this was one occasion where my whole being was begging to turn to religion, to God, for hope, in a place where knowledge stopped.

The dream of life

Sorry, you can't take it with you.

Not for lack of trying! The Pharaohs were buried with everything that could possibly make their afterlife comfortable. Ancient Chinese Emperors would take an entire army along, presumably, so that they would yield the same power after death as they had yielded during their lifetime. Even ordinary people were often buried with favorite objects or even pets to keep them company "after they were gone". In some parts of India, wives were sacrificed when their husbands died. Up to their last gasping breath, people still attempt to control their destiny and other people with the real or imagined power of their possessions.

It's not uncommon that parents still attempt to control their children's lives by means of their wealth - even if that wealth is modest. The power play between the haves and the have-nots is endless, relentless and takes no prisoners.

Guess what folks? You can't take it with you. Or, as my mom often says, "shrouds have no pockets". All those things that are of the living, stay with the living. The only coin that may hold any value once that final threshhold is crossed is the love, generosity and integrity with which you lived your life, and with which you paid those around you. Even if you don't believe in an afterlife, those qualities are the ones that will be remembered by those you leave behind.

Aye, there is the rub! Like it or not, we will all go someday. Life is ephemeral, perhaps only a dream we must all wake up from eventually, and like the shadows of a dream, eveything accomplished while living dissipates once the dream-life is over. All that is left, are the feelings we nurtured in others duing that short period. They could be feelings of love, gratitude, awe and grandeur, or they may be feelings of bitterness, anger, hate and misery. And because we are complex beings, these feelings may be of both, different for every aspect of our lives.

And guess what? Once one or two generations after us are gone as well, even those feelings will be forgotten and we will end up as perhaps a name in a dusty, old family album, or at best, another boring name to remember in the history books.

The dream of life is potent, addicting, exciting and we try to hold on to it with all our strength but it is, after all, only a dream. And you, old man, with your fading memory and all the quirks and eccentricities of your personality finally becoming dominant in your old age... YOU, old man who still wants to believe that the world revolves around you... you, OLD MAN who has forgotten that you must live your final years with dignity and affection, YOU will be dust sooner than you think with nothing left behind but the bitter taste of your name in the mouths of those you taunted when you should have embraced them.

I hope you wake up in a better place.