On Death

I think I already wrote something on here about death but it's something that comes up a lot. April 28, 2009.

I wish nothing ever had to die.

There's a Vonnegut story where a kid goes to the optometrist. The optometrist tells him about a place called Tralfamadore, where beings live in the fourth or fifth dimension. They don't experience time linearly, they see humans as gigantic, twisting snakes with arms and legs coming out every which way. They can look at any moment they want at any time. He tells the boy that nobody ever really dies because every moment lives on.

"Isn't that comforting?" he asks.

I don't think it is comforting, I don't think so at all. We all still die, there are still limits on what time we have to do what we can do. If anything, that's worse, because one can find out what will happen at any moment at any time. Life loses its unpredictability, its poetry, the unknown.

But the saddest thing for me to think about is that everything dies, that everything beautiful stops being so great eventually because it stops being at all. And it's true and it's awful, every little iota of matter decomposes over time.
It's disgusting and shameful, it makes me prone to collapsing to think about, how the f**k could that happen?
There will be those compromisers, the ones who say, "we're lucky to have the existence we have, be happy with it." But everything is so amazing, existence is beautiful and how could something so amazing possible go away? It isn't fair.

I'm partly talking about the end of the world and partly talking about the end of a life. A life because it can't be reproduced; a building crumbling is sad but it's utterly dwarfed by the end of a life. A life is probably the greatest thing, ever. But they all go away eventually.

Do they dissipate into nothing? Why?
Even if there is a God and we all go to heaven, why doesn't he just pick us up and give us a hug and tell us everything will be alright? Why does he let us murder each other, and even more why does he force some of us to do so for food and resources? This extends to the animal kingdom as well and especially the predatory relationships, predators and prey are sad things.

Ever hear that a dog is incapable of the thought, "zero?" They aren't smart enough to know what nothing is. Maybe that's why dogs are so happy, because they don't have to think about this.

I could write about this for longer but I have to go.

Reviews

[falling_toxic_rain]

very insightful. I like this this piece, I think you can fix it up a little just small errors. Or leave it as it is because it shows the flow of your thought. Anyway, as I read I think you are right it is very sad to see things die...and maybe I'm not a "compromiser" or maybe I am-I am in the end a middle child-but I've always believed that if something falls through,dies, or whatever, something else comes along. Maybe better maybe worse. It just opens up the opportunity for something else that is beautiful.

Any way good write.
-rain