Death, like love is patient.
Though, it is rarely kind and never proud!
These
words were recorded by Christopher Sabga an
aspiring writer trying to find his way in the literary world. They relate to
his personal experiences over his young lifetime in which he savored the threat
of possible death on at least two separate occasions. And also, to the power
and the patience of a determined and loving family who fought hand-in-hand to
keep it from succeeding. He knows that death is inevitable, and it is just
waiting for the right moment. But he also knows that his love of life is a
formidable foe, that will never give up for as long it can.
But
death is indeed inevitable. In fact, the only certainty we have in life is that it will end. This is an irrefutable
fact for every single living being on earth, irrespective of it being plant or
animal, and one that must be accepted by all. The only difference however is
that the human species is the only one that devotes time, effort and energy
contemplating the prospect of dying and searching for ways of thwarting death’s
ultimate power. A few even insist that this power will some day be overcome and
death will not be an option anymore.
Indeed,
there is no shortage of people who question the certainty of death taking
place. Some confidently argue this on the basis of the finding that since the
start of the 19th century to the present, the average human life has
increased by about 4 hours per day (or 2 months per year) over the 200 year
span without showing any sign of a plateau. Because of this, they insist that
immortality will eventually occur sometime in the distant future, simply by the
continuing process of natural progression. There are others who postulate that
as science continues to advance, and the hidden mechanisms of cellular life is
better understood, together with the rapid growth of replaceable parts that
will soon become fully available, then it would not be unreasonable to assume
that the body can be kept going indefinitely.
Again others are convinced that cryogenic methods when they are fully
developed will be used to successfully sustain life forever.
But
these explanations as well as the myriad of other exotic attempts to persuade
people against the fact of death’s inevitability are, to my mind, merely
examples of misguided or wishful thinking. The fundamental truth is that even
taking into account the remarkable social, medical and technological advances
which have resulted in successfully pushing the average age of survival to
levels never dreamed of only a century ago, there will come a time when it
reaches so high that it may be more of a curse than a blessing for the majority
of people. When one considers that the cell DNA, the fundamental building
blocks of life, have their own built-in degradation cycles which inevitably
leads to disintegration and death, it is not unreasonable to predict that the
successful extension of life will come with a serious price to be paid in the
subsequent quality of life. Clearly, a longer life is not necessarily a happier
one if the extra years are spent in pain or suffering, or in progressive mental
or physical disintegration or in loneliness and isolation. These are all
questions that have yet to be answered!
Whatever final outcome we accept, we cannot ignore the undeniable fact
that we will die and not might die. The only question that
remains to be answered is what should be done with the period of time we spend
living on earth. Clearly, our choice of behavior will be deeply dependent on
our attitude toward what happens after death has taken place. Those who believe
that death is the end, will have nothing to achieve but instant gratification
of the present. But those who believe that life continues on in some form
subsequently, will view life in the context of the hereafter.
It is not surprising therefore that for as
long as there has been recorded history people have chosen to live their lives
based entirely on how they perceived the future. The various approaches adopted,
however different, were based primarily on this premise of everlasting life.
For example, the great Greek philosopher, Socrates,
considered to be the father of Western Philosophy, was adamant in his belief
that death must not be feared, when he wrote:
‘To fear death, gentlemen, is
nothing other than to think oneself wise when one is not. For it is to think
that one knows what one does not know. No person knows whether death may not
even turn out to be the greatest of blessings for a human being and yet people
fear it as if they knew for certain that it is the greatest of evils.’
And several
millennia later, Nelson Mandela, the great anti-apartheid revolutionary
and first President of the unified South Africa, was more concerned with
the reward he will receive after death for the life he led, when he observed:
“Death is something inevitable. When a man has done
what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in
peace, I believe I have made the effort and that I therefore, will sleep well
for eternity.”
These
are but two contrasting examples of the wide spectrum of man’s view of death as
it relates to life. A spectrum that appears to be continuous from one of fear
and rejection of the unknown on the one end, to one of eager and optimistic
anticipation for the rewards that lay beyond the barrier for a life well spent,
on the other end. Each person’s position, like the life he led while he was
alive, will be different and depend entirely on their belief structure during
life. But irrespective of one’s
personal beliefs, it is clear that unless one views life as a Nihilistic person
would, without objective meaning,
intrinsic value or purpose, then he must see death being included as an
integral part of living.
To me, death
must never be seen as an event separate from life, but like other events in
nature such as: day and night, hot and
cold or the changing seasons, death must be seen as a stage in the
expression of life on earth and deserves as much attention as any other of the
various stages in living. It is for this reason that my personal belief that life is a journey that begins in eternity
and ends in eternity must include
the concept of death being part of, and not different from, the rest of life.
The great Lebanese-American poet and author, Khalil Gibran, in a simple but eloquently inspired observation left
no doubt what this means when he wrote:
“For life and death are one, even as the river and
sea are one.”
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