Until recently, I used to be a guy who was extremely afraid of death. Most of us choose to ignore it and get on with our lives. Death always seems to happen to someone else and we pretend that that is the way things are. We refuse to accept that one day it will be our eyes that will close for ever and it will be around our limp bodies that loving relatives (if we were loved enough) will gather and grieve. That, to me, was a frightening prospect. The thought of dying one day terrified me.
What was most frightening about death was the uncertainty that surrounded it. No one knows when and where they are going to die. No one knows how they will die. Until it’s too late, that is. Death is the last threshold, the final frontier to cross in one’s life. The greatest uncertainty of all is whether there is something after death. If there isn’t anything, what then? What use are all my accomplishments and achievements if in the end what I get in return is a permanent blackness that will never go away? That used to be my attitude. Until recently.
What happened to me a couple of days ago was nothing short of miraculous. The thing that was so incredible about it was that it all happened in my head. There were no external factors to influence this thought process (unless I counted all those nerdy, scientific books I’ve been reading – and these couldn’t have been more than a distant, subtle influence). It was as if the answer to all my fears was within my head and it just came out by itself.
The key to the answer was to think rationally. Rather than asking why we die, why don’t I ask why we live? Life is a sort of contradiction. Why should life exist at all in this universe? Billions of years ago, for some reason, in the middle of a frothing, seething soup that covered the planet, a few molecules got together and began interacting in a funny way. Billions of years later, those molecules have multiplied and reside within each and every one of us. Why? What are the chances of such a phenomenon occurring? The fact that life came into existence is so thunderously phenomenal that it ought not to have happened.
So you see, the fact that we live is weirder than the fact that we die. The old cliché that “death is natural” takes on a whole new meaning. Death is natural. In fact, it is far more natural than life. The whole universe is in a process of stabilization. Heavy elements like Uranium break down to become lighter, more stable elements. Volatile elements like potassium combine almost immediately with other elements to form more stable compounds. Unstable lava solidifies to become stable rock. Life on the other hand is not about stabilization. It’s about the reactions that take place during the stabilization process. Life thrives upon reactions. Our bodies, no matter how stable they are, are hosts to hundreds of reactions that keep us moving. Therefore, in a stabilizing universe, a bunch of reactions that fuel our bodies cannot be expected to last for ever. The fact that they took place at all is incredible. That is why death, which is the final stabilization in our lives, has to occur. It is natural.
That is when I realized that life is a greater mystery than death. Why did life occur? And why do we exist? Do you know that when two genetic units combine to form a new strand of DNA, the number of permutations and combinations that can occur to shape the characteristics of the new gene runs into millions? And yet, for some reason, not yet known to us, when an egg is fertilized by a sperm, only one set of characteristics emerge and it is this set that makes up the baby which will later be born. Why that particular set? How and why did nature decide what the colour of my eyes and how deep my voice will be? You, who is reading this blog, could have easily been of the opposite sex or have your mother’s smile instead of your father’s but you don’t. Why?
Some people will say “It’s all a part of god’s great plan” Fine. But, assuming that god exists, why should he or she plan it this way? Why did god choose you to be born before your little sister and not the other way around? But I’m digressing from the topic. The point I’m trying to make here is that the phenomenon of life is far more mysterious than the phenomenon of death. And I used to brood too much on what was far less mysterious.
Like I’ve said before, my biggest fear about death used to be the uncertainty that surrounded it and (im) possibility of life after death. But thinking rationally again, our belief in life after death depends upon our definition of life. How can we define life? Is life a situation where a piece of matter can sense what goes around it, reacts to these happenings and (in the case of intelligent life) contemplates about them? In that case, life is nothing more than collection of information, processing it to obtain results and acting upon that information.
If life is such, then our views about life after death become very easy to frame. If life is collection of, processing of and reacting to information, then there can be no life after death because once your sense organs stop functioning, there can be no collection of information. If there’s no collection, there can be no processing and if there is no processing, there can be no reaction. Life ends with death and nothing goes on.
But a lot of us (I say ‘us’ because I include myself in this group) have a ‘gut feeling’ that there is more to life than just a flow of information. There is something greater, higher and more supreme than just simple information when we think of the concept of life. But if this is true, then as of now, we have no clue about what this greater, higher part of life is. We have to try and find out what this is but as of now, we have no idea. But if our gut feeling is true, then this higher, greater thing should be able to survive the death of flow of information. In that case, there is nothing to worry about because something will survive after death.
And should we worry if the answer is otherwise and nothing survives after death? No, simply because there is nothing we can do about it. As I have already pointed out, life is a far more interesting and incredible concept than death. It will do everyone good if we stop worrying about death and start wondering about life and living it properly.
What was most frightening about death was the uncertainty that surrounded it. No one knows when and where they are going to die. No one knows how they will die. Until it’s too late, that is. Death is the last threshold, the final frontier to cross in one’s life. The greatest uncertainty of all is whether there is something after death. If there isn’t anything, what then? What use are all my accomplishments and achievements if in the end what I get in return is a permanent blackness that will never go away? That used to be my attitude. Until recently.
What happened to me a couple of days ago was nothing short of miraculous. The thing that was so incredible about it was that it all happened in my head. There were no external factors to influence this thought process (unless I counted all those nerdy, scientific books I’ve been reading – and these couldn’t have been more than a distant, subtle influence). It was as if the answer to all my fears was within my head and it just came out by itself.
The key to the answer was to think rationally. Rather than asking why we die, why don’t I ask why we live? Life is a sort of contradiction. Why should life exist at all in this universe? Billions of years ago, for some reason, in the middle of a frothing, seething soup that covered the planet, a few molecules got together and began interacting in a funny way. Billions of years later, those molecules have multiplied and reside within each and every one of us. Why? What are the chances of such a phenomenon occurring? The fact that life came into existence is so thunderously phenomenal that it ought not to have happened.
So you see, the fact that we live is weirder than the fact that we die. The old cliché that “death is natural” takes on a whole new meaning. Death is natural. In fact, it is far more natural than life. The whole universe is in a process of stabilization. Heavy elements like Uranium break down to become lighter, more stable elements. Volatile elements like potassium combine almost immediately with other elements to form more stable compounds. Unstable lava solidifies to become stable rock. Life on the other hand is not about stabilization. It’s about the reactions that take place during the stabilization process. Life thrives upon reactions. Our bodies, no matter how stable they are, are hosts to hundreds of reactions that keep us moving. Therefore, in a stabilizing universe, a bunch of reactions that fuel our bodies cannot be expected to last for ever. The fact that they took place at all is incredible. That is why death, which is the final stabilization in our lives, has to occur. It is natural.
That is when I realized that life is a greater mystery than death. Why did life occur? And why do we exist? Do you know that when two genetic units combine to form a new strand of DNA, the number of permutations and combinations that can occur to shape the characteristics of the new gene runs into millions? And yet, for some reason, not yet known to us, when an egg is fertilized by a sperm, only one set of characteristics emerge and it is this set that makes up the baby which will later be born. Why that particular set? How and why did nature decide what the colour of my eyes and how deep my voice will be? You, who is reading this blog, could have easily been of the opposite sex or have your mother’s smile instead of your father’s but you don’t. Why?
Some people will say “It’s all a part of god’s great plan” Fine. But, assuming that god exists, why should he or she plan it this way? Why did god choose you to be born before your little sister and not the other way around? But I’m digressing from the topic. The point I’m trying to make here is that the phenomenon of life is far more mysterious than the phenomenon of death. And I used to brood too much on what was far less mysterious.
Like I’ve said before, my biggest fear about death used to be the uncertainty that surrounded it and (im) possibility of life after death. But thinking rationally again, our belief in life after death depends upon our definition of life. How can we define life? Is life a situation where a piece of matter can sense what goes around it, reacts to these happenings and (in the case of intelligent life) contemplates about them? In that case, life is nothing more than collection of information, processing it to obtain results and acting upon that information.
If life is such, then our views about life after death become very easy to frame. If life is collection of, processing of and reacting to information, then there can be no life after death because once your sense organs stop functioning, there can be no collection of information. If there’s no collection, there can be no processing and if there is no processing, there can be no reaction. Life ends with death and nothing goes on.
But a lot of us (I say ‘us’ because I include myself in this group) have a ‘gut feeling’ that there is more to life than just a flow of information. There is something greater, higher and more supreme than just simple information when we think of the concept of life. But if this is true, then as of now, we have no clue about what this greater, higher part of life is. We have to try and find out what this is but as of now, we have no idea. But if our gut feeling is true, then this higher, greater thing should be able to survive the death of flow of information. In that case, there is nothing to worry about because something will survive after death.
And should we worry if the answer is otherwise and nothing survives after death? No, simply because there is nothing we can do about it. As I have already pointed out, life is a far more interesting and incredible concept than death. It will do everyone good if we stop worrying about death and start wondering about life and living it properly.
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