the purpose of death
Saw Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" last week. My favorite part was the last line. It was something about how mankind has built up resistance to disease for billions of years. And so, "no death was ever in vain." I love that line. Forget about the silly plot, that line is profound. It is scientifically true. Every single death affects the species - either because that person dies to help others, or the others learn from those mistakes, or that person simply does not have any offspring. Every single death has made us what we are.
Death has given us a lot more than resistance to germs. It has given us evolution. It has given us reason. Without death, nothing would matter, there would be no good, no bad, and no reason for consciousness. Without death we would still be amoebas floating in the sea. No, worse than that, we would be random mixtures of atoms.
Death has given us everything we value. There is a time to live, and a time to die. And nobody ever dies in vain.
posted by Chris Tolworthy at 5:51 PM
2 Comments:
The ancients had (I've read) a much more holistic view of life than we rugged individualists do. You were born, and you died, and they buried you under a tree, and the tree grew tall and green.
Have you seen "Big Fish"? The stories people tell about us are how we become immortal.
I haven't seen Big Fish, but I think I should. My views of death have changed a lot over the past couple of years. The obvious reason is leaving Mormonism. But there are two other changes that took place at the same time. First, I took a job in a Post Office, where I meet a lot of very old people. Most are wonderful, but some are just confused and miserable. Second, I have been reading a lot of heroic literature (War and Pace, Beowulf, the Iliad, etc) and I cannot help seeing a contrast between those who live and die for others, and those who extend their own lives at any cost. Of course, I am still relatively young, so my views may change as I get older :)
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