I know that feeling. You know I thought I was weird for worrying about how short a time we have on this Earth, but I recently saw the George Clooney film "Up in the Air" in which the main female character comments on men's fixation on their mortality. It left me wondering whether this is something all guys worry about?
The thing is, how do you stop being tortured by it? If you find a way, let me know!
As far as I can tell, there is only one way to stop being tortured by the idea of mortality and that is becoming immortal.
As that doesn't seem all that likely, we're well and truly buggered.
Oh, I guess you could become totally wrapped up in religion and find comfort in the idea of an afterlife. That's something I'd love to do but my logical mind simply won't allow me to do it. I wish it would though - I'd absolutely love the idea of an immortal soul. That would rock. I'd be totally into that.
But, unfortunately, I've never been able to buy into it.
That it's something all men wrestle with is interesting and it could well be right (is that film good by the way? Trailers look good, I might have to see it).
((((((((((BITTER))))))))) It looks like you need a big hug.
Umm, for the record, women wrestle with the same problems mon cher ami. I think I shall blog about this in the near future and dedicate the post to you.
And now for something silly- who cares if that movie Andy mentions sucks or not - I will pay my ten dollars and look at George Clooney. I hear he is buck nakkid in one scene! (sigh).
I suppose another way to go around the problem is find the way to feel grateful for the short time we get in this little blue ball drifting around the Cosmos.
Considering, for example, that of the millions of sperm cells our parents ejaculated when they slept with our moms, it was only one who got to fertilize that egg. One in millions.
Some people could see it as pure chance, strengthening their POV that we're all a big cosmic accident.
PS: About all the immortal soul thingy, I have pondered on the subject quite a while...
One way it could work is that, on the proper conditions, the human brain releases all sorts of endorphines during the final moments of life; think of it as a way to soothe the last instants of the human life —even though it kind of goes counter to Darwininan evolution, but bear with me— OK, so far we're not talking about an immortal soul per se.
BUT, since Science has already shown us that the flow of Time is pretty much a construct of our conscious mind; what if that very last moment of conscience can perceived by us as indefinite? for all practical purposes, as far as our subjective experience would be concerned, that last moment would be the entrance to eternal life!
So, if that idea is correct —and I'm not saying I fully believe it, just that I find it interesting to consider as a thought experiment— we need to try to live a good life, because our lives will pretty much determine how pleasant or unpleasant our death will be experienced.
I think the only way I'll ever come to terms with mortality is if I can create or do something good that I can leave behind for people to enjoy. Something that I can sit back and think "yeah, that was worthwhile". In fact really all my endeavours are towards that aim. I think my fear is not so much of mortality, but rather of popping off before I have achieved that goal!
Yeah, the movie is fantastic, it really surprised me. I'm not the biggest Clooney fan, yet I thought he was great in it. I highly recommend it :)
I suppose one way of achieving immortality is something most if not all your commenters seem to have gotten but may not know they have- aren't all the commenters readers have this in common- we all write, draw, do something artistic for a living or did something like that for a living? Long after we are dust, won't little bits of our works still linger? Our drawings, stories, sketches, and other works?
And for those of us who are still in the gene pool- or contributed to the gene pool, a little bit of immortality at least for one more generation.
As for religion and and immortal soul- I would love to say there is some time up higher power and and all that and an afterlife, but I honestly think it's horse pucky. And forget about Mr. Clooney. After the day I had had, Bitter's picture looks down right sexy too.
True immortality, they say, is having children. Well, I missed the boat there, so - as Andy says - it's a case of making/creating your 'children'. It doesn't have to be a Sistine Chapel ceiling - any small thing we leave in the world or in the lives or memories of others is a kind of (albeit poor man's) immortality.
Now I'm coming over all Frank-Capra's-It's-A-Wonderful-Life, so I'll stop before you all throw up...
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I know that feeling. You know I thought I was weird for worrying about how short a time we have on this Earth, but I recently saw the George Clooney film "Up in the Air" in which the main female character comments on men's fixation on their mortality. It left me wondering whether this is something all guys worry about?
The thing is, how do you stop being tortured by it? If you find a way, let me know!
As far as I can tell, there is only one way to stop being tortured by the idea of mortality and that is becoming immortal.
As that doesn't seem all that likely, we're well and truly buggered.
Oh, I guess you could become totally wrapped up in religion and find comfort in the idea of an afterlife. That's something I'd love to do but my logical mind simply won't allow me to do it. I wish it would though - I'd absolutely love the idea of an immortal soul. That would rock. I'd be totally into that.
But, unfortunately, I've never been able to buy into it.
That it's something all men wrestle with is interesting and it could well be right (is that film good by the way? Trailers look good, I might have to see it).
((((((((((BITTER)))))))))
It looks like you need a big hug.
Umm, for the record, women wrestle with the same problems mon cher ami. I think I shall blog about this in the near future and dedicate the post to you.
And now for something silly- who cares if that movie Andy mentions sucks or not - I will pay my ten dollars and look at George Clooney. I hear he is buck nakkid in one scene! (sigh).
I suppose another way to go around the problem is find the way to feel grateful for the short time we get in this little blue ball drifting around the Cosmos.
Considering, for example, that of the millions of sperm cells our parents ejaculated when they slept with our moms, it was only one who got to fertilize that egg. One in millions.
Some people could see it as pure chance, strengthening their POV that we're all a big cosmic accident.
I choose not to see it that way.
PS: About all the immortal soul thingy, I have pondered on the subject quite a while...
One way it could work is that, on the proper conditions, the human brain releases all sorts of endorphines during the final moments of life; think of it as a way to soothe the last instants of the human life —even though it kind of goes counter to Darwininan evolution, but bear with me— OK, so far we're not talking about an immortal soul per se.
BUT, since Science has already shown us that the flow of Time is pretty much a construct of our conscious mind; what if that very last moment of conscience can perceived by us as indefinite? for all practical purposes, as far as our subjective experience would be concerned, that last moment would be the entrance to eternal life!
So, if that idea is correct —and I'm not saying I fully believe it, just that I find it interesting to consider as a thought experiment— we need to try to live a good life, because our lives will pretty much determine how pleasant or unpleasant our death will be experienced.
I think the only way I'll ever come to terms with mortality is if I can create or do something good that I can leave behind for people to enjoy. Something that I can sit back and think "yeah, that was worthwhile". In fact really all my endeavours are towards that aim. I think my fear is not so much of mortality, but rather of popping off before I have achieved that goal!
Yeah, the movie is fantastic, it really surprised me. I'm not the biggest Clooney fan, yet I thought he was great in it. I highly recommend it :)
I suppose one way of achieving immortality is something most if not all your commenters seem to have gotten but may not know they have- aren't all the commenters readers have this in common- we all write, draw, do something artistic for a living or did something like that for a living? Long after we are dust, won't little bits of our works still linger? Our drawings, stories, sketches, and other works?
And for those of us who are still in the gene pool- or contributed to the gene pool, a little bit of immortality at least for one more generation.
As for religion and and immortal soul- I would love to say there is some time up higher power and and all that and an afterlife, but I honestly think it's horse pucky. And forget about Mr. Clooney. After the day I had had, Bitter's picture looks down right sexy too.
cool blog
Hey! Bitter! Wanted to wish you a happy St. Paddy's Day.... but then, you are there aren't you? Does the River Liffey really turn to Guinness today?
True immortality, they say, is having children. Well, I missed the boat there, so - as Andy says - it's a case of making/creating your 'children'. It doesn't have to be a Sistine Chapel ceiling - any small thing we leave in the world or in the lives or memories of others is a kind of (albeit poor man's) immortality.
Now I'm coming over all Frank-Capra's-It's-A-Wonderful-Life, so I'll stop before you all throw up...
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal"
Albert Pike
Yep, that's kinda how I feel at the moment too.
BA - I'm a newbie to your blog and spent a lot of the weekend going through it. It's fantastic - please, keep up the great work.
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