Nov 12, 2015

Death is the Greatest Blessing (2)

“If some died but some did not,

Death would be a terrible affliction.”

         Jean de La Bruyere

Your Choice: Eternal Physical Life or Not

What would you do if you were offered eternal life here on earth, with the assurance you would always have a young active body? What would you choose? Are you sure you would choose eternal human life? Or, would you eventually tire of this world and desire to move on?

Such a choice may eventually be possible, where only accidental death would be the only possibility. What would be the choice? Why would anyone not choose eternal life, given the choice of a vigorous life for all eternity?

There would still be some death, given how prone we are to accidents. But, over time, even that would be lessened, given that the body parts would be able to be replaced at stations around the world. What would happen?

Feeding the population

“Fear not that thy life

shall come to an end,

but rather fear that it

shall never have a beginning.”

Cardinal Newman

First, how many people could our world hold? Even the best estimates say that around 15 billion, given all that we know today, we would not be able to feed our population; and even then it would be not the best tasting food as most would be artificially generated. And eventually, our population would have to diminish as we use up all the nutrients on earth, meaning that all animal and vegetative life would vanish for food. So we would have reduce our population by 80-90 percent if we would survive beyond the next few thousand years.

Who would choose those to die? Who would choose to die?

Children?

The next problem would be the vacuum created by the lack of children. Since few would die, and the population must be kept stable, only the number of children required to replace those who have died would be permitted to be born. Think what a barren world this would be without the laughter and joy of children; the loss of the wonder of birth; the bonds that would be lost by the lack of family, for after that many years only for a select few would family have any meaning. Could we survive without the laughter and wonder of children to remind us of the world of joy?

Think of how many friends you have lost contact with over the years, and multiply that a thousand times.

Entropy

But the real long term problem we have is what is known as entropy. The laws of dynamics which govern the universe say that energy is converted into forces without reversal on a constant basis. That is, when the sun burns the core, it consumes the core and will eventually exhaust itself and collapse or explode. As the sun consumes its core fuel, it is gradually burning hotter. The sun will last another 7 billion years before destroying itself, but it will gradually become hotter. In about 1 billion years, the sun will be about 10% warmer. The earth will experience something similar to Venus with the runaway warming, and all of the water will be in the process of escaping into space. Then at about 3.5 billion years, the sun will reach 40% warmer, and all water on the surface of the planet will be gone, so that all life will vanish on earth.

The only choice will be to leave earth before that time; thus to look at Mars may not be so bad an idea.

And, of course, the universe has only a finite time before all will be burnt, thus no heat available for any reason. All stars will be consumed. All available fuel would be exhausted, meaning that everything, including ourselves, would be close to absolute zero, and no life could exist. That time is estimated to be around 80 billion years away, a long time from this time perspective, but if we lived forever it would be “today” before we know it. Unless we would learn how to move to an alternate universe, no life would be possible. This loss of energy is called entropy, and is part of the basic laws of physics and the universe.

If we are still around at that time, yes, it will seem to be a panic, for we will die, unless we can move to another universe.

Our personal sense of Time: the Now

I am over 80 years of age; but to tell you the truth, even though my body is telling me I am losing capability, my mind has no sense of time passing. I still feel like I did decades ago; and almost all older people with whom I talk about this feel the same way. This occurs because we do not live in the past or the future, but only in the Now; just this instance of time.

Even 1 billion years from now, if I would choose to still live, I would have no real sense of the past or future, but only the Now, and unless I change my personal perspective over time, if I am afraid of death in this time, I will probably still be afraid of death in one billion years. Only by coming to terms with the life we have today, which includes the necessity of death, can we enjoy each moment as it comes.

Questions to Ponder

What is your reaction to the possibility of living forever; or at least for thousands or even millions of years?

How does your sense of time jibe with your calendar age? How does this impact what you do in life, both at work and at play?

Meditation

Eternal Wisdom, You have chosen this time and set all the stages for my life to be in this present moment, not the past or the future. You gave me only this very Now; and I am grateful for each moment I am allowed in this experience of Life. The beautiful aspects of life that abound around me; all the sights, sounds, tastes, touch, and feelings that fill my life bless me. I am especially blessed with the souls that have touched my soul, and know that only the highest blessing will fall on all. I know that only the very best has occurred in my life, and am so grateful for all the experiences that have been permitted to enrich my life over the years, despite some that seemed so painful at the time.

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Next we will look at death from a more esoteric point of view.