On Death
4 min read by Dani 4 June 2021
Throughout my existential journey into philosophy, I have noticed that I think a lot about death. Death seems to be inescapable. Something we will all face one day.
However, it also strikes me as very peculiar that when we die essentially nothing happens. One would be as dead (or alive) as a piece of rock. This means that there wouldn’t be any positive, pleasurable, or fulfilling emotions but there wouldn't be any suffering, agony, or pain either. This leads me to conclude that life is truly precious. Death is not a problem. It is how to spend our time while we are alive that’s the problem. And we have this one opportunity to fall in love with existence.
Considering the fact that there will be other concious beings being born who are capable of the same emotions and experiences as me, I feel drawn to one day leave to readers all the life experiences I have had and all the knowledge I have obtained, however little it may be. Having said that, I can't help but feel a compulsion to use my time here on Earth to learn and thrive. To be alive is to try out new experiences, to improve yourself and to absorb the wisdom the world has to offer you.
Coming back to the problem of death, I am drawn to explore this very question: How can we create astonishing lives worth living for all concious beings, present and future, no matter which corner of the universe they are born in? An important addition to this questions is the end clause "…, given that these lives come to an end."
There is a tendency, almost an instinct, to fill up the void after death with something. Maybe an afterlife of heaven or hell, or a reincarnation into another being. However, these ideas seem to me to be delusional. If there is no good reason or evidence to believe in these propositions, then they shouldn't be taken seriously. We can only ground ourselves in this simple truth: We all have a life here and now. And we don't know how long we have it for. Neither do we know what happens after we lose it. Life begins to seem like an emergency; a precious resource that will one day vanish completely.
Given the reality of the situation, a problem emerges. If our lives come to an end, what is their meaning? Having felt the gravity of this problem in my most existential moments, the answer that has stood the test of time in my mind is this - The meaning of life is to create an environment where all concious beings can thrive, learn and have rich experiences. Furthermore, we should strive to create an environment free of unnecessary suffering, agony and pain. This may seem like a daunting task, given that accidents happen, people die of old age, diseases spread, and our brains may not be molded by evolution to be in a happy and fulfilled state for long. However, so long as we are alive, we have nothing better to do but alleviate as much suffering from us - through self-education and self-help, and from others - by giving them our love and support.
We hope that one day through our hard work to solve The Problem of Life, we will manage to navigate through the stormy, chaotic universe and find fulfillment here. This seems to be in the core of all modern moral frameworks, such as humanism, and it’s a good place to start in search of a universal secular morality.