Sabiya Kathiria Week 12: Life and Death
Life and Death
Death has a certain power over life, and not just in the usual “fearing death” way. Death makes life special--we love life and fear death. Loving life may guide a person, but fearing death drives them.
We don’t get an infinite number of chances. Our life is infinitesimally limited; we are confined to dubious eighty years compared to the billions and trillions of years before and ahead of us. We are forced to change, grow, and learn within these years. Every second that goes by is another that we are closer to death--this is terrifying but liberating. We are irrelevant compared to the vastness of the universe; death is like a clean slate. When you recognize the smallness of your life, it liberates you, because ultimately, what you do doesn’t matter.
Life being so short is what gives it meaning. I realized this after watching The Good Place, a TV show on the afterlife and its versions of “heaven” and “hell.” In the TV show’s heaven, which is called the “Good Place,” people are zombie-like, simply bored of existing for all eternity. After a way to become “nothing” is installed, people in the Good Place begin valuing their existence more.
Rather than just something to fear, death is an ever-present reminder to live life to the fullest. To make mistakes. To be embarrassing. To do stupid things. Agknolgdeing that we, as humans, are temporary makes our joys and sadnesses more meaningful, our friendships more precious, and our memories more vivid. Death’s power is not the fear that comes with its finality but the way that it forces us to embrace life.
Hi Sabiya! Wow! I love this philosophical piece a lot because it definitely has a way of grounding all readers. It's true that people use death as an incentive to live the most out of their lives because well, you only live once. It makes all the experiences more worthwhile because everything is unpredictable and nothing is set in stone. Everything has the ability to be changed depending on the person behind it who is willing to make altercations. What you said though about everyone being insignificant really hit hard because even though I acknowledge that there's 8 billion people in this world, it's hard to switch from the perspective that you've been living with for years. I especially loved you mentioning the sentiment of continuously learning throughout your life because in reality, there is no real "goal" that is achieved other than what seems to be wins in our books. We decide the meaning behind all our accomplishments and failures, just as much as we decide what to do with them in response. I've never watched "The Good Place," but just you describing it makes me more intrigued on how these characters will continue to navigate through different challenged even after death. Kudos to you on this superb piece!
ReplyDeleteHello Sabiya,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I would like to say that I love how you chose to write about something so meaningful in your blog. At certain points in our lives, we really do just have to take the time and reflect on our lives and what we really want to achieve. When we look at our lives, school, what we are going to do, and what career we want to pursue are all things that seem drastically important, because we are at the center of our own lives, no one else. However, when you use your blog to really put this into perspective and state how there are around 8 billion people living in this world and whatever you do, whether it be something embarrassing or something awkward, is really of no significance in this world. This also takes me back to the one type of video I have been seeing. It usually starts with something that an individual is doing, and starts to zoom out so that we can view our globe and galaxy. Essentially, it conveys how ultimately, usually, whatever you do has no importance to the world besides the people you are close to, so we get to choose what to make out of that. We can either not do anything at all, or choose to do things that will be important to this world.
Hi Sabiya! Before I comment about the post, I need to say how pleased I am somebody else knows about The Good Place! I adore the show and I think it is the perfect mix of comedy and philosophy and it’s just so relatable. I love that you connect the show to why death matters for humanity. Like you say, “Death makes life special” because it is hard to find the motivation to complete something when you know you have all of eternity to complete it. We are alive for maybe 80 years before we cease to exist and we need to make those years count. I like how you point to the sluggish behavior of the Good Place residents as an example. I really like how you show that the smallness of our lives is what makes it meaningful. So many people find this way of thinking uncomfortable because, compared to the vastness of the Universe, what do we or our decisions matter? While that may sound like an existential crisis for some, it can also be liberating. As you say, our smallness means our actions don’t matter, but that doesn’t need to be a bad thing; it simply means that we have control over our lives and we should live life to the fullest. I also like that you mentioned living life to the fullest doesn’t just mean doing great things; it can mean “making mistakes” being dumb or simply stumbling through life and learning what we can. Overall, I really love the emotional depth of the post and look forward to reading more!
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