To illustrate the concept of death and life, it would be best to imagine a very long string, stretched from one end of a city to another. Imagine this string can extend out into the very reaches of the country and then of space; continuing forever in opposite directions. This string represents Existence, in all of its infinite length. But however long this string is, life itself, or one’s conscious knowledge of life, lies between two central points on this line. These two points represent birth and death, and between them, one’s conscious Life. (This “Life” does not include the infinite aspects of Existence, but is the finite sum of one’s conscious existence within this life on Earth.) Thus, Existence is segmented with a birth, a death, and, somewhere between these two, a Life.
Within Life, there is the full extent of memory. But neither birth nor death itself is a memory. There is no conscious basis of knowledge wherewith to conceptualize the first experience of birth, and as a result it is not a true memory. Death isn’t a true memory either because death is the end of Life’s memory, and thus Life itself. The only way that one can have any knowledge of death is through experiences with death affecting other’s Lives. This would make death the ultimate idol because it is only known as it is experienced through the inherent beliefs of the human race, through one’s mind, and through descriptions and portrayals of the definition of death given by other people.
Despite the fallibility of the reality of death, it retains its eloquence and reliability through its acceptance as an end to Life. All have knowledge of Life, because it is the most simple of all axioms. Hence Descartes famous “Cognito ergo sum.” Essentially there is a proof in which the reality of Life leads to the reality of death which, in turn, leads to an acceptance of the finite quality of Life. And just as one accepts Life as a finite existence, one must accept the binary; the infinite quality of the Existence. However, within the acceptance of all of these realities, there lies a quintessential paradox: Truly one cannot simultaneously conceive of a finite Life, and yet an infinite Existence. Nor can one conceive of only one, but not the other. To deal with this paradox, humanity has instituted three layers of ‘loopholes.’ While they are interconnected and could conceivably be listed in any order, here they are ordered from simple to complex, within the supposed order of their invention. (Although this is understandably arguable, as much of it lies outside of the realm of written history.)
The first loophole that is accepted to explain the binary of Life and Existence (finite and infinite) is religion. While there is a plethora of personal beliefs, religions, and philosophies, in order to be qualified as a belief, all must find some way to explain this binary. Many religions use the explanation of humans as eternal beings whose Lives are probationary states. This probationary Life is a test wherein all will be answerable to a judge or god-figure to determine the quality of future Lives or the future Existence. (What follows Life is also a topic of great debate; but whether it is an infinite number of Lives that will make up Existence, or whether there is only one Life within Existence is not the topic of this paper.) These religions explain that humans do not have a conception of pre-Life or post-Life because that would detract from the probationary state of Life.
Other belief systems, which deny a god-figure, or even a personal, spiritual Existence, will instead accept an Existence for matter, or for life in general. The concept of one’s death is held within the context of a “circle of life:” even after death, other humans, animals or matter will continue to exist. Humans do not have a concept of the infinite Existence simply because humans do not need it and can’t really conceive of anything infinite anyway.
Essentially, religion and atheism accomplish the same goals, and explain the dualism of Life and Existence. However, while the belief spectrum does explain how, and to some extent why, the binary exists, it fails to procure a unit of measure for Life. This unit would aid in the separation of Life from Existence, or finite from infinite. Otherwise, subtracting a finite piece of figurative string, from the infinite whole, would procure a piece that is also infinitely long. Herein lies another paradox and the second loophole: the invention of time.
The true measure of Life, is infinitesimally small. But if humans were to attempt to measure Life this way, Life would become infinitely long, and no one would be able to move out of a moment, because all moments would last forever. While time is measured by the constant clocks, calendars, and movement of the stars, time is not measured proportionally over one’s Life and therefore does not “feel” constant. One year to a ten year old is 10% of their Life, but one year to a fifty year old is 2% of their Life. This is also directly proportional to the amount of memories, forgotten or remembered, that have gathered in one’s Life. All past memories are known to be finite, and all future possibilities are unknown and infinite. In the finite mind all concept of time is compared to a sum of past memories and future possibilities. This concept of Time as is conceived, is what separates an old man from a young boy. Were the man to lose his concept of Time or, in other words, lose his memory, he would think of Life just as the young boy. In a sense, measured time is given by social constructs, but Time is given through proportionality to our past memories of Life. Together, time and Time contribute to a more tangible idea of the finite and infinite.
However, Time and even time, are still relative. Separating the moment where Time is one length from when a memory is added and Time changes, requires further separation than even clocks, calendars, etc. can give. It requires a written record, which is the third and final loophole.
In the history of things, it is the written word that distinguishes the timeless realm of the ancients, to the more conceivable realm of history. The idea of the record enables the finite to be recorded, thus further distinguishing it from the infinite. Further more it allows death itself to be utilized as a message. This can occur because of the reality of the finite, as exhibited by the record of the past, and its extension into the finite Lives of others. Death becomes the message spoken by those who have died to those still in Life. Death is a part of every message, otherwise the message would have no force because Life would not be seen as finite. In fact, death is so much a part of every message, that it can become the speaker. In which case the speaker-death delivers a message of three levels, each level constituting a different level of knowledge about death.
The first level of message is that of becoming aware of the finite qualities of Life. This axiom can be taught through the medium of the record. The second level is that of being inspired by the infinite qualities of the Existence. This level of consciousness can be given through the influence of the past memories or future possibilities that make up one’s concept of Time. The third, and most crucial level is that of moving one to action. This level comes from a simultaneous understanding of the finite and the infinite given through one’s placement on the spectrum of personal beliefs. While the understanding is personal common sense, it will differ from person to person according to their beliefs.
Besides acting as the message and the speaker, death will eventually become part of one’s Life, as it is an innate quality of a mortal being. It is for this very reason that death has the ultimate control over one’s Life. It is the idea that upholds the tower within the panopticon, controls the gaze of its all-seeing eye, and instills fear in the heart of the captive Living. This is the fear that moves one to progress, to be inspired, to learn. The knowledge of this end pushes mortals to a beginning, to hope, to Life.
While the binary of Life and Existence is one of epic paradoxical proportions, it appears as a simple question of life, answered only with death:
“To be, or not to be…”
No comments:
Post a Comment