Ever since humans developed self-awareness they have feared death, for death represents the ultimate uncertainty, and uncertainty is anathema to all but the most steely minded amongst us. This characteristic is what differentiates the religious mind from the rational mind. Science and rationality embraces uncertainty, doubt and ignorance — for they lie before it like a verdant new world to be explored. Religion, b y contrast, prefers any certainty regardless of how invented, baseless or ridiculous it is — and it invokes a tool named faith, promoting it to a virtue, with which to aid the reluctant credulity required in order to accept that certainty. So whats with this human fear of death? From the earliest records of human tribes there have been invented afterlives with which such uncertainty can be eliminated. With the news of the death of a beautiful friend I am drawn to wonderings of death. I dont fear it either because I have a degree of confidence that I understand what its like to be deceased. We all know actually. Life emerged on our new and still-cooling planet over three billion years ago and has constantly thrived and flourished since then. We are direct descendants of those first single celled plants - the stromatolites. But where were we, you and I? We were waiting patiently in a void for our brief moment of life. That wait passed agreeably quickly I think youll agree, after all three billion years is a pretty long wait. I certainly suffered no inconvenience by it. When our time is up we simply return to that void where billions of years become a fraction of a second. We continue to exist because we are an indelible part of the history of this world and our existence and actions send waves of consequence across the world to those whose lives we touch. Tracy knew this and chose to live a life of minimum harm and hurt to others. People like Tracy understand the true meaning of empathy. They understand that they are a tiny but indelible part of the universe but also that the universe and the others that share it dont exist for their personal convenience. She and all like her can truly rest in peace. A life lived with empathy and compassion brings peace at the end, not self-serving religious certainty.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 03:28:10 +0000
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