Some people might ask why I have such a fascination with death and aging. I’m really not sure myself. All I can tell you is that it has always been there.I think it comes from just being more aware of my fear than others.Once we become aware of death, and it’s seeming inevitability, we form one of four coping mechanisms. The 4 copes are as follows;
1. Believing in a religion and hoping that, the religion will lead to everlasting lifespan
2. Seeking to be immortalized through our works, by becoming famous, making millions or getting involved in politics and other similar things to make us larger than life.
3. Seeking the fountain of youth. These are the type of people trying to literally hunt for a magic fountain, use alchemy or pursue the philosopher’s stone.
4. Having children.These are the people who think of their kids as an extension of themselves and are seeking immortality through reproduction.
Some of us don’t think we are using copes, but we are. These people are those who have no fear of death. Anyone who has no fear of death has psychologically minimized what it is. They describe it as going to sleep, or say it is just like before you are born. They’ll reassure you that death is nothing to be scared of, or that it doesn’t hurt (As if it matters)
Death is real, and it is not going to sleep. It is not “being in nothingness”. What it is, is seizing to exist. When you die, you stop existing at all.Anything you did is pointless because your world has ended.
If I don’t use copes, you might ask what I do actually do.
First, I know that life has lost all meaning if you just end up dead anyway. Even if you try to rationalize it as having been good because you helped somebody, it is pointless. The person you helped will die also, and they will be lost to the sands of time.
There are only 2 correct responses to the fact we know we will stop existing at some point. The first rational response is to just give up. It most likely is true that we will fail to cheat death. No other generation has done so, before us though many have tried. When you give up, you go the hedonistic route. Enjoy every moment to it’s fullness. Screw the future, in the future we are dead.
The second response is the more heroic one, which is to actively fight the prospect of death. To hold off on the hope that we can one day do the impossible and cheat death, and in fact by taking the more heroic route, we actually increase our chances of beating death.
I encourage all of you to take the heroic route. Watch my posts, do what I tell you todo, but using your own judgment. I have a debate with rationalmadman where I give diet advice. Take the advice I give. Soon I will give advice on what to do in terms of activism and even provide you with solid career advice to help me end aging.
