Ngrams analysis of words used in books throughout the ages provide interesting insights of the way people think in various ages.

In the past the use rates of the words ‘life’ and ‘death’ were similar and their patterns followed each other in fluctuations over the year. However lately and especially after the French Revolution and “Enlightenment”, the use of the word ‘death’ in books seems to be dropping while at the same time the use of the word ‘life’ seems to be increasing. (1) It is also important to note that in parallel with the decline in the use of the word “death”, we also see a decline in the use of word ‘God’ in books during the same period. (2)

One upon a time we were used to the notion of death.

And we accepted it as a part of life.

We then suddenly became “enlightened”.

And we started to dogmatically reject death and God. We started loving life as life, without paying any attention to the major components it consisted of. And we developed psychiatry, we started becoming depressed, we started thinking of suicide (3), we started wanting more and more to feel “happy”.

Once upon a time the books were dark.

Once upon a time the books were full of death.

Now we have Marie Claire.

Do you feel happy?