Life and Death – Harmonia Philosophica

Cowards… Seeking meaning in life…

Over the last three decades, meaning in life has emerged as an important question in medical research, especially in the context of an aging population. A recent study by researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine found that the presence of and search for meaning in life are important for health and well-being, though the relationships differ in adults younger and older than age 60.

“Many think about the meaning and purpose in life from a philosophical perspective, but meaning in life is associated with better health, wellness and perhaps longevity,” said senior author Dilip V. Jeste, MD, senior associate dean for the Center of Healthy Aging and Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. “Those with meaning in life are happier and healthier than those without it.” (1)

Find meaning in life.

And you will live a longer life.

But you will have missed its meaning.

For the meaning of life is not pleasure.

For the meaning of existence is pain.

And Being is full of it.

Search your soul.

Coward!

Yes, you seek life.

But only because it entails death…

Free access to… microbes! Free access to… life!

Poverty increases the risk for numerous diseases by limiting people’s access to healthy food, environments and stress-free conditions. In a new essay published November 26 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, Suzanne Ishaq and colleagues at the University of Oregon, argue that poverty also compromises health by creating unequal access to beneficial microorganisms.

People living in low-income communities lack many of the factors that help promote healthy microbiomes, such as access to fresh food, clean air and water, adequate pre- and postnatal care, and healthy indoor environments. Scientists have linked low microbial diversity to poor health, including obesity and associated metabolic problems and multiple mental health and psychiatric disorders. These problems may disproportionally affect poorer individuals and compound existing health disparities. (1)

We need access to microbes if we are to have health.

Yes, we need access to death, if we are to sustain life.

We need access to the void of knowledge, if we are to appreciate ignorance.

We need access to our meaningless existence, if we are to appreciate the meaning of being.

The day is burning now.

Look at the Moon.

Do you remember?

That was the first time you glanced at the Sun…

Inevitable life. Inevitable death…

To help answer one of the great existential questions — how did life begin? — a study combines biological and cosmological models. Professor Tomonori Totani from the Department of Astronomy looked at how life’s building blocks could spontaneously form in the universe — a process known as abiogenesis.

As the only life we know of is based on Earth, studies on life’s origins are limited to the specific conditions we find here. Therefore, most research in this area looks at the most basic components common to all known living things: ribonucleic acid, or RNA. This is a far simpler and more essential molecule than the more famous deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, that defines how we are put together. But RNA is still orders of magnitude more complex than the kinds of chemicals one tends to find floating around in space or stuck to the face of a lifeless planet.

“In contemporary cosmology, it is agreed the universe underwent a period of rapid inflation producing a vast region of expansion beyond the horizon of what we can directly observe. Factoring this greater volume into models of abiogenesis hugely increases the chances of life occuring.”, a researcher explained.

Indeed, the observable universe contains about 10 sextillion (10^22) stars. Statistically speaking, the matter in such a volume should only be able to produce RNA of about 20 nucleotides. But it’s calculated that, thanks to rapid inflation, the universe may contain more than 1 googol (10^100) stars, and if this is the case then more complex, life-sustaining RNA structures are more than just probable, they’re practically inevitable. (1)

Inevitable life, we say.

Sounds like a joke.

Driving you away from home.

And day by day, you forget.

That there was a time when life was not.

At an era when existence was a fault.

Feel your own self.

Ask the right questions.

Inevitable life.

Inevitable death!

In the midst of the storm…

Can you stop laughing?

What is Death? (Attempt 3)

I woke up to-day.

I woke up at one o’clock.

I dreamt of opening a door.

At one o’clock.

And then I woke up.

I was alive.

But for one moment.

I was dead.

Amazed by one thing.

Thinking only of one thing.

Not being able to understand.

Oh, how can I know life?

How can I ever feel death?

It is one o’clock!

Death miniature 2: The school bus

[Death miniatures series stories]

Death miniatures are fictional ultra-small stories related to death. The goal is to draw out emotions and make the reader think more about death, which is the only thing that we keep on avoiding, even though it is defining our life and behavior from the moment we are born till the day we draw our last breath…

He was waiting for the school bus with his daughter.

She laughed and played around.

Giggling and smiling.

(Oh, how much he wanted that bus to be late…)

Oh, how lovely she was.

Happy days.

Now how daughter was in her 50s.

And as he held her tight in his arms, he was now ready to die.

And in his last breath, he was there again.

One cold morning.

With his daughter. Laughing and smiling. Giggling and playing.

Happy.

Waiting for the school bus.

A tear…

(Oh, the bus was here now…)

Death stories series