An
Investigation Into the Nature of Our True Hope in Death
As the title would suggest, the purpose of
this essay is to address the nature of our true hope in death. The reason I say
‘our’ true hope in death, is because I believe we all have an identical real
and truthful hope in death, irrespective of our cultural background. My objective
is to make this apparent through my use of symbolic representation or allegory
I have entitled Mother Nature’s Garden.
Before
I
introduce this allegory, I feel I must firstly elaborate on my reasons
for
taking on the topic in question. Well the truth is I have felt compelled
to take
this subject matter on for some time now, because for me it is about
being truthful with ourselves and the truth in relation to the nature of
our hope in
death has to my knowledge not been fully expressed previously.
In
addition to this, I think the matter is more important than the more popularly
considered belief in death investigation, which I believe is a waste of time
considering, because the truth is already known that the scientific method
cannot prove what happens in death and never will be able to be prove what
happens in death, as our ability to experience conscious reflection is a
subjective and not an objective matter.
It is for
the above reason I would contend our true hope in death is not an impossible
hope whatever that hope might be and this is important to understand, because
not to understand this may be a source of depression in the sense it is the
acceptance of what we don’t want. The purpose of this essay though is to attempt
to convince the reader that what I suggest is our true hope in death is just
that and is not in fact a false hope, meaning, there is not in fact a greater
hope in death than what I have suggested through my investigation.
The
reason why I have chosen to use allegory to help communicate my thoughts on
this subject is because it has helped me create a more coherent argument. The
allegory is framed to symbolically represent the Universe equivalently as a vast
Garden, which must be imagined as having a very distinct climatology in respect
to time and I shall elaborate upon this now.
At the
beginning of the day, or more specifically at the stroke of midnight, the
Garden always experiences the worst possible weather, with thunder and
lightning prevalent. This weather improves, but the rain is constant up until the
point of dawn in the morning, when it begins to subside and stops just as
the sun rises. From this point onwards there is then no rain and complete
sunshine right up until the point of sunset, when it begins again and
builds up throughout the evening to the climax of a storm again at midnight.
As to
what is in contained within this Garden, the only object of relevance to the allegory is that there is a clothes line
and it must be imagined that the Garden itself is so vast that literally trillions of
items of clothing could be hung on this clothes line in it if this was required.
The Garden
is frequented by a lady we shall appropriately name Mother Nature, who uses the
following instructions for adding and removing clothing from the clothes line between
the hours of sunrise and sunset when the sun is shining. These instructions serve
to show the consequences of particular events in the Universe having equivalent
events in the allegorical Garden and the instructions lay the foundation for my
whole argument as to what is our true hope in death:
If an individual capable of experiencing
conscious reflection in the natural course of their life is born into the Universe
then new washed clothing goes on the peg on the clothes line which has gone the longest without holding clothing, or else new washed clothing goes on a new peg on the clothes line.
If
an individual capable of experiencing conscious reflection in the natural course
of their life dies in the Universe then clothing comes off the peg on the
clothes line, leaving the peg remaining and the clothing never returns to the clothes
line. However, so long as there are pegs on the clothes line then there shall
always be clothing for them.
The length of time it takes for a single
item of clothing to dry on the clothes line is the maximum possible life span
of an individual capable of experiencing conscious reflection in the natural
course of their life.
For the
ease of explaining how this allegory can be used to communicate what I would
deem is our true hope in death, a couple of assumptions are required to be made.
The first assumption is that the Universe we experience now is the first of its
kind and there has not been a prior big bang and big crunch of an earlier Universe.
The second assumption is that in any particularly created Universe there shall
only be one species capable of experiencing conscious reflection before the
Universe ends; so in the case of our Universe, it is only human beings that are
granted this privilege.
Of
course I am quite open to the possibility both these assumptions are in reality
unfounded, but it is important to note that if they are, they do not affect the
actual ability of the allegory to portray the present reality in the Universe. What
I mean for instance, is that if pre-our-own-Universe species, Neanderthals, cats,
dogs and dolphins were and are capable of conscious reflection in the natural
course of their lives, then it just means that in allegorical terms I cannot
describe the estimated amount of clothing and pegs on the clothes line at any
one time very easily.
This is
why the assumptions have been made and so if we put together the allegory in
the context of these assumptions, with the help of ‘Historical Estimates of
World Population’ data retrieved from the US Central Bureau 2010, the story of
our Universe can be told which reflects a single day in the Garden up to our
present moment.
The
beginning of the Universe is symbolically represented as being the point of
thunder and lightning in the Garden at midnight. In real terms this is the
point when it would be most impossible for anything to survive in the cosmos,
so if Mother Nature put out clothes at this point there would be no chance of
drying/survival in this environment and of course this is the case because there are
no hospitable planets or habitats for plants and animals to evolve into, let
alone stars or galaxies of stars.
In the
symbolic representation the weather improves as the sunrise approaches, but
there is still constant rain and it is only just before dawn that the rain
almost stops. This was perhaps around about a million years ago when there were
many competing pre-human species still incapable of conscious reflection as we
know it, the reason being perhaps they lacked the technology such as weapons
and fire to create the freedom necessary to enable conscious reflection any
earlier than it occurred in reality.
We shall
never know the exact time human beings became capable of experiencing conscious
reflection in the natural course of their lives, but the important thing is
that this moment in the Universe is represented as being the point of sunrise
in the Garden and the point when Mother Nature begin adhering to her rules,
which are hanging and removing clothes as per the instructions given.
When the
first individual capable of conscious reflection in the natural course of their
life was born into the Universe, the first peg and clothing was added to the
clothes line and so Mother Nature’s working day began.
In a
particular moment on Earth around about twelve thousand years ago, there would
have been approximately one million pegs on the clothes line. This number of
pegs on the clothes line reflects the maximum population of those capable of
conscious reflection in the Universe. In these ancient times, humans would have
been predominantly hunter gatherers and the population would have remained fairly
constant.
However,
the coming of the Agricultural Age would have meant the amount of pegs on the
line growing to twenty five million by the time of the first known
civilizations developing approximately five thousand years ago. At any
particular moment in time in the synonymous Garden before five thousand years
ago, the amount of clothing on the pegs would also always be close to the total
amount of pegs on the clothes line, reflecting the population growth of
humanity over this period.
In fact,
if we take any moment in the synonymous Garden from between roughly twelve thousand
years ago right up until to the present moment, there would only be very few
instances when there would be a considerable amount of empty pegs on the
clothes line, perhaps only in times of great plague in the world. Regardless of
these events, the population has grown so rapidly that at some point in time a
few hundred years ago, the Universal reality would be represented in
allegorical terms as the billionth peg and clothing being placed on the clothes
line in the Garden.
In more
recent history and more specifically since the Industrial Revolution, there has
been exponential growth in the world population and so at this very moment in
the Universal reality there would equivalently be over seven billion pegs on
the line in the allegorical Garden.
As to
the future, it is certain in the short term that human population will increase
and that might be up to as much as fourteen billion within the next hundred
years on UN 2004 estimates. The only other certainty beyond this is that the inevitable
sunset will come to the Garden which is equivalent to the extinction of the
human species in the Universal reality, along with the rest of the galaxies, stars
and other finite entities of the Universe.
At this
point we know that synonymously in the Garden there shall be at least seven
billion pegs on the clothes line when all the stars and the planets cease to
exist in the Universe. As per Mother Nature’s instruction in regard to the fact
that if there are pegs there shall always be clothing for them, this means that
these pegs would remain on the clothes line in the Garden and be available for
clothes to be hung on them the next day when the sunshine returns.
In
allegorical terms the clothes Mother Nature puts out on the clothes line the
next day, meaning in the next Universal big bang/big crunch cycle, would be
brand new clothes and they would represent a newly evolved species, perhaps
very like our own, perhaps not, but the essential characteristic of the species
would be that they would be able to experience conscious reflection in the
natural course of their lives just like is the case with our own species.
Also
like the human race, this species would reach a peak population which might
mean the number of pegs on the clothes line increases from the amount that
exist on the clothes line at the end of this Universe, but then in real terms
this species would also become extinct. However, because there would always be
at least seven billion pegs on the clothes line, the days of Mother Nature
hanging clothes on the line in the Garden would continue indefinitely.
*
Now I
have introduced the allegory from a macro-perspective and given an overview of
its working in relation to the hope for the Universe as a whole, I must continue
by explaining exactly how this fits into the context of the investigation being
made and what I would contend is our true hope in death. To do this I must look
at the allegory from a micro-perspective, so as to investigate our beliefs,
hopes and fears in more depth.
What
most of us believe instinctively is that we are in allegorical terms items of
clothing on the line. By the rules of the Garden our lives began at the moment
of conception when we became entities able to experience conscious reflection
in the natural course of our lives. This is represented in allegorical terms as
when Mother Nature placed a new item of clothing onto an old peg on the clothes
line, or when she placed a new item of clothing along with a new peg onto the
line.
What we
all experience is that we are clothing on the line, born with a potential life
span of up to about one hundred years of age. We all know that in principal we
have the potential to live happy lives right up until to the moment of our
deaths and this is synonymous to our being allegorical clothes on the line,
drying and becoming dry after living a maximum possible life span – the just
rewards of good decision making in life, not to mention a hefty portion of good
fortune also!
The
natural fear is that when death comes, because what we perceive ourselves as
being most essentially is the item of clothing we experience, then death shall
mean there will be complete cessation of consciousness after the event, for in
allegorical terms when items of clothing are removed from the clothes line they
never return to it in the future.
To put
it straight, I would contend this is certainly not the true hope in death of
anyone, for what I would contend is the true hope in death of everyone, is that what we are essentially
in the allegorical example is a particular peg on the clothes line and not a
particular item of clothing upon the line.
What
this means if this is the reality, is that each and every one of us has most
probably lived a number of past lives, even though these cannot be remembered; for it is new washed clothing that always goes on the pegs on the line and these pegs never receive old clothing. If
we reflect on whether this aspect of potential reality would be our true hope
in death, I consider it is, because I believe to have knowledge of former lives
would not be beneficial to our present life, most obviously because of the fact
knowledge of former deaths would be a definite cause of potential trauma in our
present life, irrespective of how good our previous lives were.
What
being a peg on the clothes line would mean for us in real terms is that at any
point of time in the future we would be experiencing, or soon to again be
experiencing a life and hence have the constant opportunity to experience the
only happiness we know, namely evolutionary happiness.
This is
the primary reason why I believe the allegorical hope in life is to be a peg on
the clothes line in the Garden, meaning that in the Universe we shall
continually experience beings capable of experiencing conscious reflection in
the natural course of their lives and with no knowledge of previous lives.
My first
challenge is of course to try and convince the reader that the real hope in
death is not alternatively that of going to a non-evolutionary Heaven after
death. Well in my opinion the major
problem with the idea of a non-evolutionary Heaven lies in the inability to
actually conceive in reality how we could possibly be happy there.
What I
mean is, if you can’t die then there is no purpose to life, as it is quite
obvious to me that the alleviation of need is the creating of happiness in life.
Consider for instance alleviating physiological, safety, belonging and esteem
needs. Fulfilling these needs equates to the fulfilling of happiness and in allegorical
terms this is the drying of clothing on the line.
In a
world such as an imagined non-evolutionary Heaven, where roles such as being
parents and grandparents would surely disappear, the allegorical equivalent is that
all the clothes on the line remain there already dry and so just like there is
no purpose to clothing being on the line in the allegory when they are already
dry, what is the purpose and joy of ourselves living in a non-evolutionary
reality?
To
continue this theme, the truth is that if you take away evolutionary purpose
and need then what do you have? For instance, can we really imagine music and
dance detached from the sexual impulse integral to the continuation of
evolutionary existence? It can easily be said that this is what Heaven offers too,
but to me it is clear that this definition of Heaven is in actual fact the
projection of perfection for ourselves on Earths.
Further
to this, what we know as beauty, comedy and sublimity in what we experience
cannot be imagined as Heavenly traits when just a little thought is given to
the situation, because our imagination can only frame the experience in an
Earthly context. This is most obviously the case with sublimity, for the
sublime is the awe of nature which could destroy us in any second. To really
feel the sublime is to really feel the Earth in all its glory. An example might
be climbing up a vast mountain, turning around and seeing the curvature of the Earth
and feeling the sheer speckification of your being as you think to yourself,
wow, how do I exist in this?
And what
about the Earthly experience of love? How
could the feeling of love be imagined in a place where evolutionary altruism is
not even required, a place it would seem where the evolutionary role of
guardian for the species must be permanently extinguished in time?
I hope I
have gone some way to successfully argue that the true hope in death is not to
go to an imagined Heaven. Along with this explained false hope for Heaven, I
must also consider what I believe to be the equally false hope never to be born
again, which I must admit does have some rational foundation, because the truth
is that if you or I were born of antiquity we would perhaps genuinely hope for
this also, as it may be impossible to imagine in long periods of plague,
poverty, war, or tyranny, being able to live a maximum possible life span.
Though
this is the case, I think our thought would lack the perspective of hindsight
we now have and the imagination to see that life expectancy can increase
through for instance technological innovation and government will and I think
if an individual of antiquity who felt the pain of plague, poverty, war, or
tyranny, was told they could be born again into a world of democracy and
non-poverty and where their former life would be forgotten, they would most
certainly take this over not having another life.
I
totally understand there may still be despair in what I propose is the true
hope in death, because life expectancy in the world is still relatively low and
in allegorical terms the average item of clothing is removed by Mother Nature only
three-quarters dry. Indeed, there are many places on the Earth where in
allegorical terms the clothes are coming off the clothes line only half dry, meaning
in real terms there is the continuous pain of unfulfilled lives and lives where
it is difficult to reach even a child rearing age.
What I
must say at this point however, is that I made an assumption earlier in the
essay which was intended to help me communicate my point easier, but on serious
reflection I don’t believe is the case for certain. That assumption is in
regard to our species being the only one past, present and future in the
history of this Universe that is capable of experiencing conscious reflection
before the Universe itself ends.
This assumption
I consider doubtful, not because I truly believe other animals that have since
become extinct on this Earth, or other animals that still occupy this Earth,
were or are able to experience conscious reflection in the natural course of
their lives, but because I truly believe that at this very moment there are
other species on other Earths in the Universe capable of conscious reflection
in the natural course of theirs.
Simply considering
the vast amount of stars in the sky and possible worlds behind these stars I believe
warrants the opinion that at this very moment there are probably many more
other species existing in the Universe and so in allegorical terms I would
contend there is in actual fact more likely to be trillions and not billions of
pegs on the clothes line in the Garden at this very moment.
What
this means is that in relation to our true hope in death, the same hope is
better than previously thought, because our own understanding of the history of
the human race is that over time the average life expectancy at birth has
increased. This coupled with the fact we know the human race is a relatively
young species, means that on average I would suggest the experience of a
different species would offer a better chance of higher life expectancy and
hence a better chance of living a maximum life span and in seeing this potential
for our children and grandchildren and more generally the children and
grandchildren of that species.
What this
hope in death requires to be true is for evolution to continuously create big
bang/big crunch scenarios and evolve stars, planets, plants and animals to the
point where there are constantly beings created capable of conscious reflection
in the natural course of their lives.
Of
course, it also requires a law in nature which cannot be verified or validated
through the scientific method and in allegorical terms this idea of a law in
nature is akin to Mother Nature being able to do absolutely anything she wanted
in relation to hanging and removing particular pegs and clothing on or from the line. An example might be her putting clothing on another non-evolutionary line in the sun, where they
are simply left to hang there in a dry state for eternity; this is the supposedly positive idea of a non-evolutionary Heaven.
The fear
however is that there is no significant law in nature behind what is perceived as
reality and in allegorical terms we are simply clothing on the line, destined
to be removed from the line forever. Though this is certainly a distinct
possibility, it cannot be said our hope in death which we have described
through the allegory is an impossible hope, just like I would contend the hope
for Heaven in death is not an impossible hope either, rather it is simply a
false hope.
We all
have fears in relation to our deaths and one of these fears is because the
majority of us in the rich modern world love life, love music, love the purpose
of life which presents itself through evolution. Hence, I would contend that in
allegorical terms the majority of us instinctively want to be a peg on the
clothes line in the Garden, for the simple reason this would mean we would then
be able to carry on experiencing the things we love in the Universe.
To
conclude then, the reality is there is hope in death, just like in the
allegorical equivalent there is hope we could be a continuous peg on the clothes line instead
of being a temporary item of clothing which comes off a peg on the clothes line. When I
look at the stars, my thought is that there are many other species like our own,
with the same hopes and fears. This reality would suggest the allegorical
clothes line does not have billions of pegs, but instead has trillions of pegs
upon it and if our hope is fulfilled then after we have exhausted our last
breath on this planet every one of us shall have our next breath on another planet
and it shall be a new beginning.
This,
I would contend, is our great hope in death, the great hope that is not an
impossible or false hope and shall never be proven to be.
