“I don’t want to go.” – The 10th Doctor
But that wasn’t really death was it – it was rebirth, reincarnation. The wish fulfillment of a hundred million souls. What if… when we die we just get popped into a new body? Keep the memories, ditch the bad hair and judgy personality. Start all over, and this time I’ll get it right. This time I wont eat so many cheeseburgers and fries.
“The hardest thing about death is not that men die tragically, but that most of them die ridiculously” – Mencken
But Mencken was an atheist, and the core of atheism is the knowledge that there is no life after death. Therefore – ridiculous or not, I couldn’t care less.
“I mean, they say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time.” – Banksy
But if no one knows the real you, or your real name, does the second death count?
“Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.” – George Eliot
A variation on the above theme – with the same problem, does anyone remember George’s real name? (it was Mary Anne – there, now she lives again.)
“I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.” – Benjamin Franklin
Which is more true in our time than his… and ironic considering his own obesity helped to kill him.
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No particular reason for these morbid thoughts on a Wednesday morning. Sorry… well, here’s something that will cheer you right back up:
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How morbid on the day of my birth!
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I urge you to read the book ‘Sum’ by David Eagleman, pretty sure Banksy stole that quote from it. It’s an indescribably amazing collection of short stories exploring the idea of ‘afterlife’, written by a neuroscientist. I’m sure you’d enjoy it. x
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