Being Nothing

We are born. We live. We develop a concept of self.

Through the ages the human mind has come to a bizarre concept of the soul. When I say soul I refer to the notion that our self will exist beyond our physical death. This is a wish or hopeful mindset to allay the notion that we will cease to exist altogether. To me our "self" exists only in our physical brains. The reality of an afterlife exists only in the living mind and its conception thereof.

We are nothing after death. We exist only in the memories of those who have come to know us. Our accomplishments in this one flash of existence will live on only in the minds of future generations, nothing more.

It's hard to reconcile this concept with the so many great things that life has to offer, but wouldn't the reality of non-existence make everything all that much more pertinent and meaningful? Music, art, poetry...love. Wouldn't these things have all that much more meaning and significance? If you think about it, the belief that one will survive after death is so self-serving and selfish. That all the joys of life are centered on one particular tenant: that we simply live to die; that death is the final solution to all our ills. That death will somehow bring a glorifying, revelatory realization of the meaning of existence. Isn't that a cop-out, lazy way out of realizing existence? It really hinges on belief and faith (which I have neither of...not in the "spiritual" anyway).

I have a personal belief that we human beings are strictly biological and that our minds and ability to think and form a concept of self are material. It doesn't go beyond that. Sure, it would be nice to think that we can evade death by "passing" through it, but our bodies ARE us. Once our bodies cease to be, WE cease to be. Our brains are an organ a part of our physical selves. We have devised a way to interact with our surroundings as to ensure our survival as a species. Our brain is a superb tool and physical organ that enables us to interact with our environment not very differently than any other species on this planet. Do dogs have a concept of afterlife? Do dolphins...elephants? Surely, we can't know this, yet I would wager that they do not. They simply "are". Like we humans "are".

Nothing special. Nothing particularly pertinent to the reality we find ourselves in. Does this sound fatalistic? Only if you think or believe it does. If you believe your life will enjoy some kind of eternal afterlife then I suppose everything I have said here could seem quite sad and depressing. It's not though. It's much more rewarding and motivating to consider those that go before you in life and pass to them the knowledge you have garnered. That is the "real" reward of being alive.