Death, The end of An Illusion

To most of us Death can be the end of the road. Because we see nothing ahead we firmly believe that is the end. Although many religions tell us that there is something happy after, since we can’t see it is hard for us to believe in it. We as humans don’t like to suffer and we are so scared of eternal punishment for our sins or crimes in life that we do our best to be a good person. Not that this is bad in most cases but with extremists the message can be interpreted in a different way which can cause harm to others. Now up to what we have seen Death has been the answer to the questions where are we going and I believe this? Our society encourages us to forget about death, to ignore it and live our life happily until it’s too late. This may seem like something bad but it has worked so far even in the times of the leavers. If we were to think about death all the time we would completely forget about the present and that really isn’t a good thing. What seems interesting in these stories is that death never seems to be the end (in most cases).

Apparently death in those times was viewed differently. In Gilgamesh we see that through other we live after death, Gilgamesh is still alive because of what he wrote and because of the city he built. Now time does consume it all in time but what we can live through memories is much greater than what we live as physical beings. It is interesting that death was presented as an illusion in Ceyx and Halcyone: Or, the Halcyon Birds. The husband did return after his time at sea when even the gods though him dead. Of  course, the physical being that you can see and touch dies in a relatively short time. Our life is but a second, but what we live behind lives on. What actually comes after death will always remain a mystery to us, the living. What is more important is whether death is really relevant in our lives? I think not really unless you want it to be. It is a fact that we will all die like Gilgamesh had to face and eventually you and I will too. The fear we feel before dying can be compared like what you feel when you are to go in to a roller coaster the first time only much stronger. When it happens it might even seem fun at least for a second. The moment the brain senses it’s about to die it realizes great amounts of endorphins making it a much more pleasant sensation, at least for a second. As long as what is said, is told by the living we can debate and fight over it. What really matters is to live your life in the way you believe is best and make sure that the part of you that will stay here for a little more time is good and won’t be forgotten for when it is, we cease to exist.