Why does mortality matter?

Question

As I see it, our lives are governed by the knowledge that eventually, what we have going right here, right now is going to end. Whether or not you believe in a god or an afterlife or reincarnation or whatever, as far as I've studied no belief system says that we get to do exactly the same thing again.

I'm an agnostic. I don't know if there's an afterlife, I don't think it's possible to know. My death gives my life purpose and meaning. If every day is a battle against Time the closest I can get to winning is spending my time in the best way possible. If there's an afterlife, good. If not, good. If the afterlife is divided up in to different sections for different people, I hope I make it in to a decent one or at least get to spend my eternal afterlife with the man I love.

Haven't seen any good reason to believe in a specific system thhough, and while I respect all beliefs as having an equal shot at being right, please keep your religion to yourself.

In your answers, please

only talk about your religion (if applicable) as it has related specifically to you, and refrain from bashing or in any way being negative about other beliefs.

You're completely entitled to your thoughts but I'm not asking about how you found Jesus or Allah or whatever.

Answer 1

While what you say may be true about YOUR life, I can't say that I agree that -our- lives are governed by an awareness of mortality. Quite the contrary! I think most people CANNOT emotionally accept the idea of their death or the deaths of their loved ones.

The question of whether immortality would be a blessing or a curse is usually overwhelmingly declared to be a curse for answerers (do a search - it gets asked several times a week around here and I almost invariably lose when I answer it), and the reason cited is the deaths of loved ones. And that's your proof. Everybody SHOULD know that you don't have to be immortal to see your loved ones die... it could happen tomorrow. If they had truly accepted that death was a part of most lives then why would losing all those loved ones even be a tragedy? To one who accepts death, it is no more tragic than the inevitable setting of the sun. It just something that happens.

Personally, I don't think anyone needs mortality do define a life anyway. Most boundaries lie far more in the hmind than in the universe. Take a typical day. If you can have a successful day (by whatever standard you use), is there any reason you can't have a trillion successful days?

Just because there's no mystery endpoint where you don't get more days, that hardly removes the time pressure to do most things. Every now and then when I go to see a movie, I discover that it hasn't been showing in theatres for weeks, months, or years (I have a pretty bad sense of time). Every now and then a call a friend who's miffed at me for not speaking with him for months. Things have time limits and always will, with or without death.

I like to point out that there isn't really any direct evidence that you ARE going to die. If you have died once, you're certainly alive now. And if you've never died, perhaps it's because you never will. Things change. Even if 100 billion humans have died (by some estimates), that is not PROOF that even one more will, just as flipping a coin a 100 billion times and getting heads doesn't guarantee the next flip will be heads. Unless you have a trick coin... and maybe not even then.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if I understand what you are asking about - why mortality "matters." Mortality just is. I guess it matters to you if you spend a lot of time thinking about it. Otherwise, it just happens when it happens, and then whatever happens after that, if anything, happens.

Some people would say, if that is true, then whatever I do or don't do in my life doesn't matter. I agree with you, however, that spending whatever time you have in the best way possible makes the most sense.

We may not agree on what that means - the best way. Is it doing whatever makes you feel good, or is it doing what you think is the right thing to do even if you really don't want to do it? Would you only always do the "right" thing if you knew for certain that there was an afterlife?

I also believe that it's not possible to know. I wouldn't call myself an agnostic, though. I think it's just a question of semantics, how you define or understand certain terms. A person with strong faith may say they "know" that whatever they believe to be true is really true, and to them it is. A skeptic may not believe anything is true unless it can be proven to their satisfaction.

My personal belief is that there is more to the universe than what we mortals currently have access to. We tend to get into trouble when we start to believe that we have no limitations. Or, as I said before, we throw up our hands and give up because we realize that we do have limits, and spend our time focusing on them.

So, bottom line, I say accept the fact that you are neither perfect nor immortal, and just do your best. It won't always work - you will make mistakes, you will be wrong, people may get hurt. But that's ok. Happens to the best of us.

Does that help in a non-specifically religious way?

Answer 3

I think mortality matters because death is a frightening experience to nearly everyone. Even those who believe in the afterlife still fear death. If we don't fear death, why do we cry over the death of a loved one? Sure, we'll miss them, but if we truly cared for them, we'd realize they aren't actually gone and/or they have reached a better place.

And yes, everything is a race against time. No one knows how much time they've been given, and everyone should use whatever time they do have to live, actually live. No one should waste their time.

I guess it's just because everyone knows that they will eventually run out of time, and so they must rush and rush and rush as if the faster they go the more things they can cram into their lives.

Answer 4

The 'system' creates the problem of knowing if mortality matters. If the system of the universe is good, then mortality matters more as it is appreciated more. If the system is bad(that is making coping with life difficult and sad) then mortality does not matter as much. As you can guess with religion and all, the system is bad and mortality does not matter as much (at least to some). The system creates different levels of management for variety and fulfillment, even tests certain things and people at times. And in the eternity of time, all things will happen. Yet I hope that we have more good than bad, and that immortality is not cursed but blessed. We are only cursed when the system goes against us, and hopefully, that cannot be forever. Look at my website www.philosophyoflife.net for my answers to the 'system'.

Answer 5

As a Mormon, we believe that family is more important than anything! And that we will be together for TIME AND ALL ETERNITY!
And when we shift off this mortal coil? Well, that will be the beginning of a very happy afterlife!
Thanks for asking!

Answer 6

I cannot answer your question. I do however have a question that relates, and might make you contemplate ideas about mortality somewhat differently.

If you knew that you only had 48 hours to live, would you do anything differently?

Then, after the 48 hours you were told that the information given to you was incorrect, would you have any regrets about how you spent the last 48 hours?

That will answer the question of mortality.

Answer 7

You are wasting your Life on the abstraction of Death. Pay attention to being alive and let Death take care of itself when it comes in its time. Live not to "buy" the decency of an honorable place in Death, but rather, live decently in honor of the gift of Life that you have been given.

Answer 8

im agnostic too.

i dont know which is belief is right (im leaning toward buddhism) but i do know this. as long as you have children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, you shouldnt care about dying. your blood is flowing through them. its how you become immortal.

i still need to get to the having a kid part though...

Answer 9

I'm agnostic too, and as a relativist, I might ask "Does anything matter?" We are culturally and instinctually programmed towards self-preservation. I realize how insignificant my existence is.

Answer 10

The basic problem with mortality is the loss of information. Unfortunately, immortality is not requisite for evolutionary success, and it has its costs, so h. sapiens has not developed it.