Remember: Death is coming

Gustave Dore painted this image as an illustrated companion to Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven." In it, the character death sits, seemingly relaxed, on a full moon partially obscured with clouds, with one hand resting on an hour glass. Death's cloak covers its right hand which is assumed to be clutching its traditional reaping scythe. Death is always ready to pounce. A single raven is seen flying between the painting's observer and the moon in the painting. It also seems that death gazes outward toward the observer of the painting, as if it is very much conscious that it is the object of observation. We, the living, have its full attention. All death has to do is be patient. With full attention and with utmost patience, death waits and counts each grain of sand passing through the hourglass of our life. Who can escape its inevitable embrace?

I began this blog entry with this particular reference for various reasons. One reason is that I'm a huge Gustave Dore art fan, and I very much recommend that you spend time with his works of art. His art stirs something inside me. The second reason I began this blog entry with a reference to Death is that an awareness of one's own personal mortality is necessary but not sufficient for authenticity. This means that while a theoretical cognitive awareness is the first step toward becoming a "real" person, it is not enough to remain cognitively aware alone. One must feel the personal horror, the utter fear and trembling, that accompanies and eclipses such a distilled cognitive awareness of death; it is indeed necessary to feel the limits of mortality, to feel in an active manner that life will cease to exist. One must come to terms that despite the hustle in bustle in their life, no one will remember the slightest detail of it in the generations to come. We too are destined to be forgotten similar to how those in the past are forgotten to us in the present.

Once one's life has been imbued with death's touch, one can begin living authentically. One now understands the limits to their mortality and the preciousness found in the simplest of things, like the act of breathing. And while it is indeed impossible and impractical to maintain this constant feeling of impending doom, the experience of hopelessness and powerlessness from it leaves one all the richer and more wise than before. Life is seen anew after death's touch.

What about those who do not know this touch of death? These people are easy to spot; most energy in their life is dedicated toward fleeing from the experience death's touch; they sedate death with religious promises of immortality or with life's distractions through sexual stimulation or through chemicals that alter consciousness (drugs, alcohol, medication). While it can be argued that the people drowning in hedonism want to enjoy all the pleasures that life has to offer, most of them lack insight into their own hearts -- they act, but they do not necessarily know why; they sleep with many sexual partners for pleasure, distraction or temporary comfort; they pray at places of religious worship without concentrating on making themselves a more worthy temple; they fill the bars, dance clubs, drug houses; they solicit prostitutes; they speak without considering the consequence of their words. All that matters to these people is "this moment," and it is difficult for them to think about "the future." Ask them to think about death, and they'll give you cognitive and rational explanations -- you'll know that they've never felt the personal horror of their own annihilation.

And what of those who do not know where to begin their search for authenticity? What words can be offered to them? Aristotle began his Metaphysics with the phrase, "All men by nature desire to know." With this notion in mind, I would suggest that the "desire" for authenticity is how one begins their journey toward authenticity. However, it has been suggested that some people are incapable of this particular kind of openness. Both the article Is Philosophy For Everyone? the article Do all Men by Nature Desire to Know? seem to express the notion that, for various reasons, most people not capable of this way of being in the world.

What do you think? Are some people incapable of feeling this "death's touch" I mentioned in this blog post? Are most destined, as Nietzsche observes, to belong to the herd -- to the majority who refuses to consider the deeper things in life?