Death & The Philosopher
Raymond Tallis on philosophical attitudes to non-being.
There it is. A countless number of reactions that any of us might have in regard to death in general and to our own death in particular. Mine certainly being among the most pessimistic outlooks. Objectively, both my own life and death seem to be embedded in an insignificance that, in the context of all there is, and in a No God world, would seem to be far, far beyond encompassing in words. When one is but one of billions that the overwhelming preponderance of the global population are utterly oblivious to, how can one not but feel the futility of it all.
And yet that doesn’t make me any less preoccupied with sustaining whatever life I have left for as long as possible. It is simply part of the existential reality of living “my life” that I don’t spend a whole lot of time obsessing over the 'big picture". Not when I can only actually live my life from day to day intertwined in any number of very real contexts that generate any number of mental, emotional, psychological and physical experiences. Call it a paradox, call it an enigma, call it an anomaly, call it a conundrum.
The only thing I know for certain is that these individual reactions are no less the embodiment of dasein. And that it seems highly unlikely that philosophers will ever pin down the optimal or the ideal or the most rational reaction to death among our species.
On the other hand, my own reaction to reactions of this sort is empathic: that it seems preposterous to me beyond any attempt to communicate at all. It is precisely the elevated level of fulfillment itself when life is a banquet that sustains the despair one feels knowing that for all of eternity there are no more banquets to be had. Sure, a part of you can attempt to focus in on the fact that you are no longer around to sorely miss those banquets, and if that works, good for you. It just doesn’t work for me me given my own psychological predispositions rooted in my own life.
Exactly. And, again, depending on just how sumptuous the banquet that is your own has become. That’s why I have always imagined those “celebrities” who have had the most fulfilling lives being all the more distraught about their own death. They have so much more of the “good stuff” to lose.
The irony then being that if you want the least despair in the face of oblivion then have the most miserable life here and now.