Mortality

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. - Abraham J. Heschel


My thoughts have recently been drawn to my own mortality and the legacy I leave behind. There are currently 6 billion people on earth. That’s a 6 with 9 zeros behind it. An estimate of the cumulative population of earth since the beginning of the human species is 100 billion. Our species (Homo sapiens) has been on the planet for 200,000 years. What makes me special and different from all those people who are alive, or have lived?

Did I create something new? Have I had an original thought? Have I felt an emotion that hasn’t been felt before? Did I simplify the complex? Did I have an impact that is significant and lasting? Given 6 billion people currently alive, and 100 billion people who have lived, it doesn’t seem likely that I am unique in any fashion whatsoever. My DNA may be the only unique thing about me, but so what? Everyone else’s DNA is also unique. Having unique DNA isn’t really unique at all.

If I did do something worthwhile, where is my monument, obelisk, temple, pyramid, tower, stadium, museum, library, bridge, road, sculpture, or garden that is named after me and says “There lived a man, and he was good”? Or is it “There lived a man, and he had enough money to have this sign erected with his name on it”? Have you noticed how many people pay the money to have something named after them? We are either really desperate not to die, or are desperate to be remembered.

I’ve always enjoyed the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart. It explores the question about what the world would be like if one man had not lived. I would like to believe that my life has had some beneficial impact that remains hidden from me. Like Jimmy Stewarts’s George Bailey, wouldn’t it be fulfilling to know that you made the world a better place for others? Who would not die happy knowing they left the world a better place by having lived in it?

Perhaps this mental and public self-torment is just a circuitous way of posing the age-old question, “What is the meaning of life?” One philosophy book I recently read suggested the answer might be Pleasure (hedonism), or Virtue (asceticism), or Knowledge (intellectualism), or a balance of the three; none of the three appeals to me without some balance of the others, which is exactly what the author concluded.

I’ve been listening to several philosophy books and lectures on CDs lately. It’s been interesting to hear about the philosophies developed by Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas and others. (Shameless namedropping) I’ve come to realize that some of the most brilliant minds throughout history have spent their lives in pursuit of the meaning of life. The books have made it clear that this is the ONE big question in the world of philosophy and nobody has ever come up with an answer that is universally acceptable. It makes me feel a little bit better that I haven’t done any worse than the big guys.

I don’t claim to know the meaning of life. I think the answer lies in the long list of causal events that resulted in today and this moment. What, or who, caused that first event, which caused all the events since then, resulting in today, and to what end purpose? What is the last event, and what is its purpose? In the long strand of dominos, what started the first domino, and what is the purpose of the last domino?

Sure, I am curious about the answer, but I cannot know the answer. The question about the beginning of the dominoes and the end of the dominos is the Faith question in disguise. Sorry, but I am not going to tackle that one during this posting.

There are lots of questions here, but no answers for you. I am simply doing the best I can with the single domino that represents my lifespan. Doing my “best” to me means attempting to follow the ethical principles laid out by my parents, teachers, clergy, and friends. That makes sense to me. To do otherwise, to not live such a life, does not make sense to me. So maybe that is my answer, for me; to live a principled life.

So, not knowing how I got started on this topic, and having no idea where I was headed, let me exit not too gracefully by listing a few of the principles I’ve collected over the years. I think they are helpful; at the very worst they are just cute phrases.

1. As if you couldn’t tell from previous posts, I love the Boy Scout Law. “A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty brave, clean and reverent.”

2. There is a Turkish proverb that says, “There is no right way to do a wrong thing.”

3. Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote a story titled Gimpel the Fool, whose moral, is, “Better to be a fool all of your days, than for one hour to be evil.”

4. Don Quixote is my hero, a crazy altruist. Yeah, that’s not a principle, so sue me.

5. Lancelot had the right attitude in the song “C’est Moi”, but ultimately failed in his execution of the mission.

6. Watch the movie The Last Samurai. The seven virtues of Bushido are Rectitude (being right), Courage, Benevolence, Respect, Honesty, Honor, and Loyalty.

7. From the West Point Cadet Prayer – “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never to be content with a half truth when the whole can be won.”

8. In high school we used to joke that “good is better than evil ‘cause it’s nicer”. That is a KISS principle – Keep It Simple Stupid.


Finally, to close out another sanctimonious posting, a definition of success I listed some time ago.


Success

He has achieved success
who has lived well,
laughed often, and loved much;

who has enjoyed the trust of
pure women,
the respect of intelligent men and
the love of little children;

who has filled his niche and accomplished his task;

who has left the world better than he found it
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem or a rescued soul;

who has never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty
or failed to express it;

who has always looked for the best in others and
given them the best he had;

whose life was an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.


--1904 Bessie Anderson Stanley