The Immortal.

I read this book called Sophie's World. It's by a Swedish man who seems to have had too much free time on his hands. But as you read it, you get into it. It presents a history of philosophy. And one of the things that sticks out is the concept of change. The person you were five minutes ago is different from the person you are now. After you eat a sandwich, you're different from the person who was hungry and wanted a sandwich.

But this ain't a book review. I was watching the video of Smells Like Teen Spirit instead of doing my French homework. And when Kurt Cobain got up in front of the camera screaming "A DENIAL A DENIAL A DENIAL", it occured to me that a dead man was screaming at me.

I was watching a dead guy scream his lungs out. And then Dave Grohl. He was different than what he is now. I was watching a beardless, drumming Dave Grohl. He changed. He is a different being now.

I was watching people that no longer existed. I find that...fascinating. Its a twisted kind of history. If there is a record of what no longer exists, does it not still exist in a sense? If what no longer exists has left some kind of visible trace of itself, its still there.

I am not the same person who joined GSB two years ago. Yet, the story I wrote at that point of time is still there. It is a reflection of who I was, my writing style, my thought process. That person, in a not-really kind of way, exists.

Oh how wrong we were to think that immortality meant never dying. The man that wrote that is gone. Married. Happy. But there is a record of him. And through that, he lives. There is a way to prevent death. However, that is only if you define death as something that once existed and no longer exists.

But then you'd have to define existance. Does it precede essence? Or the other way round? And whatever comment you leave here, it leaves a trace of you in this moment. But when you sign off the computer and get out of the chair, that person stops existing. But the evidence is there.

The dead can speak to us. We can hear them and know their thoughts. And thoughts mean existance. "I think, therefore I am". In order to die, you have to exist and leave no record so that when your heart stops beating, you cease to exist.

The person who wrote the first paragraph of this blog is gone. Because my thoughts changed and went their own direction as I wrote. But the record is there. So in a sense, the me of ten minutes ago is still alive.

I suppose if I think long enough, one day the me that is not yet born will understand immortality.
Posted on July 5th, 2008 at 10:41am

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