Thoughts of Immortality

A blogging friend has written about the death of a brilliant young man whom he had known and worked with in school, and being ever philosophically minded, he opened up a discussion about immortality, arguing that it is not even desirable in concept, raising the issue of the boredom that would come with time without end, and hence the eventual meaninglessness of an immortal life.

I recognize and appreciate this perspective, because it was my own when I was still in my twenties, when I was becoming a hard materialist who eschews the fables and romances of life, including immortality and heaven. However, now in middle age, although my rational thought is still materialistic, now that I can smell the faint whiff of decay and death, I feel an emotional openness at least to the beauty of ideas like immortality. I wrote:

I'll go ahead and venture a comment on the two philosophical issues you raise. Although one can dismiss the option of eternity out of hand as being merely fanciful, if one takes the idea seriously, I think you may be underestimating the value of eternal life.

Consider the time we have had in our limited lives. In my case that's forty years and some change. Yet, as I sit here, I cannot say that it feels that long. To me, it went as fast as a good weekend, and I am tempted to think that that doesn't change even when we talk about millions, billions of years, or even if we speak of forever. I think we only experience the now, and who doesn't want to keep having this 'now'? What is it worth? How much would you take to give up your 'now'? I would not be so fast to blow off eternity. I think I'd be happy just to keep reading and rereading great literature for eternity, without even getting to the other possible things one could do in this eternal world.

Of course, I have been reading Christian literature for a little while now, and I suppose it is fair to say that I pine a little for the idea. The materialistic life, at least a poor one such as mine, can be rather flat and cold and unsatisfying.

Thoughts of Immortality

A blogging friend has written about the death of a brilliant young man whom he had known and worked with in school, and being ever philosophically minded, he opened up a discussion about immortality, arguing that it is not even desirable in concept, raising the issue of the boredom that would come with time without end, and hence the eventual meaninglessness of an immortal life.

I recognize and appreciate this perspective, because it was my own when I was still in my twenties, when I was becoming a hard materialist who eschews the fables and romances of life, including immortality and heaven. However, now in middle age, although my rational thought is still materialistic, now that I can smell the faint whiff of decay and death, I feel an emotional openness at least to the beauty of ideas like immortality. I wrote:

I'll go ahead and venture a comment on the two philosophical issues you raise. Although one can dismiss the option of eternity out of hand as being merely fanciful, if one takes the idea seriously, I think you may be underestimating the value of eternal life.

Consider the time we have had in our limited lives. In my case that's forty years and some change. Yet, as I sit here, I cannot say that it feels that long. To me, it went as fast as a good weekend, and I am tempted to think that that doesn't change even when we talk about millions, billions of years, or even if we speak of forever. I think we only experience the now, and who doesn't want to keep having this 'now'? What is it worth? How much would you take to give up your 'now'? I would not be so fast to blow off eternity. I think I'd be happy just to keep reading and rereading great literature for eternity, without even getting to the other possible things one could do in this eternal world.

Of course, I have been reading Christian literature for a little while now, and I suppose it is fair to say that I pine a little for the idea. The materialistic life, at least a poor one such as mine, can be rather flat and cold and unsatisfying.

About the Idea of Heaven

How timely, on the day that I vent some musings on immortality and heaven, I come across a trenchant book review about the evolution of our ideas of, yes, heaven. The reviewer, Johann Hari, comes at this from the dismissive materialist/rationalist perspective I alluded to earlier as my own, and which I also held more cockily when I was in my virile, uncompromising twenties. I'll just copy and paste the whole thing. Twenty years ago, I would have been nodding my head enthusiastically while reading this article. Today, I am still nodding my head, but slowly and with a depressed air.

( article )

About the Idea of Heaven

How timely, on the day that I vent some musings on immortality and heaven, I come across a trenchant book review about the evolution of our ideas of, yes, heaven. The reviewer, Johann Hari, comes at this from the dismissive materialist/rationalist perspective I alluded to earlier as my own, and which I also held more cockily when I was in my virile, uncompromising twenties. I'll just copy and paste the whole thing. Twenty years ago, I would have been nodding my head enthusiastically while reading this article. Today, I am still nodding my head, but slowly and with a depressed air.

( article )