What I believe
I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cosy indoor warmth of traditional humanising myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigour, and the great spaces have a splendour of their own.- Excerpt from Bertrand Russell's What I Believe
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But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation.
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it won't be surprising to know that more than half of the population disagree with this. death signifies a complete cycle. without death, why celebrate birth/start?
Alex: Looking at this differently, it is precisely because death marks the culmination of a cycle which would otherwise be incomplete, why should we fear it instead of accepting its inevitability peacefully?
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