#10

The Allure of Death

Fear of the Unknown is, in my opinion, at the forefront of reasons why most people are so uneasy about their inevitable demise. They have no clue as to what lies in wait for them once their fragile hearts give way.

Perhaps this is more common in places where life is cherished and enjoyed to such an extent that death isn’t in itself the tragedy as much as it is the loss of what life offers: personal fulfilment, health, children, love, material possessions, etc.

For many others, however, life has become such a traumatic, horrifying experience that death is a welcome reprieve, a much needed end to their individual or collective ordeals.

An arbitrary case in point I am hesitant to offer is the glaring contrast between the life I enjoy and the unspeakable conditions which set the scene for millions of people around the world: Whilst I am lulled to sleep by Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast through the iPhone on which I’m writing these words, the workers who tirelessly and painstakingly assembled this device have to rest their ailing bodies to the sound of their own grumbling stomachs and those of their children. Whilst my over-stimulated mind submits to the elements and falls into a deep, undisturbed slumber, there are countless others who are too afraid to close their eyes lest they are jolted awake by the the sound of gunfire or a car bomb nearby, for their pristine souls had been blotted by the indelible blackness of death. The sporadic serenity I revel in is but a distant dream for so many others whose ears are constantly pierced by the drums of death, and whose hearts are ceaselessly scythed by fellow humans.

Death, although one and the same, cannot be understood through a universal definition, for its comprehension and subsequent acknowledgment are relative and almost entirely dependent on our instinct for self-preservation.

Immortality is a dilettantish goal. No-one with a sound mind would wish to stick around for longer than necessary and bear witness to our flagrant disregard of our true selves, our unquenchable thirst for each other’s blood, and our unrestrained eagerness to annihilate those who are weaker than us, have less than we do, or, more commonly, those whose eyes see the world in a different hue to that which we believe to be the Truth.

Although we concede that our time is finite, and that our days, months or years are numbered, what many of us fear most is the unravelling of the thread we had delicately spun during every second of our ill-spent lives.. We dread the abrupt eviction from the cocoons inside which we had been foolishly and ignorantly entrenched. For the others, Death is Mother Nature’s soft embrace after a life of unabated suffering, unrelenting torment and torture. For them, life is a painful and protracted death, whilst Death itself is a bestowal of a new lease of Life.

Whichever of the two sides our coin is tossed, the fact is, we’re going to die. Death makes us equal. Death is the overarching reality that trumps all the illusions we accept, and confirms the truth we spend our lives subconsciously denying. That, in a nutshell, is what gives Death its unparalleled allure.

The title is numerical as this is the 10th entry in a series of daily writings I began just over a week ago. The plan is to write and publish something everyday, no matter how big or small the piece of writing is. Previous entries are on my Tumblr account, and I may publish them here, too.