Wednesday, August 8, 2012
What is eternity?
Eternity is a very cloudy and disturbing subject to me. I have a lot of
questions that I think will never be answered. Near the end of Brave New
World, Linda, John's mother, is so depressed that she takes enormous
amount of soma to supposedly go on vacation for an eternity. On page 155,
Aldous Huxley writes, "there she remained; yet wasn't there at all, was
all the time away, infinitely far away, on holiday." This doesn't make
sense to me because even though time may feel infinitely multiplied in her dream
vacation, it still has an end when she wakes up to take more soma. No matter
how long it feels it has an end and as many times as she repeated this fake
eternity, it ended when she died. I think the eternity they mean is as long as
the human mind can imagine but the real eternity is incomprehensible. Eternity
really has no end by definition. Even though I don't like the thought of dying,
I would never want to live forever because that is just too long for me. In
some religions, eternal life is given in heaven to those who are good but that
is still pretty intimidating. I can't imagine being in a perfect place like
that for an infinite amount of days. If I was an atheist, I would also be
worried because I wouldn't want to just see black for eternity. What are your
thoughts on eternity? Would you be able to handle living forever or would you
want your conscience to die eventually? I would like to at least have the
choice down the line.
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I agree with your statement that eternity is incomprehensible. I have tried imagining eternity only to end up confused and puzzled on how something could go on incessantly. Even trying to think of nothing, before that point of our universe's existence where neither matter, time, nor space existed is for me, impossible. To me it seems, that humans cannot comprehend nothing nor eternity. It is just beyond us.
ReplyDeleteI partially disagree when you say an atheist "sees black for eternity." I certainly see what you are trying to say, but an atheist would believe that literally nothing would exist for them after their consciousness left their physical body. They wouldn't be able to "see" nothing, there would just be nothing.
Although I cannot comprehend eternity, I would not mind living for eternity if I were in a state of constant joy and fullness from just being in the presence of the immaculate God. However, hell, living being "tormented day and night, forever and ever" with "gnashing of the teeth" would not be an enjoyable way to spend eternity.
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ReplyDeleteEternity may have been based on the necessity of hope. Through the struggles we humans place ourselves with, we tend to reach a point of losing focus on the present and drifting off into the mental spaces of the past and the future. We get bored, bored of the present and impatient, anticipating the results. Then again, "we are humans", it's just human nature for us to be that way and imagine an eternity of be apart of.
ReplyDeleteAn eternity is actually a very defining word. Almost like an end. or an answer. It makes us believe that there will be a time when we will not even care for the future because we know that it's just going to be going on and on.
However, eternity is something we as humans shouldn't even bother to think about. It's beyond us and we should accept that. We should accept a lot of things that we are incapable of because we have still have so much to work on. With technology throwing new things at us every second, we leave behind unfinished worked. Eternity is just something we made up. Imagination. We must find happiness and importance in what is now. "Now" is what we should all focus on and contemplate about.
I cannot grasp the concept eternity, and at this point I cannot even imagine the span of a life time. The oldest person alive as of today is Besse Cooper, at 115 years old and 349 days. In those 115 years she has seen two world wars, major changes in women's and civil rights. Not mention the amount of social changes she has seen, as well as the dramatic advancements in technology. Today, I cannot imagine anyone seeing so much change.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I do not think I could handle living for an eternity, let alone as long as Besse Cooper. The only way E could possibly choose to live for an eternity, would be if everyone else lived for an eternity as well. No one would choose living for an eternity, if it meant living an eternity alone.
I agree with Bianca in that we should live for the "now". The truth is that while we can dream of an eternity, we as humans will never come close to it.
The view on eternity is an intriguing subject and the subject of various debates and opinions. Like Paul mentioned above, Linda, John's mother, intentionally takes large doses of soma in order to enter a peaceful bliss. I understand her intentions to take excessive amounts of soma to relieve her pain, and to keep her mind in an never-ending peace without any worries or troubles.
DeleteI agree with Paul's opinions on living for eternity; living for eternity would not be enjoyable because you would live long enough to see everyone close to you pass away, leaving you in a state of anguish, thus ruining the point of living eternity filled with peace and happiness.
Eternity has several perceptions that vary with every individual and religion. Some religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism, promise eternal happiness and peaceful state of living and mind, called nirvana in Buddhism and brahman in Hinduism. This principle belief that selfless behavior and staying loyal to the many gods allowed the religions to gain many followers that were attracted to the promise of eternal peace in exchange for selfless behavior and loyalty. This promise of eternal peace gives the enormous population of followers hope for a better life
I believe eternal happiness is unbearable because without encountering any problems, one cannot better themselves by improving upon their mistakes. I agree with Stephen's statement on atheists, I believe since atheists believe in no religion, their views after death would be emptiness because they believe life ends completely after one dies.
To be frank, eternity scares me. I do admit, the concept intrigued me for the longest time. You don't have to rush anything, you had as much time to experience the world as you wished. YOLO would not apply. (Forgive me for mentioning the horribly overused term.) However, if you did everything you ever wanted to do, what comes next? What do you do with your life after your ambitions have all been achieved?
ReplyDeleteThere needs to be a time limit, or your will will eventually just rot away, leaving a body without something to live for. In the crudest terms, eternity is only an excuse for one to be lazy. Ultimate procrastination. You have forever, why do it now?
I agree with you PJ, for even though I do not like the thought of dying, I do not want to live forever. The time you have in life living your life is sacred, for it is the only life you get. However, another interesting point is that the word forever, along with eternity, is very undefined, for, what is forever? Forever means always,essentially, but how would that measure in time? Is even the after life counted as forever?
ReplyDelete