How the United States has managed, and mismanaged, our Covid crisis response occupies a lot of attention. Just about every conversation includes some variation of "How are you coping?"
It's the most frequent topic on cable TV. Also, local television news.
Yet I worry that we're ignoring what to me is a vital thing to focus on: the infinite treasure that is life. Which has a flip side: the unbearable sadness of death.
Naturally I look upon this from my own perspective. A 71 year old man. An atheist. Someone who doesn't like the idea of his own inevitable death and has felt the primal fear of non-existence.
But even if you're a young religious believer who is comfortable with dying, I believe we could agree on this. The life each of us is living now is infinitely precious, because it will never come again.
Each moment is a unique one-of-a-kind. It won't ever recur. Once gone, that's it.
For me, human life as a whole has the same quality. I don't believe in life after death. I don't believe in reincarnation. I don't believe in heaven or hell.
What I believe with great confidence is that each of us needs to pay rapt attention to our current life experience, since there is no guarantee that after our last breath we will ever have even a single second of conscious awareness.
From this point of view every death is unbearably sad. It represents a snuffing out of a person's loving and living; their thoughts and emotions; their hopes and fears; their memories and hopes.
I don't see any way to balance the rich plentitude of earthly existence with the stark nothingness of death. The two don't belong in the same equation. There is no common denominator that connects life and death. They inhabit different dimensions of reality.
Still, we all have experienced death. Not our own, obviously. That of others. Friends, loved ones, relatives, strangers. Death surrounds us, though it remains a mystery that no one in the long history of humanity can say, "I've been there and done that."
Near-death experiences are just that, near.
Thus when I hear glib talk from national leaders like President Trump and Vice-President Pence about how even one Covid death is too many, but we should feel grateful that only 132,218 people have died from Covid so far, rather than the two million that supposedly could have died, I want to scream at the TV.
You fucking idiots! You say that one death is too many but you're OK with 132,218. That's insane!
I fear that as the weeks and months go on with the spread of the Covid virus in the United States continuing virtually or entirely unabated, we Americans are getting used to hundreds of people dying every day (the past few days it's been almost a thousand).
I don't ever want to get used to anyone dying needlessly, much less hundreds or thousands. Yes, I realize death comes to everyone, and thousands of people die every day from all causes in the United States.
However, there's something unique about Covid deaths, since they are largely preventable, and we're not preventing them -- unlike many other advanced nations that have gotten their death rates much below ours.
Every day the Oregon Health Authority sends out an email message with the most recent case and death count for my state. They give a bit of humanizing detail to the deaths. Here's the deaths reported today.
Oregon’s 221st COVID-19 death is an 85-year-old woman in Benton County who tested positive on May 31 and died on June 28, at her residence. She had underlying conditions.
Oregon’s 222nd COVID-19 death is a 55-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on June 22 and died on June 28, at his residence. He had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 223rd COVID-19 death is a 91-year-old woman in Marion County who tested positive on June 18 and died on July 5, at her residence. She had underlying medical conditions.
Oregon’s 224th COVID-19 death is a 36-year-old man in Multnomah County who tested positive on June 3 and died on July 7, at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. He had underlying medical conditions.
"Underlying conditions." But they were alive with their underlying conditions before the Covid virus infected them. Each was a living, breathing person. Until they weren't.
Each of these deaths is sad. I don't want to rank order them by their degree of sadness. Still, when I see a 36-year-old person die from Covid, I can't help but feel more of a sense of loss than with the 91-year-old just above him in the list.
One day, hopefully, the Covid crisis will be behind us.
Hopefully we'll be left with an increased sense of compassion for our fellow human beings, and a vow to do our best to never again let a pandemic run roughshod over our country. Or to elect leaders who allow this to happen.
Yes, these deaths are unbearably sad. To me the suffering that these individuals go through being put on ventilators in the hospital, gasping for air with high fever knowing they may likely die soon from a disease that our government could have and should have done more to prevent is equally unbearable.
Posted by: S | July 08, 2020 at 10:05 PM
This virus is raging.
Live Updates: Fauci says states with major outbreaks should “seriously look at shutting down again”
This is exactly why we are in this mess again. Putting this on the states instead of federally mandating measures to control the spread of the virus is virtually useless. Many people live and work in a tri state area. Many drive an hour across state lines to go to work each day. Are Connecticut, New Jersey and New York all on the same page?? I would hope so considering the a great number of the people working in NYC commute in from CT and NJ each day.
This debate of federal vs state responsibility is so insane I can’t believe it’s actually a discussion point. But sadly it is.
“More than 62,000 new infections were reported Wednesday, including 9,979 in Texas, where one doctor warned that the state “is on a collision course with a viral iceberg."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/coronavirus/
Posted by: Sonia | July 09, 2020 at 11:48 AM
"The life each of us is living now is infinitely precious, because it will never come again.
Each moment is a unique one-of-a-kind. It won't ever recur. Once gone, that's it."
I will be 75 this year and am struggling to accept death because I will miss my three beloved sons who are middle aged now. If there is no such thing as reincarnation there does not seem to be any point in life. We are born, we live, we die. To accept that death is eternal and there is no after life makes me so sad.
Posted by: Jen | July 09, 2020 at 05:18 PM
Dame Vera Lynn with West End Stars perform We’ll Meet Again 2020
"The date is June 18th 2020. I listen to this with sorrow on hearing the news that the wonderful Dame Vera Lynn passed away this morning at the grand old age of 103."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTWy9jim7Mw
Posted by: Jen | July 09, 2020 at 06:01 PM
How can an ‘atheist’ feel the ‘primal fear of non-existence’?
One of the hallmarks of an atheist Is that there is no afterlife. That’s it, lights out.
I can understand an atheist fearing:
1) the painful process of dying,
2) the loss of attachments to loved ones;
3) the joys of being alive.
But a true atheist shouldn’t even fear the ‘unknown‘, let alone ‘‘non-existence’.
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 10, 2020 at 10:59 AM
How can an ‘atheist’ feel the ‘primal fear of non-existence’?
One of the hallmarks of an atheist Is that there is no afterlife. That’s it, lights out.
I can understand an atheist fearing:
1) the painful process of dying,
2) the loss of attachments to loved ones;
3) the joys of being alive.
But a true atheist shouldn’t even fear the ‘unknown‘, let alone ‘‘non-existence’.
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 10, 2020 at 10:59 AM
I’m not an atheist but I think I can answer your questions.
How can an ‘atheist’ feel the ‘primal fear of non-existence’?
>> Because that’s just it—it’s a Primal fear. That Primal Fear is what keeps people alive. It’s exactly why someone doesn’t just commit suicide willy-nilly. There’s such a strong desire to survive automatically built into humans that one has to be out of their right mind to want to die before it’s their time. Even a Believer is uneasy about death for various reasons. It’s part of what keeps us alive.>>
But a true atheist shouldn’t even fear the ‘unknown‘, let alone ‘‘non-existence’.
>
Like I said, suicide is not the “selfish act” that many believe it to be. When a person commits suicide they are in so much pain and so far out of their right minds that they truly believe the world would be better off without them. It’s a “crazy” state of mind. It’s normal and it’s hell. People don’t do rational things when they get into that dark of a space.
I’m not saying atheists’ view towards death is the same thing as a suicidal person’s view towards death. Not at all. I’m just trying to point out that the Will to Survive is so strongly build into the DNA of all living creatures that it keeps most people going despite the absolute worst of circumstances. As long as their mind is right.
The inherent Will to Survive is what keeps a species alive in a world like this.
Posted by: S | July 11, 2020 at 05:50 PM
*meant to say it’s NOT normal (the desire to die). A person is NOT in their right mind when they do such a thing like attempt suicide. It’s almost like an evil dark cloud is floating around them. The person isn’t evil but the darkness is.
Posted by: S | July 11, 2020 at 05:54 PM
My comment has nothing to do with suicide.
Suicide is a selfish act if you are otherwise healthy and have loved ones that care for you. I cannot imagine any worse pain for a parent and in particular a mother to suffer. You potentially condemn others to a life of misery, agonizing and wondering what they could have done differently. It’s the most self-indulgent self-pitying self-absorbed act there is.
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 12, 2020 at 12:38 AM
I don’t think you can answer my questions at all.
You’re not an atheist, not even close. It’s even questionable if you are mentally stable, as I’m sure you’ll admit, let alone rationale.
My father is an atheist. He doesn’t fear death at all. It’s light out. Beddy-by sleep time.
If you don’t believe anything exists apart from this material existence and there is no afterlife - why would you fear anything after you are dead?
It’s completely illogical.
This fear only makes sense if you are not an atheist, rather you are an agnostic or actually do believe in an afterlife.
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 12, 2020 at 12:52 AM
I’m not saying the atheist view is right. I personally believe otherwise, and that there’s more to it all (a lot more) than our meager earthly existence.
It’s more I’m looking for the consistency. If you are an authentic atheist what part of death could you possibly fear?
If you are an atheist (Hinesy), which you (Sonia-kins) are not, why would an atheist fear death at all?
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 12, 2020 at 01:08 AM
Georgy, Georgy... did run out of marmite?
Wow, Georgy. I struggle with how to respond... 🤔
First of all, I’ve always been an open book (polar opposite to you). I could probably take all of my stupid comments and create an autobiography.
Secondly, I did say that I was not comparing atheism to suicide. I was simply pointing out how strong the Will to Live is built into humans. The Will to Live was my whole point.
Thirdly, yes I’m crazy but you are completely out of your mind. Besides, I’m an “addictive” kind of crazy. (That’s what my friends/family tell me). My crazy keeps life interesting. Your crazy is just plain predictable. So, not as much fun.
And fourthly, I’m truly very sorry if you lost a loved one to suicide.
Posted by: Sonia | July 12, 2020 at 09:48 AM
This fear only makes sense if you are not an atheist, rather you are an agnostic or actually do believe in an afterlife.
Posted by: Georgy Porgy | July 12, 2020 at 12:52 AM
Since it doesn’t look like anyone else is going to answer you on this, let me just say all animals fear death even though they have no mental construct of a God or afterlife.
Our fear of death is what keeps us alive. That may sound very basic but it’s true.
I know plenty of people who believe they’re going to heaven when they die yet are still afraid of death. Now, THAT is illogical. The only logic or rationale (although, according to you I’m no expert on either) is that there’s something innate within each person and animal in this creation that pushes them to fight for survival at any cost. If we didn’t have this quality entrenched in every cell of our being, then this planet would probably be just another uninhabited rock orbiting the sun.
Sorry I’m not helping you make your point. I realize you weren’t really looking for a sincere answer in the first place, but since I’m feeling temporarily mentally stable, thought I’d impart some words of wisdom that will hopefully penetrate that rock hard casing around your brain.
Posted by: S | July 12, 2020 at 03:41 PM
Hi Brian,
Just had a look at the "Death and the primal fear of non-existence...2006". Like a walk down memory lane, remembering some of the names of the commenters, Tucson, tAo, Roger, Moongoes, Mike Williams, the elephant. Just wondering if some of them are still posting here under different names?
Also, just want to say thank you. So happy I found CofC so many years ago and have really learned a lot from you and all the other different and interesting opinions from the posters.
Cheers
Jen
Posted by: Jen | July 12, 2020 at 06:05 PM
Brian you might like this guys view.He is very interesting...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AstralProjection/comments/eo1rnv/how_to_be_an_astral_parasite/
Posted by: Jim | July 19, 2020 at 10:09 AM
Brian you might like this guys view.He is very interesting...
https://www.reddit.com/r/AstralProjection/comments/eo1rnv/how_to_be_an_astral_parasite/
Posted by: Jim | July 19, 2020 at 10:09 AM
No offense, Jim, but that was about the most insane thing I’ve read in a long time.
Posted by: S | July 19, 2020 at 07:24 PM