Mortality, a discussion

“Death is very likely the single best invention of life.”

– Steve Jobs

Mortality as a concept is both very easy and very difficult to grasp. Ubiquious yet unknown. It is a paradox. We know so much about it yet we know nothing. Man has tried to escape it since time began yet he understands the futility of it.

Is it life’s greatest flaw or it’s greatest invention? The answer to this question depends on the way you live your life. If you spend your time procrastinating then it’s a horrible flaw, because eventually you will run out of time without you not fulfilling your desires and aspiration. On the other hand if you grab your life with both hands and live every moment of it, it is the greatest invention, because realisation that the moment past will never return and knowing you lived that moment to it’s fullest, it leads to a sense of fulfilment that gives you inner peace and satisfaction. Something that every mortal being searches for in those countless different ways in which he decides to lead his life.

Imagine if you had all the time in the world to do everything you ever wanted. Would you do any of that? Of course not. That’s because There won’t be a source of motivation. A sense of urgency to have to achieve everything you wished for in a very small period before the sands of time completely slip out of your hands.

Mortality as a concept was so abstract to me unto a few years ago. But now as I look back at the last 25 years, I realise, my gosh how quickly have they gone. Did I live every moment to its fullest? Not every moment. Do I mourn the moments I didn’t live to full extent? Of course not. But at least I have an emotion attached to every moment that I have lived. They all mean something to me because of my human mortality. Emotion is the food for the brain. Emotion is what stimulates us. Emotion makes us achieve all the great things man has achieved. Emotion is what melts one’s heart into total surrender to one’s lover. It is the strength of emotion that has carried man to where he stands today.

This strength of emotion is a gift of mortality. It makes us realise the value of the time we have on this planet. It is the ultimate motivator for us to achieve our dreams. The realisation of mortality makes us free of the dogma that arises from other people’s thinking. Mortality is what gives meaning to our lives, for it is life’s greatest creation.