I remember as a school kid, studying a poem called Death Be Not Proud. It had a strong impact on me. Mainly because my grand mother had recently died and I had never faced the mortality of those I loved before. It was the only poem I actually "learned" for class: we were meant to learn them all! I still remember most of it.
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for,
thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor death,
nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure, then from
thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and souls delivery.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with
poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better then thy stroke; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleep past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more;
death, thou shalt die.
John Donne's poem talks about death's power over us being a fallacy. We can "overcome" death. Of course, what he really means it that once we die we go to Heaven and death "thou shalt die". It's a very religious way of looking at things.
Over the years, I have learned more about death and I've learned more about life. I've learned that we most definitely cannot overcome death. But most of all, I've learned that aspiring to reach heaven values death over life. It devalues our short and mysterious existence in favour of "life everlasting".
As an atheist, the most difficult concept to broach is that when we die, that's it! Within the context of the several billion year old Universe, our short visit is frightening. It is this fear that religions feed upon. Or rather, it is the smug notion that we can somehow cheat death that drives religion.
On that point, I can never understand how Christians position themselves as pro-life when, by their very faith, they are pro-death. As indeed is Islam (hence the endless procession of Islamic fundamentalists willing to die for their place in this so-called heaven). Both religions await the coming of the end of the world and the rewards that will come to the faithful. Getting there quicker is almost a good thing!
We all face the fear of death but why this fear has to be channelled in to "cults of death" is beyond me. Maybe we should face the fear, rather than pretend it doesn't exist. Admit there is a problem, as a therapist might say. And then we can get on with living. (As Phillip Larkin said, "Death is no different whined at than withstood".)
Maybe it's time we realised that we are powerless to do something about death. And that this somehow makes life even more precious. And life thou shalt live! It might actually make life better (than the Bible, Koran or Talmud ever did).
This is a special way of being afraid. No trick dispels.
Religion used to try, That vast moth-eaten musical brocade
Created to pretend we never die,
And specious stuff that says No rational being
Can fear a thing it will not feel, not seeing
That this is what we fear—no sight, no sound,
No touch or taste or smell, nothing to think with,
Nothing to love or link with,
The anaesthetic from which none come round.
