Time for You to Leave: 2011

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Look at it This Way

It isn't that life has to be pretty terrible to commit suicide, it's that life has to be pretty wonderful NOT to.

It would be a good thing if people thought differently about life and death.

Today, the idea is "Live as long as possible. If necessary, use all the extraordinary medical technology available to extend life." What's the latest news? See http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/surgery-at-the-end-of-life/

People see Death as the enemy. Consider the Dylan Thomas poem. http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377
and its rudimentary analysis here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_go_gentle_into_that_good_night

Suicide today, if considered at all, is the answer to the question, "Is your life so horrible that you cannot stand to live?"

I think it might be otherwise. "Having achieved the things you wanted in your life, is life so wonderful that you should continue to live?"

People fear death because living is all they know how to do.

People stay alive because it is difficult and/or painful to end their lives. If there were an On/Off switch one could throw, I think a lot more people would choose to leave.

It is important to say again that I write all of this not because I am depressed but because I have a philosophical position on the subject. Many would identify my position as an outgrowth of "existential nihilism." I don't disagree.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

The Subject -- First Thoughts

I'm going to ask you to keep an open mind when you read the subject of this book. Society may have shaped your beliefs to the point you cannot imagine what I have to say having any value. I understand. The messages delivered by authority figures in your life and the beliefs of all your peers are powerful. Perhaps the best way I can suggest you approach the subject is to DARE you to see the subject then KEEP reading a chapter or two before tossing the book in the garbage. If you have a knee-jerk reaction to the subject matter and feel compelled to stop reading, I'm sorry for you. I would suggest you've been brainwashed. Even if you are certain of the correctness of what you believe, read the book anyway. Mere words cannot hurt you, can they? And if you are open to the possibility there may be something you haven't considered or if you're genuinely interested in a subject rarely discussed in our society, read on.

"Time For You To Leave" refers to deciding when you should depart this Earth.

Still with me? Congratulations on your courage.

We've been taught the wrong things for countless generations. Those who throw this book away or set it back on the shelf are so conditioned to believe these things that they couldn't even listen to another point of view.

We've been taught that it's our right, our obligation, to live as long as possible. Consider the messages you've heard. If you were to kill yourself, it would be a sin. If you sought assistance from another person to end your life, even if you were at the end of life and in extreme pain, that person helping you would be committing a crime nearly everywhere in the USA. If you say to someone, "It's a matter of life and death," nearly anyone who hears it will rush to help, because a human life is the most valuable thing in the world.

We've been taught that if we live according to a code of behavior (laws or commandments) given by some God to some prophet, our soul will live on after our physical body dies. We will go to an afterlife, whether it be heaven, paradise, a reincarnation or some other equivalent.

In every religion, killing another human being is condemned and forbidden. Killing and eating animals is OK. Murder of non-believers (heathens, heretics, infidels, etc.) is acceptable, however, because they don't worship the same God we do. They are unclean. They are devils. They aren't quite as human as we are. (Just a little dark humor here. The religions and nation states that go to war say our enemies are animals. I wonder we aren't instructed to eat them once we've killed them on the field of battle. Oh, that's right. We're just as forbidden to eat them as we are to kill them in the first place. I think the major problem is that our soldiers don't carry sauces with them.)

To be or not to be. That is no question at all.

Unless science has made amazing advances, within no more than 200 years you will cease to be. In time, every living thing, certainly every living human, dies.

To say you will "be dead" doesn't really communicate the state of affairs. It isn't as though "you" will exist in some state of being dead. Your consciousness will not have continued from life into death, Unless you believe some religion's notion of your "soul" graduating into an "afterlife," such as Heaven, Paradise or Reincarnation, you won't "be" anything at all.

Society and religion say you must live forever. or die trying. Look for that quote by Yossarian in "Catch-22." Medical practitioners do everything possible to keep you alive, but they fail every time.

"Assisted suicide" is illegal nearly everywhere in the United States. Think how we demonized "Doctor Death," Jack Kevorkian. To put it bluntly, we show kindness to suffering pets that we deny our fellow humans. I think something is backwards there.

But I shouldn't climb on that euthanasia soapbox right now.

I have a very different point of view than society's "live as long as you can" mandate. I think society should encourage you to die as soon as you accomplish your mission in life. Rather than have society encourage people to live forever, it should encourage people to do what they need to do, then leave.

o o o

If you have another reason to live, fine. Do so. Without that good reason, the right thing to do, the just and moral thing to do, the thing to do for the planet and your fellow man, is die. Many of you should be dead already.

But who and why?

What do you need to do? What's your mission in life? Let's see.

o o o

OK. What's your mission in life? It's the same as any living thing. Reproduce. Leaving religion and its mandates out of it, it is Nature's imperative that you pass on your genetic uniqueness to future generations. Until we can scientifically design the genome for a baby, the only way to guarantee diversity in the gene pool is to have children, who have their own children, and so on and so on.

Once you have produced offspring, Nature is done with you. Or, once you have decided not to have children, your unique genetic contribution will be lost to future generations anyway, so (again) Nature is done with you.

Society and religion today say you must stay alive. Why do they say that? Do you agree with them or is there a better decision you can make?

Why Live or Die?
--------------------------
Our lives are accidental and brief. In a very short time we die. And we stay dead forever. If, perchance, the atoms that were a part of our bodies drift together again in what may well be millions of years or longer, they will not contain our consciousness. That ends when we die. (Unless, of course you've been inculcated with some religious belief that says your soul goes on after death. I won't speak to that concept herein, except to say, "Give me a fucking break. What are you, stupid?")

There's an expression "Life is too short." It is usually used in the context of "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it's ALL small stuff." I see it from one side of what some call "glass half empty/glass half full." I've heard people say, "Life is too short, so why hasten to end it?" My take on it is different. I say, "Life is too short, so why bother?" By that I don't mean, "Why bother with any particular thing or task?" I mean, "Why bother to live at all?"

I start from the proposition that death, being inevitable, might as well be desirable. In fact, it should be the standard behavior for everybody. To delay it is possible, but not necessarily a good thing. I'll discuss below what I see are the reasons to continue to live.

Beyond Nature's imperative that people reproduce, so that their unique genetic makeup is carried into the future, there may be present in one's life factors that make it attractive to continue living.

-------
Faith

I may be citing the Judeo/Christian bible a bit here. Not because I have any particular knowledge of it, but because it's ubiquitous in this culture. I'm assuming, admittedly without justification, that other religions have similar concepts. I'm not going to invest the time and energy required to take a course in comparative religions. The way I see it, one person's lies are as good as the next person's.

I wasn't taught any religion. There's good news and bad news about that fact. The bad news is that I cannot fall back on my faith in times of adversity or confusion. "People of faith" always have (simplistic) answers to explain things they cannot comprehend ("The Lord works in mysterious ways." "It's God's will." etc.). One of the songs I think best captures that notion was sung by Dale Evans (of the "Roy Rogers and Dales Evans" TV show in the 1950s). Its refrain was, "How do I know? The Bible tells me so." Can you say "tautology"? You really should track it down & listen to it. Amazing.

Another tautological song is called "I Believe." I haven't sought the company of atheists, but I imagine "I Believe" makes them cringe (as it does me).

OK. The Christians talk about being "Shepherds of Men." They refer to their followers as their "flock." I nod my head wholeheartedly and say, "If you lack the intelligence or the desire to form an opinion of your own -- if you really ARE a sheep -- and you're happy with it, fine. Just don't try to proselytize me." Then there are the people who have magnets on the back of their cars with a fish. This represents, I suppose, the miracle where Jesus made many fishes out of one. I say, "If you are as smart as a fish, (insert sheep comment here)."

They say, "Ignorance is bliss." I'm neither ignorant nor blissful. If I were religious, I might be. That's the bad news.

The good news is that I'm not forced to believe what my religious leaders (a local rabbi, pastor or priest -- or some patriarch, like the pope) say. I can think about things what my reason concludes.

The good news is that I can choose to be intelligent, curious, and informed. I don't have to "grow up," which I interpret to mean "stop growing." I know I don't have all the answers, or any of them. I will never kill anybody for having a different religious belief.

An author, having finished the opus, runs into a world of entrenched opposition to even considering the propositions. The internet, a blog, might be the only way.

I've always recognized I'm too lazy to write a book-length treatment of the subject. If all I can manage is a long essay, I hope to release it on Halloween, calling it my "Trick or Treatise." I crack myself up sometimes.

Sometime later, I might insert my thoughts about expository prose. It will be worth reading, so keep at it.

We've been taught the wrong things for countless generations.

We've been taught that it's our right, our duty, to live as long as possible. If you were to kill yourself, it would be a sin. If you sought assistance from another person to end your life, even if you were at the end of life and in extreme pain, it would be considered murder nearly everywhere in the USA. "It's a matter of life and death" causes anyone who hears it to help, because human life is the most valuable thing there is.

We've been taught that if we live according to a code of behavior, laws or commandments, given by God to a prophet, our soul will live on after our physical body dies. We will go to some afterlife, whether it be heaven, paradise, a reincarnation or some other equivalent.

"Lead, follow, or get out of the way." Thomas Paine

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Nihilism vs. "The Bible Tells Me So"

Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

The term nihilism is sometimes used in association with >> anomie << to explain the general mood of despair at a perceived pointlessness of existence that one may develop upon realizing there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.

Kierkegaard
Friedrich Nietzsche
Martin Heidegger

------------------------------------------

My time here is nearly done and I'm smiling at the thought.

My reason for staying from moment to moment, in the greater scheme of things, is absolutely meaningless. I stay to meet obligations to people (and my dog) who will be just as much dispersed atoms soon as I. My notions of "duty" and "honor" can in no way be relevant to the universe and yet it feels "right" to fulfill my commitments.

I recognize such thinking is merely the result of values infused into my being by this society. It's all crap. And yet it satisfies me.

The results of my leaving may be pain for those I leave behind. 200 years thereafter, however, it won't matter to them.

The question is whether I *want* to take the next step. I see its inevitability, but do I seek it?

----------------------------------------

At this moment and in this place, I am a 61-year old man. As a child, I was physically and (more importantly) emotionally abused by an embittered, sadistic father and a narcissistic, misandrist mother. My childhood was a little bit of Dickens and "Mommy Dearest" plus a lot of Alice Miller. (I would have preferred Alice Waters, but that was not an option available to me.)

I have been suicidally depressed before, but I'm not any more. If you want, I'll tell you the long story. What matters is that there is no extant exigency (I like the letters "ex"). Unless some accident gets me first, I probably *will* kill myself. That, however, is not cause for alarm. It is cause for celebration.

A celebration, that is, unless one has been inculcated with lies told to children by their parents and other authority figures. If I talk about the ignorance and stupidity of the masses, will you accuse me of narcissism, megalomania with messianic delusions and grandiosity? Knock yourself out.

I don't care if it sounds pompous to say one million people in the U.S. have IQ's as high or higher as mine. That also means over 299 million of them don't. My fellow Mensa members needed only to have IQs in the top 2% (>130). I'm in the top 1/3 of 1%, but none the happier for it.

----------------------------------------

What is the meaning of life? What is God's plan for me on Earth? Will I go to Heaven?

People believe there are no answers to those questions, but we can answer them easily. Here is the fundamental problem. The underlying assumptions we have about life are wrong.

There is no meaning to human life.
===========================================
There is, however, a purpose. Actually, it's twofold and the same as for any living thing: Reproduce and live forever. Why? Reproduce to pass along to future generations your genetic uniqueness. Once we have done that, Nature has no further use for us. Live forever (or die trying) so predators can kill and eat you to stay alive themselves. The problem is that humans lack predators. Instead of having the decency to become a meal for another animal we simply continue to live for a very long time, consuming the Earth's few precious resources. Man truly is a parasite on the planet.

God's plan for you? Seriously?
===========================================
If you believe in God, any God, you were probably inculcated with a set of lies by authority figures before you could make up your own mind. Your parents, other relatives, teachers, community members, preachers pushed onto you the same things they believe. Understand this: they were repeating words written by a man in a book. If everybody around you believed the book Moby Dick were real, you'd be worshiping a white whale. One person's lies are as good as the next. Kill infidels (heretics, non-believers)? You must be joking. The accident of where somebody is born does not make them any more or less close to "God." Instead of being indoctrinated in your youth, it could be that you were "Born Again." That means you needed the comfort of easy answers in your life and so you sought to find them in religion. Religion allows you to fall back on platitudes to explain every calamity. "It's God's will" covers many situations.

Heaven, Paradise, Reincarnation, any afterlife at all.
===========================================
This is the height of conceit. Only humans, of all "God's creatures," don't die when their bodies do. Their "immortal souls" go on to the next level. What's the deal here? People have either massive egos or massive fear or both. They can't believe that this one life is all they get. As far back as we have recorded history, some have survived NDEs (Near Death Experiences), in which they saw a white light, a stairway to heaven, angels, their dead relatives, or (recently) a view of themselves looking downward from the ceiling of the hospital emergency room in which they nearly died. What they saw was a simple result of lack of oxygen to the brain. You want to see heaven? Here, let me strangle you.

----------------------------------------

"So, why do you live?" 'Inertia.' "I don't want some philosophical answer. Why do you live?" 'Ohh. My wife. My dogs.' "Ahh, family. OK."

This was at the end of a roughly 30-minute evaluation for being admitted to a psych hospital on a "fifty-one fifty," California's version of a 72-hour involuntary suicide watch. I didn't want to be there. I shouldn't have been there at all. An inexperienced doctor whom I had met for the first time at another clinic had completely misinterpreted the situation. I knew I was no imminent threat to myself or others. Everybody (except, I suppose, the rookie doctor) agreed. I was discharged immediately following the evaluation. The problem was that the "intake, evaluate, prepare for discharge, discharge" process took 3 hours I'll never get back.

Now, while I wasn't a legitimate threat to myself at the time, I do have a strong opinion we continue to live because it's all we know how to do. Ending a life typically requires doing violence of some kind to the body, either by somebody else or one's own hand. One cannot merely snap one's fingers and disappear from this life in a cloud of smoke, like a magician's trick.

----------------------------------------

1955

The Bible Tells Me So
Words and music by Dale Evans Rogers

2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

Have faith, hope and charity,
That's the way to live successfully.
How do I know, the Bible tells me so.

Do good to your enemies,
And the Blessed Lord you'll surely please,
How do I know, the Bible tells me so.

Don't worry 'bout tomorrow,
Just be real good today.
The Lord is right beside you,
He'll guide you all the way

Have faith, hope and charity,
That's the way to live successfully.
How do I know, the Bible tells me so!

repeat 2 times

----------------------------

(How does he know)
Oh, how do I know
(How does he know)
Oh, how do I know
(This is how he knows)

Have faith, hope and charity
That's the way to live successfully
How do I know, the Bible tells me so
(The Bible tells him)

Do good to your enemies
And the Blessed Lord you'll surely please
How do I know, the Bible tells me so
(The Bible tells him)

Don't worry 'bout tomorrow
Just be real good today
The Lord is right beside you
He'll guide you all the way

Have faith, hope and charity
That's the way to live successfully
How do I know, the bible tells me so
(The Bible tells him)

So, have faith, hope and charity
That's the way to live successfully
How do I know, the bible tells me so
(That's how he knows it)

Do good to your enemies
And the Blessed Lord you'll surely please
How do I know, the Bible tells me so
(That's how he knows it)

Don't worry 'bout tomorrow
Just be real good today
The Lord is right beside you
He'll guide you all the way

Oh, the Bible says have faith, hope and charity
That's the way to live successfully
How do I know, (oh, how does he know)
How do I know, (oh, how does he know)
The Bible tells me so

Suicide Quotes

On Suicide
================
Suicide is our way of saying to God, 'You can't fire me, I quit!'
Bill Maher

Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored. I am leaving you with your worries. Good luck. [suicide note]
George Sanders

We have to fight off the demons that have been hanging around suicide for centuries.
Judy Collins

Success and failure are both difficult to endure. Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, meditation, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide. With failure comes failure.
Joseph Heller

Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
Phil Donahue

I couldn't commit suicide if my life depended on it.
George Carlin

She was what we used to call a suicide blond - dyed by her own hand.
Saul Bellow

If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide.
Mahatma Gandhi

Write something, even if it's just a suicide note.
Gore Vidal

No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.
Cesare Pavese

http://thinkexist.com/quotations/suicide/
=================================
“You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be.”
Chuck Palahniuk

“Life is like a movie, if you've sat through more than half of it and its sucked every second so far, it probably isn't gonna get great right at the end and make it all worthwhile. None should blame you for walking out early.”
Jon_Ace
Doug Stanhope quotes

. “Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live”
Charles Caleb Colton

“Not many artists commit suicide by leaping off the pinnacle of success.”
eathian

“I just couldn’t live with myself knowing I had just killed myself.”
eathian
.
“Why kill yourself? Life will do it for you.”

“Suicide is the punctuation mark at the end of many artistic careers”
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. quotes (American Writer, b.1922)

“Suicide is a fundamental human right. This does not mean that it is morally desirable. It only means that society does not have the moral right to interfere”

Thomas S. Szasz quotes (Hungarian psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, b.1920)

“The thought of suicide is a powerful solace: by means of it one gets through many a bad night”
Friedrich Nietzsche quotes (German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900.)

“The real reason for not committing suicide is because you always know how swell life gets again after the hell is over”
Ernest Hemingway

“Suicide was against the law. Johnny had wondered why. It meant that if you missed, or the gas ran out, or the rope broke, you could get locked up in prison to show you that life was really very jolly and thoroughly worth living.”
Terry Pratchett quotes (English Writer, b.1948)

.
“No one ever lacks a good reason for suicide.”
Cesare Pavese

“All healthy men have thought of their own suicide”
Albert Camus

“He would say, 'How funny it will all seem, all you've gone through, when I'm not here anymore, when you no longer feel my arms around your shoulders, nor my heart beneath you, nor this mouth on your eyes, because I will have to go away someday, far away...' And in that instant I could feel myself with him gone, dizzy with fear, sinking down into the most horrible blackness: into death.”
Arthur Rimbaud quotes (French Poet and Writer, 1854-1891)

“It’s illogical, but I guess you could take a vitamin in the morning, and commit suicide in the afternoon.”
eathian
.
“If you throw someone a life preserver, and they turn around and swim away from it; what can you do but let them drown themselves.”
eathian

“To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.”
Aristotle quotes (Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scientist and Physician, 384 BC-322 BC)

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide.”
Albert Camus quotes (French Novelist, Essayist and Playwright, 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1913-1960)

“When you've got nowhere to turn, turn on the gas. , "Answered Prayers" (Unspoiled Monsters).”
Truman Capote quotes (American short-story Writer, Novelist and Playwright, 1924-1984)

“Suicide is belated acquiescence in the opinion of one's wife's relatives”
Henry Louis Mencken

“Here in the bathroom with me are razor blades. Here is iodine to drink. Here are sleeping pills to swallow. You have a choice. Live or die. Every breath is a choice. Every minute is a choice. To be or not to be. Every time you don’t throw yourself down the stairs, that’s a choice. Every time you don’t crash your car, you reenlist.”
Chuck Palahniuk quotes (American freelance Journalist, Satirist and Novelist. b.1961)

==============================
Hope is a necessity for normal life and the major weapon against the suicide impulse.
Karl A. Menninger

I don't persuade to suicide.
Jack Kevorkian

How do you dare to ask me for a solution? It's like asking Seneca for a solution. You remember what he did? He committed suicide!
Oriana Fallaci

I don't think Jimi committed suicide in the conventional way. He just decided to exit when he wanted to.
Eric Burdon

I think about death a lot, like I think we all do. I don't think of suicide as an option, but as fun. It's an interesting idea that you can control how you go. It's this thing that's looming, and you can control it.
Ryan Gosling

I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life.
Damien Hirst

I think we are in the midst of this period where we are committing this suicide on the planet and everybody is just using up all of our natural resources like a bunch of insane people. That's what I worry about more than I worry about jazz.
Sonny Rollins

If you want your writing to be taken seriously, don't marry and have kids, and above all, don't die. But if you have to die, commit suicide. They approve of that.
Ursula K. Le Guin

It is always consoling to think of suicide: in that way one gets through many a bad night.
Friedrich Nietzsche

My husband and I didn't sign a pre-nuptial agreement. We signed a mutual suicide pact.
Roseanne Barr

Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they had. If they hadn't had some hope of heaven, some companionship in Jesus, they probably would have committed suicide, their lives were so hellish.
Octavia Butler

That's the thing about suicide. Try as you might to remember how a person lived his life, you always end up thinking about how he ended it.
Anderson Cooper

The great thing about suicide is that it's not one of those things you have to do now or you lose your chance. I mean, you can always do it later.
Harvey Fierstein

There is no lonelier man in death, except the suicide, than that man who has lived many years with a good wife and then outlived her. If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it.
Ernest Hemingway

They tell us that suicide is the greatest piece of cowardice... that suicide is wrong; when it is quite obvious that there is nothing in the world to which every man has a more unassailable title than to his own life and person.
Arthur Schopenhauer

To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does it not for some noble object but to escape some ill.
Aristotle

We can consciously end our life almost anytime we choose. This ability is an endowment, like laughing and blushing, given to no other animal... in any given moment, by not exercising the option of suicide, we are choosing to live.
Peter McWilliams

Why Do You Live?

Why Live?

Just to get you thinking.

A radical environmentalist rant is not the reason I'm writing this. I wanted to get your attention, though. I want to challenge some of the fundamental assumptions you have about your life. I *do* want you to think.

What I will say is that the paradigm we're using is all wrong.

Just like the environmental rant above, this isn't the heart of the matter, but it *is* worth reading.

I'm not going to apologize for this. I'm going to speak to residents of the United States, in general. and those who follow Judeo-Christian faiths, in particular. That's my society and religious background . It's all I know. If you live elsewhere or worship differently, the messages will still apply but the examples may be unfamiliar.

You might not like this book's subject and its point of view. In fact, I will propose ideas contrary to anything you've ever heard. I wouldn't be surprised if you slam the book shut and/or throw it away. I would ask you, however, *not* to toss it out. Instead, pick it up every once in a while and read just a little bit more. Eventually you might be able to read more. Perhaps you will get through the arguments and to the conclusion. That might be a good thing, but I'll let you decide.

o o o

The problem with looking for a cogent argument to read in favor of suicide is that a prospective author might have chosen to depart this Earth before completing it. I mean, Why bother?

I have a bit of time to write my thoughts. I feel constrained by ethical considerations I will explain later to stick around for some number of days. Perhaps there will be time enough to publish my ideas, receive feedback and see counterarguments. I cannot imagine being talked out of my position but maybe it will turn my philosophy into something viral that takes over the world. While unlikely, that would be a good thing for the planet.

The problem with even beginning to discuss the subject of suicide is that there are so many assumptions about human life ingrained in society.

Many people think human life is "sacred." As well, many think the human soul is immortal. After the physical body dies, the soul goes to an afterlife elsewhere (heaven, hell, purgatory, perdition, paradise, reincarnation).

I'll talk about religion more, much more, later.

Even if not sacred, many think human life is superior to, and more valuable than, the lives of other living things.

obligation to stay

Why do you live?
-----------------
Inertia.
Nature demands it.
My religion demands it.
Society demands it.

Why am I here?
--------------------------
I don't know, but there are some ideas many people believe with which I don't agree.

"God put you here. Every human life is sacred." I'm going to talk about religion at length later.

If society had different norms, if the decision to live or die were freely available all the time without stigma or restriction, people could *choose* to live or die, day-by-day or minute-by-minute. There would be unique reasons people chose for living, but I made a list of ones I think would be popular.

What other ones do you think belong on the list?

affirmative reasons to live (i.e. not "inertia" or "it's difficult to kill yourself")
----------------------------------
love of a person or other living thing
love of things or activities
career
hobbies/interests
addiction (alcohol, drugs, sex & love)
anticipation of something good
celebration of one's own physicality -- dance or martial arts or some other activity where people may delight in their kinesthetic sense
family (children primarily, but also siblings & parents)
loyalties (friends or love of country or God)
religion says you must
society says you must
Should You Be Alive Now?

"I'm allergic to selfish"

Congratulations on having the curiosity to keep reading instead of moving to your next task in life while simply saying, "Yes, of course! How can you even ask?"

What are my credentials to talk about Life and Death? It's not like I've been dead yet, right?

All I can say is that I used to be really smart and I've been giving the matter a lot of thought. Why "used to be"? The Jeopardy TV quiz show had an "answer" a while back. Something like "If you had a score of 140 on THIS test, you'd be scary-smart." The question was "An IQ test." At age 14, I had that beat. To put this into perspective, Mensa (the high IQ society) only accepts people in the top 2% of the intelligence curve, scores 131 and higher. Once you climb to my score of 141, we're talking about the top 1/3 of 1%. In a US population of 300 million people, 6 million could join Mensa. I'm in a group of only 1 million. If there are one million others as smart or smarter than I am, what's the big deal? The big deal is that 299 million *aren't* as smart.

That sounds all "elitist," I know. But it isn't as though being "IQ smart" means I'm "socially smart" or "emotionally smart" or successful, or many other things people talk about.

Rising Plague p.168
As Dr. Arnold Epstein, chairman of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health, recently said, "The U. S. is the one country in the world where [people] think death is optional."
C. D Baker et al., "Health of the Nation--Coverage for all Americans," NE Jour Med 359(2008) 777-80

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Nature Says ...

I want to talk about life's absolute imperatives, the things you *must* do.

I've broken them into two categories: what nature says you must do and what society says you must do. I'll mention religion later, as well, but I tend to lump its demands in with those of society.

Nature is pretty simple. Its only demand is that you reproduce. If you don't have progeny you cease to exist in nature. Your genetic uniqueness will have no place in the future.

Romeo & Juliet -- how old did people of the time live?

Nature doesn't care how old you are when you reproduce. It doesn't care how many children you have. It doesn't care how old you are when you die, just so long as you leave one or more children to carry your genetic heritage to the next generation. And so on into perpetuity.

And if you decide not to have children (as I have done), Nature has no more use of you.

Society/religion is far more complex. There are codified laws, very similar among the countries and religions of the world. Most important of all, though, is one (for example) the Jews and Christians have handed down in their "10 Commandments." They say, "Thou shalt not kill."

I've written elsewhere about the exceptions to the rule, so all I'll talk about is the way it relates to one person's life, his or her own. It is closely aligned with the way the Hippocratic oath begins, "First do no harm." To allow a patient to die through an act of commission or omission is (at the very least) malpractice. Any physician would tell you it's the wrong thing to do.

But what of excruciating pain, pain no medication can block? Cancer patients often get to the point where the pain is terrible, yet they can take no larger a dose of morphine without it killing them. Which is the greater harm -- to preserve life at any cost, despite the suffering it entails -or- to allow the patient to die? I know medical ethicists struggle with this question all the time. It is only in the state of Oregon (unless something has changed of which I didn't hear) that a doctor can assist in the euthanasia of a terminally ill patient who requests it. The kindness we offer a sick old dog or cat we deny to humans. Because human life is "sacred." Please.

We (as a nation) spend more money than we can afford on "end of life" care. We might transplant a heart into a very, very old patient who will use it for only days before dying anyway, when that heart might have saved the life of a young patient who could have lived a full life after the transplant. The notion of "death panels" exists today, but the decision makers work for health insurance companies. Their fiduciary responsibilty stops some of the wasteful spending and the families of their insured are up in arms about it.

I have a different idea for "death panels." Maybe I'll talk about it later.

I've said before that once a person reproduces, all they do is consume precious resources. The human race is a parasitic drain on the planet. I know this is considered a radical environmentalist position, but that's not who I am. I don't see the point. "Think global, act local" *sounds* good, but it is pointless. My position would never be accepted by their crowd.

The purpose of a man if to love a woman ...
Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders - Game Of Love Lyrics

The purpose of a man is to love a woman,
And the purpose of a woman is to love a man,
So come on baby let's start today, come on baby let's play
The game of love, love, la la la la la love

It started long ago in the Garden of Eden
When Adam said to Eve, baby, you're for me
So come on baby let's start today, come on baby let's play
The game of love, love, la la la la la love

Come on baby 'cause the time is right
Love your daddy with all your might
Put your arms around me, hold me tight
Play the game of love

The purpose of a man is to love a woman,
And the purpose of a woman is to love a man,
So come on baby let's start today, come on baby let's play
The game of love, love, la la la la la love

The purpose of a man is to love a woman,
And the purpose of a woman is to love a man,
So come on baby let's start today, come on baby let's play
The game of love, love, la la la la la love

Come on baby 'cause the time is right
Love your daddy with all your might
Put your arms around me, hold me tight
Play the game of love

The game of love, (love), love, (love), la la la la la love
The game of love, (love), love, (love), la la la la la love

The game of love baby, the game of la la la la love
The game of love baby, the game of la la la la love

Where will you be in 200 years?

It's a serious question. Unless life expectancy has increased significantly in the time since I wrote this, 200 years after you read this your physical body will have died. If you're religious, you might believe you'll be in heaven, paradise, in whatever form of afterlife your religion teaches, or reincarnated into something. If you're not religious, you may believe you will have ceased to exist forever.

What's true for 200 years from now might be true for 150, 100, or 50 years, depending on your age. What's an absolute certainty is that your body will stop living at some point. It's a certainty.

So if you got to decide how long you'd live, how long would that be?

I'm serious again. Modern medical science can keep the body alive for a very, very long time. Perhaps not an extra 50 years, but for many years. Transplants replace failed hearts, machines take over the functioning of failed lungs and kidneys, and other advanced measures are used every day. The effect on MediCare and private health insurance costs is staggering. You can find any number of estimates on how much of our total health expenditures are spent on "end of life" care.

Consider the book by Harvard professor Muriel R. Gillick, M.D. called "The Denial of Aging: Perpetual Youth, Eternal Life, and Other Dangerous Fantasies"

-------------------------------------------
There are several ways to approach the subject. Here are a few.

Do you recycle? Do do ever think about the environment?

Maybe yes. Maybe no. It doesn't matter.

What do you think would be the best thing you could do for the planet? Hint: It isn't recycling.

Here's another hint. Here where I live, in liberal California, near even more liberal Berkeley, lots of people have bumper stickers that say, "Think Globally / Act Locally." *They* all recycle.

I made up a custom T-shirt that answers the question above. It says, "Think Globally / Act Locally / Go Hang Yourself." I don't mean "Hang Yourself" to be taken literally; merely to make a quick impression in a way "Kill Yourself" does not. There are far better, more effective and less painful ways than hanging to accomplish the same result, but the message is the same: Your being alive is a huge drain on the Earth's resources. And, by the way, at some point it will be a huge medical expense for society.

The planet cannot sustain you. Society cannot afford you. Continuing to live is just selfish.

Now by "you" I don't mean everybody. At your time of life, in your particular circumstances, it may be entirely appropriate to stay alive. I'll tell you when I think the scales tip. I'll let you think about it. I'll let you decide. That's all I can do.

------------------

There are people who say, "The universe will end (or the galaxy will end or the sun will burn out) so why bother living?" Most people would agree those folks have psychiatric issues. I have a more immediate doomsday scenario to consider and it's very real.

You might want to read Doctor Brad Spellberg's book "Rising Plague." He's an M.D. specializing in Infectious Diseases. A web site he recommends is the Infectious Disease Society of America (www.idsociety.com). You should visit it. He doesn't go quite as far in his predictions as I will, in part because he hopes to convince the pharmaceutical companies to work on developing new antibiotics, so he isn't being harsh with them. I'll say it. *Unless* the pharmaceutical companies develop new antibiotics to fight bacteria, human life will disappear on this planet. I'll say it again. Disappear. Extinct. I'm not kidding. There are already "super bugs" out there that are resistant to all but one or two antibiotics. I had one of them in 2007, called MRSA. I won't spell out the entire abbreviation, but the important letter is the second one, "R" for "Resistant." I was lucky. It's killing a *huge* number of people, but we don't talk about it. It's nothing like the worst bug we'll see. The worst bug will be easily transmissible and entirely incurable. Any day now. Seriously. If you've been worrying about germ warfare or something escaping from a weapon's labs I have good news. While your fears are justified, it is entirely more likely the bacteria that kill us will have evolved on their own. Not a man-made plague but a natural one. Feel better?

In case you're wondering what the pharmaceutical companies are doing instead of working on new antibiotics, consider Viagra, Cialis, and Levitra <- add dates. Selling a one- or two-week dose of antibiotics to a few sick people isn't nearly as profitable as selling dick stiffeners on a regular basis to millions of men. Simple business decision. We will have erections flying bravely in the breeze as we die.

Viagra 1998 Pfizer
Cialis 2003 Eli Lilly
Levitra 2005 Bayer

Look into super bugs. See if what I wrote is wrong.

I'm not running around saying, "The sky is falling." Well, maybe just a little bit. I *am* saying to live your life fully. Live every day as though it's your last. I think that's always good advice. I just think it's better advice now than ever before.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Chuck Heston

The movies of Charlton Heston are illustrative.
Specifically "Ben Hur," "The 10 Commandments," and "Omega Man."

Hur, for the passage of time in my life. People younger than I don't recognize the line from the movie, "ramming speed."

"The 10 Commandments," for the religiosity.

Omega Man
-----------------

I Am Legend is a 1954 horror fiction novel by American writer Richard Matheson. It was influential in the development of the zombie genre and in popularizing the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to disease. The novel was a success and was adapted to film as The Last Man on Earth in 1964, as The Omega Man in 1971, and as I Am Legend in 2007, along with an unofficial direct to video production capitalizing on that film, I Am Omega. It was also the inspiration behind the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.
1953

o o o

I've been thinking about my notion of needing a justification, on a daily basis, for staying alive. I operate from a position, once you have had progeny to carry forward your unique genetic contribution into the future, continuing to live is the wrong thing to do.

Of course, should you decide, as I have, not to have children, then your contribution will be lost. So far as nature is concerned, it has no further use for you.

Whether you have had children or decided not to, the question becomes one of continuing to live or not. Our society (an outgrowth of our religions) dictates that we attempt to live forever. The kindness we show a very sick pet is denied to humans. Assisted suicide is viewed as murder in nearly the entire United States. We routinely perform very expensive surgeries on people in their last 6 months of life, wasting unimaginable sums of money and denying (for instance) organs to people who could use them better and longer, without appreciably extending the duration of the patient's life or improving its quality. We are driving the country bankrupt and not improving the quality of life of our citizens. Hospitals are just now beginning to consider sending the terminally ill home to die in the comfort of their own homes.

Importantly, once people have met nature's demands, every day they live is a day consuming resources the planet does not have available to share. Man really *is* a parasite on the planet. I'm not a radical environmentalist. I don't think about ecology all the time. But once you look at man's existence from my point of view, you get very quickly to the notion that one should (at least) affirm a reason for living every day. Without such a reason, the State should make available an "Ethical Suicide Parlor" (see Vonnegut or other authors for the description), wherein a person may make a painless and pleasurable exit (consider, too, the movie "Soylent Green").

Society should teach not just that dying is a part of life, but that life is a very brief stop along the way to eternal nothingness. We all arrive at the same destination. There is no reason to fear it. On the contrary, we should embrace it.

I could get into my view of many religions' "Heaven," "Paradise," "Reincarnation," or other "Afterlife" promises, but I have written it elsewhere. Let me only say that one person's lies, inculcated into them by authority figures before they could think for themselves, are as good as another's. Geography and one's "tribe" don't make any "God" more valid than another. The notion that "Thou shalt put no other God before me" strikes me as total bullshit. OK, I'll go on a bit longer.

So far as I know, each religion has a "don't kill another human" rule (killing animals, however, is OK -- God has give us "dominion over the Earth," right?, and haven't we done a fine job of it?). And yet we have wars -- between nation states and religions. How can we justify violating the "don't kill" rule? This one is clever ... by saying the other people are unbelievers, infidels, heathens, etc. we put them in a lower class than humans, and therefore OK to kill. And we always throw in that "God is on our side." I only wonder that we don't eat fallen enemies on the field of battle. It may be a lack of good sauces.

And the religions preach about "pie in the sky" after death to keep the people meek during their lives. Why? Because religions and nation states are really the same thing, and nobody in power wants to see the sheep stage a revolt or revolution. Am I a conspiracy nut? Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm simply right.

As I said, I've written more before, so let's get back on track.

I want to address what might be valid reasons to continue living. Now I don't propose that people voluntarily or involuntarily be brought before "Death Panels" (a better use of the term than in describing President Obama's health care program), I just want them to spend a few minutes at night "Counting Their Blessings" (I'll explain later). If they couldn't find any, or a sufficient number to want to stay alive, they merely need to look in the mirror the next morning and decide if that is the right day to die. If they are interested in continued living, all they need do is say something to themselves that makes sense.

Perhaps I should have warned you about the following earlier. I'm going to illustrate my position using lyrics from songs and lines from movies that made a big impression on me when I was very young. A picture *may* be worth a thousand words, but my topic today needs words, not pictures.

o o o

What is the value of a human life?

Some say the taking a human life is the highest of sins, the highest of crimes. Others, of course, reserve that superlative for crimes against God. But we value human life very highly and routinely punish people who kill others by "capital punishment," i.e. we kill *them*.

If you look at societies in the past, you will find ones that placed a lower value on human life than on honor. For instance, Japanese samurais, French swordsmen, and American cowboys.

There is an old saying in the computer industry, "GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out." It means, "If you start with something wrong, you won't get something right out of it."

Call Me Klaatu, why? Kung Fu and Moby Dick

Call Me Klaatu, why? Kung Fu and Moby Dick

Call me Klaatu.
=========================

No, not the character played by Keanu Reeves in the 20xx remake of the classic 1951 black & white science fiction movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still." The one played by Michael Rennie in the original.

They changed the plot considerably for the remake but the elements of original were crystal clear. Klaatu, a visitor from another planet, arrives in a flying saucer and lands in Washington D. C. (well, it *is* a movie made in the USA). The President sends a top aide to meet with Klaatu, who says he wants to present the reason for his journey to an audience of all the heads of state on Earth. The President sends cables (remember it was 1951) to the heads of state but receives childish refusals. No location is satisfactory to all the parties. They don't like or trust each other.
=======================
An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. -IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/

Storyline
An alien (Klaatu) with his mighty robot (Gort) land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. They bring an important message to the planet that Klaatu wishes to tell to representatives of all nations. However, communication turns out to be difficult, so, after learning something about the natives, Klaatu decides on an alternative approach. Written by Bruce Janson <bruce@cs.su.oz.au>

========================
wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Earth_Stood_Still

Klaatu reveals to the President's secretary, Harley (Frank Conroy), that he bears a message so momentous and urgent that it can and must be revealed to all the world's leaders simultaneously. However Harley tells him that it would be impossible to get the squabbling world leaders to agree to meet. Klaatu wants to get to know the ordinary people. Harley forbids it and leaves Klaatu locked up under guard
========================

Harley reports his results to an increduous Klaatu.

Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable.
Klaatu: I'm impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it.
Mr. Harley: I'm afraid my people haven't. I'm very sorry... I wish it were otherwise.

And that's why I ask that you call me Klaatu. Not that I'm visiting from another planet, but I never cease to find bottomless depths of stupidity among human beings.

Take, for instance, somebody who approaches me and asks, "Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?" So long as those people don't persist, I'll just go about my business, perhaps being glad they've found something about which to be happy. One person's lies, as you'll hear me say more than once, are as good as another's. When those people persist, I'm polite but firm in asking them to go away. They usually do.

There are other people I call "aggressively stupid." No matter what the subject, they're completely certain their position is correct. Sometimes they've progressed from having an opinion to having a belief, and then to having a fervent faith. The more fervent, and the more detached from an objective reality, the scarier I find it. It's everywhere.

I want to talk about religion, medical ethics, suicide, love, and the meaning of life.

Did children born long before me have the same thoughts as they lay in bed at night?

I would wonder why the space aliens had left me here, on this planet, with these people who pretended to be my parents. The two people were stupid and cruel. The other humans were, too.

Another child might have wondered, "What did I do to deserve this? Why am I being punished?" I didn't. I merely resented the injustice of what was being done to me.

The notion of "space aliens" might not have been in the minds of children a long time ago, but I was a child of the science fiction era. Born at the end of 1949, I was there when sci fi movies such as "TDTESS" were born.

-----

I've been thinking every human should need a justification, on a daily basis, for staying alive. I think once you have had progeny to carry forward your unique genetic contribution into the future, living is the wrong thing to do. Of course, should you decide, as I have, not to have children, then your contribution will be lost anyway. Nature has no further use for you.

Whether you have had children or decided not to, the question becomes one of continuing to live. Our society (an outgrowth of our religions) dictates that we attempt to live forever. The kindness we show a very sick pet is denied to humans. Assisted suicide is viewed as murder in nearly the entire United States. We routinely perform very expensive surgeries on people in their last 6 months of life, wasting unimaginable sums of money and denying (for instance) organs to people who could use them better and longer, without appreciably extending the duration of the patient's life or improving its quality. We are driving the country bankrupt and not improving the quality of life of our citizens. Hospitals are just now beginning to consider sending the terminally ill home to die in the comfort of their own homes.

Importantly, once people have met nature's demands, every day they live is a day consuming resources the planet does not have available to share. Man really *is* a parasite on the planet. I'm not a radical environmentalist. I don't think about ecology all the time. But once you look at man's existence from my point of view, you get very quickly to the notion that one should (at least) affirm a reason for living every day. Without such a reason, the State should make available an "Ethical Suicide Parlor" (see Vonnegut or other authors for the description), wherein a person may make a painless and pleasurable exit (consider, too, the movie "Soylent Green").

Society should teach not just that dying is a part of life, but that life is a very brief stop along the way to eternal nothingness. We all arrive at the same destination. There is no reason to fear it. On the contrary, we should embrace it.

I could get into my view of many religions' "Heaven," "Paradise," "Reincarnation," or other "Afterlife" promises, but I have written it elsewhere. Let me only say that one person's lies, inculcated into them by authority figures before they could think for themselves, are as good as another's. Geography and one's "tribe" don't make any "God" more valid than another. The notion that "Thou shalt put no other God before me" strikes me as total bullshit. OK, I'll go on a bit longer.

So far as I know, each religion has a "don't kill another human" rule (killing animals, however, is OK -- God has give us "dominion over the Earth," right?, and haven't we done a fine job of it?). And yet we have wars -- between nation states and religions. How can we justify violating the "don't kill" rule? This one is clever ... by saying the other people are unbelievers, infidels, heathens, etc. we put them in a lower class than humans, and therefore OK to kill. And we always throw in that "God is on our side." I only wonder that we don't eat fallen enemies on the field of battle.

And the religions preach about "pie in the sky" after death to keep the people meek during their lives. Why? Because religions and nation states are really the same thing, and nobody in power wants to see the sheep stage a revolt or revolution. Am I a conspiracy nut? Perhaps. Or perhaps I'm simply right.

As I said, I've written more before, so let's get back on track.

I want to address what might be valid reasons to continue living. Now I don't propose that people voluntarily or involuntarily be brought before "Death Panels" (a better use of the term than in describing President Obama's healthcare program), I just want them to spend a few minutes at night "Counting Their Blessings" (I'll explain later). If they couldn't find any, or a sufficient number to want to stay alive, they merely need to look in the mirror the next morning and decide if that is the right day to die. If they are interested in continued living, all they need do is hear themselves say something that makes sense.

Perhaps I should have warned you about the following earlier. I'm going to illustrate my position using lyrics from songs and lines from movies that made a big impression on me when I was very young. A picture *may* be worth a thousand words, but my topic today needs words, not pictures.

Time for You to Leave
======================
kung fu
1972-1975

In the 1970s, there was a TV show named "Kung Fu" that opened with the same flashback sequence each week. A Chinese temple has taken in a young orphaned boy whom they will teach to be a monk. They will teach him religion and martial arts. When the boy arrives, the leader of the temple shows him a sort of graduation test he must pass someday. He must take a pebble from his Master's open hand before his Master can close his fingers around it. "When you can snatch the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave." You see a sequence of boy growing and learning until the boy, who has grown to be a man, passes the test. His Master says, "Time for you to leave."

The title comes from the 1970s television show "Kung Fu." It was repeated in the opening of each week's show. The opening starts with a flashback to a Chinese temple. They have taken in a young orphaned boy whom they will teach to be a monk, an expert both in religion and martial arts. When the boy arrives, the leader of the temple shows him a sort of graduation test he must pass someday. He must take a pebble from his Master's open hand before his Master can close his fingers around it. "When you can snatch the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave." After several years, the boy passes the test. His Master says, "Time for you to leave."

------------------------------------------------
If you’re not familiar with this little pop culture gem, then pretend I made this up. Really, it’s okay. I’m that clever so it’s believable.

A young Kwai Chang Caine is a pupil of Master Kan at the Shaolin Temple. He is told that when he snatches the pebble from the Master’s hand, then he has learned all he can in the temple. To continue his lessons, he must set out on his own and let the world be his teacher.

I could bore you with musings about Master Kan’s wisdom, and Caine’s youthful bravado, but the bottom line is Kan’s a bad mother[bleep] and Caine isn’t good enough to take the pebble. Yet.

Again, if you’re familiar with this, you know what eventually happened. If you’re not, continue thinking that I came up with this great metaphor about writing advice on my own.

Caine trains, becomes wise in the ways of Kung Fu, and eventually snatches the pebble from Kan’s hand.

It’s time to step out on his own.

If you’re serious about your writing career, eventually, you’ll have to as well.
What is the meaning of life? What is God's plan for me on Earth? Will I go to Heaven?

People believe there are no answers to those questions, but we can answer them easily. Here is the fundamental problem. The underlying assumptions we have about life are wrong.

There is no meaning to human life.
-------------------------------------------------
There is, however, a purpose. Actually, it's twofold and the same as for any living thing: Reproduce and live forever. Why? Reproduce to pass along to future generations your genetic uniqueness. Once we have done that, Nature has no further use for us. Live forever (or die trying) so predators can kill and eat you to stay alive themselves. The problem is that humans lack predators. Instead of having the decency to become a meal for another animal we simply continue to live for a very long time, consuming the Earth's few precious resources. Man truly is a parasite on the planet.

God's plan for you? Seriously?
---------------------------------------------
If you believe in God, any God, you were probably inculcated with a set of lies by authority figures before you could make up your own mind. Your parents, other relatives, teachers, community members, preachers pushed onto you the same things they believe. Understand this: they were repeating words written by a man in a book. If everybody around you believed the book Moby Dick were real, you'd be worshiping a white whale. One person's lies are as good as the next. Kill infidels (heretics, non-believers)? You must be joking. The accident of where somebody is born does not make them any more or less close to "God." Instead of being indoctrinated in your youth, it could be that you were "Born Again." That means you needed the comfort of easy answers in your life and so you sought to find them in religion. Religion allows you to fall back on platitudes to explain every calamity. "It's God's will" covers many situations.

Heaven, Paradise, Reincarnation, any afterlife at all.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the height of conceit. Only humans, of all "God's creatures," don't die when their bodies do. Their "immortal souls" go on to the next level. What's the deal here? People have either massive egos or massive fear or both. They can't believe that this one life is all they get. As far back as we have recorded history, some have survived NDEs (Near Death Experiences), in which they saw a white light, a stairway to heaven, angels, their dead relatives, or (recently) a view of themselves looking downward from the ceiling of the hospital emergency room in which they nearly died. What they saw was a simple result of lack of oxygen to the brain. You want to see heaven? Here, let me strangle you.

The Truth About Moby Dick
=================================
You can't help being wrong about everything. Nobody told you the truth about Moby Dick.

You see, Moby Dick is God. Not *a* God. The one true God.

If you don't know, "Moby Dick" was the title of an 1851 novel by Herman Melville. It's a long novel. Even the plot description on Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick) is 1,000 words long. Later it was made into a 1956 movie starring Gregory Peck. The IMDb movie summary says: "This classic story by Herman Melville revolves around Captain Ahab and his obsession with a huge whale, Moby Dick. The whale caused the loss of Ahab's leg years before, leaving Ahab to stomp the boards of his ship on a peg leg. Ahab is so crazed by his desire to kill the whale, that he is prepared to sacrifice everything, including his life, the lives of his crew members, and even his ship to find and destroy his nemesis, Moby Dick."

I entered the exact phrase "Mpby Dick is God" into Google and got 980 hits. I'm not going to attempt to describe the book. What I'll do first is focus on a few key aspects.

Call Me Klaatu

Call Me Klaatu. Why? I'll tell you later.

I think I'll skip my rant about life, my life, all human life, the existence of the planet and the universe all being meaningless. You can read it elsewhere here. But the bottom line is this: life is meaningless, humans are parasites, only those humans who can demonstrate (to themselves) a good reason for living should do so. That's how I see it.

Knowing it's repeated many times here already, I'll also skip my opinion about (all) religion and the afterlife. I see life becoming death as a light switch being thrown. One moment your consciousness, all you are and ever have been, exists. The next you cease to be, to have ever been. You don't go to heaven or get reincarnated. You disappear. There is no "you." Unless the matter that was your body drifts to some other place someday where it combines with other matter to become another entity, nothing of you will ever matter (pun intended) again.

=====================================

Some aspects of nature fascinate me. I don't mean an anthropomorphized "Mother Nature." I simply mean nature that's all around us.

The purpose of every creature is to reproduce, to pass along to the next generation its unique genetic contribution.

And every creature is programmed to survive, at least until it has progeny. Having spawned, the salmon lie there and die. The male spider of many species, while he would rather avoid this fate, risks that his mate will eat him after mating to provide food to sustain her through her pregnancy.

The "avoid this fate" part is the one that really gets me. Unless given unique programming (see "salmon" and "male black widow spider" above), all creatures want desperately to stay alive forever. This makes perfect sense in an ecologically-balanced world, where predators prey on the sick and the weak. An old wildebeest provides a nice meal to the big cats that hunt it. And (forgive me if my recollection of ecology class fails me) the "carrying capacity" of the biosphere is such that the planet can sustain all the life on the planet.

Except us. We consume tremendously more than we produce.

As life forms go, man is a parasite on this Earth.

Once we have reproduced (or decided not to), I think we should do the right thing and go the way of the salmon. I propose a new slogan for environmentalists to use: "Got kids? Think globally. Act locally. Hang yourself."

o o o

About Assumptions
--------------------------
Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.
Alan Alda

Most of our assumptions have outlived their uselessness.
Marshall McLuhan

The creative individual has the capacity to free himself from the web of social pressures in which the rest of us are caught. He is capable of questioning the assumptions that the rest of us accept.
John W. Gardner

“If we worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true really is true, then there would be little hope for advance”
Orville Wright

o o o

The problem is that we have bad assumptions
It might have been better if you had died before now. It's entirely possible. Or maybe not. It's not up to me to say. I'll give you some ideas. Consider them or not. It's entirely up to you.

One thing I *will* say is that the decision whether to be alive or not is also entirely up to you. It's not up to society to say. Not the government. Not your religion. Not your friends or family. You know this intellectually, of course, but your emotional attitude has been shaped by those other influences. I don't say your decision will be an easy one, but I'll attempt to bring some clarity to it. And, again, that decision will be entirely yours.

o o o

The problem is that the premise is wrong. The precepts are wrong. The paradigm, the model is wrong. It's impossible to get good answers when you start with bad assumptions.

Computer people have an abbreviation for that concept, "G. I. G. O." It stands for "Garbage in, garbage out."

In "the West," there has been an integration of Judeo-Christian religions with society's laws and attitudes. I can only speak about those faiths. While I don't know very much about them, I know even less about the others. What I *do* know is that each doctrine or dogma, every commandment, any good idea that God or His prophets suggested, it's a part of how our society operates.

I've got a hypothetical for you. What if all those ideas came NOT from God but from the prophets responsible for writing the Bible, mere fallible mortal men. I'm not arguing against religion, at least not yet, but I disagree with some of the rules by which we live. I believe living by those rules has caused an extraordinary amount of unnecessary suffering and I propose to change some of them. Later I will ask your help to make those changes a reality. Let's see if I can convince you.

One thing that is "cast in stone" is the way society views death. I'm not just talking about the ethical quagmire of whether to offer euthanasia to very sick people. It is rooted in the problem I want to solve. I'm talking about changing fundamentally the way each of us views death.

o o o

[Have you heard about the next generation program to replace Cash for Clunkers, Grand for Grandma. NOT death panels, but the Wile E. Coyote death slingshot. Maybe offer them a ripcord they can pull.]

"If all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you do it, too?"

Well, there are a few things wrong with this classic lesson in parenting. First, I had no friends, so peer pressure wasn't much of an issue. Sure, I observed what the other kids were doing, but my parents did my shopping for me, so I was no slave to fashion, unless it was to *their* fashion. I followed no fads.

Second, if I were asked the question as a child, I would give an entirely different answer than expected. I would have said, "If I found so enlightened a group of people, I might have invited them to dance with me for a few minutes, to celebrate our deliverance, before we all jumped." These days, my answer would be the same, except I'd say, "I might have invited them to dance with this failing body for a few minutes."

o o o

I might be wrong about this, but I think we've had this conversation more than once.

I mention "leaving" or "going away" and you ask if I mean walking out the door or killing myself. Then I say, "I have nowhere to go," indicating I mean to end my life. You simply need to understand I don't want to scare you by saying outright "kill myself," "take my own life," or "commit suicide." That's loaded language, full of meanings you don't want to hear. What's also true is that I don't define the act in those words. I don't see it as a negative, a bad thing. I see it as a good thing,"leave" or "exit" or "find deliverance" or "end the pain."

You've probably realized that either I'm very bright or think I am. I've come to conclusions about some things that may be right (even "insightful") or may be entirely incorrect, based on thoughts in isolation, without the benefit of input from others.

I see life as an accident, an illusion, a trick. A temporary arrangement of atoms into a configuration that lives for a brief time before returning to their normal state of being, floating through the universe. I don't see human life as "sacred" or "holy." I don't see the "soul" as being immortal. I don't see the existence of Heaven, Paradise, Reincarnation or any other afterlife myth as being possible. I see those ideas as being the lies inculcated into our children (perhaps without knowing any better) by parents, pastors, teachers, and other figures of authority to support both existing churches and the political entities. I see religion as a way of exercising control over the masses. "The meek will inherit the Earth," indeed. The meek will not rise up and overthrow the State, the landowners, the powerful. There is pie in the sky folks, plus you'll never die if you stay submissive.

"Thou shalt not kill" other humans, but those who don't believe in our particular version of God aren't quite human, are they? Infidels and heathens can be killed with impunity -- in fact, "God is on our side" doing so.

It is the height of conceit to believe man is superior to any other life form on the Earth. The notion that "Man has dominion over the Earth" has been working really well, hasn't it? The Earth is dying, both from abuse and from overuse. Man is a crappy caretaker.

So the question is one of when to end this life, to return to the state that is inevitable for us all. I have a rather lengthy answer to the question, but I will attempt to sum it up here. Leaving God out of it, but accepting Nature as having an intention of us all, I see us as having the same two imperatives as any other living being: reproduce and live forever. "Reproduce" so that our unique genetic contribution is carried forward to the next generation(s). "Live forever" so animals higher on the food chain can survive by eating us when we grow old and sickly. Once you have reproduced (or chose not to), your only important job is done. The way the world is structured, those of us in the "first world" don't dies except by "natural causes." In fact, we are prevented from dying by doctors and our families' wishes. This costs society nearly unlimited money and goes contrary to what I believe makes sense.

Unless you have a good reason to live (and I'll let you decide your own "good reasons"), I suggest you choose to die as soon as you have reproduced. Irrespective of the resources you use while dying, you use tremendous resources while simply living. The Earth would be a far better place if you weren't a parasitical life form on it. Go now. Wave good-bye if you like, but simply die today.

The "good reasons" might be that you want to help raise your family, or you love somebody, or you are passionately involved in some activity you value, either mental or physical. As it happens, none of those are true for me, but I don't see the value of such things for anyone overweighing the preservation of the planet. Your actual mileage may vary, as they say, so perhaps you do. I don't say a "death panel" should be empowered to tell (or force) you to die -- at least not yet -- but I say society should be in the business of conveying the reality that death is a good thing, not something to be avoided at all costs. If that flies in the face of your religion, it's OK with me.

o o o

I dare you to read 5 pages. That sounds childish, doesn't it? Most people will want to stop as soon as they read the subject. I don't blame you, but I'd like you to read my argument before you walk away.

You've been taught by society what I'm saying is a sin, if not a crime. I disagree. I'm not suggesting you deprive anybody of their life, liberty or property. I'm asking you to make a decision for yourself.

Don't simply react. See if what I'm saying makes any sense. It might not but be thoughtful. Have an open mind. Can you do that?

Okay, here goes. "Every thinking adult should decide when the time is right to commit suicide and then do it."

Still with me? All the beliefs you have about life came from your parents, teachers, preachers, and other authority figures. You are a product of where you were born and the community that was around you during your formative years. Everybody is. Each of us is the sum of our experiences. The problem is: What if some of the things we learned aren't true?

Let's start by answering some of the great mysteries of life: "Why am I here?" "What is my purpose in life?" and "What happens when I die?"

"Why am I here," of course, has the same two answers as every question. It's either random chance or God. The "God" answer has the advantage of providing a simple solution to any problem. God knows that it's God's will that God works in mysterious ways, gosh darn it. There is something very comforting about being able to reach deep down inside oneself and pull out a universal answer. "Why did somebody die?" God's will. What do insurance companies call natural disasters so they can avoid paying for damages? "Acts of God." Who blesses the United States of America? God. In God We Trust.

I admit to being a "devout atheist" (a term I use for the irony). That fact alone doesn't invalidate my argument, but (again) you'll need to keep an open mind to keep reading.

o o o

Should you be alive?

Seriously.

There was a movie I really liked several years ago called "Defending Your Life." Albert Brooks & Meryl Streep in a sweet romantic comedy set in a stopping point on the way to heaven. The premise was that a dead people would present videos of moments from their lives before a panel of judges while their advocates (attorneys) explaining that the videos showed them doing heroic things.

focus on attys
I'm going to start by breaking some rules, not the least of which is that authors don't speak directly with readers. But I have to do it.

What I *could* do in this book is present (in a very dry, academic style) a thoroughly researched set of facts that reveal some "truth." That's called "expository prose" and would be entirely appropriate for this non-fiction work.

And let me interrupt myself to say I am *no* academic. While my subject matter here is serious, I am (by avocation, at least) a stand up comedian. I write and say funny things. Let me give you an example.

If you don't want to do all the work to write expository prose, you can, instead, state unsupported assumptions. Something like "Suppose this or that is true." I call that style of writing "suppository prose." It has the advantage of getting the stuff on paper faster.

If the above wasn't in the slightest bit funny (or vulgar), it may be that you're not a 21st century American. You may not have the same language background I do. I wrote this book for Americans raised in the Judeo-Christian faiths. Now, if that isn't you, don't despair. The things to be learned will be accessible, but they may require a bit more study to understand. You'll see as you go along.

I'm in a bit of a quarry. Most people would say "a quandary," but I like to use "quarry" when I'm between a rock and a hard place. This, too, is word play and hard for me to suppress.

My problem is in how to present my case. There have been a limitless number of statements made by esteemed experts that support what I say. The only problem is that each expert has a slightly different read on the situation. Let me give you an example. If I say, "A tremendous amount of money, almost always from MediCare and private insurance, is spent on people during the last few months of their lives." nobody will argue.

But how many months? How much money? What percent of the medical spending in this country? What percentage of MediCare or private insurance? How old are those people? How do we know when the clock starts that counts down until "end of life?"

I could work very hard to gather all the various answers to questions like that. Alternatively, I could do what I've decided to do. I'm going to leave most things I say unsupported. On rare occasions I'll quote somebody or cite a source, but mostly I'm going to ask *you* to do the work. My pledge to you is that I will always tell the truth. All you need do is believe me or check the facts for yourself (in which case you'll find you could have saved time by simply believing me).

If you agree with what I say, and I certainly expect you will, you will want to share the ideas with others. That's why I wrote it. You won't be able to quote me quoting other people, however, so you'll need to find ways to communicate without a bunch of supporting detail.

Thou shalt not kill, except one who has put another God before Me, the true God, because that one is not really a human. It is permissible, in fact encouraged, to wage war upon heretics, infidels, heathens and those by any other name who do not worship me. Killing them is a good idea.

One should not eat pigs, humans or human-like creatures because of the risk of Trichinosis. Also there is a dearth of sauces and appropriate methods to cook such things. With adequate cooking methods and sauces, history would have recorded the eating of those enemy animals killed on the field of battle.

It is also encouraged to form tribes of humans so long as they believe as we do. It is an imperative for the tribe to grow, eventually becoming a very large "nation state." We may do whatever is necessary to strengthen the bond between members of the tribe, including the founding of common languages. In an extension of the "wage war on heathens" concept, we (as a tribe or a nation state) may wage war on other tribes and nation states, because they are not like us.

We are commanded to be "fruitful and multiply." The cynical might think the intent is to have more people of one religion than another. Perhaps the intent is to have a larger nation state than the one next door. In any event, get busy breeding.

God has give us dominion over the entire planet. The animals, nature, you name it. Unlike "the animals, nature, you name it," all of which die when their physical bodies do, man is immortal. While the body dies, the "soul" lives on forever. In fact, there are concepts of an "afterlife" in virtually every organized religion. Heaven, Hell, Paradise, Reincarnation -- I'm sure there are several I'm missing -- are all concepts in religion. So, what makes a person's soul go to a "better" place? The person must faithfully follow a list of religious laws, rule, commandments. Upon the person's death, God will determine the destination of the person's soul. Reincarnated as a mosquito? Spending eternity screaming in pain, burning in the fires of Hell? Having sex with 72 virgins? Some religions have a sort of "audit trail" and redemption process. "You did bad? Do this and be forgiven." We wouldn't want you to think you had messed up forever and either chose to live badly from now on or leave or religion.

Veterinarians practice something called "beneficence": "Do good." A vet will "put to sleep" (i.e. humanely kill) a pet whose quality of life has degraded significantly. We routinely "put down" old, sick animals. Doctors, on the other hand, take an oath that begins, "First do no harm." This concept is called "non-maleficence." They support their fellow humans in following a "commandment" that's been adopted by society and I find it hard to believe it doesn't have a foundation in religion. It says, "You should live forever, or die trying." You can find that sentiment said by Yossarian, the protagonist in Joseph Heller's 1961 novel "Catch-22."

This is the part I haven't researched yet. From whence comes that commandment?
------------

Life extension, anti aging, experimental gerontology

o o o

I watched a "Frontline" program on PBS tonight called "Facing Death." It discussed the extraordinary technology available to doctors to preserve the lives of the terminally ill and the difficult decisions the patients and their families and medical proxies needed to face to decide whether to implement those measures or allow the patient to die.

Almost always, the patients and others chose to take whatever desperate, drastic and very expensive measures were available to preserve their lives. As a doctor said, it may be ONLY in this country that doctors participate in providing such care. Billions of dollars are being spent on care completely unlikely to improve the quality of life of the dying.

I wrote a line I rather like a while ago, "I've never seen a place on the road ahead where I would want to be." Call me pretentious, but it somehow reminds me of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening."

I don't have a clever way of saying the following: I don't see a reason to live. I cannot imagine my ever seeing one.

Is this the result of some psychiatric malady? Am I extremely depressed, perhaps suffering from a "Major Depression" or the downswing of Bipolar Disorder? I'll admit to feeling blue, but I suggest it is "anomie." Anomie is the depression people feel when they come to realize the truth of existential nihilism.

And so I see myself not as a person depressed because I'm sick but as a depressed realist.

I want to explain my position, not to convince you of anything (well perhaps that isn't entirely true), but to leave a very short record of my life. I want to tell you *why* I see no future.

There are a few elements I see as critical to wanting to live. The presence of even one of them might be enough for most people, especially when they're ignorant of the the things I know. Unfortunately, I have none of those things, and I am very far from ignorant.

And so I will recap many of the writings I have done before; talking about religion and love. I may not explain how I got to be who I am, but I *will* explain who I am.
---
There is nothing as valuable as a human life.
Ask anybody.
And ending a human life is the worst possible sin.
Ask a member of any religion. Or police force.
Nobody may end a life, whether it belongs to a very old, very sick person, a younger person or, many say, a fetus *in utero*.

Nobody may end your life. Suicide is not an option, so you may not end your own.
It is your, right, your duty, your mission to live forever, or die trying. With a tiny list of exceptions, there is never a right time or a right way to die, other than a "natural" death of old age.

That pretty much wraps up the fundamentals. With few variations, that's what everybody has been told about human life. Told from the earliest age one can comprehend such things by parents, clergy, teachers, family and friends. Told by every authority figure in one's life.

Depending an individual's religion, one may believe a human life is holy, sacred, more valuable than any other kind of life. One may believe humans have souls that exist independently of the body and go on after the body dies.

You may have heard all this before. In fact, it is a virtual certainty you have. What's more, you probably believe it deeply. It's all you ever were told.

Most people are told there is an afterlife, that their souls go on. Whether it goes into Heaven or Paradise or is Reincarnated depends on what religion they follow. The soul's future destination is often said to depend on the quality and goodness of the life a person leads. Quality and goodness are defined by a person's obedience of laws said to have been given by God.
I've written this all before, but to sum up ...

Life is a very brief state that occurs before eternal death. While to exist in this time and place is a very unlikely event, it is not special in any sense other than its rarity. There is no mystical, religious significance to it. There is no imperative to live as long as possible unless living is something one perceives as good.

I listed elsewhere some of the "reasons to live" that would make life worth living. Without them, there is no point. Living without purpose simply means consuming the Earth's resources. As I've said before, people who have either had children or decided not to do so are, as far as nature is concerned, no longer necessary. Their genetic contribution has been made or halted. In either case, all they do from that point on is be a drain on the planet.

I'm a sort of radical environmentalist. I see people as parasites, yet do nothing about it on my own. I don't see the point.

o o o

The difference between my living and dying today instead of as a very old, sick man? ... there is none. Absent joy, I might as well leave now and be done with it.

The life I led is meaningless now. Then again, "now" is not the issue. My life was meaningless when I was alive, too. More than that, *every* life, now and that ever has been, was and is meaningless. Christ, Einstein, Hitler, the good, the bad, and the ugly, everyone.

Why?

There are some who would say, "The universe will end," or "The galaxy will end," or "The Sun will burn out," so nothing matters. The stated timeframes for these events are usually in the millions of years away. People who make such arguments are (in my humble opinion) simply making excuses to avoid being engaged in their lives. They, or their pathologies, choose to accept no responsibility for their lives.

I will propose something similar that I consider a good deal more compelling, but it is not the real thrust of my argument.

If we are interested in preserving of the human species, we should give serious thought to what the Infectious Disease doctors have been saying for many years. Bacteria evolve. They always have. There are several we now call "superbugs" that are resistant to all but (in some instances) one or two of the antibiotics we have ever invented. I acquired one of them in the hospital in 2007. I was on IV meds for a week and the bacteria caused permanent damage. I was lucky. These same bugs kill people. Lots of people. Every day. We don't talk about it. If pharmaceutical companies don't do research and development on new antibiotics, one of these days, *soon*, a bug will appear that nothing can cure. It is likely, *very likely*, all humans will be destroyed.

Don't take my word for it. You might read "Rising Plague," a book that takes only a slightly less bleak view, by Infectious Disease doctor Brad Spellberg M.D. You might visit http://www.idsociety.org/, the web site for the Infectious Disease Society of America. These people are not fools; they are experts.

It could be a few years. It might be a few months, weeks, or days from now. Very soon everybody will catch "colds" or get cuts that turn into infections that become diseases that kill. Inevitable. Count on it.

o o o

Let me recall one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek, The Original Series. Episode 77: The Savage Curtain (1966).
Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, plus two aliens impersonating Abraham Lincoln and the Vulcan legend Surak,
Editorial Reviews
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Perhaps best known as the episode in which Abraham Lincoln is seen, rather absurdly, floating through space in a big ol' presidential chair, "The Savage Curtain" is one of those death-match shows in which a busybody alien wants to witness true human(oid) mettle in an arranged battle. Lincoln asks Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to accompany him to a planet where Excalbians have organized a fight between good (Kirk's party plus a Vulcan icon) and evil (Genghis Khan, Kahless the founder of the Klingon Empire, and two guys you never heard of). The derivative, obvious story was half-written by Gene Roddenberry and dumped on another writer, Arthur Heinemann, after Roddenberry pulled back from Star Trek in its third season. Heinemann added some interesting moral underpinnings, but this is one of those instances in which a good television show seems to be mimicking itself. On the plus side, the show gives Sulu (George Takei) a rare opportunity to command the Enterprise bridge--experience that surely served him well later as a Starfleet captain in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. --Tom Keogh

IMDB: Kirk, Spock, Abraham Lincoln, and Surak are pitted in battle against four notorious villains from history for the purpose of helping a molten rock creature's understanding of a concept he does not understand, 'good verses evil'.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708477/

wikipedia: Overview: Aliens force Kirk and Spock to battle illusory villains.

Genghis Khan. The aliens then pit Kirk, Spock, Lincoln, and Surak against Green, Kahless, Zora, and Genghis Khan

o o o

I've thought about and written about all this many times before. If you've been reading my stuff, you've seen this already.

Nature gives us two rules: reproduce and live forever. Once having reproduced, however, nature has no real use of us. We have passed along our genetic uniqueness and are no longer necessary. If we have chosen not to reproduce, nature has no use of us either.

"Live forever" could well be amended "or die trying." Nothing lives forever. Out in the wild, one might as well live as long as possible, until one becomes weak and an easy meal for a predator. Everything has a place in nature, if only to be another creature's next meal.

The unfortunate thing is that in "civilized" human society we live for so many years. I saw a TV program about San Francisco just before the 1906 earthquake. They said life expectancy for men was 47 and for women 50. My mother-in-law, a very nice woman, is 90. That is unusually old, but living past 70 or 80 is common. And, not to take anything from my mother-on-law, beyond that "reproduce" age mentioned before all one does is be a consumer of the Earth's scarce resources. In terms of contributing to the planet, man is a disaster, a parasite.

So why do we live so long? We are programmed to do so, both by nature and by society. And, by the way, it is not particularly easy to do otherwise. Society (especially the medical profession) is interested in "helping" you stay alive. In fact, in nearly all the 50 states in this country, the terminally ill may NOT be assisted to die, even if it's what they want. The mercy we show to a pet is denied to a human being.

I mentioned the "ease" of dying. It isn't easy to leave this life. The body doesn't want to die, so it usually takes an act of violence. If you think of the ways of committing murder, those are typically the same ways to commit suicide, only self-inflicted. There are at least two, however, that aren't violent. One is to take an overdose of powerful narcotics. The other is to inhale an inert gas until one asphyxiates.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Why should one choose to die?

I put it to you that the question ought to be, "Why should one choose to live?"

If, after reproducing or choosing not to, a person had to make a conscious decision each day to live or die, instead of having society say to "live forever," I think society might be different. I wrote a satire called "Grand for Grandma" in which Grandma could choose to be launched out over the Grand Canyon via an enormous (Acme Brand) rubber band. Grandma would, of course, die in the process, but she would get one heck of a last ride and her family would be given $1,000 (a Grand) for the rights to tape and air the event (on Fox News). It would be her decision of when the moment was right to go.

I think if people had a strong awareness of being destructive parasites and a painless method existed to make an exit, the daily decision would be, "Do I have a reason to live?" The answer for nearly everybody would be Yes. They had family, a significant other, one or more jobs or hobbies they loved, etc. There were an infinite number of possibilities. Life was good, so they would choose to continue living it. But that wouldn't be true for everybody.

Some people, even without the cash incentive grandma gets in my satirical piece, would choose to die if it were easy to do and there was no stigma associated with it. I refer you to "Ethical Suicide Parlors," to Vonnegut or the end of "Soylent Green."

How different society would be if nobody tried to "save" the "depressed" who chose to die. I suggest we either celebrate their decision or at least accept it.

So we get to the case of myself. Despite society having not yet caught up to my vision of how it will be, I find myself in the category of people who have no reason to live.

I think I mentioned "live forever or die trying." I have a kind of "glass half-empty, glass half-full" thought for you. I was talking with a nice psychiatric nurse a few weeks ago who agreed with the cliche expression "Life is too short." Her take on it was, "So why hasten to end it?" My reaction instead was, "So why bother?"

I think I'll skip my rant about life, my life, all human life, the existence of the planet and the universe all being meaningless. You can read it elsewhere here. But the bottom line is this: life is meaningless, humans are parasites, only those humans who can demonstrate (to themselves) a good reason for living should do so. That's how I see it.

Knowing it's repeated many times here already, I'll also skip my opinion about (all) religion and the afterlife. I see life becoming death as a light switch being thrown. One moment your consciousness, all you are and ever have been, exists. The next you cease to be, to have ever been. You don't go to heaven or get reincarnated. You disappear. There is no "you." Unless the matter that was your body drifts to some other place someday where it combines with other matter to become another entity, nothing of you will ever matter (pun intended) again.

I am experiencing the anomie of existential nihilism. Which means, I'm depressed because nothing matters.

Some (perhaps most) ask the question this way, "Why do you want to die?" I say the following. "If I had an infinite amount of time, an infinite amount of youth, and an infinite amount of health to turn my life into whatever I want, I would want to live. But I don't. So I won't."