Have you heard the news that you're dead?
If not dead, then at least dying. It's been this way since you were born.
An unfolding pandemic makes it harder for me to evade this matter. Death tolls are now part of my daily life. Graphs make grim predictions of my future, or lack thereof. My neighbour's chatter is not about sports and reality TV but about their auntie who faced death and against all odds survived, and their uncle who did not. Beyond the pandemic, the memory of departed family and friends - some long gone, some never really gone - remind me that life is indeed a brief candle. Memento mori, mea amor.
To those still among the living, how long do you think you are going to live? How are you seizing the day/s? Have you made any preparations for what comes next, material, spiritual or otherwise? Does the possibility/certainty of death colour your days with overtones of optimism or undertones of pessimism? Sadness or joy? All or none of the above?
Do you believe you are free in spite of death or because of it? Do you find death oppressive or liberating? Do you believe in fate, destiny? If so, how much are you loving it right now? How are you living it? And, finally, how does your being towards death shape your tending towards anarchy?
Comments
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
anon (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 03:12
Creeps in this petty pace...
I try not to think about it tbh
To the last syllable of
Macbeth (not verified) Tue, 05/19/2020 - 07:17
In reply to Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow by anon (not verified)
To the last syllable of recorded time
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death
I'm honestly much more
anon (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 04:08
I'm honestly much more worried about suffering a substantial decrease in my quality of life, either physically through incurring some disability as a result of the virus and/or not being able to physically interact with my loved ones..
6 feet apart or 6 feet under?
I hate this.
sOcIaL diStanCinG
anon (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 05:39
In reply to I'm honestly much more by anon (not verified)
- not being able to physically interact with my loved ones
This is already happening where I live. But the discomfort of not seeing them is somewhat offset by not having to go to work...
Social death is horizontal
anon (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 12:36
In reply to I'm honestly much more by anon (not verified)
(... indeed, 6 feet apart)
Of course a lot of people aren't walking the line and no matter how some of you might associate them with "Covidiots" and Trumptards, that's just not the case for most of them. Life just ain't worth living through Zoom and at a distance from others... moreover what's with all these usual social privileges (couples... gangs... comfy homes) being not just maintain but reinforced by the Covid State, to a point that it's just insanity
The State's response, in so many many ways, has been a far bigger problem than the virus itself.
Now that car traffic is booming again with opening of the summer, it just shows how hypocritical governments have been at slowing down mass society. I can't The so-called radicals praising this ruthless state of affairs are just recklessly stupid. There's little good with the current situation.
But to answer this TOTW question, it was answered the day after the shutdown when I attended a punk concert. In other words, no I don't give a damn about my own death if that's the cost of living free. I don't wanna be alienated from female warmth as I'm seeing all these couples having it their ways together. I deserve my share of the pie and as far as personal applies, I'll take it without question.
I am an animal, not a State robot.
I got hydroxychloroquine; I
anon (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 12:41
In reply to Social death is horizontal by anon (not verified)
I got hydroxychloroquine; I’ll be fine, bro. Now give me my pie!
Dead flowers are cool.
Peter (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 04:48
Dead flowers are cool.
What I meant metaphorically
Peter (not verified) Mon, 05/18/2020 - 15:23
In reply to But supergay, tho! by anon (not verified)
What I meant metaphorically is this :- To not fear death (to admire dead flowers) gives lightness to a heavy fate and can therefore free one's conscience to pursue less morbidly obsessed activities (coolness)
deadman on vacations
anon (not verified) Tue, 05/19/2020 - 08:29
All revolutionaries are deadmen on vacations.
What do I celebrate, what do
anon (not verified) Wed, 05/20/2020 - 21:48
What do I celebrate, what do I mourn?
What do I regret, what will I regret, what will I miss?
Fullness of life, what is a full life?
Certainly not a number product of calculating a life table.
Epidemiologists measure the impact of diseases like Covid in life-years lost.
How do anarchists measure fullness of life?
Certainly not a standardized metric, not something crude as a checklist, though that is more fleshed out than a number. Can shared values among anarchists be sketched out?
I leave all the questions unanswered because I think each should be more interested in their own and because answering is once again coming to terms with the dissonance of a supposed set of values and life that does not reflect them.
Freedom from and freedom to. Death ostensibly provides freedom from suffering, but also deprives of doing certain things that were characteristic of your previous being. It provides the freedom to circulate through the world and through the life cycles in new forms. Protopanpsychism and other trippy things to consider. Transhumanists consider death oppressive.
Fate? Hard determinism, compatibilism, idk, philosophy headaches I avoid.
Fate as "such is life" "some things you can't avoid" "shit happens and then you die" is familiar to me.
Some people see fate as "no one will go before their time" kind of the inverse of a fatalism that makes you invulnerable or invincible until then, so you should be bold and free from worry to a degree.
Returning to last week's theme of narratives, a character or trait, or a scene that I like about anarchists is the many instances when they've faced their execution or their trials with defiant mockery and even laughter. It makes them feel larger than life and undefeated, and somehow celebrated, self-amused.
It would be tragic if that's the highlight, and it should never be reduced to that. That does not come near to embody all that one could think of when thinking "fullness of life", but I think it embodies the aspect of the attitude of facing death and loving fate.
I much adhere to the view...
anon (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 08:18
In reply to What do I celebrate, what do by anon (not verified)
I much adhere to the view... Natural catastrophes can be harder morally to cope with than the absurd spooks of politics and how they pretend being a thing above all other things. Paperwork and its linguistic tricks are just what they seem to be from the outside: mystification. They were created by religions in the first place, but now in their complexity, have went further down as materialistic abominations.
This can be much observed through the "shutdowns" that enforce some horrible conditions upon people's lives based on a heightening of paranoia where these conceptual, abstract games of control have become somewhat threatened in their dominion. Statists want to stay in charge while posing as the good guys, as usual. Yet they hold our relatives and accomplices hostage.
natural catastophe
anon (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2020 - 01:42
In reply to I much adhere to the view... by anon (not verified)
almost everyone i talk to blames the gov for doing too much of this or not enough of that. some people blame individuals again either for doing this too much or that not enough. it's very rare you hear anyone talk about airports and 'food' markets, even though they are objectively the cause of the 300k+ excess deaths we've seen so far this year.
Ever since my 2 best friends
anon (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2020 - 05:33
Ever since my 2 best friends got killed by a hit n run driver over 30 years ago, I have chosen to live for now, not the future. I don’t fear death at all, but I do fear suffering. That’s why I make sure I have the capability to end my life when I choose, on my terms.
I am old enough, and I hate most humans enough, that solitude is my preference most of the time. So this whole distancing thing is actually a benefit for me. I feel for the more socially oriented, I know digital connecting is severely lacking in numerous ways. But I guess it’s better than no comms at all?
Create a life that you love, and you will be less controlled by external factors.
To die dreaming...
Morir Sonyando (not verified) Thu, 05/21/2020 - 06:06
To die dreaming...
ah, morir sonyando. been a
anon (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 06:04
In reply to To die dreaming... by Morir Sonyando (not verified)
ah, morir sonyando. been a while since i heard that.
did you ever have the refreshing drink? like a home made orange julius. oj, milk, a raw egg, vanilla extract, some ice, blended. my dominican brothers turned me onto it back in the 1970s.
It's actually spelled
anon (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 06:14
In reply to ah, morir sonyando. been a by anon (not verified)
It's actually spelled "soñando", not "sonyando" ...
i know, i just don't know how
anon (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2020 - 04:45
In reply to It's actually spelled by anon (not verified)
i know, i just don't know how to make the "n-yay" character. phonetics and shit. pero gracias por decirme la verdad.
Life
Tasos Sagris (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 04:10
Life is short and the end is always near. Dont loose even a day doing things that you dont love. Liberare yourself from social obligations, all of them are traps. School, college, work, market, nuclear family - avoid them as much as possible, replace them with communities of friends and comrades. Your body is following you any moment to kill you, run! We live only ones, dont spend your life for nothing.
Do or don't!
anon (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 07:56
In reply to Life by Tasos Sagris (not verified)
"We live only ones, don't spend your life for nothing."
So if we're living only once, our lives are spent on nothing, anyways? I agree with the rest of your opinion, just that last part was a tad self-contradictory. There's no imperative where we do things we like. But then again... it's also harder than it looks when you're older than 8 years old to release yourself from them pesky imperatives.
I also find it a source of fun to just turn them into a joke. "Joy" as you get older becomes way complicated (battle of egos, other people's imperatives... n such n such). So satire is usually a very good way out and injects a small fit of feelgood drugs straight to the brain.. from the brain.
I'm ready
anon (not verified) Fri, 05/22/2020 - 04:18
Come and get me, corona!!! I'm not afraid anymore. You want a piece?! Lets dance! !
***licks the countertop and rubs fingers in own eyes***
YOUR MOVE!!!
these times have just reminded me
Nihilist (not verified) Sat, 05/23/2020 - 14:45
of how none of us really deserve to be alive! How is that for existential reflections?! The global human family: Cursed with obsessive compulsive disorder, forever...
Add new comment