Happiness is capricious. Many people will never be happy because they were born under the wrong circumstances. On the contrary Death is fair, everybody has the capacity to die. We may never find joy but we will eventually get peace in the void of non-existence. Why does modern western society overvalue life and seek longevity at all costs?
I believe that Death is God’s gift to humanity. A promise of freedom and mercy. In this essay, I want to rehabilitate Death as an ally of mankind, as opposed to an enemy to eradicate. This essay concerns only freely chosen or “natural” Death. I will never advocate for forcing this decision on anyone.
Let’s start with the benefits to the individual, then to the ones left behind and finally to society.
For an individual, Death is the guarantee that no matter how acute pain is, it will be bounded in time. Modern medicine should be the ally of Death. It is the most powerful tool a doctor can use against suffering. Terminally ill patients endure excruciating physical pain and loss of dignity, yet medicine focuses only on survival. A truly compassionate medicine should allow its patients to choose between life and Death. Longevity is only important if the individual finds joy and meaning in his existence.
Death can be hard on the ones left behind, especially in the case of accidents or violence. But it can also be the start of a healing process. After a successful mourning our perception of a person changes. It is no longer just a decaying body. Instead all of our memories about that person will be woven into a story. Without Death, this process would not happen. We would not consider his whole life but rather focus on the most recent interactions with him.
Death enables society to prosper. It is the boundary between generations without which new ideas could not flourish. No leader will live forever, thus society cannot stagnate under a fixed mindset. At the end of his life, Gilgamesh accepted his own mortality and found solace in his legacy. But I wonder if he realized that his Death was essential to the longevity of his story. New generations are needed to preserve society against a changing environment. And each generation will perpetuate the memory of their ancestors.
Life’s goal is to exhaustively explore the space of existence. Each person represents a unique point in that space. Each person’s path reflects both free will and environmental constraints. As any exploratory process, some of the paths taken will lead to sub-optimal outcomes. For an individual, this translates to a life of unjustified suffering. Death exists to soothe the pain of those sacrificed in the pursuit of life’s curiosity.