On Death and Nothingness

If there is one central idea to the philosophy of naturalism I would say that it is the absoluteness of death. This means firstly that there is nothing beyond personal death, no eternal souls, heaven or hell, no nirvana or reincarnation. When our bodies disintegrate, so does our inner sense of self, our personality, thoughts and consciousness, what some call the soul. The soul is thus no more substantial than a handful of grass thrown to the wind.

This fact alone should give us pause to reflect on how valuable each moment of life is, how each breath, warm embrace and sunny day is sacred, like a sliver of light in the midst of an infinite darkness.

The finality of death is somewhat traumatizing. We know that when we die our bodies will bloat, fester and rot in a way no more dignified than an animal carcass by the side of the road. But we would do almost anything rather than face this difficult truth head-on. The fact that hominids have been burying their dead for perhaps the last 240,000 years, testifies to how strong this denial impulse is, a denial manifest in beliefs about the incorruptibility and immortality of the soul. It is arguable that religion in its entirety has been one long attempt to block this awful truth from our minds. 

But the absoluteness of death can be taken to apply to more than just human life. It seems to me a fact that everything in existence is liable to corruption, breakdown and eventually, to complete and utter oblivion. Every atom, every species (including our own) and civilization, and even supposedly ideal things like beauty, love and truth will ultimately vanish. The whole universe, scientists tell us, will in 100 billion years or so, evaporate into feeble wisps of energy hovering on the cusp of non-existence.

The absoluteness of death can create a kind of existential anxiety that lingers at the edges of consciousness. Throughout human history a multitude of ideas have arisen in response to this anxiety, but to my mind there are three main ones: (1) the idea of the transcendent, which denies outright the idea of absolute death saying our souls are eternal and bound to some imaginary realm like heaven or nirvana; (2) the nihilist view, which accepts the absoluteness of death but dwells in anxiety and the sense of meaningless it can provoke; and, (3) immanent views which also accept absolute death but conclude that life is of utmost value precisely because our time on this earth is so limited.

Different religions and philosophies of life have emphasized one or more of these key ideas in different ways at different times. Take Buddhism for example. The Vajrayana tradition of Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes a transcendent perspective with its talk of good and bad deities, reincarnation and enlightenment which it defines as a perfect state of omniscience (sarvajñana). But other Buddhist traditions emphasize a more immanent perspective. Reflection on the impermanence of things led the Buddha to conclude that nothing truly ‘is’. All things are like dew disappearing in the morning sun. The constant parade of things into and out of existence, discloses a kind of emptiness to reality, or what is called Sunyata, the ‘groundless ground’.

The moral which the Buddha drew from the emptiness of being was that over-attachment or identification with this or that phenomenon, whether sensual pleasure, wealth or pride, led inevitably to unease, misery and disappointment. Understanding the emptiness of reality on the other hand frees the mind, enabling one to live a more peaceful and compassionate life. The core teaching could be called  immanent because it is ultimately about living more wisely. This is the central message of Theravāda Buddhism in countries like Sri Lanka.

The philosopher Byung Hul Chan also argues that the Japanese tradition of Zen Buddhism understands emptiness in a way that is really about cultivating a deeper appreciation of the ordinary. He says Zen teaches us to relinquish hard and fast definitions, to see the world and everything in it as fluid, contingent and ever-changing. In doing so we come to value the unique beauty of things, even what is usually seen as ugly or inferior.  Chan quotes a haiku from Basho, the famous Zen poet of 17th Century Japan (81) to illustrate his point.

in the same house
prostitutes too slept:
bush clover and moon

Basho’s poem evokes the magic of the ordinary. The moon, symbol of cosmic mystery and beauty mingles with the sordid and the domestic. In other haikus Basho even finds the poetic in parasitic insects and urinating horses.

Fleas, lice
a horse peeing
near my pillow

Talking of fleas and horse piss in the same breath as the pillow on which he sleeps, is irreverent but in a strange kind of way also reverent. It is like a Zen koan jolting the wheel of the mind from its logical rut, forcing us to face the astounding fact that is or everyday existence. One imagines Basho, sleeping perhaps at a cheap roadside inn next to the stables, his dreams interrupted by unpleasant intrusions from the noisy reality around him. His poem reminds us that even moments like these are to be savored, as tokens of our precious and fleeting lives.

Nothingness has also been a key theme in the writings of philosophers associated with the ideas of existentialism, such as the French writers like Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. The existentialists saw reality as a random sequence of temporary and contingent events with no ultimate purpose. Sartre famously wrote that “Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being – like a worm”. He tended however to dwell on the sense of meaningless this can induce. His philosophy thus seems at times like a typical example of nihilism.

But for Sartre, nothingness also meant that humans are not pre-ordained to lead any kind of life in particular — we have a freedom to choose, to be good or wicked, brave or cowardly. But this freedom comes at a price. The self is “ … entirely abandoned to the intolerable necessity of making itself be”, something that causes perpetual anguish about what to do and how to do it. In his novel Nausea, the anti-hero Roquentin is paralyzed with dread about the apparent meaninglessness of things, and seems incapable of moving forward, letting opportunities for love and joy pass him by.

Camus tackled the same issue arguing that without the comforting myths of religion, we are confronted by a world whose defining trait is “absurdity”. For Camus, the toil of Sisyphus is a symbol of this absurdity. Sisyphus as you may know was condemned by the gods to eternally roll a giant boulder up a hill only to have it roll back down. But instead of despair, Camus sees the possibility of “an absurd victory”. Sisyphus can make his fate his own, he can make his rock become “his thing”. In the absence of the gods, in a universe “suddenly restored to its silence, the myriad wondering little voices of the earth rise up”. In other words absurdity is the gateway to freedom and a deeper appreciation of whatever beauty in life there is. Camus concludes, “ … the struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. We must imagine Sisyphus happy”.

Consciousness of the fact we are mortal living creatures, prone to suffering, degradation and ultimately death, in the absence of any satisfying metaphysical reason, has been a source of existential dread, probably since the dawn of our species. This dread can be overwhelming at times. But as the Buddha and writers like Camus show, we needn’t let it defeat us entirely. To the contrary, in the emptiness of being there is also a sort of freedom. Yes, nothing really matters in the long-run, but this justifies neither despair nor opposite feelings like happiness; so seek joy, beauty and peace — for no other reason than that you can.

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