Are You Afraid of Death?
We all live under the threat of death, we all yearn for immortality. Who wouldn't want to avoid Death?
Stephen Cave, the author of the best selling book Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How it Drives Civilization, recently gave a talk on TED and it's amazing, take a look:
He goes through the four basic stories or narratives that humanity tells itself in order to overcome its fear of death - incidentally, the four essential plot lines that we writers always tend to write about - and he's given them striking names:
elixir; resurrection; soul; legacy.
What I love best is his comparison of life to a book: bound by the cover (our birth) and the last page (our death). And, as he says, the only thing that matters is not dying but that you make out of your life a "good story":
This is so true. When someone dies too soon, like a child or a young adult, or when someone dies having lived a sad, inconclusive life with much pain and loss, then Death is awful - unless you can see it as something that has mercifully put an end to that pain...
As a writer, I believe death plays a huge role in our lives and our books - often prodding us to write. How do you feel about it?
Related articles
Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death(myteducation.wordpress.com)
Happy birthday, Camus! Or, life is meaningless and birthdays don't even matter.(tedx.com)
The Four Stories We Tell Ourselves About Death (YouTube)(jerichobrisance.com)
My Writing, My Legacy(martadelannoy.wordpress.com)
Stephen Cave, the author of the best selling book Immortality: The Quest to Live Forever and How it Drives Civilization, recently gave a talk on TED and it's amazing, take a look:
He goes through the four basic stories or narratives that humanity tells itself in order to overcome its fear of death - incidentally, the four essential plot lines that we writers always tend to write about - and he's given them striking names:
elixir; resurrection; soul; legacy.
What I love best is his comparison of life to a book: bound by the cover (our birth) and the last page (our death). And, as he says, the only thing that matters is not dying but that you make out of your life a "good story":
This is so true. When someone dies too soon, like a child or a young adult, or when someone dies having lived a sad, inconclusive life with much pain and loss, then Death is awful - unless you can see it as something that has mercifully put an end to that pain...
As a writer, I believe death plays a huge role in our lives and our books - often prodding us to write. How do you feel about it?
Related articles
Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death(myteducation.wordpress.com)
Happy birthday, Camus! Or, life is meaningless and birthdays don't even matter.(tedx.com)
The Four Stories We Tell Ourselves About Death (YouTube)(jerichobrisance.com)
My Writing, My Legacy(martadelannoy.wordpress.com)
No comments have been added yet.
