Joelle the holothete does not fear death because:
"Having looked straight into Reality - There is no "I" to dread the loss of. There is a temporary association of mitochondria, eukaryotic cells, intestinal flora, and the like, the whole symbiosis shading off into the world around it that begot it, serving no end except the perpetuation of the genes within."
-Poul Anderson, The Avatar, XXVII, p. 238.
This is the Buddhist anatta (no-soul or no-self) teaching expressed in scientific language and with a scientific explanation: genes. Buddhists, philosophical but not yet scientific, could speak only of beginningless causation.
Joelle continues:
"Were the immortality of my 'person' offered me, I would not want it. Too petty, amidst atoms, eons and galaxies." (ibid.)
But surely she would appreciate more time with the atoms, eons and galaxies? Or does she feel that her existing experiences and memories are complete and therefore do not need to be extended?
There must be alternatives to mere mortality and mere immortality? Renewal? Regeneration? Different perspectives on time? More than one dimension of time? Some such alternatives might exist elsewhere or in the future.
Addendum: 100 is a round number of posts and tomorrow is the last day of this month so I will see you all back here next month. Meanwhile, see:
Some Apparent Deaths And Resurrections
After The First Jump
After The First Jump II
After The First Jump III
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I don't agree with either Joelle or the Buddhists. My belief, as a Catholic, is God is not only real, but created other beings who know they exist because He wants them to know He exists as well. That also happens to be Dante's view, as seen from the DIVINE COMEDY.
Sean
Her remark reminds me of the joke that people who leave to find themselves are leaving themselves behind. (Or the crueler version which says that you're not going to find anything in Nepal that you couldn't in Indiana.)
You don't -find- the "I", you -experience- the "I". You can't see it because it is what does the seeing.
The consciousness of self is the one thing that you -do- experience directly, and not through memory, the senses or reason.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
IOW, my "eye" is not aware of seeing, the "I" which is self aware uses the eyes. And so on for all the bodily functions and organs. Albeit, most times, "I" am not consciously aware of doing so. Or needs to.
Sean
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