Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind

How often have you heard someone ask if their is meaning to life?

How many different answers do you think there are?

 The meaning of life has many different meanings depending upon the person, their personality, their experiences, and their position in society.  But none of those factors impact the meaning of death.   Rich or poor, educated or illiterate, Indian or Icelander, young or old, we all experience death in similarly.  

The manner of death changes across different individuals.  Some people live life with such gusto that they finally lose the odds.  Other people want to die for a cause and place themselves in harm's way.  Others always choose the safest options possible to extend their life as long as possible.  In all of these cases, people are still trying to live their life a certain way, their manners of death are driven by their believe of what the meaning of life is.  Death is still death.  

The manner people treat other people's death varies greatly, too.  Some bodies are burned up, others buried, some tossed into the sea.  There are elaborate funerals and great pyramids, while others die namelessly in the streets.  But again, this is about how the living treat death, not the actual facts of our own deaths.  Death is still death.

The question of death leads to many other questions,   But intellectual ascent doesn't change the experience, it just provides ways to cope with the reality of death.  

The question of meaning is also a loaded question.   

It starts with the assumption that there is a creator who created life with purpose.  This is significantly different than scientism which has an underlying belief that there is no meaning to life.  This assumption is typically universal to human life.  This  is also different than someone finding particular meaning in a specific death.  

If someone asks, is there meaning to life, then they have made an assumption that the universe was set up with meaning.  If you are an atheist and everything occurred by chance, there really isn't any meaning and you are driven by your own desires.  Many atheists learn the rewards of self-control and delayed gratification so they might appear "godly", but in the end, it is still just chasing after you own self good in the life you have.  This is just one form of the "meaning of life"

The follow-on question is the creator must be powerful enough to have the ability to give eternal life but did not?  And if this is the case, then what does this say about the creator and their character?

To start this out, let's first look at the facts related to the possibility of the meaning of death.

 What we can say about death is that it impacts everyone equally.  

If there is a creator and created death with a purpose, this purpose is meant for every single person from the beginning of time.  Death is very humbling as it is no respecter of position or wealth or fame or any trapping of life.  The Pharoah in Egypt ends up in the same state as the Jew in the Nazi gas chamber.  

Is there anything in life that has had a such a singular impact throughout all of history?  It has that impact because it is an universal experience.  

Death is final.   It is the door that everyone passes through and very few come back.  Currently, there are several books about people who have gone through near death experiences, but this is not the same.  It gives the moment of life's passing a level of mystery and loss unlike anything else.  

Unquestionably, there is great significance to death.  Human society puts great importance on funerals and the associated grief.  If there is a creator and if death is intentional, then it would probably be key to unlocking truth and reality

So if there is something behind this existence, death could be the key that unlocks meaning. 

Existentialism is a 20th century philosophy which states that death gives life fuller meaning.  It forces each human to consider their existence and motivates us to make something more valuable out of our lives.  It is the time budget of life, that helps us to make the most of our time.  It is the last minute of a deal that convinces us to buy.  

Compare this to a common cultural view of heaven as a place where people lounge around, maybe playing harps or just hanging out.  This would be the antithesis of existentialism.  This grows out of the idea that a loving God would give us life forever and everything is provided to us.  It is very self-centered.  

In existentialism we are pushed to be better because we find value in every moment.  In the view of heaven, we have nothing needed because we are pampered in every way.  For me, I would rather be pushed.  I find so much meaning in life in my personal development and achievements.  So even in my faults, death helps me to be more perfect in this world.  

Could there be more to the meaning of death?  Death also forces humans to look beyond our materialistic existence.  Most people probably would become caught up in their little worlds and never look beyond them without the interruption of death.  You probably wouldn't have gone this far into this website, if death hadn't motivated you!

Death is the great hiccup upon each of our own perceptions of reality.  Whether this death comes from a great war or from dying in our sleep, it impacts the people around the dead in monumental ways.  Death forces the rich to look beyond their money, the powerful to look beyond their power, the downtrodden to look beyond their suffering.  It is a shared experience unlike any other in life. 

Death (and the decay which occurs with time) is very humbling.  It prevents everyone from occupying a position of superiority over their fellow man throughout a full life.  Again, this pulls us out of our perceived realities and self focus into something bigger and shared.  

Death helps us to make the most of life and motivates us to consider other realities beyond our own.  It exposes our weaknesses in a way that humbles us greatly.  Death forces every human being to concede that they are not superman, that there are some battles which cannot be won. 

In the end, without death, I question if a human beings would develop as meaningful existences.  For this reason, death could be one of the greatest gifts we are given.  

Could there be more?  

After all, if there is a creator, than that being has to be the greater, much greater.  As a baby, the only reality we know is the reality we feel and we are not aware of the individuals around us.  Over time, we develop a greater consciousness of the other individuals in our lives.  But what if we need to move into learning more of this mighty creator?  There would need to be a development and an acceptance of our position with that being.  Death becomes a door for us to come to this understanding.  

 Many people ignore or run away from that door, but at least they were challenged to consider a reality bigger than themselves.  Are you ready, are you brave, enough to pursue reality passionately?

Philosophically, if there is something beyond scientism then the exploration of death is the most logical path to "enlightenment".  

 So where does the trail of thought crumbs take us......look at the page Truth Crumbs.