The Lies & Half-Truths of Death

Personified Death is a persistent Biblical theme. I have experienced an evil in my heart and in this world that I would call "Oblivion", kind of death personified. It is the voice and will to nothingness. It cries to many of us. The above is a vast oversimplification and at best a half-truth. Life is not a lie even in a godless universe. We are here, we live, existence is not an illusion. Put someone in enough pain and they will realize just how real life is. Yet in a godless universe, it is true that life has less substance than death. For in a godless universe, death is final and wipes away all that came before it. Belief in God is belief that Life is greater than death. That is why God's name in the Bible is "Yahweh"...."I AM". Life whispers to us in subtle ways that we are loved and our existence has some kind of eternity. Death screams that it is the final and ultimate truth. I find the screaming to be very telling. Death is the lie, at least death as Oblivion is the real lie. The lie of death is convincing because we all have a darkly masochistic side. We fear anything that brings hope is just us lying to ourselves, because in the end we don't really feel we deserve love. Grace is rejected because we seek to murder the image of God within ourselves.

The truth is, though, that this is a misrepresentation of what life itself is even as the individual experiences it, putting aside the the truth behind the experience. I know more people who hate life than love it. Most people fear death more than they love life, which really isn't living at all, it is just dying very slowly. Additionally death is easy and life is hard. One of my favorite examinations of this is the early conflict between Adam Warlock and Thanos in the 70s Marvel Comics Universe. Thanos argued for the beauty of death based on it's simplicity and ease.

Here is that exchange:

"Why" (asks Warlock)..."why must life be so cruel? Why must there be so much mystery...so much pain?"

 "Because that is the way of life" (answers Thanos) "Yes, for every action there must be a reaction. With every give a take must occur. For every pleasure a pain must be paid. You, unlike myself, have chosen the path of the living. You must learn to be one with this life or it will destroy you, Adam. The only way to do this is to pay its price. Its price is pain!"


This too is the word of death, though a more honest one than the other. It is not true that EVERY thing is a trade-off, but it is true that trade-offs are the general trend of life, at least in this world. God could not escape suffering, and so we cannot escape suffering either. To be is to at least risk the possibility of suffering. This is true. God could not create without this risk. It is just what it means to exist. Some pain is inevitable, mystery unavoidable and suffering is always possible. But death, void of complexity, is not beautiful in the way life is. Thanos is wrong to choose the way of death. This is still a lie, but it is a lie that exposes the other to be a falsehood. Loving life is not easy, it takes work and it requires sacrifice. As such it is ridiculous to accuse the lover of life of wishful thinking. Death has it's own consolations. In the end one simply asks the question whether being is better than non-being, life better than non-life, conscious better than non-consciousness. I feel these are inherent goods, and that it is better to exist with pain and suffering than to not exist at all. I think being and life and consciousness are inherent goods. This cannot be proved, it can only be believed, or sometimes experienced.