sol.ace_r

Why do we fear death?
And why do some people dream of eternal life?

Death.
It is something we cannot return from to explain, nor rehearse in advance.
Humans tend to perceive what they cannot understand as fear.
That is why death has long been an object of terror.
But if we look a little closer, perhaps what we truly fear is not death itself, but the fact that things end.

Death is, before the disappearance of existence, the severing of relationships.
All the words, emotions, time, and promises that are currently in motion come to a sudden halt.
The fear comes from knowing that unsaid words and unfinished fragments of life remain as they are, no longer able to continue.

At this point, the desire for eternal life sometimes emerges.
Those who dream of eternity are not necessarily greedy for life.
More often, aren’t they people who have experienced too much loss?
Rather than wanting to defeat death, perhaps they simply do not want to lose what they have.

For others, eternity may be a deferred form of salvation.
When the present feels insufficient, when one feels unfinished, the belief arises that if time were infinite, things might eventually become all right.

Yet at the same time, eternity dilutes the density of life.
If tomorrow is infinite, today is not urgent.
If something can be done someday, today’s choices are postponed.
In that sense, eternal life is an imagination that protects life, but also a structure that makes life lighter.

The fear of death and the longing for eternity may seem to stand on opposite sides, but in truth, they grow from the same root.

To fear death is to still have a life one wants to hold on to.
To dream of eternity is to not yet be ready to let go.

Because there is an end, life gains meaning.
And because humans cannot endure that end, they imagine eternity.
Between the two, we live each day—fearing, holding on, and ultimately remaining within the time called today.