Author: Stephen Cave
_Stephen Cave_
Reading time: 18 minutes
Synopsis
The desire for eternal life has always been very strong for people. These Blinks about Stephen Cave’s book Unsterblich (2012) show the amazing ways people in the past tried to trick death. They will not only take you through the history of immortality in different cultures. They will also help you with a hard question: How can you better deal with the fact that you will die?
What’s in it for you: Understand the appeal of eternal life.
Death is not just the end of our lives. We also can’t imagine it. We know we will die. But we cannot imagine what it means to not be here anymore. Even if we picture our own funeral. We see loved ones standing at the grave and crying for us. But we are still there in our minds. We imagine ourselves watching the mourners. This shows that we cannot grasp the idea of not existing. And there’s more: Something inside us wants to live on – even after we die.
The desire for eternal life is deep inside us. Stephen Cave writes in his book Unsterblich that it has always been a strong driving force for people. These Blinks show the amazing ways people have tried to trick death. Believers and kings, artists and conquerors, all shared this desire. But is immortality even a good thing? You will find an answer to this question in these Blinks.
In these Blinks, you will also learn,
- that science says there is no immortal soul,
- why we would live for 5,775 years on average if we didn’t get old, and
- what the Christian idea of resurrection has to do with cannibalism.
Blink 1 – Your own death is hard to imagine.
Maybe you know this feeling. You are in bed, tired, but you cannot sleep. Thoughts and memories keep going around in your head. Suddenly, they turn to your own death. You ask yourself: When will it happen? How will you die? What will happen to the world when you are no longer here?
You are not alone in this. We all know we must die. But almost everyone wishes that day would never come. Why is that?
On one hand, we humans, like all living things, are programmed to survive. Every animal and even every plant is made to stay alive no matter what. All of evolution is based on this idea. Those who survive can have children and pass on their survival skills to the next generation. So, the will to survive is strongly built into our genes.
On the other hand, we are the only living things that also know they must die. This awareness of our own death is a strange problem. We know that one day we will not be here. But we cannot know what that will be like. Our brain cannot imagine not existing.
When we imagine our own death, we might think of the funeral. We might think if our family and friends will be sad. Or what will happen to our pet. But the idea that we ourselves will no longer exist is truly impossible for us to imagine.
So, death is both unavoidable and impossible to imagine for us. This leads to a troubling problem. Our brain always wants a consistent view of the world. So, the idea of eternal life seems very appealing to us. That is why people have always tried to trick death and become immortal.
Blink 2 – People have always told stories about immortality.
Live each day as if it were your last! This is a popular saying. But if we truly did that, we would probably sit on the sofa with our loved ones every day. We would eat our favourite food one last time. We would remember good times, cry, and say how much we love each other. And if everyone did this, no one would go to work. The world would stop. All progress would end. Why even try hard if everything would be over tomorrow anyway?
Life is hard when you think about death all the time. If we push thoughts of death away, it is easier for us. We can focus on our daily life, our tasks, and our goals. Because of this, many cultures have created immortality stories. These are stories and ideas that promise us some kind of immortality. This helps us not to always worry about death in our lives.
These stories are very important. They are deeply connected to the basics of our culture. This includes religion, philosophy, science, and art. Early temples and pyramids, and later the grand Christian churches, were all ways to reach immortality. The pharaoh who built a huge tomb and the poor Catholic farmer hoping for paradise after death had the same goal: life after death.
The wish for immortality has also left its mark on our written and unwritten laws. Both in the Bible and in modern laws, it is forbidden to kill or hurt someone. Physical safety, and the right not to die early because of someone else’s bad actions, is key for our society.
There are many immortality stories. But four of them have shaped humanity the most. The first one is also the most obvious: the idea of simply not dying at all.
Blink 3 – Stopping aging would not make us immortal.
The first big immortality story is: „There is a way to make life on Earth last forever.“
Humans have been very creative in imagining how to stop dying. Someone could find a fountain of youth and swim in it. Or climb a mountain of immortality. Almost every culture has a legend about a life elixir. This drink makes you unable to be hurt or makes you immortal.
For some time, we have actually come closer to this goal. Medical progress and better food have almost doubled our life expectancy in the last century.
People called Transhumanists even believe this: We will live long enough today to see life expectancy double again due to medical progress. And this will keep happening. So, they think we are already immortal now.
But even if this were true, we would still face some serious problems. Our bodies get weaker the older we get. Diseases like Alzheimer’s or dementia cannot be avoided just by not dying. And even if we somehow stayed free from all diseases, we would not be as carefree at ninety as at twenty. Our joints get stiff. Our bones become fragile. Our teeth fall out. Age itself causes us many problems.
Let’s say we could also beat age-related diseases. Or stop aging completely. We still would not be immortal. Life researcher Steven Austad has calculated this: Even if our bodies could stay healthy forever, we would still only live for 5,775 years on average. This is because, statistically, we would eventually have a deadly accident. We would be hit by lightning or murdered.
Blink 4 – Biology limits the Christian idea of resurrection.
Legends about fountains of youth and life elixirs lasted for centuries. But they had one big problem: No one ever found these magic cures. This type of immortality clearly wasn’t possible. So, another big story came about. It says: „Yes, we die, but then we can rise again.“
The most famous example of resurrection is Jesus. Christian teachings say that Jesus showed that resurrection is real. And on Judgment Day, we will all rise again and live on. God is said to put our decayed bodies back together. Then he will decide if we go to heaven or hell. We would spend the rest of our new lives there.
It would surely be nice not to be dead forever. But sadly, there are two problems with this idea that cannot be solved. The first is the cannibal problem. After we die, our body completely breaks down. Its tiny parts go into all kinds of living matter. This likely includes plants and animals. These are then eaten by other people and become part of their bodies. So, any person who rises from the dead would likely be made of parts of other people too.
The second is the duplicate problem: Every year, each person replaces up to 98 percent of their atoms with new ones. This is a normal part of our body’s cycle and how it works. Old cells die and new ones replace them. For example, if we are forty years old, we might not have a single atom from our twenty-year-old body left. And if we were to rise again – which version of our body would be the correct one?
A more modern idea of resurrection exists among futurists or techno-utopians. They believe that one day it will be possible to turn a full human brain into digital data. This way, after we die, we could come back to life as software in a robot’s body.
Blink 5 – A soul cannot exist without a body.
So, no fountain of youth was found. And when we look closely, the idea of resurrection is not as appealing as it first seemed. Let’s look at the third big immortality story! It says: „Our body will die, but our soul will live on.“
When the idea of the soul appeared, it came with another important idea. This was the idea of humans as independent individuals. This is one of the most important ideas in the modern Western world. In the past, a person’s worth and role came from their social class, gender, or job. But all human souls are equally important and have the same value. This is shown in the Christian idea that we can all talk to God equally through our souls. Our laws are based on the idea that every independent person has the same rights and duties.
The story of the immortal soul is based on the idea that our personality or soul is quite separate from our body. But new scientific findings say this is not true. The brain is seen as the home of our consciousness and our personality. It has been clearly shown that injuries or other damage to the brain can change our personality a lot. For example, they can make us develop new social rules or ideas about what is right and wrong. They can make us happier or sadder. Or they can make us suddenly like different things or have different tastes.
If our soul already depends on a healthy brain while we are alive, how can it continue to exist after death without that organ? If we follow science, we must conclude that this is probably not possible.
Blink 6 – Great people live on through their work.
There is one way that holds up against all modern doubts. We cannot become immortal as a body or a soul. But we can leave something behind. As long as this lasts, we are not completely gone from the world.
One kind of legacy is to have children. An important part of our personality will live on in our children. We can pass on a lot of ourselves to them. This includes not just our looks or a first pocket watch. Basic attitudes and values often pass from one generation to the next.
Another kind of legacy is to create a cultural heritage. On one hand, we can change the world with special actions. In a way, this means we live on. Many heroes, both men and women, from the past are still known and admired today. Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, or Caesar may have been dead for thousands of years. But humanity has not forgotten them. People like Johannes Gutenberg or Mahatma Gandhi also changed how we see the world and our society. They live on through their work in our cultural memory.
Another way to become immortal through a legacy is to create works that will still be read, seen, or heard centuries from now. These include plays, historical buildings, paintings, and music. Even the millions of blogs and online profiles today show our wish to leave something behind and make ourselves last forever.
But eventually, all heroes and creators, their actions and works, will be forgotten. And don’t we have to admit that living on through a legacy is not truly the eternal life many of us wish for? Or maybe immortality is not even worth wanting?
Blink 7 – An eternal life would also be endlessly boring.
Until now, we have seen immortality as something we really want to achieve. But not all that glitters is gold. When looked at critically, the idea of immortality is like a Pandora’s Box. It has already brought much trouble to humanity.
Different ideas about immortality made cultures go to war against each other. Lots of blood was shed to try and gain a supposed eternal life. From the Crusaders who thought they would go to heaven for their cruel conquests. To the terrorists of September 11 who hoped for paradise as a reward for mass murder. The wish to defeat death has cost many human lives throughout history.
Also, immortality stories encourage a selfish way of looking at the world. Many religious Christians do good things not out of kindness. Instead, self-interest drives them. They think that God approves of their actions. This way, they can get a place for their soul behind St. Peter’s gate after death.
And even if we could truly become immortal, it might not be such a good thing. If we lived forever, we would experience everything. This includes all the bad things. And probably even the nicest experiences would become boring after a few hundred years. It would certainly not be easy to experience anything new at all.
Another problem would be that we wouldn’t have to care about anything anymore. We could put everything off until tomorrow – forever! And if everyone did this, would we still live in a world where someone does chores or makes others happy? Or would we simply move all effort to the next day?
Actually, what makes our life special and beautiful is this: we only have one life, and it is quite short. Let’s enjoy it!
Blink 8 – Only by accepting you will die can you live a full life.
We have learned about the stories people created for immortality. We also learned why they do not work. We also know now that immortality is probably not even worth wishing for. So, now we should deal with a hard truth: We will all die.
Still, the problem remains: We cannot imagine not existing anymore. What can we do about this?
The answer is simple: We must learn to accept that our death will happen. This is true even if we cannot picture it. Instead of hiding our fear of death and hoping for life after death. We should understand that there is nothing after death. This means there is also nothing to be afraid of.
If we can become comfortable with the idea that we will die. Then we are free to enjoy our life here and now. And to use it well. In a new story, three main good qualities should be important:
The first is identifying with others. Someone who knows they will die stops seeing themselves as so important. They pay more attention to other people.
The second good quality is to focus on the present. We do not know when we will die. But until then, we should enjoy as many moments as possible.
The third good quality is gratitude. Instead of always wanting more, even a whole other life after death. We should think about what we have and be thankful for it.
If we follow these good qualities, it will be easier for us to face our own death calmly. So that at the end of our lives, we can say: I did everything right.
Summary
The main message of these Blinks is:
We humans know that we must die. But we cannot imagine our own death. Because of this problem, throughout history, we have created different immortality stories. However, all of them are not true. Instead of holding on to them, we should accept the idea that we must die. We should make the most of our lives.
What you can do:
Accept that your life will end!
You will never be immortal. Accept this. See your one, quite short life as a gift you should be thankful for!
Connect with others!
You cannot take your wealth with you when you die. It is useless to collect riches or bonus points for paradise. Instead, help others to live well too.
Did you like this?
We hope these Blinks were helpful. Please let us know what you think about our content. Just send an email to [email protected] and choose Unsterblich as the subject.
For further reading: Do We Want to Live Forever? by Barbara Ehrenreich
Humans dream a lot about immortality. But our time on Earth is still limited. In the end, all we can do is enjoy the years we have. And let go. You can find ideas in our Blinks about Do We Want to Live Forever? (2018).
Source: https://www.blinkist.com/https://www.blinkist.com/de/books/unsterblich-de