On Death

Why don't I post on my blog much? I honestly think about it all the time but have usually moved on to something else by the time I have a few minutes to sit down and be ready to write about it. I'm all over Twitter because I like the idea of short, random entries. A blog entry feels like a massive time commitment by comparison.

Today, I found out my grandfather is in serious declining health. It has me thinking about a topic I have very complicated feelings about: death.

I've been pretty fortunate with regard to this topic. I've had very few deaths in my life; my family and friends are all spry and healthy individuals, apparently. This might actually be the reason I think about it so much.

I don't subscribe to the standard idea of an afterlife. I'm not a practicing Christian. My ideas on death stem more from philosophical and scientific works I've read or otherwise heard about.

I think the consciousness is real. I think the "soul" might be (whatever that is). I think that this mortal life is probably just a component to a larger existence.

But I also believe that the brain makes up who we are. And the brain ceases when our other bodily functions do. So we might end when this life ends.

So which is it? I have no idea. Maybe death is a painful and excruciating eternity. Maybe it's absolute bliss. Maybe it's anything in between.