Common Solace

Common Solace

Coping With The Inevitable

Nearly every individual faces the thought of death if they live long enough to conceptualize it. Despite the rationality of suicide during these times, many are not emotionally strong enough to go through with it nor do they subject themselves to continue living in Saturns murky rings. However, if they wish to continue living they must search for a way to cope. The following methods are the most common methods one relies on when faced with the realization of death's inevitability.

Faith- Many people believe that religion is made by man and pursued by him due to the comfort it can provide regarding death. The thought of a holy afterlife if one sacrifices their materialism is extremely attractive to the man who lives without purpose and remains afraid of death. Christians for example find even a release in death, believing that it's possible to continue living in a metaphysical sense in a state of blissful heaven. The devout may even take it a step further, engaging in self mortifying acts of starvation and prolonged fatal meditation to rid oneself of the body in hopes of death. People deluded in faith strengthened by the psychological fear of death can be pushed to the extremes such as ones in the following examples:

• Sokushinbutsu- This was an esoteric Buddhist ascetic practice that emerged in 7th century Japan whose purpose was to achieve spiritual ascent. The priests who practiced Sokushinbutsu did so by engaging in an austere diet called Mokujiki which included only pine needles, resins and seeds found in the forest. This excreted the fat from their body and preserved their shrunken mummified meditating body in preservation. A holy suicide.

• Tapas- Tapas is another form of extreme asceticism where the practitioner partakes in body mortification or fasting to achieve gnosis in Jainism. Righteous forms of self harm.

 However this sort of religious faith and piety is rare nowadays when we are capable of referencing science and rationality. Faith becomes even more unreliable in the face of death when its uncertainty is challenged. It is not your own, empirical evidence which becomes suddenly unreliable but rather your prejudice which is challenged by a force that is more real than your faith. That is the critique of resorting to faith; it is unreliable when truly confronted, hardly is the modern Christian truly reverant. Rather, they practice only when it is convenient, believing only when necessary and continue living without confrontation.

Hedonism and Sensation- People are thrown into madness when they realize that eventually everything will cease to exist. They turn into hedonistic animals when exposed to such a primordial force. Panicking, they begin to seek pleasure and sensation, usually in the form of masturbaition. As strange as it sounds, masturbaition and sexual tendencies are provoked during a crisis, it provides comfort and a temporal distraction to what's to come. Others may also suddenly become impulsive, seeing no reason to live in accordance with society and acutely converting into an immediate egoist. They search for any radical sustenance to cope with reality, anything that can get them drunk on the passing of time. It becomes especially self destructive when one resorts to drinking or drugs in order to cope and feign ignorance to their impending death. Like any logical person, they wish to avoid it and seek whatever sensational distraction they can find, continuing this throughout their whole life only to pay the price on their last moments of lucidity. God frowns upon this, how has one been given such a unique chance to transform into something higher than themselves and decide to spit in the scythes reflection. Truly a blasphemy against their potential. This temporary distraction is not satiating to the soul, as I've stated previously, there is no righteousness in distraction. 

Epicureanism- This philosophy is relatively similar to the hedonistic one previously listed. Its held unconsciously by most people and consists of simply acknowledging that there is death and trying to live life despite that. However the Epicureanism that i'm talking about here differs from Greek Epicureanism, i'm only using its label due to its associations. It's contrasted by the solidification of tenants in Greek Epicureanism vs the unconscious behaviors of the ordinary man. The common Epicurean man understand death, simply waves it away, and continues to live on. I never truly understood this, maybe it's because my pessimistic nature has prevented me from doing so but I cannot grasp the idea that one can simply wave away death. It lacks metamorphoses, the exposing of oneself to death and its inevitability does not divinely inspire the Epicurean, instead it solidifies the contentment of his daily life. Similarly to other coping mechanisms previously listed, this avoids confrontation and saves it to multiply under their ignorance until they lie on their deathbed.

Pessimism- This is more of a reaction than a coping mechanism provided it gives no sense of comfort. The pessimistic man who is exposed to death ruminates about its inevitability. It encapsulates every part of his day, he cannot function with an end. He cannot live without theorizing death, he cannot love knowing it will come to an end and he deems it ultimately irrational to live life at all. What separates pessimism from suicide is only in action. The pessimistic man will continue to live in his sense of irrationality, continuously being dragged to the motions and spending every moment wishing it would only go by faster. This paradigm can be observed in older people too. The elder, like the pessimistic man, can no longer function while realizing their impending death and are usually rendered physically incapable to try and live a fulfilled life. This could be reason as to why people eighty-five years or older are the most prone to suicide. However, a man does not need to be physically old to be mentally rendered to a state of inertia. As mentioned previously, I was reduced to this state for an ephemeral period of time when I was younger. Despite this possibly manifesting in the early stages of being exposed, when paired with constant anxiety and rumination it can grow into something long term.

Suicide- This is the least common and yet the most sensible method to cope with the inevitable. Again, if the suffering outweighs the pleasures of life then why would someone not commit suicide? Humans are irrational. Previously I've stated that only unusually emotionally strong individuals can go through such extreme measures, however that is not to be confused with bravery. Through acceptance and transformation of the soul, one can overcome the rationality of suicide and alchemize life into something genuinely fulfilling through their own ideals. This is why I critique nihilism, there is not even the slightest effort to find any source of divinity and they choose to look anywhere but within. They question why life is so meaningless, so unfulfilling and so insipid because they haven’t transformed the very epistemological processing that renders life's blessings into fruition. Suicide is only brave if one holds it in the highest degree of faith that there is no hope and that it is only necessary.

Alchemization- This is not necessarily a coping mechanism but rather another reaction to death's inevitability. The conscious decision that precedes this transformation makes it one of the rarest when executed perfectly. Even when facing death, the alchemist chooses to attempt a process of acceptance and rebirth. Shedding ourselves of their indoctrination and finding a unique approach to seeking fulfillment despite one's impending doom is the greatest form of bravery and rebellion man can achieve. Not only are they actively fighting against the rationality of death, they are becoming reborn.