Immortality

I was sitting at the park bench eating my Sheppard’s Pie and reading the “Science” section of NPR’s app on my phone when an elderly gentleman approached me asking if he could share some literature with him. I should have politely declined and returned to reading a story about a technology from Finland which will make it possible to pay with your face. I didn’t decline though, instead I said “sure” and then continued to listen as this man (who later introduced himself as Chuck) told me about the Bible.

I’ve heard his story before: We live in troubled times, but there is a god who watches over us and that this isn’t going to last forever. We need this god, this all-powerful god. We need his guidance. He is going to help us. Blah blah blah.

Then, something else was said that I hadn’t heard before from a Christianized Bible pusher. Chuck told me that his god says that immortality would one day happen for humans, and that my generation and I are going to be the ones who would start living for forever. We will not die. A 70-80 year lifespan will suddenly be a thing of the past. Immortality.

Immortality.

I listened to Chuck for a few more minutes, and he gave me some pamphlets and asked me what I was eating, told me to enjoy my evening and give religion some thought, and then went on his merry way. He left, but his one little word stuck with me: Immortality.

I got to thinking as I walked back home “What a dreadful idea immortality is.”

Perhaps I’ve read too many vampire novels in which immortality isn’t romanticized, because the idea of immortality just sounds boring. Famine, war, plague, birth, death, love, hate, loss; all of these things that humans cycle through. Life isn’t meant to be infinite. People aren’t meant to be infinite. Our ideas and thoughts and contributions are one thing, but to live forever? To have the possibility to experience every single thing and have nothing left to experience? Limitations are needed. Limitations are welcome. At some point, I’d loose my zest for life. I’d get bored. I’d get dangerous.

The idea of technology and science progressing to a point where immortality is possible is a fascinating idea. Having more time is also a fascinating idea, but when I looked at Chuck or thought of my grandparents and others who have passed away, it occurred to me that I don’t want to walk the earth assisted by a walker. I don’t want to be confined to a hospital bed, hooked up to machines and tubes and being fed through a tube. I don’t want the pain of old age. I don’t want loved ones to have to watch that happen to me. Maybe I’m selfish? I doubt that’s the answer since I’m so adamantly against my own immortality.

Immortality is a scary thought. There is only so much I can experience, learn, and love before life would become repetitive. What sort of cruel god would wish humans to live forever?

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