Essay: Death and Annihilation: How Does Our Demise Affect Our Value?

Rodrigo Miranda
Philosophy
Midterm Paper
Death and Annihilation
The pursuit of happiness and finding meaning. Through the circle of life humans embark on their own paths to fulfill their own definition of meaning. For some this could be merely just living with simplicity and achieving the basic human needs such as those described by Maslow in the five level hierarchy , however those who fall prey to fear at the thought to the concept of death may never find that meaning . But how does death affect those who continue to thrive in their own fulfillment? Are our lives rendered meaningless including all our actions, statements, and beliefs? Are we only here to reproduce and keep our species alive? How does our demise affect our value? Death in itself to some could never negate meaning. Some could argue through death we learn from the accounts of individuals who enlightened the world from previous generations. Iddo Landau in his book “Finding Meaning In An Imperfect World” he develops an appeal that elaborates on both concepts of how death does indeed nullify the meaning of life whilst also arguing how some may possess meaning in life after death.
Throughout an individual’s life many different outcomes may be created whether good or bad however all different and unique in their own way. As stated by Landau “Death is not only the great equalizer of people but also the great equalizer of all aspects of life.” Death in itself is the ending of everything we have all done. It is the end of all our arguments, achievements, morals, etc. The “great equalizer” being death renders all different scenarios that might have possibly occurred in an individual’s life all equal to one another. Furthermore, Landau then goes on to reference the parable of Tolstoy in which he describes why annihilation is the end for all things that life has distracted us with.. Within the parable the man is holding onto a twig that two mice, one white and one black, are constantly gnawing on causing the twig to lose its structure causing the man to fall into the well to his ultimate demise.finds honey on the twig and licks in gradually as it will overtime run out. Tolstoy then states “Thus I cling to the branch of life, knowing that inevitably the dragon of death is waiting, ready to tear me to pieces; and I cannot understand why this torment has befallen me. I try to suck the honey that once consoled me, but the honey is no longer sweet. Day and night the black mouse and the white mouse gnaw at the branch to which I cling. I clearly see the dragon, and the honey has lost all its sweetness.” Landau capitalized on Tolstoy’s self actualization to demonstrate how life is an illusion in fact that it is a distraction from our death to come rendering it meaningless.
Annihilation however may not always be the death of our name or legacy. However, what happens to those who know the name when they have fallen. Landau expresses how indeed that individuals such as family and friends will commemorate our lives and deeds through death but that is not eternal. For everything will come to an end Landau states as “ With time, what remains of each of us will, at best, be some pictures at which our great-grandchildren will look with a combination of curiosity and estrangement, maybe reading our name, occupation, and our dates of birth, marriage, and death but without being able to decipher the person behind the pictures and information.” Although the name of the individual may live on longer than the person, the identity of that person is lost as time progresses. This applies to both our lives and achievements that live on after us.
Throughout Landau’s arguments he distinctly infers how death renders life meaningless in his first passage on the subject. However, upon reflecting on the subject he mentions on how death does not destroy meaning rather it merely diminishes meaning. Landau then analyzes the parable he used as examples for what they truly are. For example, as he uses the story of Sisyphus and rolling the stone up the hill for eternity, we are indeed nothing alike him. We are unalike because there are tasks that we find meaningful that are of more value and meaning rather than rolling a rock up a hill. Our activities also will not remain the same for all eternity such as Tolstoy who only hangs from the twig until he eventual death as the rats eat on the twig, We will accomplish many different objectives within the span of a lifetime and each one will have different level of meaning. Landau further states the concept of free will, as an ability we do have which is what makes our decisions meaningful. Sisyphus and the man on the twig also lacks this ability of free will making their lives meaningless.
The ultimate ending of death, as of now due to the lack of knowledge of the afterlife is the introduction to our true worth on the scale of where we lie within the universe. Keith Agustine in his article “Death and the Meaning of Life” expresses our cosmic insignificance as it relates to death. He disagrees with Landau on the part that death does indeed render life meaningless, however agrees that there are more factors that render life meaningful that revolve around the ending of our life. For example, Landau uses the examples of Shakespeare and Homer as they are some of the most notorious individuals in literature as their work has survived through innumerable generations. Landau however explains how even the work of these two will indeed render obsolete as either the human race will eventually destroy itself through “nuclear warfare” or other circumstances or as the universe comes to an end itself. Augustine would beg to differ however. Based on this mindset that Landau has provided us with, the concept of being eternal is the only chance that an object, idea, accomplishment, or individual may have meaning which is incorrect. Meaningfulness if placed on a time scale can be traced back to a certain time period, such as that of Homer and Shakespeare. Yes, the two are dead. Yes, the human race will cease to exist. However, the meaning held within the milenia that the work of these two I believe will be talked about will still hold true. It is a fact that the information and wisdom provided by the two created a domino effect of different works that created meaning on their own levels. This applies to all individuals who have a common life although they may not have global pressure in terms of their meaningfulness, within the surrounding environment, their meaning may have more influence over individuals than that of Homer and Shakespeare.
Death appears to render life meaningless for many people because they feel that there is no point in developing character or increasing knowledge if our progress is ultimately going to be negated by death. However, there is a point in developing ourselves as an individual and increasing knowledge before death : as Augustine states to “provide peace of mind and intellectual satisfaction to our lives.”
Ultimately, I believe that the meaning provided within our lives at a certain period of time does carry on to out afterlife to have some sort of worth or value. Landau does indeed argue for our cosmic insignificance for it is true that we will all die eventually and the earth will no longer be habitable. However, if we allow ourselves to believe that death does render life meaningless then what is the point of any action? By this, it is true that our lives do have meaning as Augustine describes how we have established relationships and memories throughout our lives that held meaning at a certain point of time. Furthermore, if we did not seek meaning . the state of our mind would be inevitable fear of what is to come. The search for meaning and personal satisfaction is what leads our life as we seek knowledge and understanding until the day we die.