In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Finite Creatures.”
I don’t remember when exactly I came across the words, life and death, and the concepts behind them. In fact the only conversation I remember distantly related to this is the one I’m recounting below. It happened a very long time ago, with my dad and I’m using my imagination to fill in the gaps which I’ve forgotten:
Me: Papa, do you believe in immortality, ‘life after death’ or anything of the sort?
He: Not really, I believe that we have just one life. Whatever we do, good deeds or bad, and whatever we get, it’s balanced out in this life alone.
Me: And how can you be sure of ‘this life’? (I moved my hands around me in the air, pointing to everything in the room around us).
He: What do you mean?
Me: I mean, what if this life is not the way we’ve perceived it? What if right now, it’s not us- me and you- sitting and talking here? What if all this is just in one of our (or both) heads?
He: You mean what if all this is just a dream?
Me: Yeah, something like that…
He: Hmmm… that’s interesting. But beta, that is the big question none of us know the answer to!
Each time we get up in the morning, we can’t be certain that we’re actually getting up! Maybe it’s all just a dream, as you say! May be the real universe is so very different from this one and what is actually happening there is unfathomable.This is something beyond us, and we have no control over it! In fact, that redefines the time scale and even life and death, as we know them.
Me: Wow! So, who knows we might me immortals after all!
Here’s a picture I found on FB (shared by 9GAG) sometime back, which I feel goes with the post:
What do you think about the ultimate ‘reality’? Are we all in a dream? Or how about ‘immortality’?
Stochastic 
I love philosophy and it delighted me to read this post. Oh the possibilities that you and your father spoke about.
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Thank you! Glad anybody liked the ‘philosophy’ behind it, my mom just calls us a pair of crackheads! ๐
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No way!!! They thought socrates was crazy lol
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True! But it’d take a lot to reach that (Socrates) level!
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As long as yo know that you know nothing at all you will always be at his level
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VERY Deep thinking for one so young and an interesting concept that has been philosophised about for a long long time….I think we are all immortal,,,we were made from the ‘STUFF’ of the universe, from the birth and death of stars..when we die the ‘STUFF’ still remains and will still be around when our own star dies and others are born. So…in that respect, I think we are all immortal … you post certainly got me thinking, well written,
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Thanks a lot! If you talk about immortality in that sense, then well yes, we are! And that ‘STUFF’ you talk about is I guess ‘matter’- can never be created nor destroyed!
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I can relate to this post – I have troubled my parents for so many things like this and its amazing the amount of patience they have to make us understand. Great post. Love it. ๐
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Exactly! I’m always pestering them with questions and they always answer!
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You made my head hurt! Made me think of the end of the Grinch movie when we realize all of Whoville is merely riding along on a snowflake among many. If I think too long on how vast the universe is I get frightened and I wonder on how we (Earth, life, people) have have survived this long. Don’t know if I make sense.
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It totally makes sense (at least as much as my post does)! lol And by the way, I haven’t seen Grinch, will add that to my list!
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You just made a million thoughts and questions explode in my mind! Astonishing topic,a lot to think about! Immortal or not..for now..you live once but if you do it right,once is enough:)
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And for once you actually managed to say something intelligent! ๐
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Hahaha,..who knows me better than you? Nobody!!๐๐
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I sometimes think about that too–like there’s this worry (I guess it’s a worry) in the back of my mind that this reality isn’t real. Kind of like the Matrix. But then I just laugh it off. If one day I wake up and find my life has been “fake” up until now, my “real” life had better be cooler than this one. I’d better wake up to a hot husband and a nice house and two well groomed chihuahuas.
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Me too! I’ve this long list of how my ‘real’ life should be! ๐
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I like the blog. It got me thinking, especially that final thought you got there, about the universe and the brain cell, what if we we really are just a cell of a much bigger phenomenon?. ๐ Amazing blog really. Thank you for this. ๐
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A million questions and many more possible answers. Anyway, I’m glad you liked it!
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I completely agree to your post which says we are immortal in a sense. I feel our spirit is immortal which never dies. This life is a dreamland which we are currently living in. Everything material is going to be destroyed and our spirit deep within is gonna drift back into universe exploring another body to house in.
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Although I referred to immortality in a different sense, what you’re talking about here is yet another possibility, and a very popular one! It’s what most of our religious texts teach. I’m glad you you stopped by to share your thoughts!
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Arti, Depak Chopra speaks to the question you pose at the end of “Oblivion”. Creation, our reality, our world – what is it? What have we always believed it is? What would others make us believe it is. What could it be? I’ve just finished Chopra’s “The Future of God” and he makes a wonderful argument for the existence of a creator that our own brain cells cannot comprehend. I think you’d like some of the ideas he puts forth. If I lived near you, I would give you my copy.
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I’ll try to read it as soon as I get the chance. Thank you!
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Hi Arti,
What a great dialogue you wrote!
Always dialogues bring life to our story.
Your questions are interesting and leave one thinking and thinking.
What if it all s just a dream?
๐
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Thank you! And yes, dialogues always spice it up, make it more ‘lively’.
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Most help articles on the web are inaccurate or innreeohct. Not this!
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