A part of life that makes it worthwhile is having family to share it with. A spouse, children, grandchildren, and extended family are the nucleus of life for most people. If you were immortal, you would outlive everyone you loved that made up your family. The personal recognition of family gives us a sense of belonging; special things in life are shared and celebrated together. It can feel like a slow death that lasts forever, to be alone with no family connections to the rest of the human race. Generation after generation, the gap between you and family relations would grow wider, until you would have no roots. Seeing families caring for one another would be painful. As you would be immortal, there would be the chance to start anew repeatedly with spouses and more children. But the prospect of losing loved ones to death repeatedly would soon thwart any motivation to initiate these relationships.
9. Lack Sense of Purpose
Immortality is a length of time we can’t imagine. When you know you will outlast everything and everyone, you may feel any purpose is futile. Our sense of purpose drives us gives meaning to our lives. Self-discovery may seem to have many unexplored corners, until you are immortal. The purpose of being responsible to care for others would not exist eventually. The purpose of a healthy lifestyle to prolong your life would be meaningless and unnecessary. The purpose to travel and experience the world would be a “been there, done that” thing far too soon. With our uncertain and relatively short normal life span for humans, we may have so many things we want to do with this life that we think we could never do them all. But eventually, you would achieve all the goals you had dreamed of. The task of finding new things worthy of giving your life purpose, that you want to do, would be daunting.
8. Mental Stress
Immortality would allow you time to mentally process a never-ending barrage of life situations and circumstances. But thinking about the reason you are here, dealing with continuous death of the people around you, feelings of abandonment, despair, and witnessing generation after generation of war and human error would take its toll. Experiencing this onslaught of life events would cause extreme mental stress. Your mind could slip into a state where you are subconsciously trying to escape the never-ending whirl of life, losing your grip on reality. Dealing with so many traumatic life circumstances could eventually break the strongest of minds, causing you to fear that if you do lose your mental grip, no one will be there for you to pick up the pieces. Mental stress causes you to be easily confused, forgetful and fosters a negative attitude. A chronic state of mental stress also causes anxiety, depression and social withdrawal. You need to maintain a healthy mindset in order to function, be productive and absorb new ideas. Without these things depression ensues, with the possible desire to commit suicide to the end the depression and stress; but the inability to do so as you are immortal.
7. Ongoing Financial Burden
Most people think of all they would do if they were immortal, and all the time they would have to do it in. The downside is that you need money to do all these things. The traveling, the leisure time, and the adventures are hard to do when you are also maintaining a job for income. You aren’t instantly rich just because you are immortal. You would be the same you, with the same bank account. You do have to provide for yourself financially through the many, many years you are going to live. Your intelligence is also the same, unless you take initiative to improve it. You certainly have the time to further your education, go to college as many times as you like…but you have to pay for it. You still have to maintain a job and pay your bills. There would soon be no family to turn to in times of need, so you must stay financially independent. You would not have “job burn out” once – but repeatedly. Even if you changed occupations regularly in different areas, being accountable for your financial welfare indefinitely would become a burden. There would be no goal of eventual retirement for you, as you would have the “gift” of immortality.
6. Disinterest in Socializing
Life as an immortal would change who you are, in time. Watching every generation die would have a significant affect on you and how you view others. Finding common ground with others would become harder as time wore on. Identifying with others and the ability to form a close connection would be difficult for a variety of reasons. You would soon have no one that had any history with you; your whole existence would be establishing relationships over and over again. You may need to keep your immortality a secret from others, significantly hindering the possibility of forming close relationships. You likely will avoid becoming involved with others, after the loss of so many over the years that you cared for. This can cause you to become cold emotionally out of necessity, and live reclusively. Hardening your self against emotional pain and living a solitary life is no life for anyone. Human beings draw on the strength from others to validate us and support us through the ups and downs of life.
5. Decline of Personal Morals
We place value on having moral standards because being moral and decent is a requirement for human survival. Morals keep people from harming others and their selves, allow us to live peacefully, refrain from destructive behavior and are good for interpersonal relationships. If you were immortal, would you see the value in keeping your moral standards, or would you feel they didn’t apply to you? Your perception of the value of morals would likely change over the years, causing you to see nothing wrong with anything you feel like doing. The need to do something different, relieve boredom or make easy money could drive you to things you never would have done before immortality. With so much time to focus on your self, your character could turn cold and selfish. You may not feel a strong sense of right and wrong; reasoning there is no “judgment or consequence” for wrongdoing.
4. Lose Sense of Identity
Your identity, your sense of self, who are and who you want to be is intertwined with what stage of life you are in. In a normal life span, you are evolving with each life stage. Each passing stage is a marker to measure the success of these goals. The goals, values and connections that define who you are during these normal life stages are absent with immortality. Your beliefs morph and change through the years, until you may not believe in anything. With no stage of life to progress to, the years would run together and have no significance, until you are left the question of who you really are. The person you knew yourself to be as a mortal would be no more, your goals having no urgency or defining you as they did. A mortal can look back on their life and know who they are by the path they have chosen; an immortal looks back on so many years of life they become a blur. Your sense of identify will also be blurred when no life path points to who you are as a person.
3. Resentment Towards Others
The thought of being immortal conjures up the illusion that life would be wonderful if you lived forever, as there would be no fear of dying. The beginning of being immortal would feel like you were special and others were doomed. But as years progress in your immortal state, you watch the people around you, resenting their ability to form close ties, to love, fearless of what the future brings, to live with appreciation and awe of the things that you have come to think of as mundane and commonplace. You watch them have children, go shopping, obsess about their weight, buy homes and build their lives with anticipation. You have the weight of centuries on your shoulders, while they are oblivious to the pain, heartache and experiences you have endured. Their lives seem light, happy and free compared to yours. They grow up together and have memories that bond them. They savor family, moments and events; knowing their time is limited on earth and these things may not come again. You see the excitement of a new experience in their faces and anticipation in their voices. And you miss being that way, and know you likely will never be again. Jealousy of the blissful naivety of their lives would cause resentment to be harbored.
2. Witness All of Mankind’s Mistakes and Earth’s Demise
People always speculate about the future of mankind. Human error is inevitable. There are all types of chaotic disasters to live through, such as economic ruin, erosion of resources due to pollution, the sun eventually burning out, or even a meteor colliding with earth. You will have much more time to wait around for these things to happen than a mere mortal. Mistakes, greed, and poor judgment abound. Immortality will give you a front row seat to the tragedies and disasters born from mankind’s imperfections. Man is not satisfied to simmer contently in the comfortable world we have made for ourselves. The world that you enjoy as an immortal could come tumbling down in years, decades or centuries. It is inevitable that at some point a major catastrophe will occur. War can cause destruction that the earth may never recover from, obliterating most of the human race and leaving the world a barren wasteland. You would witness this anguish and live through it all, possibly being the only one left standing. You wouldn’t be living at this point, but merely existing. With everything and everyone gone, you would have a lonely existence – assuming you still have your sanity.
1. Eternal Life In Heaven After Death
“The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. –Romans 6:23 People with spiritual faith in God believe they do have eternal life after death. The faith that heaven awaits them after death sustains them through the trials of their life on earth. It gives their life greater meaning, and they perceive life here on earth to be a small grain of sand in the hourglass of time. The personal relationship they develop with God diminishes much of the fear of dying, and replaces it with anticipation of being with their Creator. They have the peace of mind that they will see loved ones again, and be in a place where there is no suffering or pain for them or others. This spiritual faith and belief in eternal life after death make being immortal in a suffering world undesirable.
Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles touch this in a brilliant light.
10. The day you become immortal, separate yourself from your family. The confusion they will have, added with the pain you will have at their departure, do not equal the joy of the few years you will have with them. And you would never be able to get away from family as they would keep having children that you would then grow to love and watch die again. It would be a terrible cycle. At most, keep record of everyone as some distant uncle/aunt that never sees anyone in the family. You know where your blood is, but you aren't emotionally connected.
9. This is inevitable. You would have to come up with new thrills every so hundred years that would keep you going again. The assumed best thing to do here is to go to a deserted island or town and just live alone, coming up with new things to build/make/achieve every day. You would have to have something to keep you going. I would personally enjoy hunting rare animals in the Amazon or in the African safari. That would suffice for a few hundred years.
8. You would have to separate yourself from humanity. I don't think you would view yourself as a human after the third century. You would see others' mistakes and view them as "humanity's errors", but something that doesn't really affect you too dearly. You would become an observer to the human race. Not anything more.
7. I don't think this would be too much of a problem. The first two lifetimes would be rough, but the more money you save up, the faster it grows with interest. Having multiple bank accounts throughout the world under different names, then having each bank account grow on its own would take care of much of this problem. It would take a few human lifetimes to get to the comfortable stage where everything just grows on its own so fast you can do whatever you want... but a few human lifetimes is nothing to eternity. Also, holding old artifacts for yourself and selling them hundreds of years later would land you a gold mine. It would be relatively easy to do all of this if you are just one person who has had it the entire time.
6. Of course there would be a disinterest in socializing. You would not feel like a human--on what levels can you truly connect? But less human interaction would just allow for deep introspection and wisdom to be gained. I know I could not live without some form of human interaction, but that doesn't mean I need incredibly deep emotional ties with people. Interaction would include people watching. You would study people and learn traits. Probably stalk some people for fun, and view yourself as their life.
5. This is true, and probably unfortunate. However, it is just a key to survival. Though you are immortal physically, too high of morals and "rules" in your life would likely set you on a self destructive path after a short amount of time. The decline of morals would allow you to branch out and experience more. And since there is no true consequence to you for your wrongdoing, is there truly a reason not to do whatever you wish? What would be so wrong with that?
4. You would continue to go through stages of finding who you are. You would change over the years--you would not be the same person for 2000 years. Therefore, I don't think you would lose much identity. You would eventually find solace in yourself and in the absence of company, and just merely studying different aspects of the earth would keep you entertained. You would also likely find beauty in many small things, as you would have so much time to realize the big things and would learn to wonder about specifics.
3. There would probably be some longing for death and true life, but doubtfully resentment. You would no longer be a human. You would be a shadow that can go wherever he pleases and do whatever he wishes. You would likely not be interested enough in personal human lives to be envious. Besides a "scientific" study of the human race, there would be little connection before long.
2. Before the first thousand years, you would most likely pursue some kind of leadership position in a country or territory. Having the wisdom you do, you would be able to spread your vast knowledge to others and teach them the best way to handle certain situations. By the time you are "gone" (moved away without them knowing), you will be revered as an excellent leader and someone to look up to. Other leaders would take notes from what you had done and apply it to their own countries. You would be able to help the humans if you so desired.
1. Yes, and although that being would never see Heaven, it is doubtful that any immortal person would continue believing in such a thing after seeing religions come and go. There would be no longing for Heaven, only pity for humans that believe there is more out there.
In short, there would be down sides, but I could see myself living around 3,000 years before not exactly knowing what to do next. And by that time, other planets will have been discovered, which leads to new horizons and new lives to be lived. It would work out.
It can be a challenge to write a book that your peers want to burn.
But they are FICTION books, not a manual on how to be a vampire or something.. i could understand getting grief if she was writing occult manuals, but its just pop culture. Or do the 'peers' in that world have such closed minds?
EDIT: And no, I'm not trying to be a smart ass here, i honestly don't see it as a big deal ( i don't personally like or see the point in the vampire craze these days, but i don't have a 'problem' with it, or see a conflict of interest ) Tho the resurgence of goth girls is cool
[This message has been edited by User00013170 (edited 11-25-2010).]
IP: Logged
08:55 AM
jimbolaya Member
Posts: 10652 From: Virginia Beach, Virginia Registered: Feb 2007
So 'pursuing christ' precludes you from writing fiction books and continuing your career, and feeding your family?
Who said that? Oh, that's right, No one. It's the subject matter that's the issue. Not writing fiction or feeding your family.
Edit: I didn't read your second post before posting. I don't understand how you can't see the conflict. How could a Christian write books about Devil worship, or sexual deviancy, or vice versa? They shouldn't, although I'm sure there are some out there that do. You cannot be in the light and dark at the same time.
Jim
[This message has been edited by jimbolaya (edited 11-25-2010).]
Who said that? Oh, that's right, No one. It's the subject matter that's the issue. Not writing fiction or feeding your family.
I didn't read your second post, but I don't understand how you can't see the conflict. How could a Christian write books about Devil worship, or sexual deviancy. They shouldn't, although I'm sure there are some out there that do. You cannot be in the light and dark at the same time.
Jim
Restricting subject matter of your chosen profession is the same as 'saying it' in my book. And I guess we disagree on 'being in the dark' by writing books of fantasy/fiction when they presented as such, as her books are.. ( of cousre i could go so far as to say religion books are fiction/fantasy too, but ill be good today )
IP: Logged
10:16 AM
PFF
System Bot
jimbolaya Member
Posts: 10652 From: Virginia Beach, Virginia Registered: Feb 2007
Restricting subject matter of your chosen profession is the same as 'saying it' in my book. And I guess we disagree on 'being in the dark' by writing books of fantasy/fiction when they presented as such, as her books are.. ( of cousre i could go so far as to say religion books are fiction/fantasy too, but ill be good today )
Well I guess that's where we differ. You think it's all fiction. I do not. I don't believe in vampires, but I do believe in the underlying principles put forth. (spirit world etc.) To dismiss it as innocence, just because it is called fiction, is dangerous. Again I repeat, fiction or fantasy is not a problem. There are plenty of Christian fiction writers, But writing books about vampires, or more specifically, spirit worlds, is not as innocent as you think. Don't take any of this as a personal attack, because it's not. I'm just trying to get you to understand that her (Rice) not writing vampire books, has nothing to do with trying to keep her from feeding her family. To me that was a very unenlightened comment.
Jim
IP: Logged
10:26 AM
Khw Member
Posts: 11139 From: South Weber, UT. U.S.A. Registered: Jun 2008
Most people think of all they would do if they were immortal, and all the time they would have to do it in. The downside is that you need money to do all these things. The traveling, the leisure time, and the adventures are hard to do when you are also maintaining a job for income. You aren’t instantly rich just because you are immortal. You would be the same you, with the same bank account. You do have to provide for yourself financially through the many, many years you are going to live. Your intelligence is also the same, unless you take initiative to improve it. You certainly have the time to further your education, go to college as many times as you like…but you have to pay for it. You still have to maintain a job and pay your bills. There would soon be no family to turn to in times of need, so you must stay financially independent. You would not have “job burn out” once – but repeatedly. Even if you changed occupations regularly in different areas, being accountable for your financial welfare indefinitely would become a burden. There would be no goal of eventual retirement for you, as you would have the “gift” of immortality.
While yes, you won't become instantly rich let's consider something.
quote
World English Dictionary immortal (ɪˈmɔːt ə l)
— adj 1. not subject to death or decay; having perpetual life 2. having everlasting fame; remembered throughout time 3. everlasting; perpetual; constant 4. of or relating to immortal beings or concepts
— n 5. an immortal being 6. ( often plural ) a person who is remembered enduringly, esp an author: Dante is one of the immortals
If you are not subject to death then there are many things you can do without. A home? It could be a patch of leaves in the trees, the weather can not kill you. Food? You won't die of starvation. Medical care? It's not like you will die from pnuemonia.
What would suck would to be immortal and do something that gets you LWOP.
If you are not subject to death then there are many things you can do without. A home? It could be a patch of leaves in the trees, the weather can not kill you. Food? You won't die of starvation. Medical care? It's not like you will die from pnuemonia.
What would suck would to be immortal and do something that gets you LWOP.
While technically an immortal can do without a home, or clothes; can they do without comfort? I would not want to spend anytime out in the freezing cold or constant rain. One could move, but that would get expensive. I say you still have to have a dwelling place and clothes. I know I wouldn't want to be looking at an immortals junk all the time.
Jim
IP: Logged
12:17 PM
Khw Member
Posts: 11139 From: South Weber, UT. U.S.A. Registered: Jun 2008
While technically an immortal can do without a home, or clothes; can they do without comfort? I would not want to spend anytime out in the freezing cold or constant rain. One could move, but that would get expensive. I say you still have to have a dwelling place and clothes. I know I wouldn't want to be looking at an immortals junk all the time.
Jim
Yes but it wouldn't be indeffinate. Eventually you would have enough tucked away that as stated by others you could live comfortablely off the interest. Plus being immortal it would give you the chance to experience a life of being essentialy destitute. Not that I would ever choose a immortal life.
While technically an immortal can do without a home, or clothes; can they do without comfort? I would not want to spend anytime out in the freezing cold or constant rain. One could move, but that would get expensive. I say you still have to have a dwelling place and clothes. I know I wouldn't want to be looking at an immortals junk all the time.
Jim
You have "forever" may as well get the suffering part out at some point. I'd imagine that at some point you would find yourself at the north, and south pole enduring "extremes" similar to cutting yourself to see if you still feel pain.
Personally I would be known as the man that lives forever, and make my "life's work" maintaining a record of humanity, what's better than someone who was actually there?
If everyone knows that you are going to live forever what are they going to do? Kill you? Even if a dictator puts you in Prison, at some point he will die, and you will be free again.
I don't know if I could do it. I've already lost a son and can't imagine the pain of loseing all of my other loved ones. It's not all in what I could gain there is all I could lose also to consider. Now, if I had a pensive and a wand so I could pull out my memories and store them like Dumbledore, that might make all the difference in the world.
[This message has been edited by Khw (edited 11-25-2010).]
IP: Logged
12:41 PM
hookdonspeed Member
Posts: 7980 From: baltimore, md Registered: May 2008
See I don't think the Highlander is truely immortal because he "can" die. Same with vampires as they are usually represented in fiction, they "can" die.
IP: Logged
12:59 PM
hookdonspeed Member
Posts: 7980 From: baltimore, md Registered: May 2008
See I don't think the Highlander is truely immortal because he "can" die. Same with vampires as they are usually represented in fiction, they "can" die.
But highlanders can only die at the hands of another, so they are for all practical purposes immortal.
IP: Logged
01:33 PM
hookdonspeed Member
Posts: 7980 From: baltimore, md Registered: May 2008
i've come to understand immortal not to mean that you cannot die, rather that you will not die of old age. single-celled protozooans are for all practical purposes immortal, but they can die for any number of reasons. something about sexual reproduction requires that we age, mature and die.
however, if it turns out that i am immortal, i'll let you know how it turns out in a hundred or thousand or million years or so... oh, wait, you'll all be dead. nm.
i've come to understand immortal not to mean that you cannot die, rather that you will not die of old age. single-celled protozooans are for all practical purposes immortal, but they can die for any number of reasons. something about sexual reproduction requires that we age, mature and die.
however, if it turns out that i am immortal, i'll let you know how it turns out in a hundred or thousand or million years or so... oh, wait, you'll all be dead. nm.
Its always been our environment that is killing us. There was a garden at one time but we screwed that up as well.
As a Christian, Eternity is something I have to look forward to. In fact, all of our souls are immortal, therefore, Eternity is something for which we all must prepare. As a Christian, it is all about our standing with God. If I stand forgiven, then Eternity is spent with Him, in the Light. If not, then in darkness, separated from Him for Eternity.
In either case, we all have Eternity to look forward to.
As a Christian, Eternity is something I have to look forward to. In fact, all of our souls are immortal, therefore, Eternity is something for which we all must prepare. As a Christian, it is all about our standing with God. If I stand forgiven, then Eternity is spent with Him, in the Light. If not, then in darkness, separated from Him for Eternity.
In either case, we all have Eternity to look forward to.
/\ The very 1st thing I thought when I read the subject title. We are immortal already and have absolutley no choice in the matter.
IP: Logged
06:48 PM
Raydar Member
Posts: 41230 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
Well, technically, no it doesn't depend on your belief. Either there IS an eternal life for our souls after this one, or there isn't. The belief comes in... "Who is right?"
IP: Logged
01:45 AM
Patrick's Dad Member
Posts: 5154 From: Weymouth MA USA Registered: Feb 2000
Well, technically, no it doesn't depend on your belief. Either there IS an eternal life for our souls after this one, or there isn't. The belief comes in... "Who is right?"
Well said.
If there is no life after this one, hopefully I have made the world a little better with a message of Forgiveness. However, if there is, then "No one told me...." will not be an excuse.
IP: Logged
07:52 AM
fierohoho Member
Posts: 3494 From: Corner of No and Where Registered: Apr 2001
Its always been our environment that is killing us. There was a garden at one time but we screwed that up as well.
We didn't screw up anything, a couple of mythological beings from a story messed it up, and then religion used emotion and guilt to blame the rest of the human race.
It's like saying I am at fault for the slave trade in the 1800's.
or vampires for that matter.
