conquering death
when one thinks about conquering something one thinks of resisting it, outlasting it, beating it into a bloody pulp. i have been thinking lately that death is not something to be beaten, because we are all trying to do that, but something to give in to, to succumb to its lovely vices. i think that death wants you to think that it is a horrible thing, kind of reverse psychology to the utmost degree. we think the unknown should be feared, and no one is sure they know what lies beyond the flesh and bone, heart and lung, left little toe and ears that we call life.*
the way to conquer death is not to battle it, nor to just kill oneself and give the ultimate finger to the rest of us. rather it lies in the laughter that abounds in the universe. if you realize that life, death, birth, your next door neighbor, abortions, dead puppies, live puppies, crappy presidents, and even your first kiss, are all funny things, in all their seriousness, then you can overcome the fear that comes with having to be robbed, murdered, or just too much cancer in your bones. can one be really too silly? too funny? too light? too unserious? i don't think so. once you can lie on your deathbed, look up at the hideous floral wallpaper around you, and say, "either it goes or i do," then die, then you have conquered death. otherwise, death is laughing at you.
i know that hesse's steppenwolf agrees with me, and oscar wilde. i think that if kafka and i could talk about it, he would agree with me also. tom robbins definitely agrees with me, the cast of saturday night live would probably agree with me too. brandon joyce is a no brainer** and i have heard don hertzfeldt talk about it. i could go on. crazy wisdom, the wisdom that allows you laugh at funerals, smell the roses and the trash, and create games where there shouldn't be any fun, is usually a characteristic of eastern philosophy, but many western authors and idealists have run across it from time to time. mark twain took this to a degree when he had the whitewashing episode in tom sawyer, and brandon joyce talks about cleaning for fun, and cleaning as vandalism. when one takes a supposidly "unfun" and "boring" activity and looks at it in a new light, turning the traditions on their heads and spinning them in circles, that is the type of crazy wisdom one needs to "conquer" death.
*i know that someone will bring up religion as to where one goes after one dies, but you can't be sure until you have been there. absolute faith doesn't count. no arguements.
**see brandon's article on lifegames here: http://lifeactionrevival.org/cathexis.html
the way to conquer death is not to battle it, nor to just kill oneself and give the ultimate finger to the rest of us. rather it lies in the laughter that abounds in the universe. if you realize that life, death, birth, your next door neighbor, abortions, dead puppies, live puppies, crappy presidents, and even your first kiss, are all funny things, in all their seriousness, then you can overcome the fear that comes with having to be robbed, murdered, or just too much cancer in your bones. can one be really too silly? too funny? too light? too unserious? i don't think so. once you can lie on your deathbed, look up at the hideous floral wallpaper around you, and say, "either it goes or i do," then die, then you have conquered death. otherwise, death is laughing at you.
i know that hesse's steppenwolf agrees with me, and oscar wilde. i think that if kafka and i could talk about it, he would agree with me also. tom robbins definitely agrees with me, the cast of saturday night live would probably agree with me too. brandon joyce is a no brainer** and i have heard don hertzfeldt talk about it. i could go on. crazy wisdom, the wisdom that allows you laugh at funerals, smell the roses and the trash, and create games where there shouldn't be any fun, is usually a characteristic of eastern philosophy, but many western authors and idealists have run across it from time to time. mark twain took this to a degree when he had the whitewashing episode in tom sawyer, and brandon joyce talks about cleaning for fun, and cleaning as vandalism. when one takes a supposidly "unfun" and "boring" activity and looks at it in a new light, turning the traditions on their heads and spinning them in circles, that is the type of crazy wisdom one needs to "conquer" death.
*i know that someone will bring up religion as to where one goes after one dies, but you can't be sure until you have been there. absolute faith doesn't count. no arguements.
**see brandon's article on lifegames here: http://lifeactionrevival.org/cathexis.html