The Psalm of David
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is the Valley of Life. Don't take that to be hopeful. It's not a hopeful statement, it's a statement that means all life is overshadowed, has the evil eye of death looking over it. Death is not necessarily evil, but that's what the line says. That death casts a shadow over life, casts a pall, removes dimensions that would be granted by the light reflecting off of various surfaces in that valley. It means the source of light also is not available to the living. Who can say if they ever thought of that.
You can't see the light that casts the shadow you walk in. You can't see whatever it is that makes life worth living, and that makes the pall of the shadow such a pall. You can't see it, but it is there, it has to be to throw a shadow. I don't mean god. I'm not about to start believing in god now. I'm exploring an analogy with you. I'm performing a close reading. Death cannot be what makes life worth living, because it cannot be both the shadow and the light that casts the shadow. Those two things are separate. They might be part of the same whole though. That's a possibility. The light and the shadow can be life and death, parts of a cycle, and the cycle could be the ultimate, undiscovered worth of life. After all, you couldn't see the worth of the cycle until you were outside of it. That's the idea anyway. Or you could say it was god. You can say god is the light that death shields us from. And when we're no longer in the SHADOW of death, but in death itself, we will be able to see the light, to see god, to see what casts the shadow. The contrast.
The light cannot be cast by life, because life is the shadow of death, or life is in the shadow of death. If life was the thing that cast the shadow, then the shadow itself would have to be something else. The shadow would have to be only an indicator of life. Although, there is soemthing to be said for considering death as an indicator of life. Or vice versa. You can't have life without death, it is meaningless, and you cannot have death without life. Death without life is inertness, and life without death makes the very concept of death incomprehensible.
What do you want from me? I just had to write something. It doesn't matter what I write. It doesn't matter that this is all bunk, it just matters that my fingers are moving and thoughts are spilling out onto a page. That's all that matters. It's worth noting that I'm writing this on a computer, and not on paper. Most of the things that I write of any significant length or content, I write on paper first. This has got the same flow, somehow, that I always get on paper, and yet I'm writing it on the computer. Maybe because I'm writing it in notepad, which has no icons, no buttons, no options. It is only the recorder of letters, and that is all. Notepad doesn't have other functions. It doesn't have a pretty user interface that makes you want to use it. I don't use an interface when I'm writing, not that kind. All I do is write. All I want is thoughts on paper, thoughts recorded. Hitting the "copy" or "zoom" buttons are extraneous. There is no value in those buttons while writing. Those buttons are for the appearance of writing, they portray the writing in a different way. Writing should portray itself. Unless the medium is part of your consideration, and for me it is not. I don't format.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. So death is frightening, but death si not necessarily evil. The possibility of evil is frightening, but not the death itself. Think about it. I've agreed with this for quite some time now. I don't worry about death. Death doesn't scare me. Would it bother me if I were dead four minutes from now? Yes. But not because I'm afraid of it. It would bother me because I like life, and death is the absence of that which I like. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of dying. Dying has the possibility of being unpleasant. Death really doesn't have that possibility for me. The absence of everything cannot be pleasant or unpleasant, it is just NOT. There is nothing to BE pleasant or unpleasant. If it were one of those, that would necessitate there being something there. If there is nothing, there can be no value to it. Positive or negative. No value can be ascribed.
However, life has the possibility of being positive or negative. You get the chance to make it that way. Maybe everything goes wrong for you since the beginning of your life. Maybe everything goes right for you. MOre likely, you get a healthy dose of each. You get to try to make it better or worse, as you see fit. You get to make decisions and find out what the consequences are. Would you rather hasten toward death? That's a choice you have, of course. But in my mind, if you don't believe in anything afterward, then you only have this small amount of time to live, and eternity is nothing. If you believe there is a heaven or hell that lasts for eternity, then why would you hasten to get there? You can still only LIVE for this much time, and then you have eternity in one or the other. Life is limited, heaven and hell are not. The only way it makes sense is if you believe in some kind of limited time for life/afterlife, like a total of 100 years, and if you live for 70, then you only get 30 years in heaven or something. OR, if you think that the total absence of everything is better than the life you lead. But for the most part, you can just make different choices to get out of that. To improve things.
The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Did you know this prayer is Jewish? I didn't know that until this week. How could you want for anything? If you want it, find it. If you don't want it, you don't find yourself wanting. It's nice that this "lord" fellow has decided to provide for all of your needs, isn't it? I'm just rambling now, and you can tell that. This paragraph is bunk.
The part about lying down in green pastures sounds really good to me. I'd like to lie down in green pastures.
But I have trouble enjoying any thoughts when they've been numbered. Psalm 23 indeed.
You can't see the light that casts the shadow you walk in. You can't see whatever it is that makes life worth living, and that makes the pall of the shadow such a pall. You can't see it, but it is there, it has to be to throw a shadow. I don't mean god. I'm not about to start believing in god now. I'm exploring an analogy with you. I'm performing a close reading. Death cannot be what makes life worth living, because it cannot be both the shadow and the light that casts the shadow. Those two things are separate. They might be part of the same whole though. That's a possibility. The light and the shadow can be life and death, parts of a cycle, and the cycle could be the ultimate, undiscovered worth of life. After all, you couldn't see the worth of the cycle until you were outside of it. That's the idea anyway. Or you could say it was god. You can say god is the light that death shields us from. And when we're no longer in the SHADOW of death, but in death itself, we will be able to see the light, to see god, to see what casts the shadow. The contrast.
The light cannot be cast by life, because life is the shadow of death, or life is in the shadow of death. If life was the thing that cast the shadow, then the shadow itself would have to be something else. The shadow would have to be only an indicator of life. Although, there is soemthing to be said for considering death as an indicator of life. Or vice versa. You can't have life without death, it is meaningless, and you cannot have death without life. Death without life is inertness, and life without death makes the very concept of death incomprehensible.
What do you want from me? I just had to write something. It doesn't matter what I write. It doesn't matter that this is all bunk, it just matters that my fingers are moving and thoughts are spilling out onto a page. That's all that matters. It's worth noting that I'm writing this on a computer, and not on paper. Most of the things that I write of any significant length or content, I write on paper first. This has got the same flow, somehow, that I always get on paper, and yet I'm writing it on the computer. Maybe because I'm writing it in notepad, which has no icons, no buttons, no options. It is only the recorder of letters, and that is all. Notepad doesn't have other functions. It doesn't have a pretty user interface that makes you want to use it. I don't use an interface when I'm writing, not that kind. All I do is write. All I want is thoughts on paper, thoughts recorded. Hitting the "copy" or "zoom" buttons are extraneous. There is no value in those buttons while writing. Those buttons are for the appearance of writing, they portray the writing in a different way. Writing should portray itself. Unless the medium is part of your consideration, and for me it is not. I don't format.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. So death is frightening, but death si not necessarily evil. The possibility of evil is frightening, but not the death itself. Think about it. I've agreed with this for quite some time now. I don't worry about death. Death doesn't scare me. Would it bother me if I were dead four minutes from now? Yes. But not because I'm afraid of it. It would bother me because I like life, and death is the absence of that which I like. I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid of dying. Dying has the possibility of being unpleasant. Death really doesn't have that possibility for me. The absence of everything cannot be pleasant or unpleasant, it is just NOT. There is nothing to BE pleasant or unpleasant. If it were one of those, that would necessitate there being something there. If there is nothing, there can be no value to it. Positive or negative. No value can be ascribed.
However, life has the possibility of being positive or negative. You get the chance to make it that way. Maybe everything goes wrong for you since the beginning of your life. Maybe everything goes right for you. MOre likely, you get a healthy dose of each. You get to try to make it better or worse, as you see fit. You get to make decisions and find out what the consequences are. Would you rather hasten toward death? That's a choice you have, of course. But in my mind, if you don't believe in anything afterward, then you only have this small amount of time to live, and eternity is nothing. If you believe there is a heaven or hell that lasts for eternity, then why would you hasten to get there? You can still only LIVE for this much time, and then you have eternity in one or the other. Life is limited, heaven and hell are not. The only way it makes sense is if you believe in some kind of limited time for life/afterlife, like a total of 100 years, and if you live for 70, then you only get 30 years in heaven or something. OR, if you think that the total absence of everything is better than the life you lead. But for the most part, you can just make different choices to get out of that. To improve things.
The lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Did you know this prayer is Jewish? I didn't know that until this week. How could you want for anything? If you want it, find it. If you don't want it, you don't find yourself wanting. It's nice that this "lord" fellow has decided to provide for all of your needs, isn't it? I'm just rambling now, and you can tell that. This paragraph is bunk.
The part about lying down in green pastures sounds really good to me. I'd like to lie down in green pastures.
But I have trouble enjoying any thoughts when they've been numbered. Psalm 23 indeed.