Time and Death: Existentialist and Mystical Solutions

There are many ways humans have come up with to differentiate themselves from other species. Among the most common are thought and the use…

There are many ways humans have come up with to differentiate themselves from other species. Among the most common are thought and the use of language. However, we now know that several species of animals, notably chimpanzees and dolphins, exhibit at least rudimentary skills in one or both of these areas.

One aspect of human awareness, however, may be considered unique. That is our sense of time, and, more specifically, our awareness that we are mortal. While animals may have a particular sense of time, especially if you feed them at a certain time every day, it is only of very short cycles of time, such as a day. Humans, however, have the dubious advantage of being aware of very long cycles of time. This enables us to ponder our place in history, culture, and even the cosmos. It is probably, however, our knowledge of death that is the most striking aspect of our time-awareness.

There are numerous beliefs about what death means and what happens to us after we die. None of these views, however, has ever been proven in any definitive way. Thus, even as scientific knowledge exponentially increases regarding virtually everything else, death remains a complete mystery. The most fundamental question we can ask about death is, “does my awareness of myself continue after death or is it extinguished along with my body?” No one knows for sure.

How does this uncertainty affect us, and how can we make use of it, or at least minimize the anxiety it creates?

This question is less of an issue for cultures with a sense of certainty about their spiritual beliefs and their place in the universe. If, for example, you are a member of a tribe that believes that the souls of their ancestors linger eternally in the forest, and can be consulted in dreams and visions, the prospect of death will not be as terrifying as for those who lack this sense of certainty. Ardently religious people in modern societies may also experience this kind of confidence.

Fear, anxiety and uncertainty about death, then, is primarily a contemporary issue. This does not necessarily mean people who live in the modern age, some of whom retain pre-modern beliefs, but those who have a modern consciousness that remains uncertain in the absence of scientific proof.

Existentialism, the school of philosophy that focuses on questions such as cosmic uncertainty and anxiety and humanity’s search for meaning, came into being just when science, technology, and industrialization were contributing to widespread doubts about traditional religious and spiritual assumptions about our souls and immortality.

Existentialist philosophers have focused on the fear, anxiety and sense of alienation that comes from living in a universe where we don’t necessarily have a given place. Being mortal is an undeniable part of this uncertainty. Animals simply live; humans have to figure out who they are and what to do with their lives. Jean-Paul Sartre expressed this by saying, “Existence precedes essence” — in other words, the fact that we exist occurs to us before we have any idea who we really are.

Once again, this is, to some extent, a modern problem. While philosophically inclined people of all ages have pondered the meaning of life, the majority of people throughout history simply did what was expected of them, based on their culture and social status. People in modern cultures, however, are free to define themselves. This is the same freedom that that existentialists have pinpointed as a double-edged sword and the source of many of our problems.

This freedom to determine the meaning and substance of our lives cannot be separated from time and death. It is time and our mortality that places a limit upon what we can do. If we remained eternally in one body, time would cease to have any meaning aside from being a convenient way to arrange meetings and meals. How we spent our lives would not be an urgent question if they were not so short.

What is the existentialist “solution” to the problems of time and death? You could read a variety of thinkers on this question and get different answers, but they tend to have a similar theme. Since we are both free (which also means uncertain) and mortal, the noblest thing we can do is take responsibility for our lives and strive for “authenticity,” as thinkers such as Soren Kierkegaard advocated.

Another way to approach the question is from the standpoint of mysticism. For Hindus, enlightenment means nirvana, a merging with God or the infinite. Christian mystics strive for Christ consciousness. For mystics of all schools, only the “now” is real. This is especially stressed in Zen Buddhism. If you read parables of Zen masters, often told in short parables called koans, you will find a radical focus on the present moment. The modern spiritual author Eckhart Tolle has synthesized many of these beliefs in his influential books, such as The Power of Now.

Some recent interpretations of quantum physics, popularized in several books as well as the film, What the Bleep Do We Know?, have suggested that, at the quantum level, principles such as time and space do not operate in the linear way we take for granted. Many have pointed out similarities between quantum physics and mysticism or shamanism.

What do all of these ideas have in common? They suggest that one way to escape the anxiety created by time and mortality is to simply stop believing in time. This does not mean we must drop out of society and stop using clocks. Rather, it means identifying time as a concept or a practical tool of daily life rather than an objective truth. If we live in the present moment, many psychologists and spiritual teachers and traditions tell us, we find far greater peace and happiness.

All anxiety, whether about death or our credit card bill, is related to the past or future. Living in the present moment is a way to be “authentic” in the existentialist sense, and “enlightened” in the mystical sense.

References:

Existentialism: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/#Aut

The Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle
New World Library, 2004

What the Bleep Do We Know? (DVD)
Produced by Betsy Chasse, 2004