EDIT- to garamet Don't get me wrong, I fear mind-blowing agony, and have my mind crumbling, I just don't see it as an indignity in the sense of a humiliation of ego. As for what's beyond, who knows? I just can't rationally see it being anything religion tells me.
The act of will in our mind is the only thing we control. Until alzheimers or something takes that. But by then, that's mind death, and as with full death, you've lost all control by then.
Gotcha. But unless we're talking death from third-degree burns, there are usually drugs to ratchet the agony down to where it's tolerable. The downside to that being that they fuzz your brain. But if you get to control the morphine button, you can decide which direction you want to go in. Yeah, latterday Western religions pretty much drop the ball on this, and Eastern religions seem a little tenuous on the subject. I dig the ancient Celtic concept of Tir Nan Og, the Land of Eternal Summer. No punishment, no harps and angels and boredom. Kind of like Valhalla, but without the swords. And it's separated from life on Earth by only a thin mist, so the people who've gone before us can look in on us from time to time to see how we're doing. Works for me. The alternative would be simply evolving into pure energy. In any case, no pitchforks or lakes of fire or other Boschean nightmares. The only tough part is crossing over from here to there.
Just laying that obvious distinction down for Packard to take issue with or not, because I really didn't get his last post. His logic seems to be pretzeling on him from my vantage point. Just trying to clarify if I'm wrong.
Trust me, even in the late stages of alzheimers, you're very much aware that your mind is going. It's not pretty, and the indignity of it is beyond compare.
I don't believe in anything beyond death, so that would only leave a fear of dying, or a fear of not having done what I want to do in life. The first is useless. Of course I hope it won't be in great pain, but I also hope I won't ever get hit by a truck doing 90, have my leg bitten off by a crocodile or my brain eaten by zombies. It's not something I should worry about. The second is something I should be aware of, as in getting my priorities right and not wasting time on useless activities - but by definition I will leave things unfinished, unless I wrap everything up now and wait for death to come. Even then it could already by too la......aaaaaraaargh... just kidding. Of course it would be nice not to die alone - but that also is something I can do something about, I'm not powerless in that respect.
The act of will in our mind is the only thing we control.[/quote]Exactly! And that's where you locate dignity. So dignity's in control, and where there is no control, there is no dignity. Now, where's the pretzel?
You said that the dignity is in how you face a situation, and that how you face a situation is down to an act of will. No?
Well, so far, all I see is extreme examples to back emotionalisms in everyday life that all amount to "wahhh! I'm not a young buck anymore!! ". All your life, people tell you "grow up!! ", I say it shouldn't stop there, and we ought to make a new phrase "grow old!! ". This vanity shit starts with the boomers (sorry garamet ).
Ayuh. Go watch Sunset Boulevard. Every American generation since the invention of penicillin has been obsessed about growing old. Before that, anyone who lived into old age was actually grateful. Not saying it's not extant in other developed nations (again, if you live in Chad, 35 is "old age"), but it's certainly exacerbated by the American obsession with youth. Yeah, as a kid you're told to grow up. But once you're over 21, you're supposed to lock in somewhere between that and 35 and never get beyond it, at least in looks. It's okay to be inert and mentally lazy, but gotta keep that face botoxed.
