DE Weekly: Hancock, Mortality, & Mystery
Below is an archived email originally sent on January 6, 2025.
Hancock, Mortality, & Mystery
The old adage goes, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” That phrase was written by American founding father Benjamin Franklin.
I view only half of these certainties as truly legitimate, and that is death.
I recently listened to an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast featuring Graham Hancock, a British archaeologist who explores lost civilizations. Near the end of the episode, the two men discuss mortality.
The conversation got the gears in my head turning.
Mortality is something we might not think about every day, but we’ve all thought about it. In the back of our minds, it subconsciously dictates most choices we make.
We may wish to ignore it, we may wish to pretend, but we are all mortal, Hancock says.
We are all going to face death sooner or later.
The question is… what happens?
Throughout the course of human history, different civilizations have had different answers to this question. Some have studied the experience of death closely, while others haven’t.
So, how does existentialism confront mortality?
In general, existentialism espouses accepting our mortality, and using it as a reason to live with a sense of urgency. Because our existence is fragile and finite, we have limited opportunities to create meaning–we should live accordingly.
If approached the right way, this view of mortality is supposed to help us create a healthy relationship with death. We should see it as a significant, if painful, part of life.
It’s important to note that not all existentialists see eye-to-eye on this issue. Most notably, Jean-Paul Sartre refutes the relationship between life and death theorized by one of his biggest inspirations, Martin Heidegger.
While Heidegger viewed death as intrinsic to life, and an important experience unto itself, Sartre did not.
Sartre viewed death as something that renders life meaningless. To him, it’s not something we can really experience for ourselves (since we die and cease to exist when it happens), so it shouldn’t be considered an important part of life.
I disagree with this.
I’m closer to Heidegger and Albert Camus on this one. Camus wrote, “There is only one liberty, to come to terms with death, thereafter anything is possible.”
That’s more like it.
Accepting death as intrinsic to life–embracing our mortality with open arms–can help us become self-aware. Everything becomes important. Everything becomes meaningful. Everything becomes ours.
We can live in anticipation of death–and accept the freedom that brings us. This full embrace of the finitude of life allows our lives to have meaning.
For Sartre, the fact that we die renders life meaningless.
No, I say! I say the fact that we die renders life meaningful–meaningful beyond comprehension.
While there are many things to fear in life, Hancock says, death shouldn’t be one of them.
After all, death could be the beginning of the next great adventure.
The accepted view of atheists, scientists, and Sartre is when we die, we die, and that’s it. The thing is, there is really no way to prove this. There is no experiment that proves this is the case.
That’s the Great Mystery.
“If consciousness is the basis of everything, if it’s the essence of everything,” Hancock says, “it benefits in some way from being incarnated in physical form . . . all the investment that the universe has put into creating this home for life may have a much bigger purpose than just accident.”
That’s what I tend to believe, too. It’s no accident that I am me and you are you. It’s no accident that the life I was born into is mine to live. It’s no accident that I feel a sense of urgency to create meaning and live each day with purpose.
This is the positive consequence of accepting our mortality with open arms: it helps us to accept every part of life, even the painful ones, even the end, so we can live a meaningful life.
“We are immersed in mystery. We live in the midst of mystery. We are surrounded by mystery, and if we pretend otherwise we are deluding ourselves.” –– Graham Hancock
Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Brandon J. Seltenrich
P.S.––
Happy New Year. I’m looking forward to sharing more conversations like this one with you for all 52 weeks in 2025.
For more content, follow @TheDailyExist on X. For other social links, click here.
I write this newsletter for free–I love sharing my thoughts with you all, and I’ll continue to do so for free. But if you like what I write and want to show your support, you can always click here to share a tip. Thanks for keeping me going–it’s much appreciated.