My seven year old daughter wanted to know: If life begins, it has to end too, no? So how and when will it end?
She had me zapped on two counts. One, that she could think such a thought. But secondly, because, I have had three different conversations with three sets of people of my age on parallel lives and death.
I hate to go deep in there because it makes me nervous and taut...it is like thin air - you understand it when you talk about it, but lose the meaning the moment you end your statement. Is this right, is this what you meant? Are what we think "other animals" parallel lives that we don't understand and so consider humans as the supreme creation, because of sixth sense etc? Or are their other planets where our lives are mirrored...or we are mirroring other worlds? Are we part of a reality show, or are we the audience? Are we in the dream, or are we dreaming?
Apparently the book Vasishta's Yoga deals with it...for those who are interested. I myself - I prefer the dream world of fiction. A parallel world clearly dreamt up for popular consumption.
She had me zapped on two counts. One, that she could think such a thought. But secondly, because, I have had three different conversations with three sets of people of my age on parallel lives and death.
I hate to go deep in there because it makes me nervous and taut...it is like thin air - you understand it when you talk about it, but lose the meaning the moment you end your statement. Is this right, is this what you meant? Are what we think "other animals" parallel lives that we don't understand and so consider humans as the supreme creation, because of sixth sense etc? Or are their other planets where our lives are mirrored...or we are mirroring other worlds? Are we part of a reality show, or are we the audience? Are we in the dream, or are we dreaming?
Apparently the book Vasishta's Yoga deals with it...for those who are interested. I myself - I prefer the dream world of fiction. A parallel world clearly dreamt up for popular consumption.
And what was your answer to her?
ReplyDeleteFrankly, like adults I find she is more interested in asking than listening to an answer... Which sometimes suits me fine... But I said, "you are right, I am not sure what happens."
ReplyDeleteWish unraveling the mysteries of life and death was more like mathematics. Clean and lucid principles that can be "QED" or "Hence proved".
ReplyDeleteBut its a lot more like Physics. You "assume" one item as a fact and build *all* your theories around that. And how do you say the assumptions are true - verified by observations or negation of other possibility. Of course we have only considered possibilities that have occurred to a few of us in our collective mental cogitations! he he he
Me too - any day! Would prefer to dream about infinite possibilities than what could or could not be based on what other humans say!