Reflections on Mortality

Ye fucking gods! Surely there is a reason to reflect on these matters instead of merely climbing in the vehicle and throwing it into gear. Elemental forces animate us. Does anyone seriously doubt the cosmic importance of this thing we call life? Or consciousness? We are propelled by elemental forces, yet the entire story of our civilization consists of our attempts to resist them, to deny them, to keep them in check. And why? I’ll tell you why. In one word. Ego.

I is the anti-force, the great, greedy black hole that wants to engulf everything, even though doing so would mean its own destruction. Yet, if this is so, then why do the elementals still animate us? Because the story can only unfold from a specific perspective. There must be selves that have limitations and unique challenges and unique achievements in order for the archetypes to be born, and reborn.

Then the last and greatest story, the ultimate archetype, must be that of the supercession of the self, the annihilation of the ego. If the power of the ego is essentially that of the pleasure principle, then the final test must be the denial of the burgeoning threat of ego-pleasure. All thought of self-satisfaction and self-congratulation must be exposed and eliminated. This seems trivial as a theoretical exercise. The desideratum is clear, so what is to prevent us from achieving it?

The problem is, I think, that we are driven by specific desires and goals, ego-desires and ego-goals. So while me may be aiming beyond the limitations of ego, we have no way to get there except through the limitations of ego. We are constantly forced to refine and overcome our desires and goals, making them more and more powerful, more elemental, more difficult to resist. Only in this way can the conditions for the ultimate transcent be brought into being.