From: William Kitchen (bill@iglobal.net)
Date: Wed Jan 26 2000 - 20:00:13 MST
Below is the response I posted to the article at infidels.org:
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The view on death that James Still expresses in his article,
"Death Is Not an Event in Life", seems to me as fanciful and
counterproductive as the "life after death" myths that he
mentions.
We progress by overcoming our limitations, not by "accepting"
them, or rationalizing them away with wishful thinking or
convoluted self-delusion.
Where would we be if we just accepted helplessness in the face of
diseases, instead of looking for cures? Where would we be if we
just accepted that we can't fly, instead of creating airplanes?
Where would we be if we just accepted our ignorance about the
cosmos, instead of studying it?
"death is not an event in life . . . our life has no end in just
the way in which our visual field has no limits." is just a
thinly disguised "I can't". A poor excuse to not rise to the
challenge that presents itself to us. There is no reason to
believe that the challenge of death cannot be overcome just like
countless others before it.
You can wish it away if that makes you feel better, but the loss
of a human life _is_ a tragedy. There was a time, not long ago,
when no one had ever travelled beyond the earth's atmosphere.
That no one has lived much beyond a century is no more reason to
accept the inevitability of death than our lack of wings is
reason to accept the inevitability of not being able to fly.
---
Peace,
William Kitchen
The future is ours to create.
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