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Is Death Optional?

by RAVINDER SINGH TANEJA

 

The subject of death may appear a tad morbid. Indeed, it is considered bad form to just talk about death - unless, of course, confronted with the passing of a family member, a relative or a friend. But even then, death presents itself as an unwelcome interruption.

So why am I ruminating over this gloomy subject?

Well, for one thing, it had been on my mind, triggered by the recent passing of a friend's father. In preparing for the eulogy, I turned, quite naturally, to gurbani for guidance. Many of the passages I examined were familiar, but this time around yielded a different perspective.

To compound matters, Ray Kurzweil's book, The Fantastic Voyage: Live Longer to Live Forever, which had been sitting in my pile of unread books, beckoned. Kurzweil suggests that the capability to extend human life indefinitely, and attain physical immortality, is well within grasp.

Reading Kurzweil and reflecting on gurbani's view of death and immortality was a heady mix; not unexpectedly, more questions bubbled up in my head than I could resolve. I suspect that my predicament is not confined to me and might have a broader interest.

What is striking is that death lies at the root of our existential angst. Our fear of physical extinction seems to fuel the fear that drives our lives - consciously or otherwise - to a paradoxical, if not neurotic approach to death and dying.

Although death is imminent, forever around us, we go about our lives as if we are personally immune from it. Death is inexplicable, a perennial riddle, but we never cease to look for an explanation. Despite our efforts, we remain singularly unequipped to deal with its arrival - it always accosts us like an unwelcome and rude intruder.

But above all, what I find most remarkable is our singular and overmastering impulse to defy the certainty of death, to want to stay a step ahead of the Grim Reaper.

The pull of an eternal life has, of course, been tugging at us ever since we were able to contemplate our mortality. This quest has found expression through myth, creation stories, the lives of Himalayan yogis, the "Amrit" of the Sikh Gurus. And in our day, scientists like Kurzweil are holding out the possibility of making death optional.

Whether we know it or not, Immortality is our deepest and most persistent hunger. But is the pursuit of the mystic, the longing for "Amrit" the same as the life extension project of today's scientists? And what are the implications?

The question is worth an examination.

Much of what Kurzweil says appears, like the title of his book, to be fantastic. If this were coming from a less capable voice, one could have dismissed it as science fiction or worse, wild fantasy. Coming from Kurzweil, it seems scarily plausible.

Kurzweil is no crank. He is a respected scientist and a large minded one at that: an award winning inventor and one of today's leading futurists and innovators, he is the winner of the National Medal for Technology and an inductee to the National Inventor Hall of Fame. He is also the author of such acclaimed books as The Age of Spiritual Machines, The Singularity is Here: when Humans Transcend Biology, and most recently, Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever.

Kurzweil's premise is that by leveraging the intersection of biology, information science and nanotechnology, we can "bridge" our way to living forever. The first bridge in this process involves diet, a heavy supplementation and rejuvenation regimen and exercise - something that Kurzweil practices in his personal life.

To be sure, it is going to take more than just eating your vegetables and exercise to get there.

The second and third "bridges" will involve the merging of our biology with the achievements of genetics, nanotechnology and robotics. The decoding of the human genome will give rise to powerful technologies; combined with rational drugs, tissue re-engineering, and nanobots (mini robots designed to float around in our bloodstream to "fix" any bugs as they arise) it would be possible to re-engineer our genetic code and extend life, potentially forever.

Even if a small fraction of what Kurzweil predicts is realized, it will create a species that is unrecognizable and have consequences that we cannot begin to fathom.

Will it mean the end of life - and death - as we understand it?

In stark contrast, gurmat challenges our conditioned way of apprehending Reality - which posits a time bound, physical existence that appears solid, concrete and permanent. Gurmat welcomes the termination of physical existence, asserting that we are, in fact, descended from the Immortal Spirit.

Death, in this view, is not the dreadful event that we perceive it to be. Rather, it is a moment pregnant with immense potential, if only we grasp it as the doorway to our Eternal home.

Ironically, what veils this truth and the reality of our authentic essence is God given haumai - the complex structure that gives rise to a sense of self (ego) and its associated mental and emotional framework. The seduction of haumai leads us to identify with, protect and preserve the world of the senses. We become attached to the temporary, and that sets in motion the drama of our daily grind and chase. We lose our orientation.

The Guru provides the necessary insight and discernment into the true nature of things. We are not of the body, with which we have mistakenly identified. We are, instead, part of the Eternal Spirit which is imperishable (abhinashi), riding a degradable, recyclable physical body.

If we recognize and understand that haumai harbours a counterfeit identity, then death is simply like the lifting of a curtain, revealing to the individual what lies beyond: its own Eternal, and Timeless nature.

Gurbani is rich in imagery about death as being the fulfillment of a purpose, of a return home - of returning to the source.

Unlike science and technology, which would have us extend our physical lives, gurmat recommends a shift in our perception. To deprive death, we do not need to avoid it, but greet it instead, by practicing its presence while alive.

What are we to make of the conflicting perspectives of death that gurmat and science offer?

We must be mindful that while both perspectives share a common yearning for immortality, they are rooted in fundamentally different assumptions about the nature of Reality, and consequently offer different prescriptions.

Science is materialistic in that it views matter as the basis of Reality. Avoiding physical dissolution, or pushing out physical death, or life extension, becomes its chief objective.

If, like Kurzweil, we adopt a highly individualized and narrow sense of self and self importance, then clearly death is another conquest to be made and another enemy to be vanquished. Death means extinction.

On the other hand, if we assume gurmat, then death is just a punctuation mark in the eternal journey. It becomes good and desirable, part of the creative and generative process that makes life itself possible. Death means metamorphosis.

Examining these different perspectives has - as you might suspect - raised more questions in my mind than they have solved.

Do we see in science and technology the hubris of all-powerful supremacy? Is the zeal to free us from the grip of physical mortality misguided? What would become of life if we succeeded?

More importantly, are we prepared to live forever? Do we have the psychological and spiritual resources to deal with an existence that lasts forever? Would such a life be a meaningful, purpose driven one? What moral and ethical implications would this have?

Kurzweil's techno-centric view of the world and our species appears to rest on the notion that not only is human capability limitless but that it is actually desirable to reach for physical "immortality."

I am cautious about the unbridled enthusiasm for the omnipotence of science and technology that I see in scientists like Kurzweil.

It is no surprise that I find the gurmat view more alluring.

 

rtaneja@insight.rr.com

November 16, 2009

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