Daily Reprieve

I just got finished watching the movie, “The Box.”  And it only seemed to reinforce everything I said in the previous post.  Some advanced alien race is standing in judgment over mankind, examining us.  These aliens are conducting tests that they are pretty sure we are going to fail to justify mass extermination of our species. 

We are a race that is continually facing death with vivid self-awareness.  There are so many humans around me who are dying and I will not shed one tear for them to honor the significance of their lives, because I do not know who they are.  This system of mass denial is how we cope with the limitations of our mortality.  I have two children who will die.  When I held those little infants in my arms, I did not look at them and think about their upcoming funerals.  No!  I imagined the fullness of their lives, and reveled in my love for them as though they where eternal.  But I have no empirical evidence that is true.  So I push those doubts far from me and embrace the systemic denial of my kind. 

Imagine if we were physically eternal beings with no aging, no sickness, permanently young and strong.  Then give us time to evolve in our awareness.  I think the prospect that we would push the button in the box would become obsolete.  Is it not possible that it is our powerlessness over death that breeds our short-comings and not the other way around.  We are all walking around with a gun to our heads, our lives ticking away.  Time is running out.  A small fortune can speed up our personal pursuits.  Such an opportunity means more to mortals.  The illusion that being good will give us special consideration before some angry, demanding old god or some pridefule alien race is absolutely repugnant. 

Who is more brave, the soldier who sacrifices his life for the well-being of his countrymen, not knowing what or if there is anything afterwards, or a god-man who allows his own execution, knowing that he will rise from the dead, and knows that at any time he could have called a host of angelic warriors to his side.  It is the mortal man who lacks the knowledge and fights on anyway who has the greater courage, in my opinion. 

I understand that you admire the writings of John Paul Sartre. Perhaps these words will comfort you. “There are two ways to enter the final chamber, free or not free. The choice is ours.” – Arlington Steward, The Box

Martin Teague: Sir? If you don’t mind my asking… why a box?
Arlington Steward: Your home is a box. Your car is a box on wheels. You drive to work in it. You drive home in it. You sit in your home, staring into a box. It erodes your soul, while the box that is your body inevitably withers… then dies. Where upon it is placed in the ultimate box, to slowly decompose.
Martin Teague: It’s quite depressing, if you think of it that way.
Arlington Steward: Don’t think of it that way… think of it as a temporary state of being.

I prefer this message from William Wallace’s dead father in Braveheart:

Malcolm Wallace: Your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it.

And screw those advanced patronizing aliens who expend their fantastic technology and warped morality to justify their cosmic sadism.

This entry was posted on September 15, 2010 at 1:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Addiction, Alcoholism, Journal, Life, Personal, Recovery, Spirituality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.