In this blog post, I will philosophically explore what the finiteness of time means to our lives, even in the midst of the temptation of eternal life, and where true happiness comes from.
Ancient humans were desperate to achieve eternal life, to the extent of defining and worshipping those who would never die as gods. That desire continues to this day, but the form has changed. We go to skin care clinics to try to smooth out the wrinkles that are appearing, and we undergo plastic surgery to achieve the youthful features that we consider to be the standard of beauty, such as a prominent forehead and plump dimples. Today, we are struggling to maintain our youth without having to face the inevitable aging process. In fact, the desire to hold on to youth and the desire to avoid death are in the same vein, in that human life cycles go from youth to aging to death. Surprisingly, we are on the verge of developing technology that will allow us to live our entire lives without aging or dying. This is largely due to the contribution of genetic engineering. Efforts are being made to regulate genes involved in aging and longevity through the study of epigenetics, which is the concept of regulating the expression of genes as well as the genome that is inherited. One of the efforts is to express “telomerase,” an enzyme that prevents damage to chromosomes due to DNA replication, in somatic cells. If we define eternal life as maintaining youthfulness throughout one’s life without dying, will we be happy if eternal life through these technologies is realized and humanity is freed from death? I disagree with the idea that eternal life leads to happiness. Various realistic factors may be the reason, but from now on, I will explain the reason through my philosophy of human life and happiness.
Eternal life, which eliminates the finiteness of time, prevents us from living a meaningful life. Let’s take the general definition of happiness, which is the overall satisfaction we feel in our lives. The philosopher Heidegger says that we can become happy through “existence.” “Existing” is not the same as just existing. According to Heidegger, in modern society, humans give up on becoming free and live like mindless objects. A life that is always seeking new stimuli with shallow curiosity is full of emptiness, and the reason for this is in the attitude towards death. These people treat death as something that will inevitably happen in the future, and instead of accepting it, they treat it as someone else’s problem. By trying to ignore the end of life, which is clearly there, they fail to realize the preciousness of the time they have now, and their lives are shallow and distracted, as if they are looking for a moment’s stimulation as if they are going to live forever. Such a life is far from a proper human life and is therefore “inauthentic.” Then what about people who live an “authentic” life? Instead of chasing momentary stimuli like objects, they live by making the world meaningful according to their interests and purposes. Existence is living an authentic life that is true to the original meaning of freedom. Heidegger says that to “exist,” we must realize the true meaning of time. The first step is to experience death as a future. When we do not try to ignore the approaching death but accept it as a natural fate, we finally recognize the finiteness of time and become anxious. However, this anxiety allows us to make existential decisions. This is because we realize that we should spend our precious life only for ourselves, which will come to an end someday. Those who realize the value of time can pursue existential values without being bound by values that they do not want or that are not closely related to them.
But what if eternal life becomes a reality and death disappears? Our lives suddenly lose their end, and the time in our lives loses its value. It is doubtful that one can feel a sense of urgency about life in an endless life. With thousands or even tens of thousands of years ahead of us, it may seem unusual to make existential choices without ignoring the stimuli around us. People who live a life in which the value of finiteness is lost are very likely to return to a non-original existence. This is far from happiness.
Based on Epikuros’ “ataraxia” and Buddha’s “nirvana,” I will listen to the voices of those who oppose this position. In Epikuros’ philosophy, the purpose of life is pleasure. Since our lives are continuous, we must pursue continuous pleasure, and for him, the greatest pleasure is “ataraxia,” a tranquil state of mind that is achieved by being freed from all suffering and desire. Buddhism’s “detachment” is a state of mind in which one lets go of oneself, the source of all desires, and frees oneself from the emotions that fluctuate with every passing moment. It is similar to Epicurus’s “ataraxia” in that it frees oneself from desires and maintains tranquility. Those who aim for the state of mind of ataraxia and detachment will find it difficult to understand those who live in anxiety, voluntarily experiencing death, which is painful even in the imagination, in the future. Because worrying about something that hasn’t happened yet is like stirring up a whirlpool in a calm mind. Since eternal life is the best condition for maintaining a detached mind and a mind of liberation, from their point of view, eternal life and a happy life can be sufficiently connected.
However, there are some shortcomings to the claim that immortality brings happiness based on Epicurus’ philosophy. There are two main points to be made. First, there is a problem in simply considering the anxiety felt by actively accepting death as an emotion that is contrary to pleasure. Because the confrontation with death makes us cherish the life we still have. I also had an experience when I was very young, not related to death, but I felt the given moment very poignantly. It was when I was in kindergarten. I was running hard with my mother’s hand because I was late for a performance, but my mother crossed the road without noticing the red light of the traffic light. But there was a police officer standing by the road. Maybe because of the kindergarten teacher’s education, I was sure that my mother would be caught by the police and locked up in jail. When I thought that I had only a few minutes left with my mother, I suddenly felt that I wanted those remaining moments so badly. At that moment, I did not apologize to the police officer or run away. I just hugged my mother with all my might. It may have been a brief moment, but it was a moment in which I experienced my life without my mother in the future, and I realized the importance of my close relationship with my mother and the moments we spend together. It is not right to categorize the process of suggesting the direction in which to live one’s life as an element that is contrary to happiness just because the moment is a little painful.
In addition, it is a mistake to think that a life that pursues momentary pleasure every day is happier than an existential life. This is because a non-original life does not lead to lasting happiness. It seems like a good example of the feelings that people experience when they transition from being a minor to an adult. As adults, many restrictions disappear, allowing newbies to meet as many new people as they want, drink as much as they want, and stay out late at night. At first, I also loved the new world that had opened up to me, but as time went on, I began to wonder if I was living the right way. Even though I was a pre-college student, I had no academic pressure at all. I wondered how the time I was wasting would help shape me in the future. When I talked about it, I found out that my friends all had the same thoughts. They were all experiencing the same real-life worries of finding themselves living a hazy, shallow life and being confused. At that moment, the things that my friends and I did, including studying, career exploration, volunteering, and working, were the things we hated so much in high school. A non-original life is as light as it is easy to fly away. If eternal life becomes possible and we are given endless time, it will be even more impossible to continue living a non-original life and be happy.
So far, we have examined how eternal life, which changes the paradigm of time based on Heidegger’s philosophy of “existence,” hinders the happy life of humanity. People in a world where the finiteness of time has disappeared do not realize the preciousness of the moment they are living in and spend their time lightly and distracted by the stimuli of the moment. On the other hand, people who accept the finiteness of time live a life of finding their true selves, knowing that they can spend the precious time that remains with their own choices. Eternal life that robs us of the motivation for this precious self-discovery and realization, which is the awareness of death, cannot be the source of absolute happiness. Let’s look back on ourselves, longing for the days of the past. How many people long for their past lives to repeat themselves as they were? Most of them are probably people who regret their choices, saying, “I should have done that then,” as they look back on their past days in vain. Maybe what we are seeking through eternal life is not just a simple lifespan, but a truly meaningful life. While continuing research on lifespan extension is of great significance, I think that focusing on the life we have now and seeking existence should be prioritized.
