Two days ago, my cousin told me about a rumour which was doing the rounds. Apparently, the world will be coming to an end on Tuesday, August 10th 2010. According to the rumour, at any point during the 24 hours that make the day, something called a Solar Storm (as my cousin put it) or Solar Flare (as Google later corrected) will occur. Whichever side of the world is facing the Sun at that time would get 'destroyed' and the other side, would survive. Such is the belief. It's been 30 minutes into this day as I type, and nothing has happened yet.
However much I ridiculed the rumour, it did get me thinking about the end of life as we know it. What if a tragedy takes place, on a scale large enough to completely wipe out human existence? What if all that's left of our world is mere land and water? Uninhabited land and water! Earth's life would have come a full circle. What would remain would be a big blank! An engulfing emptiness. Time would pass, without reason. Days, months, years would go by.....with nothing but a silent lull to fill them.
A combination of not being a fan of thinking beyond what I see already, and being extremely self-centered made me shift focus to a more selfish thought. Myself. Obliteration of life does imply obliteration of me. It implies leaving behind everything life had given me, starting from all the wonderful people to the most trivial unimportant objects. Perhaps even leaving behind my own thoughts. Would I cease to exist for myself too? Or would I know I am dead and that now, I may have other goals? Would I be bound by my body or would I become a free spirit? Questions which all of you have asked yourselves when you were small came flooding into me and I realized how little I've thought about death and its implications. Life, as I've known it, has been one big party. A really long joyous event, punctured with the littlest moments of sorrow, with an ending so distant, that I need not think about it just yet. But now, there seemed to be doubts.
Deep in negative thought, I looked at the world around me and as I watched the bright yellow street lamps spread its happy glow, I realized our lives aren't meant to be anything less than how I've seen them for so long. A celebration of the greatest gift of all. Existence.
However much I ridiculed the rumour, it did get me thinking about the end of life as we know it. What if a tragedy takes place, on a scale large enough to completely wipe out human existence? What if all that's left of our world is mere land and water? Uninhabited land and water! Earth's life would have come a full circle. What would remain would be a big blank! An engulfing emptiness. Time would pass, without reason. Days, months, years would go by.....with nothing but a silent lull to fill them.
A combination of not being a fan of thinking beyond what I see already, and being extremely self-centered made me shift focus to a more selfish thought. Myself. Obliteration of life does imply obliteration of me. It implies leaving behind everything life had given me, starting from all the wonderful people to the most trivial unimportant objects. Perhaps even leaving behind my own thoughts. Would I cease to exist for myself too? Or would I know I am dead and that now, I may have other goals? Would I be bound by my body or would I become a free spirit? Questions which all of you have asked yourselves when you were small came flooding into me and I realized how little I've thought about death and its implications. Life, as I've known it, has been one big party. A really long joyous event, punctured with the littlest moments of sorrow, with an ending so distant, that I need not think about it just yet. But now, there seemed to be doubts.
Deep in negative thought, I looked at the world around me and as I watched the bright yellow street lamps spread its happy glow, I realized our lives aren't meant to be anything less than how I've seen them for so long. A celebration of the greatest gift of all. Existence.
I really like the last bit in this one. A very nice way of looking at things :)
ReplyDeleteThank you Riddhi :)
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