Everybody dies!

Yes, you knew that already. But it helps to put things into perspective doesn’t it? And I don’t even necessarily mean that in a bad way. Sure, it can be depressing: Everything and everyone, loved or not, will eventually disappear and leave nothing behind.

But think about what that means. In fact, think about meaning itself. The only reason why stuff can have any meaning is that it will not last forever. Otherwise it’s just there, who cares. Since nothing is just there, though, we can appreciate the meaning of having, being or perceiving everything.

Okay, but why does this matter right now? Well, because the vast majority of people in the world are currently experiencing some kind of shittiness because of the pandemic, myself included. And it is in times like these, I think, that being aware of this stuff is more important than ever. Everybody dies.

Because it means that every moment has meaning. No matter how shitty it may be. Some moments may have meaning precisely because they are so shitty. After all, how could we tell the bad moments from the good and the terrible from the amazing, if we didn’t have that contrast to work with?

Alan Watts said it best: There are no crests without troughs. There is no good without bad, black without white, being without non-being. Now that we are living through bad times, this eternal truth can give us courage. Fill us with optimism. Or at least help us struggle with the shittiness a bit better.

Since there can be no good without bad, there can also be no bad without good. We may be experiencing a lot of bad right now. However, from a certain point of view, these experiences now can carry us into a new good, both as individuals and as a collective.

So, if you see it like this, it is a great thing that everybody dies. Because if we didn’t, then we couldn’t live to begin with. And since we are living through a colossal time of shittiness right now, it stands to reason that good things cannot be too far down the line.