Thank you for sharing these thought provoking reflections. But why have people all around the world, in all cultures and throughout the whole history of humanity struggled to achieve eternal life? Why have human beings always had the desire to be or to become immortal? How would you explain this never ending search for something which would make this deeply rooted wish come true? Kind regards, Anna
I will provide a possible answer. Ancient people's day-to-day experience was far more rooted in the spiritual than the physical World - they were only slightly aware of the physical things, much like young children today. This explains why things like electricity or engines were beyond their grasp. As such when they spoke of immortality (as Gilgamesh, for example, did) they were not referring to living forever in the same body. My insight is that they were speaking of escaping the life-death cycle (repeated incarnations) in the same way that Buddha did. In order to do that they had to achieve perfection of their inner life - which often meant 'slaying demons/giants' which as we know were not physicals things (no fossils) but rather habits and tenancies that had to be removed. They did not explicitly speak of such things as modern man but rather embodied them into stories - for example the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Thank you for sharing these thought provoking reflections. But why have people all around the world, in all cultures and throughout the whole history of humanity struggled to achieve eternal life? Why have human beings always had the desire to be or to become immortal? How would you explain this never ending search for something which would make this deeply rooted wish come true?
Kind regards,
Anna
I will provide a possible answer. Ancient people's day-to-day experience was far more rooted in the spiritual than the physical World - they were only slightly aware of the physical things, much like young children today. This explains why things like electricity or engines were beyond their grasp. As such when they spoke of immortality (as Gilgamesh, for example, did) they were not referring to living forever in the same body. My insight is that they were speaking of escaping the life-death cycle (repeated incarnations) in the same way that Buddha did. In order to do that they had to achieve perfection of their inner life - which often meant 'slaying demons/giants' which as we know were not physicals things (no fossils) but rather habits and tenancies that had to be removed. They did not explicitly speak of such things as modern man but rather embodied them into stories - for example the Epic of Gilgamesh.