I didn’t write this nor do I have the author to credit. It was definitely something I’ve pondered. Thoughts?
What would I do.
“What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: “This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterably small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence—even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!
Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: “You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.†If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you as you are or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, “Do you desire this once more and innumerable times more?†would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?â€
3 comments
1. If i see a “demon,” i’ll immediately assume i’m hallucinating
2. If it’s all exactly the same on repeat, then the same demon shows up every time
3. It wouldn’t matter what you do, what you “decide,” because it’s a looping replica
4. Upon each rebirth, you’d know/remember nothing, so you wouldn’t be able to change anything anyway
My first thought was: “you lost me at “demon.” “
But that’s just it. You have to look at it in each perception. Would you willingly relive this same life over and over? If you would always get to the same place anyway. You’ll never remember but then if you already know it will be ok to come back then can’t you say that it is worth living now?
And if you are not willing, would you be able to accept the fate that your next life could possibly be worse than the one you have now? That you need to see which gamble you could realistically live with? Knowing your future self will eventually come to the same decision..
“Would you willingly relive this same life over and over?”
Doesn’t matter, because “the demon” already said it’s going to happen the same way anyway. Whether you “accept that” or not, does not matter at all. It WILL happen, regardless. So whatever you think or feel about it, doesn’t matter.
That’s the perspective you’re missing. If all this is as it is, on repeat, then you don’t get to change anything, including whether you continue being reborn or not. And if you killed yourself, that would be part of what happens in each identical reiteration. So it wouldn’t be a “choice” anymore, and it wouldn’t interfere with the cycle.
Whether you “accept your fate” would be completely irrelevant, because your fate remains unchanged and predetermined, regardless of your acceptance or lack thereof.
If you were allowed to change something, it wouldn’t be “identical.”