WITH THE BRUTAL effects of wars and violence on the lives of human beings and the incidences of poverty, hunger, and other forms of human suffering occurring in the world and in our country today, the view expressed in the past by at least one philosopher — that human existence does not make sense — occurs to me. It is the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who is best known for this philosophy which has been couched in a word: “nihilism.”
The definition of nihilism in the dictionary that I use provides two senses applicable to this philosophical view. One sense is “a viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that existence is senseless and useless.” The other sense is “a doctrine or belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility.” For purposes of this commentary, I translated those definitions into a question: “Is life worth living?” I have not studied in any detail the existing literature about the philosophy behind nihilism. I will be expressing my own observations, perceptions, thoughts, and knowledge relating to this philosophical view.
After a human is born, he is cared for by his parents or others for some length of time. He undergoes a process that prepares him for the time that he can take care of himself alone. All these efforts incur significant parental or guardian time and costs. In his adult lifetime, he experiences, in alternating times, hardships, injuries, defeats, and physical, emotional, and mental pain; complete happiness, jubilation, joy, and triumphs; and other similar conditions and emotions. These may arise from his own decisions and actions, or from the effects of the ever-changing developments in the world and in the particular geographical area where he lives. Each of these episodes is not permanent. Each of them occurs every now and then for a relatively short period of time within a person’s lifetime. The net balance, whether each occurrence or condition is valued similarly or differently, is, of course, either a net good life or a net bad life. Whether it is one or the other may not matter, though.
Eventually, the final day comes when he dies. So, what happens next? One point of view is that he turns into complete nothingness, without any distinctive trace, and therefore no form of his old self remains that can recollect and enjoy in recollection the best parts of his life on Earth. Existence is completely gone. Absolutely blank. All the time he spent on Earth becomes purposeless. All his sufferings, hardships, pains, struggles, sorrows, trials and tribulations appear senseless.
So, what is the point of living then? Before anyone cries out calling me names, I would like to add that I know that the great majority of us believe in the afterlife. But where does this afterlife dwell? A popular portrayal of where the afterlife dwells is provided by the Italian author Dante Alighieri in his three books — Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso — published in the early 14th century and collectively known as the Divine Comedy. We are all familiar with these portrayed afterlife destinations, and there is no need for me to further elaborate on them. Except that, to provide a few examples, I thought I should find out the potential destination, based on Dante’s descriptions, of our corrupt leaders who contribute in great measure to the sufferings of the Filipino people. Being major sinners, they will go to Inferno. But at which part in Inferno they are destined to go to will depend upon how their sins are classified.
There are two possible fits. One is to consider these corrupt government leaders as avaricious (excessively acquisitive), and, as such, they are destined to go to the Fifth Circle in Inferno. In this Circle, the punishment is for each of them to push forward by his chest a large rolling stone. Upon reaching an established point, he turns around and, by using his back, pushes the same stone backwards. He then repeats this process on and on, forever. There is another possible fit — to consider these corrupt government officials as thieves. If so, they go to the Eighth Circle, which is divided into sections for similar sins, each called a Bolgia. Their destined place in the Eighth Circle is the Seventh Bolgia, where the body of each of them is coiled with serpents. These serpents keep on moving around his body, which makes him try to push back by holding on to the head or tail of the serpent. Whether the best fit for these said leaders is being avaricious persons or thieves, their due punishment appears to be just.
(As a point of interest, the First Circle in Inferno, where torments and lamentations do not take place, is where the well-known personalities who lived before the coming of Jesus Christ dwell, such as Homer, Socrates, Abraham, Noah, and similar others. These dwellers also include well-known non-Christian philosophers who lived after the advent of Jesus Christ, such as Avicenna and Averroes, both of whom were Muslims. The term “First Circle” was used by the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn as the title of his famous book, no doubt because the book is about a Russian prison camp where the high-skilled prisoners are incarcerated.)
For those believing in the afterlife, the choice destination is, of course, Paradiso. But how those who deserve to go to Paradiso are selected is not known to us. However, if the model for those who deserve to go to Paradiso is Mother Theresa, then the probability for the rest of us going somewhere else is exceedingly high, and we are therefore destined to suffer forever.
In both cases, then, whether there is or is not an afterlife, the prospect of what becomes of us after death is very discouraging indeed. In the first case, if there is no afterlife, we start from nothing and end up to nothing, which makes the trip from birth to death purposeless and without any meaning. In the second case, if there is an afterlife, there is a little chance that we go to Paradiso. But it will be a huge struggle. And if we fail, our afterlife will see us suffer forever. However, there is something else to think about, though.
While life on Earth is finite, we have been given the ability to procreate. There is a part of us that gets transferred to our descendants, although to a diminishing degree. This transfer appears to show as if we continue to live. Moreover, we leave a remembrance of ourselves among those who come after us. Of course, such remembrance would be either beneficial or hurtful to those we leave behind, depending upon how we lead our lives on this Earth. In any event, these truths may matter, whether or not there is an afterlife.
Is life worth living then? You judge.
Benjamin R. Punongbayan is the founder of Punongbayan & Araullo.
