Immortality pill 5

I was with Soryu in San Fransisco at a public meditation event, and a participant asked him, “Many people are now claiming that medicine will be able to reverse aging, so that we will never die. If there were a pill that could achieve this, would you take it?”

He said, “We are already in the situation that pill would put us in. We already have to live for an undetermined, extremely long time: we need to live on and on until we attain enlightenment. And enlightenment is like being killed, since it’s the end of attachment to self. But of course, many people don’t believe that. They think we just live this life, don’t get reborn, and don’t really attain enlightenment. So they create, inside of the dream called rebirth, another dream called only one life, in which they strive to make this one life take a long time.

“Why they do this isn’t immediately clear. Why make this life take a long time? Why not get it over with? In fact, those who strive for enlightenment do try to end their lives as soon as possible. They do this not by killing their bodies, but by letting go of the view that their life is their own, so that the life that remains in their bodies is for everyone and lasts as long as it serves all beings. But those who don’t strive for enlightenment have very little meaning per day. They don’t know how to find more meaning per day, so they try to increase the number of days.

“They take a pill that they hope will make them live a long time. Perhaps they live for a long time, whereas others, who aren’t wealthy or are wise, don’t live as long. They think that the others are gone and that the whole world is about them. They become increasingly obnoxious, anxious, and nihilistic. Because they become even worse people, with even less meaning per day, they are all the more afraid of dying.

“They eventually notice that as they grow, they change, and that change itself is a kind of death. So they take another pill that prevents growth. Others, who either aren’t wealthy or are wise, don’t take it and move on in life. But those who took it are now in a dream within a dream within a dream, and they think even more strongly that the world is about them, since no one else is there. They suffer even more deeply. Their character devolves into a putrid mess. To face this mess is terrifying to them, so they strain to keep themselves away from themselves with ruthless determination. They become all the more afraid of dying.

“But they aren’t immortal. Eventually, they grow. They face how disgusting they are, and die in that way, so they are happier. Then, perhaps, they die physically and face their ugly character even more fully in the other world, and are happier still. Then, perhaps, they are reborn as humans, take up the path, die spiritually, and realize true happiness.”