(This article, written by myself, was published by Thrive Global on 7 July 2021)
The evidence
of our mortality shows there is no elixir – our biology beats us
The avoidance
of death and the desire to prolong life for as long as possible, and even to
live for ever, has been the desire of so many people. Many people, especially
in the affluent West, have been self-convinced of their ability not to die by
the increase of people who are living to be 100 years-old or older.
There is a
hankering after a Paradise where death is not existent, a removal of the last
enemy. In his guide to Milton’s Paradise Lost, Leland Ryken comments that the Garden
of Eden is ‘an image of longing – longing for the irretrievably lost’ and, ‘a
universal longing for a place that no longer exists.’
However, a
recent study, however, has shown that there is indeed a finiteness to
life on this earth – there is no elixir that we cannot partake to cheat this
inevitability.
We do not want
to be told that our lives are frail things, ready to be snatched away –
sometimes without warning. The words
of the 17th century poet, Robert Herrick, does not sit well with our
mentality:
Gather ye
rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is
still a-flying.
And this same
flower, that smile today,
Tomorrow will
be dying.
In the United
Kingdom, as an example, there are at least 260 companies, 250 investors, ten
not-for-profit bodies and ten research facilities that are using the latest
technologies to investigate the possibility that our lives can be extended for
as long as possible. There are also numerous products on the market seeking to
reverse or disguise the ageing process, such as the dyeing of the grey hair,
the skin treatments and the cosmetic surgery.
The prospect of
drinking from the holy grail of long life is non-existent as our biology breaks
down, especially as we get older – the physical memento mori that we carry
within us every day. There are the experiences of illnesses, diseases and
conditions that assail our bodies.
One of the
authors of the report, José Manuel Aburto, commented: ‘More and more people get to live much
longer now. However, the trajectory towards death in old age has not changed.’
The datasets in
the study showed a pattern of mortality: a high risk of death in infancy which
declines rapidly in the immature and adolescent years, remaining low until
early adulthood, and then continually rises as age increases.
It is a more
common experience that people will face a fifth of their lives, if not more,
living with ill-health with conditions such as cancer, diabetes and heart
conditions. It has prompted the United Kingdom to include in its grand strategy challenges a mission that it will be ‘ensuring
people can enjoy at least 5 extra healthy, independent years of life by 2025.’
It is the sad
truth that the extension of life is not even throughout the world, or even
within nations, as mortality is often affected by environmental factors such as
the availability of medical care, the provision of suitable accommodation and
the preservation of the natural surroundings.
Regardless of
our environment, the reality is that our cells will break down and, the older
we become, the more certain it is that we will die. As we get older, the
deposits of knowledge that have accumulated in the banks of our minds should
remind us that our bodies and minds will break down. As the wisdom of Moses reminds us: ‘Remember your Creator in the days
of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach.’
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