Is Immortality A Curse And A Gift?

Time moves forward, and only forward. It’s a circle – we are born, raised, we live, then we die. But have you ever imagined what would happen if you were endowed with immortality? What if you could not die no matter how many decades had passed, while the world around you keeps changing and everyone else keeps aging? Would it be wonderful to live forever like that? Then you should take a look at Tuck Everlasting, a novel written by Natalie Babbitt in 1975 which focuses on the negative side of immortality.

The concept of life after death has been around practically as long as life itself. Our beliefs about life after death can have a profound effect on our attitudes toward life. Most individual's beliefs about life after death are directly related to their cultural or religious affiliations. According to Montagu, "Of all the many forms which natural religion has assumed none probably has exerted so deep and far – reaching an influence on human life as the belief in immortality" (1955, p.15).

This is greatly illustrated in the book "Monkey" where the Monkey King mentions his desire to live forever at numerous points.

Immortality has been made into this ultimate goal. Literature and films have often painted immortality as a gift only given to the few who have proven themselves worthy of it. A life full of great wisdom, experience, and many other joys. In Journey to the West, it opens up with the birth of Monkey and follows him as he tries to achieve immortality. Monkey wants immortality and is willing to do anything to get it; thinking immortality will bring him a an enlightened life. After reading Journey to the West, I believe immortality should not be something that is prized as the ultimate gift. I think living an immortal life would be far worse than a mortal one and throughout this paper I will discuss why.

With a respectable argument against the idea of pharmaceutical advances eventually leading to immortality, Lexchin uses multiple forms of rhetoric, mostly logos, to sway the readers. He sets our deep fantasies of someday being able to live forever against our rational minds and backs up his case with sound logic and viable examples that leave us no doubts about human limitation.

In this case, I consider the utilitarian versus the sacred view of life. There is a social role of people based on their profession, such as engineers, physicians, members of the clergy, etc. This brings up the question of our importance. Are we important only as long as we are making a contribution to society, or is there something valuable about our humanity? What is moral maximizes utility, and with important individuals who contribute and benefit society choosing to end their lives is not right. Humans have a duty to contribute to the wellbeing society for their lives. We live in a social contract with one another and our skills, our utility should be used to the fullest

What does it mean to be immortal? The word immortal means to live on forever, never dying or ceasing to exist. In the book "The immortal life of Henrietta lacks," Rebecca Skloot writes about how Henrietta's cells have been living long after Henrietta herself died, making the cells what one calls immortal. Both spiritual and literal immortality is being presented to the reader throughout the book. As one reads deeper into the book, they find that immortality is one of the major themes concerning the cells, Deborah, and the story that ties it all together.

Commonly you believe that life is better than death, but when a high quality of life and an individual’s desire to live are no longer possible, that is no longer the case. C. The debate about life is trying to answer many questions: “Is life something that can be controlled by humans? When is life no longer worth living?” D. What is life?

The closest we could probably get to immortality would either be a Facebook page or having children, and since there were no Facebook pages in 1958 when “COAHTR” was adapted into film, the director, Richard Brooks would most certainly pull the focus on next of kin and what we leave behind for them.

What are people willing to do to maintain a healthy mind and body? A former emperor of china, Qin Shi Huang, killed himself trying to live forever by consuming age-stopping mercury pills. In the 1400's Pope Innocent VIII believed by transfusing three young boys blood into himself he would absorb their youth, he died in the process. In the 1800's Leonard Jones ran for president with the promise to achieve immortality, he believed this would be accomplished through prayer and fasting, later that year pneumonia led to his death.

In Leon R. Kass article L'chaim and its Limits:Why not Immortality? one argument that Kass presents is that; If we are mortal we are “aware of [our] mortality... [and we are] moved to make beautiful artifacts...objects [that their] order will be immune to decay as their maker… [will] not.” While immortals are the opposite, if we are immortal then we do not have the strive to make “beautiful artifacts”. Therefore concluding that if we are mortal we need to make things that will last as our legacy, while immortals do not have to do so. However, that is not the case.

Therefore, Williams’ asserts the immortal life would be undesirable, or unlivable since we will inevitably exhaust our categorical desires (100).

What if you got the choice to live forever and never pass away? Would you take it? In the novel Tuck Everlasting the Tuck family comes upon a spring that has water that will make you become immortal. There are different opinions on immortality, and I am going to tell you them.

For as long as humans have been able to develop societies and inquire about the world, people have been attempting to find ways to prolong life. The early alchemists searched for the ever elusive philosopher’s stone, while the Spanish Conquistadores traveled to distant lands in hopes to find the “Fountain of Youth.” Even today, we continue to search for the “elixir” of life. Currently, researchers are using modern science to find a way to extend our telomeres and allow our cells to regenerate, thus enabling us to live longer. Unfortunately, even with our advancements in science and medicine along with centuries of attempts, human mortality is one thing we haven’t been able to change. No matter how much we try and get rid of that fact of life, it remains a guarantee. Our greatest flaw as

With that being said, however, religion has offered an alternative answer, one which most definitely appeals to many humans; and more importantly gives humans a way out of death. Before moving forward it maybe important to clarify the term death and what its meaning is for the purposes of this essay. Obviously not even religion can save an individual from dying, humans are biological beings, thus time is never on