On Death

A Slight Discontinuity to End a Long Descent

Most people think life is like a light switch. For some period, it is on. Then, one day, at some precise moment, it turns off.

This account is accurate. But, perhaps, less illuminating than another. We might instead think of life as one long arc from and to zero, with a slight discontinuity at its end. The arc begins with rapid ascent. From birth through childhood, our bodies and minds grow at great pace. Then, from the moment we reach maturity, say, sometime in our 20s or 30s, we begin a slow descent toward zero. With every passing moment, our bodies and minds ever so slightly deteriorate until we reach old age: our bodies broken, our minds feeble.

And the descent doesn’t stop here. Rather, it accelerates. We are beset by disease, both physical and mental. Our mobility approaches zero. Our acuity approaches zero. Our energy approaches zero. We become all too much like infants: scarcely able to move, scarcely able to think, and abundantly in need of rest. Then, one day, at some precise moment, this long descent ends with a slight discontinuity that we call death.

We assign this moment great importance. But, really, it isn’t so special. Death is merely the finishing flourish of a decades-long process. By the time it arrives, there is barely anything left of us. And, we had been approaching it — the zero point — all along.

It was a long, smooth ride. So smooth we often forgot where we were headed.