Signs of the Apocalypse: Lethophobia

 

 

Lethophobia is a rarely used term to describe the fear of oblivion.  Honestly, I find it kind of funny that it is not a highly used word, because I think that it is likely to be one of the most common fears experienced by all of humankind.  Let’s be honest here; we really like existing. But we have to contend with pairing that love of being with the inevitable reality of potential not being (unless you’re like really well sold on the whole afterlife deal . . . which, maybe you are, so have fun with that).

The real interesting thing in my mind, if how much not being we’ve already had.  Think about it, even the oldest people alive, right now, were not around a century and a half ago.  They did not exist.  Sure, I guess a deterministic probability of them was already in motion, but in that thinking, the deterministic probability of all of us, has always been in motion, from the very beginning.  But in that probability, has always been a likely certainty of oblivion.  Personal for each of us (Guess what?  You are going to die.  Deal with it), but overwhelmingly impersonal for the universe at large, that will either tear itself apart eventually, or just spread itself so thin that it is vast void of near absolute zero freezing darkness (Yay!).

That is to say: lethophobia. Damn, that is a good word.  And it, like everything else, is apt to be void in a few billion years, so use it while you got it.

~ by Nathaniel on March 26, 2013.