To Boldly Go Or Not.

When someone in your personal orbit dies it’s the most poignant of all reminders that everything in our version of reality is transient. A favourite garden plant blooms and you have only a short time to enjoy it before the flowers wither and die. Bodies that were once fit, strong and supple also degenerate and die just when you’re getting used to the human condition. The grandest of mountains is constantly shifting and being eroded by the elements. On the physical level, everything dies; nothing lasts for ever. I find it all somewhat frustrating.

And that’s why if I get my wish to be reincarnated and become a deep space astronaut, there’ll be no boldly going for me. I’ll disappear into the holodeck, pick my very favourite scenario, and stay there for the duration. It won’t last for ever, but there’s a chance it might at least feel that way. And I will be in control.

Ah, but… Chances are I’ll get bored; the present version of me is rather prone to becoming bored with repetition. So then I suppose I’ll have to start boldly going after all. And that seems to me to be further evidence that the whole business of being is more than a little absurd.

(There is something satisfyingly irrational about this post. I like being irrational occasionally.)