We watched Stephen Colbert interview Anthony Hopkins the other night. Stephen referred to Hopkins as “Tony”. Tony??? Anthony Hopkins??? Wow. And nobody laughed.
Oh well. But the interview was fascinating, because Hopkins
is fascinating.
During the interview, it was revealed that Hopkins is 87
years old. I’m 90, so “Tony” fits right in. And they spoke of aging and how one
copes. Hopkins at one point said that he is not frightened by his age. And I thought, “well I am not frightened
either . . . sort of”. But I do find myself
fearful of what Death actually means. I
was reading about some woman the other day. The article said that she had “died”
for 7 hours I think. And then recovered. And I thought, “Huh, well no she didn’t
DIE. Her heart apparently stopped beating for 7 hours, but then I guess it
began again. And she “recovered”. But see,
you aren’t DEAD when your heart stops beating. You are dead when your brain
ceases to function permanently. As I
best understand it (and I am NOT a DOCTOR!) your heart feeds your brain blood
and oxygen. I assume it is mainly the oxygen the brain needs to continue
functioning.
But back to that frightening thing. I wonder what was going
on with that woman. If her brain was not yet dead, did she continue “knowing”
stuff? And that is the thing that
frightens me. I think now about my brain functioning. But suppose my brain
finally STOPS. That it my brain no longer functions. Now, I am officially DEAD,
BUT, I do not know I am DEAD, because I do not know anything. And then, I look out the window and I see the
sky, or maybe a tree line. And I think, well, without my brain I would not see
that sky, because I would not “SEE” anything. BUT, and here is the scary part.
I would no longer know that I could not see that sky, because I would no “KNOW”
anything, including that fact that I did not know anything. Now that is scary.
See, Organized Religion has treated us all to the utter
absence of true Death. If Death means you cannot see anything, AND you do not
know that you cannot see anything because you do not know anything, then
religion has broken down. See, in
Religion, when you die, you simply acquire a different vision. You are now
looking down from above. See, you know you are dead, but you are looking down
on all your relatives, and watching them do stupid things. That’s what religion
promises. But because religion is a fraud, that isn’t actually what happens
when you die. When you die, you no
longer exist, because your brain no longer exists. You’re dead, but you don’t
know that.
And that is really scary . . . at least to me.
So, “Tony” does that part scare you, or are you truly immune
to being scared? Talk to ne Tony. Tell
me how you really feel. Ot tell Stephen and he can tell me.
