The Heaviness of Immortality
How a simple lyric helped me appreciate life’s impermanence
Death is a fascinating and inescapable fact of life. Regardless of your religion or upbringing, everyone reaches a certain age where we start to ask complicated questions: When will I die? What does it feel like to die? What happens after we die?
My freshman year of college was the first time I remember facing depression. I felt lost and alone at times, but music always got me through these challenging emotions (as it does for so many). At one point, I came across a song by of Montreal called “The Repudiated Immortals” and fell in love with it — though at first I didn’t understand why. The catchy bass line and subtle beat warranted many repeat listens, but it was something else about the lyrics that stuck with me:
There’s no escaping,
So I won’t try.
It’s just the heaviness that comes with
Knowing you will never die.
While listening to this song over the years, I often thought about the idea of living forever and how it would take away from everything that makes life meaningful. Imagine if someone told you: “As of today, you’re never going to die.” Would you be comfortable with that? What would give you purpose? How would you age? How would you find meaning?
