Immortality Isn’t For The Living

by Andrew Michael Flynn

When a person is borne into any bit of power or prestige, the human ego is likely inflated more than the average human. Be it Gilgamesh, Jesus, Solomon, Muhammad, Buddha, or any modern United States Senator, the inner concept of being extraordinary is bound to be felt. Among these innate feelings of exceptionalism to all elements and statistics, these kinds of people are likely to feel that immortality is for them. Everyone else may die, but living forever, that is for them: why not build the legend while they are still alive? After all, this is just one more thing that will highlight how special this person truly is in the annals of history. Gilgamesh was borne in this vein, even being described as “strong to perfection…awesome to perfection” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, 2.3), so why not take the quest of all quests and try to become immortal? Nothing else would satisfy a living legend’s ego as much! Since there is “a time to keep, and a time to throw away” (The Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes, 4.10) as everyone learns at some point in their life: there is no such reality as living forever. While achieving the desired living mortality is physically impossible, actual lessons of personal growth and true humility come to the forefront for both Gilgamesh and followers of God’s Word through The Teacher in Ecclesiastes.

Gilgamesh wanted it all, including immortality. To get where he wanted to go in the story of his own life, he had to go through quests and harsh bouts of understanding on the way to personal growth. Reality sets in for this protagonist of his own namesake Epic eventually, and Gilgamesh does live a terrifically interesting existence along the way. Early on, he has much to learn about the things that he wants in life, even if they are as lofty as the goal of immortality. Upon learning of Humbaba the Terrible, he states to the Elders, “I want to make myself more mighty…I will face fighting such as I have never known, I will set out on a road I have never traveled!” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, 2.4). Cocksure and confident as any young King would be in his position, those same Nobel Counselors of Uruk take him aside and warn him that “your heart carries you off, you do not know what you are talking about!” (2.4) As with many young people being given advice by the members of generations older than them, the guidance was listened to by Gilgamesh, but it also could very well be the case of going in one ear and out the other without actually hearing the Noble Counselors. We have all been there with receiving advice, after all. Some of us are really good at looking like we are paying attention, even if the information does not exactly hit where it needs to in the application of our own lives. Learning to do this for Gilgamesh would shape his gained humility, partly because of tragedy.

Since Gilgamesh’s modus operandi is about using his heart first instead of his head before this, the fire in his belly directs him to want to cut down the Cedar and be victorious over the monster Humbaba. At this juncture, a prospective immortality is sought by this ruler, and whether he consciously knows it at this point in time, the shining star of having an ability to live forever of sorts is available for the taking, as he states, “It is I who will establish fame for eternity!” (2.4) After all, he had access to the tools and talent to get him to the highest step in the podium of triumph, with he and his craftsmen having all means of armor and weaponry. Only comeuppance could be a roadblock, and it would be the kind of humility that would be necessary in Gilgamesh’s life.

Upon his friend Enkidu’s death, Gilgamesh grieved outwardly and “roamed the wilderness” (The Epic of Gilgamesh, 2.9). The dark night of his soul reigned in this time of sadness for him. It crystallized in Gilgamesh’s reasoning that death was more of a certainty than he previously gave it credit for. Personal growth was reached. Although when considering his ancestor Utanapishtim, Gilgamesh was both envious and longing for something more than just basic mortality. Since Utanapishtim was given eternal life (2.9) and was a member of the Assembly of Gods, King Gilgamesh bellows, “About Death and Life I must ask him!” (2.9) The unchecked ego knows no bounds sometimes, and Gilgamesh’s ego appears as infinite in times of his heightened emotion. In a cheeky beckoning from a scorpion-being, the storytellers of his Epic allude to Gilgamesh’s mortality when posing a new challenged feat to accomplish: “Never has there been…a mortal man who could do that(?)” (2.9). Suffice it to say, living past his own scheduled departure date is front and center in Gilgamesh’s mind. He honestly thought he was the mortal man that could accomplish immortality, while fate would prove different and lead to eventual heartache.

Gilgamesh’s learning of a certain life-giving plant did this. A nearby snake “smelled the fragrance of the plant, silently came up and carried off the plant” (2.11) from our hero who would only possess it momentarily. After the snake ingested it, the quivering mass of sadness that was Gilgamesh collapsed into himself, crying out for understanding. It was at this point that Gilgamesh likely realized he would not live forever. It would be at this moment that this questing king would be able to accept his own mortality. Even a person with the best means will ultimately find out that their mortal life does have an end, much as Gilgamesh did. In fearing death, a person can begin to accept the inevitability of it, regardless of going on adventures to prevent it happening.

There’s a healthy subtext in The Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes that recognizes how in life there is a necessary time to do certain things: “a time to tear, and a time to lose; a time for war, and a time for peace” (The Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes, 4.10). A deduction from this poetic section is that these are the things to do here while on this earth, in this life. There will not be another go-around or extension of one’s own mortal expectancy. “The Teacher” wants his followers to follow God’s commands, which will get them where they should go in the life they are currently living. In this, following God’s commands and overall wisdom are the proper path. It would be accurate to deduce this means that immortality is not achievable by any standard and that there are life lessons to learn while being alive while choosing to acquiesce to God’s word.

Now that the rules of living your best, finite life have been solidified, the Teacher dives into some nuance in understanding the Word of God. He writes in undertones of a person humbling themselves, preaching that “Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished” (4.10). This speaks to being present in one’s own life, as no amount of money or possessions someone has matters a single bit, just as long as you are tight with God in faith and spirit. On this same coin, the Teacher speaks to the faithful “Better is a handful of quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit” (4.10), meaning that a person of means is smartest not to flaunt it, and walk the road of true humility. In this gaining of humility is a lessening of ego flagrance, allowing for a type of individual enlightenment.

The road of true humility, the proper path. Certainly not an easy one to travel on at any point in a person’s life, no matter who they are or what is in their backpack. Complexities exist in mortality, says the Teacher, but there is no better life to live except when adhering to the Word of God, who does not spend time suffering fools. Regarding the mortal being keeping their word as they travel the difficult routes of life, the Teacher states, “when thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it, for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou has vowed.” (4.11) The Lord God wants his followers to keep to their word and their debts, regardless of what they are: it’s unwise to cut corners under God’s watchful eye, plus it is cheating the cheater anyway. And cheating yourself is no personal growth, but quite the opposite. Cutting the corners of one’s own life is a detriment and arrests development.

God is a complex idea anyway, and only this deity will be dealing with immortality in any respect. It is not for man or woman to worry about trying to live forever, for they are destined to follow the God’s Word and nothing else for the best that life has to offer. The Teacher goes into detail in speaking about enjoying oneself under God’s watchful eye, saying to “rejoice in his labour” because that in itself is a “gift from God” (4.11). God and his follower human beings are to have a direct connection, “because God answereth him in the joy of his heart” (4.11), as the Teacher describes the ideal relationship that one is to have with God, beginning and ending in their heart. The Teacher takes the inspiration from the word of God as being entirely of fulfillment and for all of man to experience and appreciate. Once the prospective student of The Teacher gains this knowledge, a type of humility sets in as progress.

Through a person’s life, they will come across the idea and possibility of immortality. It is a dalliance, and not to be made obsession. This persistent notion is a vein of oxygenated blood which carries the protagonist Gilgamesh and the Teacher of Ecclesiastes into necessary lessons of struggle, heartache, acceptance, and true recognition that no matter what a person does with their time on earth, there is an absolute end. Adherence to a particular way of belief is just one route to go, as there are countless many whether the route a person goes is religious or secular. Relishing the moment and being of good character to others and one’s own self are common threads in both works, just as knowing oneself through a healthy measurement of humility is. A person’s work during their life is more important than trying to make themselves permanent. Detrimentally building your own legend during your life is potentially hollow, but the good and heartening stories loved ones will share about you when you shift off your mortal coil is its own building of treasured lore. Hubris and ego may take over all of us in our waking lives at some point or another, and it might even be what kills us or at least seals our fate. However, there is genuinely something special about letting the legend of who we were unfold of its own accord.

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Works Cited

The Epic of Gilgamesh. LIT-201: Early World Literature. 2nd edition, Soomo Learning, 2017, p. 2.3-11.

The Hebrew Bible: Ecclesiastes. LIT-201: Early World Literature. 2nd edition, Soomo Learning, 2017, p. 4.10-11.

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