Daruma is Staring at Me.

(3)

Daruma is staring at me from the top of my computer as I write this. His message: 'Act sober!'

I'll try. Remaining on the subject of death, I recall reading a book about the Eskimos back in my younger days. The one idea which stuck with me was the Eskimo way of death. When the time came for an old Eskimo to die, sHe would simply leave the igloo (or whatever) in the middle of the night and freeze to death. It was a socio-economic decision. Nowadays Eskimos enjoy the benefits of modern life including, presumably, nursing homes and hospices.

This brings us back to the subject of the value of suffering. Does suffering have value? I think suffering only has value if it improves the individual who did it, otherwise it has no value. It follows that terminal suffering has no value unless you subscribe to the religious view that suffering is redeeming. In that case suffering adds enough plusses to the individual's life that it enables hiR to escape Hell and to hope for Heaven, eventually, despite a possible stint in Purgatory. Any Purgatory can be endured if there is hope of escape to Heaven eventually. To make the example clearer: It is far better to face the prospect of burning in Purgatory for a Billion Years than to face the prospect of burning in Hell forever. You can do a billion years, but forever is daunting.