That Death is Categorical Helplessness

So we live in a world where for the most part we can predict what will befall us, and (when we are being rational) tailor our actions in accord with the rules as to what we will receive in turn. But for a good portion of the suffering to which we are susceptible here on earth happens to us not by any rule, but after simple luck of the draw, and caprice of nature and man.

We all shall die as well. Death is a certainty for all of us, and however long we live, a constant possibility at every moment. And--speaking thus far after the naturalistic (non-religious) fashion--we do not know the rules that shall determine what we experience after death. When we shut our eyes to die, we shall do so after the manner of surrendering, finally; not preparing to take an action, not making choices. Whatever shall happen to us at that time, we have no way of controlling; and shall simply lie there, close our eyes, and receive what comes. There is no action to take, there being, after all, no rule we have learned in this world that can aid us in the next (if there is a next). We simply lie back and take what comes. There is the simple state of receiving what shall happen to us, at death--even if death is eternal nonexistence, eternal unconsciousness--we simply take what comes to us. We are, then, at death, completely and categorically helpless.

Thus there are two classes of helplessness we have delineated; one is the exceptions to the rules by which we organize our conduct. We can play along with the rules of life, and do all the things we must for a good life according to those rules; but there are always those totally random sufferings--many of them fatal or otherwise catastrophic--to which all people are susceptible as possibilities. The second class of helplessness is categorical helplessness--death. When we lie down to die, we simply take what comes; we have no choice, we must die; and death is a simple accommodation to what shall finally befall us, even should it be eternal sleep. Death is a state of total dependence--on God or on nature--and it is categorical helplessness. As I said, this categorical helplessness is an eventual certainty for all, and a conditional possibility for all every moment of life. Life is constantly attended by the possibility of death.