In the past decade, there’s been a lot of backlash against science, medicine, history and other proponents of what I might broadly call “rationalism”. Those who battle against classical rational disciplines, whether they be flat earthers, anti vaxxers, or historical revisionists, reap unending scorn across the Internet. Some of this is fair. Having said that, given that Thanatism is clearly part of the rationalist traditions these groups reject, I want to take a moment to look at the motivations for the rise of this anti-intellectualism, as I think some of the same reasons these movements have risen, could lead to society’s rejection of Thanatism as well.
The first reason I see some members of society rejecting rationalist disciplines is that they deeply impinge upon our sense of personal freedom. Science doesn’t say that its theories are one of many possibilities and you can choose to believe it or not. It claims that its theories are true, and if you choose not to believe them, you’re wrong. In other words, anytime someone makes a claim to truth, they also limit your freedom to believe. Freedom is an incredibly important human value, so when something attempts to curtail that freedom, it feels like a violation.
Another reason people might reject these disciplines is that, as humans, we’re naturally creative. One of the things we want to participate in is the story of our world. For the vast majority of human history, we all got to participate in the collective creation of our cultural identity. Getting to create one’s own story is important. Once again, rationalist stories, like the scientific one, are so complicated at this point, and often require such complex mathematics to fully understand, that most of us don’t really get to play a role in their creation. This feels somewhat dehumanizing.
Further, these rationalist stories are told and controlled by quasi-authorities with unclear mandates. I don’t know the full history or motivations of the American Medical Association. Is there some Christopher Columbus Association that determines the shape of our planet? Isn’t it the victors who define historical truth? Who elected these authorities? From where do they derive their power? The answer to this is no doubt outside the scope of this particular work of faith, but the point is that authorities have proven to have hidden motives in the past, and it’s entirely reasonable for humans to resist submitting to them.
Finally, I want to point out how unkind our society is in its fetishization of intelligence. From the time we’re children to the day we die, we’re ranked, judged, and rewarded based on this particular human trait. Our educational institutions literally divide up children based on their intelligence. Smart people get more money for doing less. I have often said to others, “It doesn’t matter who’s right, but rather what’s right,” but as someone who was usually right, I never really understood how much it sucks to be wrong all the time. Sometimes, if you’ve been told you’re wrong long enough, you just want to be right–whether you’re right or not.
In some ways, Thanatism is frustrating in the same way these other rationalist institutions are. Thanatism claims that we shall all one day die forever. It also claims that most of humanity denies this, not because of any evidence to the contrary, but rather because it doesn’t like it. Having said that, here’s another claim I’ll make on behalf of Thantism–denying death is deeply human, and in that regard, understandable and, at some level, okay.
Thanatism doesn’t say you shouldn’t be afraid of death. You should. Thanatism doesn’t say you need to embrace death as something good. It’s not and you shouldn’t. Just the opposite–Thanatism sets as one of its core doctrines that death is the greatest tragedy humans can ever know. It’s untenable for a mind that can see back to the beginning of the universe and forward into its eventual end to be trapped in the relative instant of a lifetime.
The point is, I understand that, in some ways, Thanatism sucks. It sucks because it tells us we’re going to die. It sucks because it says we have to believe something we don’t want to. It sucks because it doesn’t give us a choice. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about these things, but having said that, if you don’t want to join us, I understand.
I just want you to know that if you feel anxious about life, and you can’t quite put your finger on why, it might be because you’re fleeing from something that you already know, and that this fleeing might be causing you more harm than you understand. If now or at some time in the future, you’d like to try to stop running, I want you to know that there is a growing group of other humans who are finding a way to live in the truth. Although we still have much to understand, the problem we’re working on is a deeply human one, and we’d be happy to have you work through it with us.