So, yesterday the world didn't end. Why am I not surprised. I think most people believed we would wake up the next day without any issues other than maybe a hangover or some other drinking related mishap. It was Saturday night after all. Judging by all the posts on Facebook no one I knew took it seriously. I think that maybe some people used it as a way to reflect on their religion, maybe reexamine their relationship with God. All it really did for me is reawaken a question I've had for a very long time, one that's been bothering me for about as long as I can remember. What are people fascinated with being on Earth when it finally ends? If you believe in heaven, if you believe there will be a rapture, why do you want to be here when it happens?
Maybe it all comes from the fact that we're the only animal on Earth who knows it's mortal. I could be wrong, bears could easily have a rapture myth just like we do, but I doubt it. We're the only animals that know we'll die someday. Other animals do what they can to survive but do you think many of them stay up and night going, 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' That could be why my dogs bark and kick in their sleep, but once again, I doubt it.
We are smart, we are clever, we've figured out things about ourselves and about the world we live in. We are also really dumb, prone to trying to see patterns where there are none, and irrational to the extreme. We are all those things and I believe that is why so many people want to see the world come to an end and why they want to be here when it happens.
I'm pretty sure end of world myths go back before the stories in the bible. I would bet one of the first stories ever told was about the end of the world. The story of the flood and Noah was around thousands of years before it was put into the bible and I'm sure it was just one of many such stories being told at that time. We're still telling them now and if we headed 500 years into the future we'll probably hear them then as well.
That's just the way our minds work, we like to tell stories, we like to listen to stories, we also like to think that our lives have meaning and maybe, for some, the only meaning is to be here when it ends. That's why I sort of feel bad for those who build themselves up for the end only to be disappointed the next day.
It's pretty obvious to me that most of those that predict the end of the world are charlatans trying to get money out of weak willed people. But, it's those people that I wonder about. Can a rational mind believe that the world will end? Does it take someone who is easily manipulated to believe it? Can you be a smart, educated person and still listen to an 85 year of man, someone who had predicted things that never happened, and believe him this time?
I think this is always going to puzzle me until I can find a cause, or a person, that I can get behind so fully that I believe everything that's said and do everything that's asked of me. I'm a very cynical person when it comes to causes and people so I may never know for sure.
One more thing, the only time the world will actually end is when the sun goes nova. . .or a stray black hole passes our solar system. . .or if another planet collides with us. . .or if we're hit with a gamma burst. . .or, you know what, never mind, I've got more than enough to think about tonight as I sleep.
