water said:
Why do people wish to be immortal?
From my researches, it is a particularly patriarchal dream. The idea that one can gain everlasting life and escape desease, decay, death, and the 'messiness' of life
you can see this dream both West ANd East, in differnt forms, but fundamentally the desire is to escape birth and death
so why? it is an infantile male thang. though it has to be admitted women--indoctrinated in religious beliefgs along patriarchal lines-- are also affected.
Underlying the desire is a deep dissatisfaction and di-ease with life and living. Joseph Campbess pinpoints a transition this general dissatisfaction happened to 'The Great Reversal' where by Egyptian poetry went dramtically from celebration of life to despair, and the wanting to escape. He cites warfare and rapine etc as a cause of this transition
this makes sense. If you aren't happy somewhere, you wanna go don't you? simple. so IF the world is made to be a misery to live in, it's easy to see people -in despair-dreaming of a 'promised land'. somewhere where ther's peace, and no death etc.
But dreaming for it dont make it true.
The sad loop is this. that precisely because the main mindset believes this (and not with Science it has changed to utter 'menainglessness!), it has no joy at all in living, and this Earth. so it creates hellish life for many. and that creates despair also
all one can do is see right through this game and try and encourage others to explore it so as to create a better place to live
The idea of everlasting ness is un-natrual. it is stasis. and the belief hasn't been thought through, which is why it's absurd
i am not saying there might not be some kind of atemporal experience post physical death. many earth religious pagans believed this. but it was a resting place before rebirth, not everlasting 'heaven' or 'hell'