The Denial of Death

My grandfather died the day before Thanksgiving. I had a big dinner with one side of the family and a bunch of funeral stuff with the other. I took his death fairly well; I knew that he had gone from quite active to needing help out of bed in the past few years and that he was in a lot of pain. What pained (and fascinated)me the most were all the supernatural stories and reassurances I kept hearing. "He's in a better place," "I'll meet him again someday" In the repetition I realize that deep down they may just know that he really is just gone. Without repetition and a sort of social support superstitions could not survive. Death really does seem to be the end. Any time someone pulls in a soul concept, it just collapses upon inspection. Rather than drowning ourselves in fantasies, we can accept it for what it is.

This is an appropriate post to explain the meaning of the blog title. "Mytens Makt" means "Myth's Power" in Swedish(I'll get into posts on language in future). I use it because many of these myths still hold great power today. They may give hope, but it is a false hope and I look forward to a day when the Vatican is a museum and politicians don't feel like they need to pay lip-service to some ridiculous religious belief.

"What is true is more important than what I wish to be true."