The sickness unto death is despair. Despair from failing to align ourselves with the eternal, with the fact that our life, our existence is eternal. Combined with the realization of the eternal reoccurrence of all events, we can see how strong is the urge to self-extinction.  The despair which proclaims “no more! not this life! Anything but what I am!” Happiness comes when we our briefly reconciled with the eternal, and wish for the perpetuation of life. Despair is the revulsion, the desire to escape our existence.

I am convinced that you and I will live out this exact same existence again and again forever. I am convinced, not as the fanatic who must believe despite all evidence to the contrary, but as the scientist can be convinced of some physical reality like global warming. If the universe is sufficiently large and uniform, and assuming quantum processes are in place, there are only a finite number of configurations in a given volume of space. The reoccurrence follows merely by chance. Add in some inflation cosmology for good measure, and we have a system that mimics any biological system under conditions of evolution – that is to say, as an algorithm. Designing an eye may seem impossible, but once nature has struck upon it, it will continue to traverse that same ground. We are the well worn path of future universes.

Biological? Yes. Meaning self-perpetuation in the face of self-extinction. Travel far enough in space and eventually you will begin to encounter similar beings that look and act like you. Eventually, you will come across your exact doppelgänger, matching your life moment by moment.

I am a hard core materialist. Any system designed to appear the same as me, shall be judged as me. Descartes missed a step. It is not enough to think about existence. One must seize existence, affirm it. Reject the sickness unto death.

The agony and revulsion of the eternal comes in full force. You mean a person born into slavery and dies in slavery, must live that enslaved existence for all eternity? Yes it does. But it also means justice is real, even if it is wanting. Wait! The child who falls ill, and dies from a painful cancer, are they destined to live the same fate forever? No, no! This can’t be right! This must be hell!”

This is the sickness unto death. We must always guard against this despair, this secret yearning to murder our own souls in the hopes of some unfounded liberation. You are eternal. Your life, perhaps a miracle or a curse. Respect it. Seize it.