Today’s topic is immortality. Priests spend a lot of time immersed in the reality of death, and yet we simlutaneously proclaim the truth of Christ’s victory over death. How can a rational mind keep such concepts juxtaposed without compromise or delusion? Three quick thoughts (as I prepare to leave the Holy Land for Constantinople):
– Reduction of cognitive disonance is a phsychological tendancy, not an outright law. These two obvious and powerful realities are both maintained to the extent that they are reinforced by observation, repitition, and ritual. The Orthodox Christian that lives in the fallen world of death and decay is very able to “keep the mind aware of death… and despair not” (to paraphrase St. Siluoan).
– The Christian’s participation in eternal life does not happen except through the cross. This happens (through kenosis) during our lifetime, but (with the exception of those living at the time of the second coming) is not perfected until we are given the kind of lives, community, and culture that would make eternal life a blessing rather than a curse. Transumanists are not playing God by prolonging life indefinitely, they are playing (intentionally or not) the devil. “Eternal” life in a fallen world is a curse – Genesis tells us that it is for our sake that our lives were shortened in the first place!
– Our immortality is sustained only by the mind of God. When we ask Him to grant our beloved “eternal memory”, we are asking him to preserve and perfect our beloved so that he can be remade in perfection in the day of God’s choosing. This is so much more effective than freezing our brains or uploading our memories!
