Deathly Serious

These are the first 500 words of my latest work in progress. It is a long form essay which is expected to be released by 1 April 2025.

A Deathly Serious Affair

Prepare to expire, to very soon say goodbye to your familiar surrounds, to bid farewell to all you have come to learn, accrue and accomplish over a lifetime, to exist no more … ergo, to die. No, this is not black humour or an unfortunate byproduct of failed dank comedy, nor is said broken statement designed for shock value; for the sake of impact; or, to cut through the mundane. It is most certainly not intended to confuse one’s emotions, or derail the reader’s composure, thereby arousing a state of anxiety, as well igniting masses of adrenaline in the process. Any such emotive discharge of energy—of atom bomb intensity—may be better kept on ice; on standby as it were; reserved for potentially fateful circumstances in which life beckons its opposite number. These are moments of high alert, of full awareness … of ultimatum proper. They are life-or-death scenarios during which one must employ every last bit of strength within their psyche to either stubbornly endure, thus to live on, or concede gracefully before departing into the unknown.

For those members of the reading public largely unintimidated by said dogged and seemingly macabre opening paragraph, kudos are in order, for such elegant acceptance of one’s inevitable demise implies theirs be a most sublime, enlightened mental state. Conversely, a volatile reaction conveys a significantly less sophisticated and vastly more nebulous mindset, one in which intense fear may be unwittingly interfering with death’s capacity to catalyse the more profound characteristics of being human.

Those well seasoned exemplars of the former predisposition may at the very least consider this written work an indulgence, a revision of sorts with which to build on top of an ongoing, thoroughly concessive, attitude towards death. The latter, on the other hand, may well be in for an emotional rollercoaster ride as they cling on for dear life. These are those souls for whom death represents a frightening albeit largely unconsidered eventuality; those who might well be being pulled into this conversation kicking and screaming.

Nervous readers whose sentiments epitomise the sort of dread just outlined may well have found an opportune moment to enter a comprehensive discussion on the matter, thus once and for all come to terms with reality. Perhaps there are some among the readership who already feel death’s slow creep, its incremental yet increasingly pronounced gravitational pull. Some may even find themselves intrigued by its mysterious energy, thereby being gently lured into accepting death’s uncertainty. Nonetheless, for a good many others, dare it be suggested a majority, any such investigation likely seems premature, frightening, or even horrid—something to ignore, something to avoid thinking about at all cost until absolutely necessary. Irrespective of any such emotional, developmental, or cognitive status, so far as this essay’s consumption is concerned anyone whose curiosity still has them transfixed—this, despite traversing an obvious series of clues and dire warnings as to this manuscript’s contents—has now likely endured a thorough enough interrogation; thereby passed any prerequisite test of their resolve; in turn garnered sufficient enough grounds on which to read on and embrace their pending expiry.

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