Antinatalism and Depression XXXVII:  OMNIA TRANSEUNT
Channel: Anekantavad
Date: 2012-08-14

"Tout s'en va, tout passe, l'eau coule, et le coeur oublie." - Gustave Flaubert

What is harm? What is its fundamental and ultimate nature? In the antinatalist context, does it even matter if finite beings ever experience harm, even to them?

ΑΔPAΞΤΕ ΤΗΝ ΗMΈΡΑ: Seize the Day. Ancient Greek equivalent of the Roman Carpe Diem. Live now, because it's all erased in a few years; good and bad.

Ancient Roman mosaic. Skull symbolizing death, and the plumb line representing the way death is the Great Leveller: http://www.vroma.org/images/mcmanus_images/deathlevels_mosaic.jpg

The worms crawl in and the worms crawl out
The ones that go in are lean and thin
The ones that come out are fat and stout
Your eyes fall in and your teeth fall out
Your brains come tumbling down your snout
Be merry my friends; be merry!
― The Hearse Song (traditional, unknown artist)

"Each one of us was harmed by being brought into existence. That harm is not negligible, because the quality of even the best lives is very bad—and considerably worse than most people recognize it to be. Although it is obviously too late to prevent our own existence, it is not too late to prevent the existence of future possible people." 
― David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence

All pain is fleeting.

Come hither, my lads, with your tankards of ale,
And drink to the present before it shall fail;
Pile each on your platter a mountain of beef,
For 'tis eating and drinking that bring us relief:
So fill up your glass,
For life will soon pass;
When you're dead ye'll ne'er drink to your king or your lass!
- HP Lovecraft "The Tomb"

ΠΑΝΤΑ ΡΕΙ: Everything flows. Heraclitus. The only permanence is change.