But brains stayed relatively small until 600,000 years ago, when they under- went a tremendous growth spurt that lasted until 50,000 years ago. We human beings make those decisions which affect our lives and what we conceive the universe to be. Like it or not, we do not just think, but we also feel and hope, and we seem to have a deep down need to believe. The computer may vanquish me in a chess game, but it can neither jump for joy in victory, nor slump in defeat. The grandness of life is not eclipsed by death.
Death underscores the richness of life.
As birth begins the continuum of life, so too death completes it. Death brings life beyond time. When there is love, death does not diminish life. We cherish the memory of people whom we have loved and hold sacred the memory of that love. Death seems to take away the rough imperfections of how we lived in time with our petty needs and hurts.