To paraphrase some of what Margaret Meade wrote of her studies of the cultural aspects of aging and death, I will postulate that, in our culture at least, as we get older, thinking that the next generation is not as good as ours or previous and that the world is going to hell in a hand basket makes it easier for us to accept our own deaths and that we will soon be checking out of here.
Re the quote from Epicurus, here's something similar from the New Testament (Luke 12:19-21):
"And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” I wonder if the message isn't aimed at oligarchs worldwide, including ours in the US (e.g., Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett).
We seem to be living right now through a sort of doomsday cult in the USA in which the end of America is imminent unless MAGA succeeds.
To paraphrase some of what Margaret Meade wrote of her studies of the cultural aspects of aging and death, I will postulate that, in our culture at least, as we get older, thinking that the next generation is not as good as ours or previous and that the world is going to hell in a hand basket makes it easier for us to accept our own deaths and that we will soon be checking out of here.
Re the quote from Epicurus, here's something similar from the New Testament (Luke 12:19-21):
"And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” I wonder if the message isn't aimed at oligarchs worldwide, including ours in the US (e.g., Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Warren Buffett).