Farewell, Brother

Ontology, Remnants and Last Goodbyes

Is it just here where Normievilles loses its decent name, or is the siren song playing again? Every day, just like it was two years ago. Woe-be-you, woe-be-you... even on Christmas morning and New Year's day, FFS. Is this another wave, or just business as usual in the new normal?

Well, one way or another, it was due to hit home sooner or later. This week, the Dispatch's brother abandoned the mortal coil. His big heart stopped beating; the medics brought it back but the damage was already done. It was life support or goodbye.

He had in the past made it abundantly clear that he did not want to be kept in a vegetative state connected to a machine. His siblings did not want this either. For an ontologist, keeping the eternal spark mechanically chained to a dead body is a terrible thing to do. It's like leaving the driver of a totaled vehicle stuck inside the wreck and refusing to free them.

His wishes were honored. He was taken off life support and his local consciousness untethered to continue its journey. And at such times the ontologist cannot but wonder why we cry when loved ones pass, when we know their suffering is over and they can finally rest in peace. When we know the body's just a vessel and the spark that drives it never dies, just moves on. When we know the very purpose of life is to polish us by friction like gemstones in a tumbler until our very last breath.

Who cries when a prisoner is set free?

Only the other prisoners. We don't cry for the departed but for ourselves, the remnants. Those left behind with one less soul to share life with. Feeling our world grow old, our time run short, our universe shrink. We fear being left alone in life more than we fear death itself.

While writing this, clif high posts the saddest news. His wife has passed, and some of his friends too. His post is a work of art, pure poetry of pain and terrible understanding. And the Dispatch asks again: another wave or business as usual?

Why are so many leaving now? It feels like the end of a cycle, with old players exiting and new ones stepping up for the next act. Indeed, that would be in line with the current state of Hexagram 64 Wei Chi, Before Completion. As the last hexagram of the I Ching, it is by definition the end of a big cycle... and also the most perilous stage, for even though success is assured in the end, the price to pay for it remains to be seen. It may be higher than we would care to imagine. Maybe those leaving now are the fortunate ones...

So farewell my brother, rest in peace, until next time. Karma will bring us back together someday, somehow, although neither of us will remember. We will both pretend we're not Ontology and go for another round on the ride, just like so many times before. We may all be One, but each one of us is unique and irrepeatable. You will not be forgotten as long as this dispatch remains.

Dispatch out.