On the Fear of Death

Shin-eqi-unninni, St. Thomas Aquinas, & Andrew Asquith (a student)

A problem was posed in which a elderly man feared that his life was uneventful and soon coming to an inevitable close. The man’s lament agonized him and so he first sought out the advice of St. Thomas Aquinas who told him that his life could be spiritually prolonged by his faith in God, and that his revelation of one God would be the event of his life.

The man then sought the help of Shin-eqi-unninni, who told him that like Gilgamesh, he could not attain immortality. Shin-eqi-unninni told him only Humbaba can live forever and to seek peace with his lament and mortality so that he could rest.

Finally the man came along a well-versed student, who asked him if living was not a great event in itself. And that furthermore, that his fear could awaken him to the joys of emotion and sensation that come from being temporary, without which he could not experience.