The Will To Live
Posted: Thursday, October 16, 2008
by Tex Norman
As a depression prone person I often wonder why I continue to live. I am not saying that I am contemplating suicide, because I am not. Sometimes, however, I wonder about the "will to live." What is the point of it? Would a will to live give me an inner drive that would keep me striving for something, keep me working to accomplish something, would it give me a sense of purpose?
The fact that life exists does not give me any clue as to why? And why does life strive to live. I read one definition of life in a book called, The Body Has A Head
Life is sum of forces that resist death. ~ Gustav Eckstein
It is an interesting definition, although it is profoundly unhelpful.
I do some art that includes little phrases them. I gave one to my shrink back in
I got an email from that mental health professional saying that something I did was helpful to someone else she was working with, and that I should feel that I am making a difference.
But I don't feel like I'm making a difference. I feel certain that once I am dead and my immediate friends and family express some degree of regret, it will very quickly be as if I had never lived at all. Someone like Shakespeare might be known and admired for 600 or 1,000, or 5,000 years, but eventually he will be forgotten. Eventually, conditions on earth will not be conducive to life and this planet will resemble the landscape on Mars. If the end of all things is dust and nothingness, then what causes us to strive to live? Why do we have these forces that resist death?
This is what I am thinking now:
1. Bacteria seem to have a will to live. There is enough variation in their genetic make-up to allow for survival. Antibiotics, and hostile environmental conditions will kill bacteria instantaneously, but some bacteria survive because they have some slight genetic difference. Wiping out most of the bacteria allow these few bacteria to survive, to reproduce, and we get bacteria that is now resistant to the antibiotics once used to kill them. The bacteria have no brain, they aren't thinking about survival, but there are certain forces within the bacteria that resist death.
2. I notice that potted plants in my home will lean toward the light. I can turn the pot and the plant, with out grasping hands, without musculature, still manages to move it, to find and lean toward the light. This activity of plants, to bend towards light, is known as phototropism. Light for the plant is essential to its survival. The plant has a will to live. It doesn't write poetry. It doesn't minister to weaker struggling fauna. All the plant does is live, but clearly, the plant has a will to live.
3. The mayfly has a shockingly short lifespan. The mayfly is born, mates, lays eggs, and dies. Mayflies are unique among the winged insects because they moult one more time after acquiring functional wings. The final moulting brings the mayfly to its adult stage which lasts a very short time. The adult mayfly has mouthparts that are vestigial. The adult mayfly has no real need for a mouth, because the adult is not going to live long enough to eat anything. The digestive track of a mayfly is filled with air. The ONLY function of a mayfly is to reproduce, lay eggs, and to die, yet the mayfly has a will to live.
4. Scientists have discovered an Antarctic fish species that adopts a winter survival strategy similar to hibernation. This fish, the Antarctic 'cod' Notothenia coriiceps actually puts itself on ice in order to survive the long Antarctic winter. What is going on with this cod while it lives in a suspended frozen state for month after month? The Notothenia coriiceps has a will to live.
5. I recently read a story about a woman who jumped from a bridge in an effort to kill herself, and when she survived the fall she struggled to stay afloat until she could be rescued. Virginia Woolf committed suicide by drowning, but before she entered the water she filled her pockets with heavy stones, knowing that unless she was weighted down she would have a tendency to float, and would likely survive. Why would people who want to kill themselves take such self-destructive action and then behave in ways that would enable them to live? One might say that at least some suicidal attempts are just a cry for help, and not a true desire to die, however, I think there is a will to live that is etched on the DNA. If we had no inherent, evolutionary, genetic drive to keep living Virgina Woolf would have not needed to fill her pocket with rocks, she could have drowned ourselves in a tea cup.
There doesn't have to be some big purpose that keeps us striving to live. The will to live is part of life, like the heads on a coin always has a tail. It is unavoidable. We live. We have a will to live. And if we have a will to live, if I have an ingrained will to live, then why not live, accept life, and open my arms and accept all the joy I can grab on to?
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)Tex,Interesting yet relatively despondent article. I notice that you include bacteria, plants, and animals, but unlike rational humans they differ in that they lack the agency to choose.
Personally, I found myself depressed and in utter despair for years, until I was in my early thirties. However, it has been a greater number of years that I have left that despair and sense of a lack of importance. Once I opened myself up to not only possibility but GREAT possibility, it has been made transparently obvious to me my purpose and the largeness of that purpose to not only help me but to help as many others as I can. And it is this and only this intentional choice to reach out to others that has obliterated my depression. I certainly still get bored, as most creative people do, but I can't remember the last episode of depression, despair, hopelessness, purposelessness, or directionlessness.
As the Zen Buddhist believes, all those who reach out beyond themselves do so to overcome selfishness--selfish desires being like toys along the path of life. A child at this level or a child without toys is sad, sadder still is the adult fixated at the same level. Of course, doing as the Hindu will not aleviate all depression but it will make considerable inroads into it for most.
Interesting and thought provoking article. God bless.
"We have a will to live. And if we have a will to live, if I have an ingrained will to live, then why not live, accept life, and open my arms and accept all the joy I can grab on to?" I was relieved to read this ending, Tex. My brother had a near death experience and I have learned from other NDE'rs that their will to live means that they really want to live, whether or not they're afraid to die. They want to enjoy life, they want to get more out of life, they believe that their life is not over and they're willing to do whatever they can to squeeze more out of it. A healthy point of view, if you ask me. So yes, open your arms and accept all the joy you can grab. I'm doing the same thing!
Hi Tex.I'm with Avis...I was relieved to read that line.I've often asked myself, "What's the point?" And I'm not a depressed kind of person, though my husband suffers from clinical depression and so I understand a little bit about it.Thing is, to my way of thinking, there may not be a point. So what? A biologically derived will to live or a desire to go on living aside, I just want to experience all that living has to offer...and keep on experiencing it. Do we need to have any more purpose than that?There are a number of very well educated people in various fields of study (not just new-age, healy-feely, crystal people) that have come to the conclusion that the universe...the entire universe...is set up to create life and that the purpose of that life if to create consciousness in the universe. Taken in that light, everything is playing its part, including you and me, rocks and trees and all the animals.Personally, I believe my purpose and the source of my will to live is found in my desire to increase the amount of happiness in the universe each and every day. And the best place to start with that is with myself.I enjoyed your article. It was thoughtful and thought provoking. I am looking forward to reading more from you.Dianne
Dear Avis Thanks for the comment. I have been asking myself, lately, "what is the point" and writing this article did help me a little. If bugs and plants, and things without a choice still choose to live, struggle to live, then perhaps that is in me as well. I may be discouraged, tired, ready to give up, but that's only because I'm discouraged, tired, and ready to give up. If I just look inside I see that while I may be ready to die, and not afraid to die, I also have a drive to live, and if the drive is there, then I should just drop this debate and live as long as I live, and get from life as much as I can sqeeze from life. I wish you and your brother the very best. Peace be with you. Tex
The point of life, the purpose my friend is simply to be a Creator. The more you create the less depressed you will become until you will no longer be depressed at all. Find your personal outlets for creation and you will satisfy your soul.
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