Reflections on the End

Luis Miguel del Bahia

HAVANA TIMES — No matter where we look, everything seems to end in darkness, death and desolation.

Ecological movements are concerned with the future of our world and its biodiversity. On the other hand, we have technocratic positivists convinced of the future of technology.

Does it really matter whether we die today, tomorrow or in 10 years? Does it, when the end is inevitable?

Let us look at what different scientific disciplines have to say.

Physics predicts the decay of everything that exists, until only gravity and some elemental particles are left. Earth sciences anticipate the exhaustion of all resources and the ultimate destruction of what produces them. Astrophysics tells us that, in about 5 billion years, our sun will either go out or explode in a supernova that will sweep across half the galaxy.

There’s no need to mention the many existentialist philosophers who are handing us the poison in the cup, ready to drink. What could humanity’s task be in this mad universe?

What I want to stress is that there is no hope to avert the inevitable end of everything. The question is: how does meaning and significance arise from the banality that characterizes our universe?

Some would say it is the here-and-now…but I still don’t buy it.