| Immortality
is life without death; literally living forever. That is not exactly the same
as eternal life, which has spiritual connotations. Eternal life has come to mean
living forever, but not necessarily in the physical realm. The longest
verified lifespan is that of Jeanne Calment (1875–1997), who died aged 122
years and 164 days. While there are now many hundreds of people who have lived
beyond 100 years, the proportion of the population who achieve this is very small
indeed. Colonel Norman Dane Vaughan, America's oldest Antarctican, the last surviving
member of the expedition of 1928-30, said he hoped to live to 100, "because
not many people die after that.". He managed it, but died just four days
later. Many religions have eternal life at the centre of their beliefs,
and this varies from physically rising from the grave at judgement day to live
forever, to an existence of pure spirit. Eternal life is rarely, however, thought
to be a simple, endless extension of normal life.
Eternal life features
in many science fiction and fantasy tales, often as a curse, rather than a gift.
These tales recognise that with the decline of health that we have come to expect,
eternal life may simply extend the decline until it becomes torture; a lonely,
damaged existence in an unfamiliar world.
So, realistically, will
you live forever - in the physical sense - by using Alex Chiu's Immortality Rings?
Will I? |  |
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