Why I Do Not Want To Be Immortal

Jonathan Aquino's Saturday Stories

September 8, 2018

A friend once asked me if I want to be immortal. But what if all men are? I'm sure CNN will have live coverage of the endless battles between Gengis versus Alexander versus Sargon versus Caesar versus Napoleon versus Hitler, but what kind of world is that? If Mozart is still composing, then Jack The Ripper would still be ripping. Mother Teresa would still be with us, but so would Pol Pot. Would John Paul II become Pope if Simon Peter never died? Then again, if Jesus is still alive, there would be no Vatican in the first place.

Yet such a man did exist. He once belonged to the Inquisition, the group the Church has spawned during the 12th century to destroy anyone who wasn't them, much like the Nazis, but in the name of God. This man found what the Knights Templar called the "Elixir of Life." That is one of the story threads in "The Sanctuary" by Raymond Khoury. But the secret was discovered by another man – one who'd kill to gain immortal life.

Yet what if the gift can be shared? What if a man can be granted eternal life here on earth? Is the world ready? A man who once called himself St. Germain, among many names, had asked the same questions. Almost three centuries later, in present-day Beirut, a man with an assumed identity was asking the same questions – and feeling the same doubts. It all began in the 16th century in a Templar castle in Portugal, all the way to Baghdad in the aftermath of Saddam's fall, with a half-burnt book that reveals the secret – with the tantalizing symbol of a coiled snake biting its tail.

I told my friend: No, I don't want to be immortal. This was when the movie "Twilight" first came out, when it seemed all the other kids thought it was cool to be a vampire, and today, I still don't. I know that death is part of life, but I also know how it feels when someone dies. Many of the people I've loved are now dead, but if I'm immortal, then each and everyone I ever cared for will die right before my eyes, and I'm not sure if I can stand that. If you are destined to live forever, you will be alone forever. You will be afraid to be close to someone because they will soon die, and you'll be alone again, but in more pain. That is the price for immortality.

Photo courtesy of Barnes & Noble