Blogpost 7: Who are the immortals?

In my previous post, I discussed about the different mythology of immortality. Now I will discuss about who became immortals in the myths. They are sometimes called immortal legends. If we can prove that this people exist, we can conclude that immortality is possible.

I found some interesting stories of those people who became immortal in the site of "Speaking Tree.in" where the slides were entitled "Mythological Ways to Become Immortal" in which I already visited this because I used this on my topic of the myths of immortality.


This person is Ashwathama. After he killed the sons of Pandavas, Krishna placed a cursed on him. The curse was"he will carry the burden of all people's sins on his shoulders and will roam alone like a ghost without getting any love and courtesy till the end of Kaliyuga. It is believed that in Kaliyuga, his name will be "Suryakanta". Ashwathama will be in the search of death every moment but he will never die.


The Wandering Jew, a Jewish shoemaker. According to the legend, he taunted Jesus on his way to crucifixion. Jesus cursed him "to go on forever till He return". The Wandering Jew will lived until the second coming of Jesus. They said that sometimes the Wandering Jew is old, sometimes he is young and later returns to being old.




John the Apostle, one of Jesus followers. Same as the Wandering Jew, John will remain on the Earth until the second coming of Jesus. It was interpreted in the Bible, John 21:21-23.





The Three Nephites. It is said that these are the three apostles of Jesus and asked Jesus to change them from human to angels in order to fulfill their desire to minister among men until Jesus comes again on Earth.



Merlin, a magician at the court of King Arthur. It is said that Merlin was trapped by an enchantment by Nimue and when Merlin is dying, he remains in the trap indefinitely. Some people believed that Merlin was still around and guarding or protects the Royal Family in England.


Leonard "Live-Forever" Jones. He wasn't immortal but he was notable for believing in immortality. He was an eccentric who ran for the election of President of the United States between the late 1840s to 1860s on a platform of immortality. He believed that mortality is for poor mortals and with the power of prayer, anyone could live forever. He died at the age of 71 of Pneumonia.

Qin Shi Huang Di, the first Emperor of China who sought immortality in his old age. He sent hundreds of people to find the legendary elixir of life twice, but failed. He died of mercury poisoning after eating too many mercury pills. His doctors prescribed him because it will make him immortal.

Joseph Stalin hired a Ukrainian Patho-physiologist to conduct research life extension. Unfortunately, the researcher died in 1946 and when Stalin found out, he fell into severe anger and complained, “The crook promised life eternal, but died at age 65. He deceived me!”

There is another article that I found called "10 Notable People Thought to be Immortal" in the site of "Listverse". Some people were already mentioned in the other article (above).


In Greek Mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian King. He was thought to be an immortal and was only inferior to Achilles. He was killed by Achilles in retribution for killing Antilochus. The story of Memnon was one of the most intense to read.

Achilles was dipped into the River Styx when he was a baby to gain impenetrable skin against any weapons so he was nearly invincible. His only weakness was his heel and Paris poisoned it. It is believed that Achilles was shot in the heel with an arrow.

Nicolas Flamel, a scholar and scribe, devoted his life to understand the text in the mysterious book filled with encoded alchemical symbols that some believed that is the secret of the Philosopher's stone. Some said that he, himself, created the Philosopher's Stone. He remains as an important figure in the alchemist world.

Count of St. Germain, it is believed that he discovered the secret of eternal life. Some said that he doesn't age and he was born back to the time of Christ. He used to move from one place to another every moment taking with him the secrets of his personality which it seems very mysterious.

Heracles' story was one of the most famous around the world. They said that Heracles was a man who was so strong and courageous, whose deed were so mighty, and who endured all the hardships that was given to him, eventually it made him immortal. The only certain thing is that Heracles never achieved real immortality but he managed to become the most famous hero in the ancient times and the most beloved one too.


Apparently, these people aren't really immortal because if they do, where are they? If they existed maybe they just lived for a long time and considered immortal but it is clearly not immortal. Some people still believed in this things. Despite all the myths and legends commonsense tells us everything dies.

Blogpost 6: Kinds of Immortality

When we say immortality the thing that comes into our mind is eternal life and to be able to lie forever. No other than that. Do you believe that there are different kinds of immortality? If you thought that the answer is there are no kinds at all then you are wrong.

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work.I want to achieve it through not dying." - Woody Allen

According to Immanuel Velikovsky,a psychiatrist and independent scholar, there are Four kinds of immortality in his Psychoanalytic Papers. 

First is the immortality of all matter.  The body disintegrates, but it is not annihilated; it steps once again into the eternal cycle of nature and continues on its road of dis-assimilation and assimilation. The body doesn't die because in absolute sense, death doesn't exist. 

The second immortality is the seed. Egg and sperm are the carriers of life,of character and propagation. In this kind of immortality, it is said that being immortal is genetic. 

The third one is creativity. What was being created remains alive in the indestructible chains of origins and consequences. Every effect on what has been created that imprints its form and power remains immortal. 

The fourth immortality is that in which finds its direction is psychic energy and interaction of assimilation. No one will ever be sure about the true origin in their thoughts nor no one will know where his thoughts will be transplanted by power. There is nothing that does not change its form. Everything is transitory and immortal.

Another article that is related to this topic is entitled "Ten Kinds of Immortality" in the site of "Figuring Out Fulfillment" which is different from the previous article.

As mentioned, there are ten kinds of immortality.

First is the literal immortality. From the word itself literal. No one ever achieved literal immortality unless you believe in immortality which doesn't really exist.

Second is spiritual immortality. It is a personal attribute. When you believe that you've been good when you are still alive, you will be going to heavens and receive an everlasting life. That is what you call spiritual immortality.

Third is genetic immortality. It is referring to your physical appearance. If you have children and they get your physical appearance then it is like a part of you will live on your children and pass it to another generation.

Fourth is memorial immortality. Even if we die, our family and friends will always remember us and stay with their hearts. As long as they remember us, we still exist and haven't really died.

Fifth one is the legendary immortality. It is an extended memorial immortality because the people you knew tell stories to other people. It may not be the real story of your life but you are still remembered.

Sixth is the nominal immortality. You have been remembered because something that you did was named after you. Maybe they will not know you by the story of your life but they will know that somehow you existed. Example, Anderson in Andersonville. 

Seventh is the historical immortality. People were remembered because they did something in our humanity. They may or may not did something good but they achieved in time was enough to be remembered forever. Example for this is our national hero, Jose Rizal.

Eighth one is ideative immortality. It is like nominal immortality but more specific. The thoughts that they shared will never be extinguished unless someone prove that they are wrong.

Ninth is the creative immortality. Same as the ideative immortality but in this case, you invented something that makes our  lives more efficient, bearable and interesting. Example, Steve Jobs the creator of Apple.

Last but not the least is the constructive immortality. It is like ideative and creative immortality. When you did a positive thing, you already achieved constructive immortality like teach a children how to read, helped someone in need.

When we think about immortality, eternal life comes to our mind which refers to literal immortality and nearly impossible. But we can still achieve immortality by doing something good and it can be historical, creative, ideative or constructive immortality. We can also achieved it by our family and friends. We will remain in their hearts forever. Albert Pike who achieved ideative immortality said that "What we do for ourselves alone, dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal".

Blogpost 5: Immortality in Movies

There were times that we wish to become immortal or to live forever. Sometimes, we even daydreamed about on how we will spend our lives forever. But does living forever worth the cost? How far would you go in order to gain eternal youth? There are some movies that show the good things and bad things of immortality.

The movie "Death becomes Her" gives us knowledge that immortality can be bad for us. The movie was starred by Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. The movie is about the rivalry of two women who tries to eliminate each other and discovered that they both drink the same magical potion, they become immortal and life will never be the same for them. The focus of the movie is what is it like to have an eternal life, is it good or bad? It is explained that the two woman doesn't want to look old but to look young forever so that's why they ended up drinking a potion that makes them immortal. While their loved one doesn't want to drink the potion because he would get bored having the two ladies as his company for the rest of his life and he can't take to see his family and friends die.

When I was searching about an article that relates immortality to the movie, I found an article that caught my attention entitled "The Problem with Immortality" in the site of "The Vampire Project". The article talks about the movie on how they are related to vampires gaining immortality. It stated that "the pain of someone's immortality reminds us to enjoy our mortality, where we would otherwise take it for granted". In the "Death Becomes Her" movie, the eternal youth is granted as long as one stays alive. When an immortal dies, the body becomes rot but their soul stays intact same as their mental facilities. The author relate it to vampires by saying that their bodies did not remain to be young forever. By the end of the movie, the two women's bodies have completely shattered form abuse and it all left were their talking heads, with no hope for release. In their case, death will be the greatest gift for them but because of the greed of eternal youth, death denied them. The film serves as an allegory for those people who want their looks and youth to be as they are forever and it is possible to lose their humanity in the process.

To sum it all up, I realized that being immortal is not really good to us. Immortality undermine whatever achievements you have because you will have an infinite time to achieve them. Being immortal is not really about having a body that could outlived forever but only a soul.

Blogpost 4: Mythology of Immortality

There are different myths of immortality. When I was kid, the only immortal I know is the gods of the Greek and I don't know why they become immortal. I found out that each culture and religion have different ways to achieve immortality. According to Robert Ingersoll, "Our hope of immortality does not come from any religions, but nearly all religions come from that hope." 

When I read an article called "Mythological Ways to become Immortal" by Pallavi Tyagi in the site of Speakingtree.in. There are different myths from different cultures.

According to Japanese Mythology, when you eat a ningyo (mermaid). It is famous for its pleasant-smelling flesh that whoever eats it becomes immortal. Example is when one girl ate that fish not knowing it is a ningyo, she grew up and got married. She stayed young become widowed and had been married many times until she decided to become a nun. She died at 800 years old because perhaps of her good deeds.

According to Hindu Mythology, if someone consumes Amrit/Amrita, you become immortal. The gods teamed up with the demons so that they can make this drink and promised the demons that they will give them some. But, the gods trick the demons and did not give them the holy drink.

In Greek Mythology, there are two myths to become immortal.
Ambrosia is a food or drink that whoever consumes it becomes immortal. It is for the gods but for demigods, if they consume it they gain back their health but not immortal. They said that ambrosia was brought by the doves.
If you trick the gods, they will get angry at you and you will be punished for eternity in which you also became immortal. One of the stories is that King Ixion try to rape Hera, Zeus found out and he was punished by strapping him to a flaming wheel forever.

In Christian Mythology, according to the legends, the Holy Grail is where Jesus drank at the Last Supper. Many of the knights has the quest to search for the Holy Grail but most of them failed. Sir Galahad, son of Sir Lancelot and Elaine, was the only one to have gained immortality because he was the one who touched it.

According to Norse Mythology, there is an orchard in Asgard where golden apples started to grow. The Norse people believed that the apples were connected to immortality and resurrection. If someone they cherished is dead, they buried the apples with the dead so that it would sustained their trip on the other side.


According to the Chinese Mythology, peaches symbolizes immortality in the Chinese. The immortals celebrate a feast called "Feast of the Peaches". It happens during the 3rd day of the 3rd moon month. They waited for like six thousand to gather the feast. For the first three years, the peach tree will put forth leaves and for the other three years, the fruit will ripen.

While in Sumerian Mythology, Gilgamesh has a quest which is to find the source of immortality. He goes to Utnapishtim and tells him that immortality is a special gift but then again, there is a plant that gives eternal life. Gilgamesh find it. However, he loses the plant to a snake.

When I read another article in listverse.com entitled "10 Mythological Ways to become Immortal " by Michael Van Duisen. In this article, it has the same content as the previous one. Except he indicated one myth which is in Taoism. There is a common ore of mercury is called Cinnabar in which it is the central ingredient to the Taoist elixir of immortality.  But their belief changed due to that they said that these materials were poisonous and many people died including their emperors.
 
Well there are a lot of myths to become immortal. But these are just myths meaning they are FICTION. Still, some people believe in these myths. If these are true, where is the evidence? They are immortal right? They should be living until now. So for me, I do not believe that these myths are true.

Blogpost 3: Immortality: Good or Bad?

Do you think that immortality can be good to us or not? Why or why not? For me, being immortal is good because you will be with your loved ones forever.

I found a thesis paper entitled "Why death can be bad and immortality is worse" by Cara Kalnow. 

In this paper, she examined about the moral implications of the metaphysical nature of death. She said that there are two ways in which death can be defined. First is that death is permanent end of life while the second is that death is not the end but the another start of life. Her thesis paper contains the Epicureans in which they said that death is bad and one who is dead no longer exists and conclude that harms can only befall one if one exists at the time in which the harm occurred. Another is the Anti-Epicureans in which they said that death is not bad because it is the time when that person deprived the goods of life. She also stated that there are good reasons to regard the prospect of death which states to another question: if we have good reason  to regard our possible death as a misfortune, would immortality present a desirable alternative? Thomas Nagel said that life would be indefinitely good if everyone is meant to live forever. Another is Lucretius, an Epicurean, said that nature provides a termination of life and to live beyond human span will spoil the values of life. She agreed with Lucretius and concluded that immortality cannot be an alternative because removal of mortality brings with it the removal by which it means that the value of life is recognized. Thus immortality cannot be recognized as human life.

When I read an article entitled "5 Reasons Immortality Would be Worse than Death" by Elias Don Tonte in cracked.com.

These are the five reasons why immortality is worse than death:

1 Evolution will turn you into a Freak:
Well people say that humans are still evolving. Their bodies and brains will adapt to the changing environment but yours won't. Maybe the food that they eat can't handle by your digestive system. People will judge you and think you are weird.


2 Nobody can ever find out:
No one should ever find out because they can report it to the authority and they can arrest you. They may think that you are an alien and going to take over the world. So from time to time, you should go to different places with different names so that you would not be judged.

3 You're still getting older (Mentally):
Your body doesn't age but your mind does. Your brain has limited ability to store.You would not remember all the memories when you were born because you will have a new memories to store and it is really hard to remember all of them.

4 Time speeds up until you're insane:
Many people believe that every year seems to be shorter than the previous one. There is a difference between when you are 10 and when you become a 100 years old. It becomes more shorter, for example, a minute will seem to be like 5 seconds when you get older.


5 You'll eventually get trapped somewhere (Forever):
What if there is some disaster and all the people died? Because you are immortal, you wouldn't die. You wouldn't suffer from the disease but you will suffer from being alone. You will be going crazy.

Now if you have a chance to be immortal, will you take it or not? My suggestion is don't. You should just enjoy your life while you can because you will not know when is the end of your life.