Dealing with immortality? Are immortal Ponies depressed?

[Music Chart Fan 818]

This misses one other form of afterlife -- that is reincarnation. If we just keep on coming back -- working to improve in each lifespan -- then you get elements of both worlds. You get to live and die among your peers -- and it does not have to end. Of course then you have issues of if the entire world gets destroyed what happens. Plus when you have HUGE population spikes where do the extra souls come from (are we making promotion to humanity an easy process and there are a lot of animal souls out there?)

My question would be, in this scenario, does one retain any memories of previous lives? If so, how is one person able to retain memories of multiple lifetimes in our finite memory? If not, then how can you work to improve in each lifespan if you don't remember what to improve?

[Dusty Soul 2,611]

I think that with being immortal they have the power of strong will. So I think they deal with it, but somewhere deep inside them the depression builds up.

[Charming Knight 56]

I know i wouldn't be able to bear that... being immortal I've always loved the idea never gonna die always going to be around... but like as i was reading some of the other posts... you couldn't settle down if you had truly found somepony you loved. cause sure you may have them but then they will pass on and you will be back to being alone and i mean ya you could find love again but what if that pony was the one that was just perfect for you? and what about when Luna was sent to the moon... 1000 years of complete solitude... I'm not surprised Nightmare Moon was created by that... I know i like being alone my self and all that but i do need interactions and friendships and other ponies around to ya know interact with now I give Luna Props because who knows how what it is truly like to be alone for over 1000 years and just feel hated and isolated... i don't and certainly don't ever wanna find out what that's like.

[Sunny Fox 5,935]

I know i wouldn't be able to bear that... being immortal I've always loved the idea never gonna die always going to be around... but like as i was reading some of the other posts... you couldn't settle down if you had truly found somepony you loved. cause sure you may have them but then they will pass on and you will be back to being alone and i mean ya you could find love again but what if that pony was the one that was just perfect for you? and what about when Luna was sent to the moon... 1000 years of complete solitude... I'm not surprised Nightmare Moon was created by that... I know i like being alone my self and all that but i do need interactions and friendships and other ponies around to ya know interact with now I give Luna Props because who knows how what it is truly like to be alone for over 1000 years and just feel hated and isolated... i don't and certainly don't ever wanna find out what that's like.

 

Nightmare Moon was created before that, though. She had become Nightmare Moon before she was defeated by Celestia and the EoH.

[NavelColt 22,876]

Discord = Spirit = Truly Immortal

 

Tia & Lulu = Not Spirits, gods, deities, etc = Not immortal, extended lifespan

 

Now that that's cleared up

 

Whether immortal or extended lifespan doesn't change the fact that they get to sit by and watch as generation after generation of their friends and students die. But in that sense, I believe Celestia and Luna cope with it like everyone else. They embrace the wonders of life like everyone else and enjoy themselves, they mourn when people die, and then they move on. You get better at things with practice, and, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I imagine if anything, Celestia and Luna are better at handling the deaths of loved ones than everyone else, seeing as how they've had to bare through it so much. That is not to say that it get's any easier for them, that's not what I'm implying. But what it does mean is that they do not let the deaths of loved ones sit over their head and stoop them into depression, because they're wise enough in their insanely long lifespan to know that letting your life fall apart doesn't help you, and it isn't what the loved one would have wanted you to do.

 

That said, I would not want immortality because in the long run it's just as much a curse, if not more so, than a blessing.

[Johny Farenheit 34]

To have death...to be mortal and say your time is up...that is what immortal creatures cannot do. I am afraid of death...i fear it and what may or may not lay beyond it...my lack of knowledge scares me..but i do know...that in the end, the ultimate goal is this: to die without regret, to breath my last breath and know "I have done good on this world, i am at peace." That is a luxury that immortals shall never possess, no matter how hard they strive.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

wouldn't you be depressed living in an imperfect world?

didn't anyone see LOTR?

where eragorn's "lover" can't love him because she will live forever and he will eventually die.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Rainbow Dashey

[Sunny Fox 5,935]

wouldn't you be depressed living in an imperfect world?

didn't anyone see LOTR?

where eragorn's "lover" can't love him because she will live forever and he will eventually die.

 

Well, I think that depends a great deal on whether you believe in Fate/Destiny or in Opportunity. If you think everyone has "one true love" who is destined for them, and that once that person dies, no one else will ever fill that void, immortality would be a great burden. (Destiny) Those who believe that there are many that one could love, and that through the course of their immortal lives, they would meet many of them and can choose to have a relationship with them or not, (Opportunity) immortality is far less something to be feared.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

Well, I think that depends a great deal on whether you believe in Fate/Destiny or in Opportunity. If you think everyone has "one true love" who is destined for them, and that once that person dies, no one else will ever fill that void, immortality would be a great burden. (Destiny) Those who believe that there are many that one could love, and that through the course of their immortal lives, they would meet many of them and can choose to have a relationship with them or not, (Opportunity) immortality is far less something to be feared.

 

thusly it wasn't "true love" lol, that's like going through batteries

it dies you replace it

it dies you replace it

a vicious cycle that fills the void of the predacesor.

 

but since immortality isn't something we deal with in this life. or this planet. meh.

[Terra the Tomekeeper 49]

Princess Luna, stuck on the moon for 1000 years... that reminds me of a funny thing I found on deviantart.

 

[Sunny Fox 5,935]

thusly it wasn't "true love" lol, that's like going through batteries

it dies you replace it

a vicious cycle that fills the void of the predacesor.

 

but since immortality isn't something we deal with in this life. or this planet. meh.

 

Ah, but do you blame the battery that it does not last forever? Do you use it as the excuse to get thoroughly depressed? Or do you accept that it has done what it should, and then move on to the next one? In my present state, I could not bear to think of another entity in such terms. If I were to be immortal? I think I can adapt to the changes in perception such would bring. One might indeed consider a living, choosing being as another battery. Would that be wrong? Perhaps, but everything is different on the other side.

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

Ah, but do you blame the battery that it does not last forever? Do you use it as the excuse to get thoroughly depressed? Or do you accept that it has done what it should, and then move on to the next one? In my present state, I could not bear to think of another entity in such terms. If I were to be immortal? I think I can adapt to the changes in perception such would bring. One might indeed consider a living, choosing being as another battery. Would that be wrong? Perhaps, but everything is different on the other side.

 

first off don't start a philosophy battle with me... i do this sort of thing for fun.

secondly...

I will except your views to be acceptable, but unfathomable. Place yourself in eternity, within a dying world. All life around you dies off, and is replaced. If you choose to keep on replacing that would be a choice yes. But, you would slowy adapt to the life passing on. Going from a state of shock, to complete lack of emotion. If a puppy died right now, you would normally be upset, but not a battery... now magnify it over the course of eternity... soon truckloads of life, not just batteries, but entire beings, groups, colonies, civilizations will pass on until you, the undying being, is left alone... then what?

Edited August 24, 2012 by Rainbow Dashey

[Sunny Fox 5,935]

first off don't start a philosophy battle with me... i do this sort of thing for fun.

secondly...

I will except your views to be acceptable, but unfathomable. Place yourself in eternity, within a dying world. All life around you dies off, and is replaced. If you choose to keep on replacing that would be a choice yes. But, you would slowy adapt to the life passing on. Going from a state of shock, to complete lack of emotion. If a puppy died right now, you would normally be upset, but not a battery... now magnify it over the course of eternity... soon truckloads of life, not just batteries, but entire beings, groups, colonies, civilizations will pass on until you, the undying being, is left alone... then what?

 

Oh, but philosophy battles are so much fun! Besides, it's not a battle, it's a discussion. One side does not need to be right, and the other side wrong. If I've made you think, that's enough for me. If you've made me consider something I did not or would not before, isn't that a greater victory?

 

Besides, "place yourself in eternity"? Can one do that? I submit that they cannot. Being moral, none of us could possibly know how becoming immortal might change our views and beliefs. So, in essence, my view is flawed, and so (I would guess) is yours.

 

In the end, our own individual philosophies might mean we can never agree. But that's no reason to stop the discussion, until either you or I no longer find any point in continuing it.

 

soon truckloads of life, not just batteries, but entire beings, groups, colonies, civilizations will pass on until you, the undying being, is left alone... then what?

This assumes that any such entity would be more highly prized than a simple battery, an assumption rooted in mortality. My point is that eventually, even such things as civilizations would become no more significant to an immortal being than a chess piece would be.

 

Oddly enough, I have often thought of writing a short story where a human is given immortality... until the point that even the sun going Red Giant and the Earth being fried do not kill him, and he eventually ends up waiting outside a shrinking black hole at the end of time, trying to decide whether or not to plunge into the abyss to end it all, or wait and see what happens after. That, I suspect, is the ultimate conflict: libido vs destrudo.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Full Spectrum

[Abstract 831]

thusly it wasn't "true love" lol, that's like going through batteries

it dies you replace it

it dies you replace it

a vicious cycle that fills the void of the predacesor.

 

but since immortality isn't something we deal with in this life. or this planet. meh.

 

I'm sorry, but the concept of "true love" simply does not make sense. If it does exist, it is horribly cruel. If there is only one person, one truly compatible and loving being for another person in this world, what are chances of anyone finding them? There are over seven billion people living today, and there are so many who die, and so many born who replace them, every day; how can any one person even have the slightest hope of finding, "the one" for them? For all we know, our "one" could be a person we will never meet, living halfway across the world. If "true love" exists in its full and complete definition, there is almost no no hope for anybody living today, and anyone who did find such a thing would have to be considered some of the luckiest people ever to have lived.

 

...That said, immortality must be an unimaginable horror, at least in my mind. Of course, there's that yearning to have seen human history progress, and where it will progress to, but as others have touched upon; I imagine at some point, everyone would grow tired of life. It's almost unbelievable, as many people seem to have a fear of death. But I imagine that death is much more preferable to living forever. I can't really explain it I suppose, but I simply cannot envision a life where I do not cease to exist. I cannot fathom the concept of no end to myself. At some point, one would have to grow tired of what we call living; Perhaps one would grow immune to the cycle of life and death mankind has grown accustomed to, but it is only a feeling known by those who have not had to experience it themselves.

 

I think Celestia and Luna have to be some of the most depressed, yet wisest and accepting beings we could have ever imagined. And just think what we are not even close to capable of imagining. (A great deal of many things)

 

If such beings were ever to exist, I think perhaps we could not even begin to understand them, to even see what they are and what they could be, to imagine what they have seen and will see; to even have the mental capacity to accept their existence, even with undisputible proof in front of us.

 

Truly, Celestia and Luna are simply goddesses.

[RazzyJam 1,519]

you could all just wait for Humanity to INVENT immortality and try it for yourselves, because that is coming. And very quickly as well.

[Ink 191]

I personally think being immortal would be amazing - having unlimited time to learn and experience everything. It's likely your friends die before you even if you aren't immortal, and the fact that you never die would simply give you a chance to forget.

 

you could all just wait for Humanity to INVENT immortality and try it for yourselves, because that is coming. And very quickly as well.

 

While our technology does indeed get more advanced with the years, I doubt we'll see immortality during our life. Sure, we went from Pong to Crysis 3 in a few decades, but for anyone to be truly "immortal", they would have to regenerate cells as quickly as they lose them, which is far from achievable right now.

[RazzyJam 1,519]

While our technology does indeed get more advanced with the years, I doubt we'll see immortality during our life. Sure, we went from Pong to Crysis 3 in a few decades, but for anyone to be truly "immortal", they would have to regenerate cells as quickly as they lose them, which is far from achievable right now.

 

Believe it or not, we will have achieved an 'augmented immortality' in a matter of decades. Its not quite living forever, but when scientists are currently making technology to PRINT replacement organs and regrow limbs, It wont be long before you can live forever. There are also some things in research that stop the aging process. Scientists are crazy...

[Batbrony 15,994]

I've thought about that a couple times, and honestly, I don't think Celestia gets that depressed. Maybe she used to, but at some point before the show started, she found a very effective (if unhealthy) way to both overcome her depression and keep herself entertained as well; troll the buck out of her subjects!!! Besides, as others have mentioned, she now also has her sister by her side for all eternity, so at least she'll always have somepony whom she's always known with her.

[BlimpAtomic 16]

I'm sure they do get sad. But remember, there are regions outside Ponyville and Canterlot. I'm sure Celestia has plenty of friends everywhere in Equestria.

 

you could all just wait for Humanity to INVENT immortality and try it for yourselves, because that is coming. And very quickly as well.

 

I'd love to be immortal. All my so called "friends" would die and I would just be standing there, laughing at them.

[RazzyJam 1,519]

 

I'd love to be immortal. All my so called "friends" would die and I would just be standing there, laughing at them.

 

Thats... horrible xD

 

(hate limits DDDDDDDDX whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy goddddddddddd nfjdasnfjdsafndjasfabs)

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

I'm sorry, but the concept of "true love" simply does not make sense. If it does exist, it is horribly cruel. If there is only one person, one truly compatible and loving being for another person in this world, what are chances of anyone finding them? There are over seven billion people living today, and there are so many who die, and so many born who replace them, every day; how can any one person even have the slightest hope of finding, "the one" for them? For all we know, our "one" could be a person we will never meet, living halfway across the world. If "true love" exists in its full and complete definition, there is almost no no hope for anybody living today, and anyone who did find such a thing would have to be considered some of the luckiest people ever to have lived.

 

...That said, immortality must be an unimaginable horror, at least in my mind. Of course, there's that yearning to have seen human history progress, and where it will progress to, but as others have touched upon; I imagine at some point, everyone would grow tired of life. It's almost unbelievable, as many people seem to have a fear of death. But I imagine that death is much more preferable to living forever. I can't really explain it I suppose, but I simply cannot envision a life where I do not cease to exist. I cannot fathom the concept of no end to myself. At some point, one would have to grow tired of what we call living; Perhaps one would grow immune to the cycle of life and death mankind has grown accustomed to, but it is only a feeling known by those who have not had to experience it themselves.

 

I think Celestia and Luna have to be some of the most depressed, yet wisest and accepting beings we could have ever imagined. And just think what we are not even close to capable of imagining. (A great deal of many things)

 

If such beings were ever to exist, I think perhaps we could not even begin to understand them, to even see what they are and what they could be, to imagine what they have seen and will see; to even have the mental capacity to accept their existence, even with undisputible proof in front of us.

 

Truly, Celestia and Luna are simply goddesses.

 

yes this is true, but i never said "true love" existed in this life, or plane of existence. And I agree with you on the Celestia and Luna being the most depressed, and wisest. And also the fact that if you had to choose between living HERE forever or death, death would be a much more welcomed compromise. And I don't think there are any other being that could be immortal except for a few heavenly bodies of which i will keep to myself as to keep on topic with the thread on hand.

So yes death is prefferable over a suffering eternity.

[Johny Farenheit 34]

I have been thinking...and perhaps...you could give your friends your immortality. If you were immortal...and if your friends died...simply keep their memory alive. Always remember them...then they will never truly die. Do not forget them: to be forgotten is a fate worse than death.

[Dusk Lunar-Blaze 17]

She maybe mortal and she maybe immortal. But if she is mortal, her lifespan is LOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG. From my knowledge, she has existed for about 2k+ years.

[Stary Dreams 87]

Well maybe during the first time that somepony she loved died, Celestia must have been overwhelmed with depression and maybe after discovering she has immortality and watched how many of her friends and (maybe) family she might have developed some sort of way to deal with the sadness until it goes away with time. But my simplest answer here is:

 

Magic. Yeah I have no logical answer :\

[FruitRiver 355]

Its a show.

Its Equestria.

Its ponies.

Rainbow colored ponies.

Ponies that look like this:

THEY DONT DIE.