If we know that our time is no longer limited, will we still have the motivation to do anything at all?
Let us answer with a question: is the only reason why people today do something, exert themselves or take pains over something the fact that, as things currently stand, their lives are limited in time? Or might they not be acting out of interest, passion, a sense that it goes without saying, duty, necessity or generosity? Did you enter into a relationship or take up your job because you realized with concern that you only had a few decades of life left?
If anything, the opposite is true: there are things that nobody tackles today because people believe they would never manage them in one lifetime - and if life were much longer, they would give them a try.
A toddler has not yet developed a realistic concept of death and is therefore not yet aware that its life is finite 1. Nevertheless, as parents can confirm, it usually does not sit through the day listlessly, but explores its surroundings with enthusiasm.
So, just like a child, we should not need death and all the suffering that comes with it in order to find motivation in life.
- Panagiotaki G, Hopkins M, Nobes G, Ward E, Griffiths D. Children's and adults' understanding of death: Cognitive, parental, and experiential influences. J Exp Child Psychol 2018 Feb, 166: 96-115. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.07.014. PMID: 28888195. ↩