Leibniz proposed the following idea about truth: that from a god’s eye perspective, all events would appear necessary and good. The dialectic of contingency melts away before a solitary, all seeing eye. Thus, even a life such as mine which appears to be nothing but a magnet for violence despite a constant desire for love would appear just, necessary and good. Of course such a perspective exists only in our imaginations. An imagination that led Tolkien to put the words of a Christian ethic into the wizard Gandalf’s mouth: “Many that live deserve death. And some die that deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then be not too eager to deal out death in the name of justice, fearing for your own safety. Even the wise cannot see all ends.” In this same way my own life has been nothing but a constant experience of illness, with death the only conceivable cure. Naturally, the obvious question remains: Death of what? Life of what?
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