Having no permeance means that humans will not last forever and we are mortal. In society today our world likes to play with ideas of impermanence because people are afraid of death and the unknown. This drives humans to want to become immortal or live longer. An example of this are companies created products that are marketed as anti aging. Companies including Sephora, Olay, Alta, etc. use phrases like anti aging to appeal to peoples desires to stay young. Even though humans know that they will not live forever they still seek out a longer life span.
The reason why people are able to get up and live through their daily lives if because humans don’t live forever. The fact that we have a time limit is the reason why we feel we need to do things. If people had as much time as they wanted on this planet, they would never feel rushed to do anything. The fear of death is a device that drives us. The fear of losing things makes humans want to create a legacy. This is a concept shown in The Epic of Gilgamesh. His journey of immortality taught him that humans can’t be immortal and that mankind will live on even if he doesn’t. When he returns from his search for immortality and makes back to Uruk the narrator states, “…returning engraved on a stone the whole story” (Sandars 117). The quote is important because it shows that he has learned that there are many ways to live on besides being physically immortal. By writing his story in stone is him leaving behind his legacy and living on. Even today we read about him and hear his name even though he’s long gone so in some sense he has achieved immortality.
Even though we all ultimately die, what gives us meaning is life are the relationships that we form with others. In The Epic Gilgamesh an example of this is bond he created with Gilgamesh due to his the socialization the Enkidu went through. When Enkidu became conscious of his own death he states that, “I must sit down on the threshold of death and never again will I see my dear brother with my eyes” (Sandars 89). This quote shows that the relationship he had with Gilgamesh was an integral part of what gives his life meaning and later on in his sickness he states, “Once I ran for you, for the water of life, and now I have nothing” (Sandars 93). This statement implies that without that relationship with Gilgamesh, Enkidu has nothing else. This shows how important relationships are to people and how much meaning it adds to our lives.
Mortal humans create a sense of order and eternal life through stories passed down through history. Millions of stories have been passed down through time. The majority of these stories have themes, meaning and idea in them. These stories allow the ideas and actions from the past to live on eternally. Gilgamesh does this through his story etched in stone which allows his journey and name to live on forever. Works of literature can teach us valuable lessons which give us a sense or order much like various religious texts. Even our government today is built off of the ideas of people throughout time which keeps our society in order. Literature allows mortals to create a sense of order and eternal life.