The Essence of Life

Two people, a human and a being that isn’t quite human despite sharing similar characteristics, sit by the campfire, in quiet conversation. They're both at ease.

Human (male, middle-aged, average built, blonde): Krail, I’ve known you for a long time, but I don’t know much about you, not even what sort of species you are. Can you indulge me?

Krail (seven-foot, pale blue skin): John, would you believe me if I told you I am an original species?

John (the human): Are you?

Krail: I am. There is no other like me. When I was born, there hadn’t even been human civilization.

John (curious): Just how old are you?

Krail: Older than the lives your kind lead, that is for sure. I am older than anything that is alive, so old that I am not sure that the existence I lead can be dictated as a being that is truly alive.

John: You are in front of me right now, talking. How does that make you not alive?

Krail: I am ageless, eternal. To have lived as long as I have, it is no longer a matter of being alive, but simply existing. I cannot die, I cannot suffer, don’t those traits break the very rules of what makes a person alive? To be alive, you need to know the consequences of it, like if you step on a thorn with your bare foot, it will hurt. I know not of those consequences. Yes, I can speak, I can learn, but I cannot function in the basic way that you, a human that is alive, can.

John: I personally see life as a journey of evolving, learning from past mistakes. You might not be able to learn the lessons I’ve had to learn, since we are two different people with different lives and experiences, but you will still be able to learn. Such as English, I doubt you were fluent when you first came into existence, but, seeing as you are now speaking it better than me, that you had learned. Every life is a journey, just like the journey you are living right now.

Krail: The thing about journeys is that they have endings, mine does not, and I doubt I even have a beginning at this point. It might not feel like it to you, but living as long as I have, there is nothing more I need to learn, and, seeing as I cannot suffer, I also do not feel happiness. One cannot be without the other, in my case that is the truth. As I lack so much of the bad that is life, I will also in turn lack much of the good that makes life what it is. If I cannot be what it takes to be alive, then I am, by default, not alive.

John: How pessimistic of you, Krail. Look at the flowers by the trees, they lack much of what humans have, but their being is as much alive as I am. Will you doubt their lives as you doubt your own because they don’t have the ability to suffer?

Krail: I am sure they feel suffering when someone steps on their colourful petals.

John: I highly doubt it.

Krail: Would you doubt a mute child bleeding in front of you? Just because the symptoms are much different than what you are used to, it does not mean that it is not there. How obtuse you have become John.

John (amused): To hear the man who claims to not know suffering become an expert in it is truly a miracle. Are you sure you do not know of suffering, Krail?

Krail: I did not say I do not know it, merely that I do not feel it. There is a difference.

John: I am sure there is a difference. Now, back to the previous topic: your lifehood, one which you claim to not have. How is it you are sitting beside me, moving and talking? The only answer to that question is that you are alive. Only a person that is alive can think to their own accord and act to their own accord.

Krail: If I were to apply your logic, then, I would assume, future A.I. robots would also be considered alive. Am I correct?

John (falters): No, not really. Let me think of a better way to explain your existence.

Krail (interrupting John’s train of thoughts): You cannot. I break every rule about the world’s natural order of life. Even rocks are made and unmade, but not me, I was made into something that cannot be unmade.

John: That’s a nice thought, to have something that cannot be broken, to be someone that cannot be broken. But, life isn’t about breaking and unbreaking–

Krail (interrupts John): By "unmade", I was talking about death. To be alive, you also need to be able to die.

John: Ah, yes, thank you for the clarification. Anyways, as I was saying, life isn’t about breaking and unbreaking, it’s about the moments that we live. Like the two of us, sitting beside this campfire, discussing the meaning of life–

Krail (interrupting again): Essence of life.

John: Yes, whatever that means.

Krail: The quality of a thing that makes it what it is.

John: What are you then, my dear friend?

Krail: I do not know, I believe I am having this conversation with you right now because I am trying to find the answer to that for myself.

John: That makes sense, though I will admit, I’ve never had a conversation like this in my life. Forgive me if I sound a bit undereducated in the topic of the essence of life.

Krail: Fear not, my friend. This is also the first time I’ve had this conversation.

John: Let us start with the most basic question then. What does it mean to be alive?

Krail: As I had probably said before, to be alive means to be able to live through the phrases of lifehood. Getting sick, being happy, and suffering. I cannot live through those phases of life, therefore, I cannot be alive.

John: Again, I will comment on your pessimism. And again, I will point out that everyone’s life is different. You might not be able to live through the phases of life most do, but that does not mean you’re not alive.

Krail: I am most certain that it does mean I am not alive. I have more in common with a rock than I do with you.

John: Now, I think I feel a bit of jealousy in my lousy heart, don’t go saying stuff like that, otherwise I will start comparing myself to each rock I come across. As for whether you're really alive, I would like to think so. If you have a certain amount of consciousness on the world around you without having to rely on another being for it, then you are as alive as any other person. To be alive is to be independent, to be in control to one's accord without the aid of another. You do not need to stick to a being that is alive, just to keep yourself afloat like a virus. Your presence alone is enough to convince me that you are alive.

Krail (soft smile): Perhaps you are right. Have I ever told you that, for a human of thirty-eight years, you are quite wise?

John: I believe not.

Krail: Well, I am telling you that right now, my friend.