#88 / Mortal

While the Urban Dictionary says "mortal" means "drunk," the most common meaning is this: "subject to death." "Mortal" in its ordinary definition pretty much describes the reality of everything that is human, from our individual human lives to the civilizations we construct. We can add ancient Egypt and its civilization to that list already highlighted: the Maya Civilization, the Glory That Was Greece, and the Grandeur That Was Rome. 

In the World of Nature, death also makes its appearance, on a continuing basis, but in a somewhat different way. In the World of Nature, the world we don't create ourselves, and the World into which we are born, as mortals, death is always the first step to more life. 

The religions of the world, it seems to me, have all tried to reconcile the rule of "life equals death/death equals life" with the mortal circumstances of our human existence. As Paul Simon says, our efforts have not really provided an acceptable solution to the puzzle: 

God only knows
God makes his plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man

Image Credit: 
http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/theme/6/index.html