The Choice Between Death and Existence

Soyo's Existence Ethics, Chapter 25 (Existence itself is Ethics)

The Question of Existence at the Threshold of Death

The threshold of death is where philosophy falls silent and where human beings confront the essence of their own being. Viktor Frankl stood at that very gate. He was a psychiatrist, but more than that, a profound witness of human existence.

During World War II, when he was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp, his fate hung in the balance on the flick of a German officer's finger. "Left to the gas chamber. Right to forced labor." What he saw that day was not simply a process of classification, but the cry of realization that the existence of man is unbearably fragile at the boundary between life and death. Yet, in that moment, Frankl realized that human dignity can never be annihilated. His survival was not a coincidence; it was the triumph of the ethical will that clings to the meaning of life even in the face of death.

"The survivor is not merely the one who lived through it, but the one who endured the weight of life at the brink of death."

Awareness of Death and the Awakening of Existence

Human beings live as if death does not exist. But a life that forgets death is only an empty repetition that knows nothing of the weight of being. Soyo's Existence Ethics teaches that "the human journey is always lived on the boundary of choice." Each choice is not merely a decision but an ethical event that defines the orientation of the soul. Every choice we make transcends time and confronts us again in eternity. Each choice leaves a resonance of existence, and that resonance returns within God's time.

"Every moment of life is sacred, and existence itself is divine."

The Ethics of Choice and the Direction of Eternity

Free will is not simply the right to act, but the conscience that asks why one must act so. Soyo's Existence Ethics calls freedom "the loving decision entrusted to humanity by the breath of God." The crossroads that Frankl faced between life and death are no different from the ones we face daily between love and hatred, justice and injustice, truth and falsehood. In every moment of choice, we bear witness to our existence.

The accumulation of these choices becomes the record of the soul, and that record will one day unfold before God. "Every choice leaves the echo of existence, and that echo calls us again in eternity."

The Final Choice Before God

Frankl's experience is not merely a psychological tale of survival.

From the theological gaze of Soyo's Existence Ethics, his moment of choice is a parable of the Second Coming of judgment and salvation. "On the last day, when Christ returns, those who believed in Him as the Son of God shall enter life, while those who did not shall turn toward darkness." Soyo's Existence Ethics translates this truth into metaphysical language:

"The journey of existence does not remain within time; it extends into eternity." Thus, every human choice is not a mere consequence of action but the key that opens the gate of eternity. And our conscience is the compass that determines the direction of that key.

The Nobility of Finitude

Human life is finite, yet within that finitude, we can create infinite meaning. Awareness of death is not terror, but the awakening that makes life shine brighter.

"The nobility of life arises from its finitude. Because time is limited, existence becomes radiant, and love grows deeper."

Time is not a prison for life but the footprints toward eternity. Each day's choice, each person's tear, and every word of love build the architecture of eternity.

The Declaration of Choosing Existence

Even today, we stand on the threshold of choice between good and evil, justice and corruption, love and hatred. What we choose before these gates determines the truth of our being. Fear not death; it is not an end, but the gatekeeper that awakens the reality of existence. Every moment of life is sacred, and existence continues into eternity.

"The traces of our choices flow beyond the river of time into eternity. And what remains on that path are only love and truth."

We must choose existence, prepare for eternity, and face the world through love.

Soyo Proposition No. 25

"Death is not an end, but the gatekeeper that awakens the truth of existence. Every human choice leaves a trace upon the river of eternity, and those traces shine with love and truth."

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo's Existence Ethics. Author of The Silence of Being and The Flame of Truth

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