There was an article about Woody Allen in today's paper, talking about Allen's fixation on death, and ending with a firm rejection of his permanent mental block, as well as his post Annie Hall movies! I have nothing of merit to say about Allen, but he said something I found to be amusing:

"...I had a line in one my movies - 'Everyone knows the same truth'. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it. One person will distort it with a kind of wishful thinking like religion, someone else will distort it by thinking political situations are going to do something, someone else will think a life of sensuality is going to do it, someone else will think that art transcends. Art for me has always been the Catholicism of intellectuals..."

They don't come much more pessimistic than Allen, eh? The last line in particular struck me as being very interesting, because as with all views on matters like this, it could well be true. Of course, I disagree emphatically, but had I read this a mere six months ago, maybe this quote would be the one you saw on the side of this blog; remarkable, isn't it? I don't think anyone can entirely discount the possibility of death making everything without meaning, but really, one can get a sense that such a thing is just so improbable that it cannot be true! It depends on whether you find beauty in the world (I'm sure Allen does), and then whether you believe this can make everything worthwhile (Allen doesn't!). Allen no doubt considers this to be delusion, "wishful thinking" as he says, but hey, it's understandable. Such debates are with limited point I think, because I doubt either side can make an impact on the other (actually, maybe the pessimist has a better chance of influencing the optimist? Hmm).