Sleep is the interest we have to pay
on the capital which is called in at death;
and the higher the rate of interest
and the more regularly it is paid,
the further the date of redemption is postponed.
So wrote Arthur Schopenhauer,
comparing life to finance in a universe
that must keep its books balanced.
At birth you receive a loan,
consciousness and light
borrowed from the void,
leaving a hole in the emptiness.
The hole will grow bigger each day.
Nightly,
by yielding temporarily
to the darkness of sleep,
you restore some
of the emptiness
and keep the hole
from growing limitlessly.
In the end you must
pay back the principal,
complete the void,
and return the life originally lent you.
By focusing
on the common periodic nature
of sleep and interest payments,
Schopenhauer extends
the metaphor of borrowing to life itself.
Life and consciousness are the principal,
death is the final repayment,
and sleep is la petite mort,
the periodic little death that renews...
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