La vida es sueño...(entonces la muerte es, ¿insomnio?)‏

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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...