The Anti-Life Equation

"Most recently in Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle (2005), by Grant Morrison, Darkseid (or Dark Side, as he now calls himself) has gained full control of the Anti-Life Equation. By speaking, he can insert the full formula into people's minds, giving them the mathematical certainty that life, hope and freedom are all pointless. Shilo Norman (the current Mister Miracle) is able to break free from this with the help of Metron. However, it was implied that these events did not happen in the 'real world', but in a tangent universe inside a black hole. The Anti-Life Equation here is revealed to be:

loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side"

I was thinking about this concept a few weeks back because of the death of a kid I used to know in high school. It's kind of an out-there concept in some ways, the Anti-life equation. But in others, especially as Morrison imagined it, it's quite real. The context in which I imagined it was as an individualized code within everyone's brain, that when realized would be the thing that pushed you over the edge into death. Like if your life met these pre-conditions based upon your genetic make-up, you would cease to be able to live in it.

Of course this week I realized that this idea was already perfectly captured in the idea of the anti-life equation.

Not insignificantly, but in Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the Anti-life equation is defeated by hope, which is heavy handed but true. At the end of the day as humans we are very easily duped creatures. In the sense that even the smallest hope can keep us clinging onto the rock of life over one jagged cliff after the next. We're very fuel efficient in that way. But when we hit empty, we hit empty.

I guess I'm writing this, because there's a lot of scorn and pain left behind by suicides. More often than not the people closest to it come to hate the person who committed the act. But I've always thought that was a lack of empathy. Or maybe worse, a core denial of an unassailable truth--that when confronted with the anti-life equation, we are all going to be working at a deficit. Recognize situations different from your own, and respect that. Derision of the dead doesn't leave anyone in peace.