Gilgamesh: Experiencing Life Rather Than Possessing It

Gilgamesh: Experiencing Life Rather Than Possessing It

Abhirami Sankaran

2/3/2023

One central theme in the epic of Gilgamesh is that one cannot avoid death. After the death of his friend, Enkidu, Gilgamesh starts to fear his own mortality. In an effort to escape death, he visits the mortal made god Utnapishtim. Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for 7 days straight, when Gilgamesh fails Utnapishtim asks him how he expects to conquer death when he cannot even conquer sleep. Then he tells the King that there is a plant at the bottom of the lake that can grant immortality. Gilgamesh ties rocks to his feet and retrieves the plant, yet when he leaves it unattended for a moment, a snake steals it. Left empty handed Gilgamesh returns to his kingdom with a better understanding of the futility of seeking immortality. 

The epic of Gilgamesh posits an interesting idea, one cannot possess life but only experience it. Life is not an object we can hold or maintain, regardless of the care with which we live we will all eventually die. Life and death are simply matters far larger than humanity.


I have recently been confronted with this idea. Not through anything as dark as mortal peril or loss but through the beauty of nature. As I have mentioned no less than a dozen times, I am currently in Scotland. And, as any tourist would, I have journeyed up to the highlands. I cannot say I went with any grand expectations but I cannot describe the scenery as anything less than surreal. I have never felt so dwarfed by the scale or beauty of nature as I was there. Virginia is undoubtedly beautiful but having grown up there, I suppose I stopped seeing the world around me. Yet, placed in this unfamiliar environment I was awestruck. 


It was humbling. I felt utterly dwarfed in scale and importance. It placed into perspective much of what I do on a daily basis. The things I accomplish will eventually wear away, my existence forgotten. Immortality in both physical body and memory are impossible, yet we should be thankful to experience life anyways. 

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