This post, I'll say, starts with terminal illnesses and estimated expiration dates. Wouldn't it be a little more liberating to know the date of one's death? To know that, no matter what happens, you have until that date to do whatever you want. It can't come any closer. It's just right there. It's conquering something by understanding it. As humans, we defeat the world by knowing how it works. As has been said many times in history, fear is a sign of ignorance. Fear, by its definition, implies a "fear of the unknown." In certainty, however, there is nothing to fear. All of the possible dangers are known. There is no denial of death in its knowledge; the world becomes no less determinate. Nothing has ability; it will only do what it will do. It has no power to change. Death will come eventually, but if that day is known, death can come no sooner. It can't be changed, but it can't change itself. It will come exactly when planned, but until then, there's nothing to hold you back.

It's said that the last phase of the grief cycle is acceptance. This cycle originated from studying terminally ill patients and how they would deal with the discovery that they were terminally ill. Acceptance is the most peaceful stage, is it not? There may be those that do not desire peace and would instead prefer to be the puppet of death's hand. At best, they refuse to accept death and are thusly defeated by it. Denial is the stage of ignorance and of bliss. It may at times be one of the happiest, but it's also the most neurotic. Those in denial may live a happy and neurotic life, but they lose to death's hand nonetheless.

From an iterated standpoint, acceptance wins out over denial. Why stand back and refuse certainty that can be obtained? The world loses to humanity every time it is more understood. If there is a release in victory, then there is certainly a release in understanding the world.

Afterthought: Is it preferred to know everything or to know nothing?