Phobos And Deimos

Mars has two moons, whose names translate to «Fear» and «Dread».

According to astronomers, Deimos is gradually moving away from Mars and will eventually escape its orbit. Phobos, on the other hand, is drawing ever closer to the planet and will one day collide with it, after which Mars will tear Phobos apart.

Yes, both events will occur roughly 50 million years from now, but I have long understood that the true tragedy lies not in the event itself, but in the foreknowledge of it — in the awareness that it is inevitable. In the countless factors that are already in place, shaping a backward-facing sorrow, a grief that exists even now in anticipation of what is certain to come.

I’ve been thinking about tragedy because I see in this impersonal astronomical phenomenon so many parallels to human relationships.

To the fact that even those you call your companions will, in the end, drift away from you and leave the sphere of your influence. And those who do not will simply crash in the end, likely because they reached for you too intensely.

One way or another, in the end, we all remain utterly alone — unreciprocated in our yearning, unreciprocated in our pushing away.

«Our spiritual being wanders lonely all its life».

Fear and dread, right?