Once there were three old men, who were all accomplished gentlemen in their 70s. Being together one day, a Deva of Death showed up wanting to take their lives.

Deva: "I'm told two of you are already dead. I'll spare the one who is still alive."

Izanagi, one of the old men: "What are you talking about? We are all very much alive here."

Deva: "Not really, no. Your body and faculty may function, but most of you are dead inside."

Tatsuo, another old man: "That's not true, I'm going to prove it to you."

Deva: "I will give you the chance. Here are two buttons, you can pick either one. Pressing first button will provide you anything you want, to prove your... aliveness."

"The second button will get you something random."

Nobu, the third old man: "I'll show you."

He pressed the first button, conjured the most delicious and colorful array of food. To top it off, he conjured a line-up of young ladies with their arms around him.

Nobu: "Look, I have been enjoying myself all my life and I haven't stopped. I wouldn't stop. This is what being alive means."

Deva: "Very well, go right ahead. I keep no morality score; don't let me stop you."

It's now Tatsuo's turn. He pressed the first button, out come his library of books, five storeys tall.

Tatsuo: "Human knowledge is vast. I've barely finished half of these books. I intend to finish reading them all in my lifetime."

Deva: "Why does this matter?"

Tatsuo: "If I know more than anyone else, I'll be able to outdo anyone in anything."

It's now Izanagi's turn. With some sense of doubt, he pressed the second button. As a random outcome, a bonzai appeared.

Izanagi said to Deva: "That's a beautiful bonzai. I want to keep this, if you're not taking me with you."

Deva, looking vindicated: "I'm not wrong after all. Tatsuo and Nobu, you two are dead, I'm taking you."

Nobu protested: "No way. Look at how much I enjoy life, none of them are more spiritually alive than me!"

Deva: "Sure. But that doesn't make you alive, not in a human way. Any animal can do what you do, eating and fucking. You'll be much happier being a dog next life, there's no tax to worry about. I'll make sure to reserve you a slot to dog-hood next."

Tatsuo: "What about me? How am I not alive?"

Deva: "Son, you're still living off of scripts. Everything you do comes with an objective. You have a rationale for every step you make. And you are right most of the time. It's truly impressive by human standard."

Tatsuo: "But?"

Deva: "But you are the most un-alive among you three. Probably for this very reason. You know so, you can feel it."

Deva looked at Tatsuo with a sense of sympathy: "The price of successfully figuring out the universe is making it dead."

Deva sent them away; only Izanagi is left in Deva's presence.

Izanagi: "Care to explain why me?"

Deva: "When you chose the second button, you asked in your mind what happens when you do that. There's no sense of agenda there, you were genuinely curious."

Izanagi: "The bonzai has nothing to do with it?"

Deva: "None. Alive-nesss is about becoming a child. You've grown old to become a child again."

Izanagi agreed. Then again: "But what about Nobu? Isn't he rather childish in his pursuit? Why didn't that count?"

Deva: "Excellent point. He has never grown to become like you or Tatsuo to begin with. You may say he has always been a child. He had a lifetime of opportunity to do so much more, but he ended up accomplishing only up to what animals are capable of."