Metabolism, he reflected, is a burning process, an active furnace. When it ceases to function, life is over. They must be wrong about hell, he said to himself. Hell is cold; everything there is cold. The body means weight and heat; now weight is a force which I am succumbing to, and heat, my heat, is slipping away. And, unless I become reborn, it will never return. This is the destiny of the universe. So at least I won't be alone.
The character in this reflection contemplates the essence of metabolism, likening it to a burning furnace that fuels life. As he realizes that when metabolism stops, so does life, he challenges the traditional notion of hell. Instead, he perceives hell as a cold place, devoid of warmth and vitality, contrasting it with the heat and weight of a living body.
He internalizes his struggle against gravity and the loss of his vitality, recognizing that without a renewal of his spirit, his heat will vanish forever. This acknowledgment of decay leads him to consider the broader fate of the universe, finding solace in the fact that he is not alone in this journey toward inevitable change.
