Schopenhauer's Speculation
Arthur Schopenhauer, in his Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume 2, ยง 232a, conjectured that this phrase might have been involved in a typesetter's error or a slip of the author's pen.
Should there not have been originally 'shuttled off'? This verb itself no longer exists but 'shuttle' is an implement used in weaving. Accordingly, the meaning might be: 'when we have unwound and worked off this coil of mortality.'
In this way, the length of our life is metaphorically the length of thread that is coiled on a spool, a metaphor related to the ancient Greek mythological figures of the Fates. As we live, the thread is unwound from the coil by the shuttle of the loom of time.
Read more about this topic: Mortal Coil
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