The Strangeness of Death

James Patrick Quirke Death and the Persistence of Meaning As a force death is something which is an essential part of life yet we rarely ever come to examine how it plays upon us. Our awareness of our mortality as a fundamental flaw but vital limit upon our existence creates conditions which are taken for granted as part of life. Like gravity death has always been a force for the living to consider so much so that it is equally taken for granted. However as we live the risk of death as well as our awareness and experiences of it still demonstratively affect us. Of these, direct experiences of death most visibly and profoundly confront us in life. When loved ones die it throws up a progeny of emotion and thought which no other situation compares to. Here I examine our reactions to personal loss and try to show how we possibly shelter and protect ourselves from existential concerns and considerations which death provokes. Religion in particular is examined as system of meaning which we turn to in order to ease our anxieties and concerns regarding death and broader meaning in life. Age is also considered as a factor in terms of possible increased planning and preparation for death in both practical and spiritual terms.

Death, Dying, Culture: An Interdisciplinary Interrogation, 2013

The birth and death awaken us enormous curiosity and apprehension. To know that one day we'll die, contributes to death being feared, hidden, silenced or ignored. We may try to escape, or push it away, but it remains (uncomfortably) close by. Most likely is dying away from family, at hospital, where, despite the scientific advances and good health care, death fear still reigns. We associate death with images of funerals, pilgrimages, worships, tombs, wills or mourning. Its representations are anchored in knowledge, culture, religion, ideology and person concepts. We investigated the representations of death among future health professionals (medical and nursing students), that try to avoid death of others in a public context (hospital), and those that question life through death (biology students), in a population of approximately 300 participants. In a first study, we determined the dimensions of thoughts, feelings and images about death, and analyzed them, according to the course and sex. Subsequently, we conducted an experience focused on the influence of the social context of death (with short films showing the death of someone, in private or in a hospital-encircled by family or by health professionals), in the way death is perceived, considering two experimental conditions and a monitoring condition (without film); all participants answered a questionnaire. We found a strong similarity between the representations of women and nurse students-evidenced greater emotional involvement, closeness to the other and practical/ritualistic sense-and between the representations of men and future doctors-showed more emotional distancing and revolt, as if death was controllable. Particularly in the private context, death is perceived as a real possibility/proximity, evoking strong malaise. By contrast, in the control condition, it is viewed with detachment, as deferrable and impersonal. This reveals well the social interdict that overshadows death and dying.

Modern Western society holds a perspective on death as being the opposite to life in an attempt to separate and exclude it from life, and thereby control it by overwriting it with knowledge and science. In contradistinction to this view, the current project explores the notion of death from the standpoint of Lacan’s conceptualisation of a subject, a subject in opposition to the Cartesian conception dominating modern subjectivity. Lacan’s theoretical framework offers a rich, in-depth account of the notion of death as it is structured through language. More precisely, human experiences are structured through the intertwining of the three registers constitutive of reality and subjectivity: the imaginary, the symbolic and the real. It is thus the main purpose of this project to trace the construction of death as it happens through the interaction of these three registers. Three volunteers participated in this study who wrote down two life-changing events. The guidelines stemming from th...

Funes. Journal of Narratives and Social Sciences, 2018

Death represents one of those few experiences that every society throughout history faces. It has been defined as the marginal situation par excellence (Berger, 1969). Since it cannot be known concretely, it exists at the margins of every symbolic system, of any solid structure of meaning that a society can possess. Conceiving one’s own mortality and coping with the death of loved ones bears a threat to the typical way of understanding and defining the social world. The awareness of death is difficult to handle, since it sheds light on the whole existence of those who must cope with it. Therefore, every group as well as every individual, faced with the end of human life, the loss and the mourning process, must also ask oneself about the sense and the meaning of death in order to face its scope.

2019

Coming to Terms with Death We will die one day, sooner or later. Traditionally, we approach death from a stoic perspective (Gawande, 2014, p.170). Dead bodies are covered up and quickly whisked away as if there is a shameful connotation affiliated with viewing them. The bereaved, who hide their grief to the point that no one would guess anything had happened, receive social praise. Philippe Ariès delivered a series of lectures at Johns Hopkins in 1973. He pointed out that at the start of the 1930s, there had been a cultural shift regarding how Western societies viewed death. "Death," he wrote, "would become shameful and forbidden." (Didion, 2006, p.45) We can attribute this dismissal of grieving in public based on contemporary trends. This epicurean philosophy dictates

Cadernos Brasileiros de Terapia Ocupacional

This theoretical essay aims to propose reflections on death and dying through the prism of possible antagonisms, illness and human occupations involved in this process. The antagonisms are put up for discussion obeying the sense of mutual opposition between life and death, birth and death, as well as between their prediction and their negation. Illness is discussed from the perspective of Laplantine's dynamic and ontological models, opening up reflections on the meaning of illness for the patient, who is often expropriated from their dying process. It also addresses how death is currently pushed behind the scenes of social life. Finally, the occupations of death based on the “principles of good death” are approached from the perspective of occupational therapy, discussing funeral preparations and rites developed by the deceased, their social circle and by health professionals, religious people, funeral agents and cemetery workers. We understand that death is a social process.

An analysis of Heidegger's and Sartre's view of death. An argument that a serious acknowledgement of one's own death can lead to an ethics towards other people, and a sense of togetherness

2004

R. C. Ulomi, 2021

If there exists one experience that, throughout history and around the world binds mankind together, it is death. Death is part of the circle of life and it's the end of your time on earth; the end of your time with your family and loved ones. Our fear of death begins when we’re kids. Perhaps we had to face the mystifying idea of impermanence when a beloved pet, parent or grandparent died. The stark reality that this loved one was really gone, and gone forever, was both devastating and terrifying. From early childhood, when we’re introduced to the concept of “futureless-ness”, that is, old age and eventually death, there are few things as difficult for us to deal with. When it comes to death and dying, the questions that weighs heavy on most is, “When and how will it happen to me? Where will I go once I die? What is there after death? Is there any hope for the future after I die” The potential suffering we may have to endure produces a reasonable fear in all of us. We fear death. We don’t want to die. We hate our mortality and don’t want to be made aware of it. We repress all thought of death and live as if we have unlimited time. Though we try so hard to repress it, it continues to haunt us, and keeps us as slaves. Nobody wants to die, leaving their family behind and missing the good times their loved ones will have once they pass on. We hope that the next pill, the next surgery, or the next genetic discovery will be the key to extending our lives. However, no exercise or diet regimen, no meditation techniques, no amount of money can avoid it. Death is the great equalizer. Death is a truth we’re hard-pressed to grasp. Even for the Christian Community, death’s entrance into our lives has the power, as Thomas Aquinas observed, to “stun the human mind”. Due to the fact that some have said that the Bible takes death seriously without developing a theology of Death, the focus of this thesis will be to illustrate how Christians are to face their final curtain without fear in today’s complex world where the Christian faith seems to be dying and hope for the future diminishing by studying how people deal with fear of death in the general public, and how Christians as a called out group, separated from the world should deal with fear of death in the face of faith. The thesis will also share a snapshot of how great faith heroes comprehended their final curtain, great heroes such as Paul and Stephen from the Bible, and those who walked before us in faith. Keywords: Death, Fear, Fear of death, Life after death, afterlife.