LESSON 4

• Jean Cocteau


  "Since the day of my birth, death began its walk. It is walking toward me without hurrying."
• The Certainty of Death

  • we have no personal experience of death but we are sure that we will die
  • our knowledge of our death may not be experiential but it is with certainty
  • history attests that no one who had lived in the past still exists today
  • science tells us that anything comes also goes
  • we have seen people die
  • everyone dies; it is an ultimate truth
• The Uncertainty of Death

  • DEATH: cessation of anything physical in human person
  • Boholanos observes that death comes to us whether we are sitting or standing
  • we do not know whether life continues after death and does death of body mean the death of our life
• Death's Absurdity and Meaning

  • Absurdity: condition of incongruence between human intention and silence or indifference of the world; death is the contradiction of life
  • Meaning (by Viktor Frankl): life does not render life meaningless; life becomes meaningful because of death
  • death is boundary situation that imposes upon us tasks to be accomplished
  • we have no eternity, only lifetime to make our life meaningful
  • we need to value every single moment and opportunity to create values
  • it is our awareness that we tend to value time and lives
• Consciousness and Responsibility

  • death is an essential characteristics of life (makes it meaningful)
  • responsibility lies on the singularity of our chance to live the uniqueness of our existence
  • we cannot live forever; we have to create experience and create values
  • we cannot waste opportunity
  • death is the source of meaning of life
  • death is certain and yet it brings uncertainty
• VIEWS OF DEATH

  • Materialist
  • Spiritual
  • Christians
  • Hindus
  • Buddhists
• MATERIALIST

  • human is nothing but a material entity
  • does NOT have a spirit or soul
  • everything in life ends to death
• Plato's Concept of Life and Death

  • most influential
  • human is composed of body and soul
  • body dies, soul continues to live
  • influenced the Christian perspective on death
• Christians

  • composed of body and soul
  • death ushers the journey of the soul back to the Creator
  • to die is to be home in heaven with God
  • dying is supposed to embrace joyful life
• Hindus

  • existence of eternal soul
  • when a human dies, the atman (human soul) is reincarnated to another being or reunited with Brahman (supreme being)
  • reincarnation is both imprisonment and opportunity for enlightenment
• Buddhists

  • does not believe in the existence of permanent soul
  • human person is impermanent does not possess any enduring substance
  • to believe in permanent and eternal soul is a product of ignorance and ignorance is the root cause of human suffering
• Attitudes Towards Death

  • Know Thyself
  • Live a Meaningful Life
  • Live in a Present Moment
  • Live Calmly
  • Live Courageously
• Know Thyself

  • ignorance, cause of fear of death; wisdom is the antidote (Socrates)
  • Buddha believes that fear of death is caused by ignorance of the true nature of the self; he believes in no self
• Live a Meaningful Life

  • must have purpose
• Live in a Present Moment

  • it makes us celebrate life and live in the present moment
• Live Calmly

  • everything is normal and expected
• Live Courageously

  • makes realize that my life is my own and I have to take care of it