The Examined Life And A Case For Tragic Optimism

Death is the most inevitable and unknown aspect of life. It is unescapable, and by most of today’s population, it is feared in the utmost regard. Our materialistic views and constant desertion of religious ideals has forced our society to view death as an ultimate end. Socrates and St. Augustine’s views on death differ from many views on the subject in 2017, however, for their time, these men had the power to influence a plethora of individuals with their theories. For Socrates, death should never be feared and should be considered a blessing if our souls were to ascend to heaven, or death could be an extensive slumber without any dreaming whatsoever. With

The Dhammapada is a Pali version of one of the most popular text of the Buddhist canon. The Dhammapada, or “sayings of the Buddha”, is a collection of 423 verses that tell about the ideals and teachings of the Buddha. When taken together, these verses provide a structured form of teaching within the Buddhist religion. These verses are a kind of guiding voice to the path of true enlightenment.

Just as on the title, Candide, or Optimism, Optimism is also used as a major theme. Voltaire's satire of philosophical optimism is one of the major issues of Candide. Throughout the story, satirical references to "the best of all possible worlds" contrast with natural catastrophes and human wrongdoing. According to Wikipedia, "optimism, the opposite of pessimism, is a lifeview where the world is looked upon the as a positive place. Optimists generally believe that people are inherently good. These people are said to have a "positive" outlook on life, believing that given time, things will work out in the end." Also according to Wikipedia, "In philosophy, optimism is linked with the name of Gottfried

The theme death has always played a crucial role in literature. Death surrounds us and our everyday life, something that we must adapt and accept. Whether its on television or newpaper, you'll probobly hear about the death of an individual or even a group. Most people have their own ideas and attitude towards it, but many consider this to be a tragic event due to many reasons. For those who suffered greatly from despair, living their life miserably and hopelessly, it could actually be a relief to them. Death effects not only you, but also those around you, while some people may stay unaffected depending on how they perceive it.

The grieving that individuals experience with death is unique, but the main stages are universal across cultures (Axelrod, 2017). There are five stages of grief. Nicolas Wolterstorff’s story, Lament for a Son, addresses these five stages as he tries to find joy after the loss of his son. The meaning and significance of death in light of the Christian narrative is also addressed in the story. Having a hope of the resurrection can help comfort individuals in situations similar to Wolterstorff (Wolterstorff, 1978).

As I read the reading “death”, I can conclude that the main idea for this reading that the author wants his readers to believe that the death is not something scary. We all should not be afraid about the fact that our bodies will cease to exist after death.

Honorable, industrious, frank, and conforming are the four principles that I have been adhering to ever since my first moral lesson twelve years in ethics school. But human is a social animal—in the wide ocean of socialization, we are forced to face different situations that may require individualized solutions, with the four principles being broken at times.

By biological logic, we human beings will face death sooner or later in our life and death has its very own ways to approach us - a sudden deadly strike, a critical sickness, a tragic accident, a prolonged endurance of brutal treatment, or just an aging biological end. To deal with the prospect of death come different passive or active reactions; some may be scared and anxious to see death, some try to run away from it, and some by their own choice make death come faster. But Viktor Frankl, through his work Man’s Search for Meaning, and Bryan Doyle; in his essay “His Last Game” show us choices to confront the death, bring it to our deepest feelings, meaningful satisfaction. To me, the spirit of the prisoners at deadly concentration camps, Frankl’s Logotherapy theory of “. . . striving to find a meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man.” (99), as well as the calmness of Doyle’s brother on his last ride, like an awaken bell, remind us of how precious life is, how we should find the significance in every act of living, determine to live a meaningful life at any circumstances; hence, when death comes, we can accept it without anxiety nor regrets.

(O-S1)The changes we see in people do not always come from the most suspecting person. The people we think never change can be influenced by just one thing and be changed forever.(O-S2) In A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, the events that occur to the people in the book prove that hope it a factor in the changes of people.(O-S3) In the book the hope that Jefferson ,an unsuspecting character, will be changed by a teacher to see himself as a human and be seen as a true man.

There is a time in all religious experiences that people look for spiritual growth by reflecting on the basics of life. An estimated 376 million people are considered to believe and follow Buddhist practices, the question of the four elements (sight’s), aging people, the sick, funerals processions and religion. These elements that Siddhartha Gautama saw, that led to him to seek religious enlightenment, and to give up his privileged life. These four elements come up in every religious walk at some point. Reflection on these elements can have astonishing effects in someone’s life. By looking at these elements, and by showing the effect they had on Siddhartha Gautama’s life, will show that anyone could grow in their spiritual belief by reflecting

How the author feels death affects us and how we affect death depending on how we live.

Death is a tabou subject that scares us and that nobody wants to abord or talk about. The novel invites us to question ourselves about what we want to become, about our values and our life motivations. Everyone at any time of life can be afflicted by cancer and life can quickly change. Like Paul says, everybody is going to dye one day. When and how is the big question, but even if it is next year or in 70 years, the novel suggest to enjoy every single moment life has to offer. In this case, it's really infuritation and paradoxal, because one day Paul is curing deseases, and the other day, he is himself a dying patient. After all those years of studying, of working and saving lifes, that's what he gets in return ?Life hangs only by a thread and the most important is to realize that it’s a chance we have to be on Earth. We should enjoy every minute that is given to us, we should dedidacte our lives to something we like to do and makes sense for us, with people we love. As the author mentions it, ''the question is not simply wheter to live or die but what kind of life is worth living.''

Sitwell identifies with the time aspect to bridge man's length of suffering (pain) and hope. Sitwell explores the capabilities of humans to grow as well as their capacity to acquire new features as they grow and share with other generations. As she quotes “Then sounds the voice of one who like the heart of man was once a child.” Sitwell considers the gap between humans being young and developing into their adulthood to have appended sacred significance. In her perspective, generations tend to change along different times based on what they acquire from their preceding generations. However, given this, she further heightens the significance of prayer for one’s self and the surrounding community to be liberated from sin and labors that are intolerable to human

Individuals grow and develop constantly from the moment of conception to death , development includes , physical development , mental development , emotional development , psychological development . People experience many things in their life time such as milestones these however can be interrupted or delayed by illness or disability such as cancer or other conditions such as diabetes

In life every human being will encounter an event that brings them pain and suffering. Buddha who was once known as Siddhartha Gautama life changed in blink of an eye when his father turned his back on him. The path that was chosen for him was one that would soon make everyone think about life in a way that one had not thought of it before. It makes one think deeper and really try to understand themselves as a human. William Drummond wrote, “Earth’s sweetest hoy is but disguised pain.” As human begins we try to think that our lives are never filled with pain and we keep busy in order to put a picture in our head that life is perfect. Buddha makes one go deeper with the four noble truths by explaining why life is associated with pain and desire and what can be done to accomplish the cure for these truths of life. Life is dislocated from an outside standpoint it is dishonest and only allows a human to see the happiness not the difficulties. Distractions in the daily lives of humans distract us from what really lies beneath the surface of life. Buddha goes through a phase of enlightenment that gives him purpose and that purpose is to tell human beings that there is more to life that just what meets the eye. One must think and dig deeper into their soul’s to overcome the obstacles that have got in their way to understand what life is all about.