Death, portrayed in darkness as “the great unknown, the gravest of all misfortunes,” is also referred to by Freud as “the aim of all life (Freudfile.org).” A human's reaction to the impact of death varies in many ways. In numerous situations regarding death, one's attitude may have different results. Freud says “it is one's unconscious that is the cause of most of one's beliefs and behaviors, or even feelings in relation to death (Freudfile.org).” The idea of death is inaccessible and for those who conceptualize the idea of suicide, it is a form of self destruction, the personal infliction of one's life. Those who fall victim to suicidal aspirations search for light in the world while living in a state of depressive darkness. The author
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.
Death is one of the most avoided topics because of the finality that comes with it and the fear of the unknown after death. However, there are quite a number of authors such as AtulGawande, Elisabeth Kubler-ross and Ira Byock who have attempted to go ahead and deal with death as a topic and other connected topics.Each of these authors have delved into one of the most revered topics that is death including related topics that come with it such as the dying process itself. Ira Byock’s Dying well: Peace and possibilities at the end of life is a book that looks at the moment prior to death when an individual is terminally sick and is at the point of death. A
Death is among the greatest mysteries of the human existence, one of the issues being that neither science, religion, or philosophy have definitive explanations on it. Although Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven and William Shakespeare’s Hamlet explore death and dying, the former advocates for people to be more optimistic in these circumstances than the latter. Station Eleven’s characters focus their thoughts on living and improving their situation to achieve their goals while Hamlet's characters concentrate on dying and how to end the misery of life, as they are hopeless to change their fate. The ability to make decisions result in opposite outcomes for the characters in each text as Station Eleven’s characters have free will and are rewarded for using it, whereas Hamlet’s characters are punished for seeking to control their future. The development of each character’s life is due to their respective text favouring or punishing free will. The consequences of exercising free will in Station Eleven yield positive results because humans can control their own destiny in a world of death, while in Hamlet, contrarily, humans are controlled by fate and have to endure the consequences of attempting to defeat it.
Death is everywhere and cannot be stopped. Every day, millions of people around the world die, whether it is from sickness, old age, suicide or murder. “The Fear of Dying” by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, and “The Right to Die” by Norman Cousins, are two articles that discuss death, with respect to embracing it. Both articles support the idea of free will, how society views and reacts to death, and the acceptance of death.
People die everyday all over the world. In United States, people use hundreds of different words to describe death. Generally, people that grow up in the United States tend to view death as a taboo subject and are seen as a topic that should be kept behind closed doors and contracted with an individual or family. A belief system that so many individuals hold to be true has been shaped over the past century. In this culture, death has become something that is enormously feared and as a result, some people stop living their lives to his or her highest potential because of their fear of dying. The effect that death has pertains to individuals of all ages, gender and ethnicities. But unfortunately, how death is viewed it has become more and
Death is inevitable. Death is unforeseeable. Death is unknown. One of the most difficult aspects of life is the prospect of death. In Lament for A Son, Wolterstorff reflects on the agony and lamentation of losing his son in a tragic accident (Wolterstorff, 1987). He explains the grief and pain associated with the death of someone close (Wolterstorff, 1987). One of the main themes present is the premature death of the author’s son, which alludes to the five stages of grief (Wolterstorff, 1987) (Kübler-Ross, 1972). The last stage is the stage of acceptance (Kübler-Ross, 1972). Death is possibly one of the most difficult things to accept and understand. Through the analysis of Wolterstorff’s Lament for a Son, this paper will attempt to understand finding joy in loss, the meaning of death in the light of the Christian narrative, and the role of hope in the resurrection.
The intent of this paper is to write about a class experience of the shadow of death, and reflect upon the readings, discussions and personal stories that have emotionally impressed me. Terms such as euthanasia, suicide and death rituals were discussed during the lectures in class leaving me with a sense of loss. The many beliefs and world vies, that may differ from the American culture, were considered, which I found to be enlightening. The examination of various concepts such as practicality, wisdom and humor were presented and illustrated in “Understanding dying, death, & bereavement” written by Leming and Dickinson (2011).
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
Terror management theory (TMT) asserts that human beings have natural tendency for self-preservation if there is threat to one’s well–being (Greenberg, Solomon, & Pyszczynski, 1997). It notes that we are the cultural animals that pose self-awareness on the concept of past and future, as well as the understanding that one day we will die. We concern about our life and death but aware that it is unexpected by everything. The worse matter is that we become aware of our vulnerability and helplessness when facing death-related thoughts and ultimate demise (Pyszczynski & Greenberg, 1992). The inevitable death awareness or mortality salience provides a ground for experiencing the existential terror, which is the overwhelming concern of people’s
On Death and Dying By Elisabeth Kubler-Ross For my book review, I read On Death and Dying, by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Dr. Kubler-Ross was the first person in her field to discuss the topic of death. Before 1969, death was considered a taboo. On Death and Dying is one of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century. The work grew out of her famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and transition. In this paper, I give a comprehensive book review as well as integrate topics learned in class with Dr. Kubler-Ross' work. Like Piaget's look at developmental stages in children, there are also stages a person experiences on the journey toward death. These five stages are denial/isolation, anger, bargaining,
When faced with the inevitable fate of death, the reaction of the population is very different because of their relation to life. Some men did not stop for death; they “hurried to and from” grinding their teeth in anger, which indicated their frustration in their inability to change the inevitable. Some “hid their eyes and wept” because of their unwillingness to accept the end while others rested “Their chins upon their clinched hands.” The latter watched their world fall apart bravely and smiled at their fate.
Within all these theoretical standpoints, the theme and process of coming to terms with death and relationship could be regarded as the essence of an existential quest; one
In the textbook, the authors discuss Freud’s psychoanalytic theory in which, according to Freud, individuals acted out their desires and behaviors in response to a mental system made up of the ego, superego, and id (Cervone & Pervin, 2013). The ego seeks reality. On one hand the ego wants to meet the desires of the id, but at the same time the ego also wants to satisfy the demands of the superego. The superego controls the moral and social acceptable aspects of an individual’s behavior. The id is the part of the system that functions under the pleasure principle. Simply put, the id wants to achieve pleasure and it wants to avoid pain. Individuals entered states were they would seek to relive tension and to achieve pleasure. These states are called instincts or drives.
Martin Heidegger defines death as an “ownmost possibility of Da-sein,” in that it is non- relational potentiality-of-being that is certain yet indefinite but is “not to be bypassed.”2 As an ownmost possibility, every human being’s experience of death differs from one another due to the fact that one lives out his or her life differently. Even with the way one follows a routine of waking up in order to eat and carry out daily tasks and recuperating the energy one exhausted in sleep, every person creates a form of meaning in one’s daily encounters, which individualizes one person from another in these unique
Death is a certainty of every human life. Brought on by old age and sickness, death is a major fear throughout the lifetime of many people. In the modern day, death is often seen as the penultimate end to existence. However, Soren Kierkegaard, in Sickness Unto Death, claims that there is everlasting life after death. Thus, rather than fearing death itself, one should fear the state of Despair. Kierkegaard defines this Despair as an imbalance within the human self or identity that prevents the individual from reaching everlasting life. This state of Despair is a universal, defining component of what it means to be a human. Although seemingly hopeless, the state