Address one or two of the prompts below:
Is it better to face our mortality head on or try to avoid it?
What do the existentialists say?
What is it like to die? If someone is dying, can she really explain it to you? (see NYTimes article about dying nurse: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/us/fatally-ill-and-making-herself-the-lesson.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 )
What does it mean to "live in the light of death"?
Martin Heidegger explains that "living in the light of death" is to recognize death less as one's ultimate destiny and more as my ultimate destiny. Instead of objectively thinking about death as an event that happens to everyone, which is the easiest way psychologically to cope with death, the existentialists claim that one should either deal with the matter face-to-face with death(as Heidegger advocated) or face-to-face with others (as Kierkegaard advoated). According to these existentialists, such approaches allow us to harness our fear of death and help us capture the essence of what it means to be human.
ReplyDeleteKierkegaard (and Tolstoy in his fictional account of Ivan Ilyich) believed that through recognition of those we are leaving behind with death and through a deepened relationship with the infinate can we "have our 'anxiety transformed into joy'" (60). We become more human and we view our lives from a new point-of-view.
As for the first question I believe that death is unavoidable. It makes itself known throughout our daily lives as sort of a reminder that we're all human and we all possess an experation date that cannot be ignored. I think both facing death and avoiding death are coping mechanisms that people use in order to emotionally except the inevitable. For me, and it's hard to admit but I try to avoid death as much as possible. I don't want to live life knowing i'm going to die. That seems way too depressing for my taste. Why not just live life to the fullest because your here and you exist and you have miles and miles of potential and opportunites awaiting you? I except death for what it is but i'm not going to live in it's shadow. I avoid it not because i'm necessarily frightened of it, but because I believe that no life can possibly be lived to the fullest if your constantly thinking about it's end.
ReplyDeleteAs for what I believe it means to "live in the light of death", is simply this. Death is what you as an individual make of it. If you want to ignore its exsistence or if you want to acknowledge death as an impending doom and face it head on then that's your choice. But you can also use death as a motivator. I think that line is trying to say that you can except death for what it is and think of it as a positive too. Death is what makes us human beings. It allows us to put our lives into perspective and it forces us to reflect on the type of person we are. It can motivate us to live everyday to the fullest and to do things that would normally scare us because we know that this is the only time we have to do it. Most importantly it makes us special, our individual lives will never be copied or repeated. Our lives are unique in the fact that there will be only one of it's kind. How much value would our lives have if we could live on forever? With death, no time is taken for granted. so to live in the light of death, to me, is to use death as a valid reason to live life to it's very fullest each and every day and leave no regrets behind. Rather than seeing it as a horrible impending doom, see it as an opportunity to become the best you can be, knowing that your life is unique and special to you and know one else will have one just like it.
I feel that it is better to face Death head on because if you try to avoid it in a situation where death is unavoidable. If I were in that situation then I would just face it and come to peace with it. Also I just think that if you try to avoid it then sometimes you make it worse.
ReplyDeleteI feel that it is better to face mortality head on, although I have a problem with doing so. By facing our mortality head on I feel that it brings a sense of realization and acceptance to the inevitable. Otherwise, if we continue to avoid death, once the time comes we will experience regret, fear, and anxiety that we have essentially put off.
ReplyDeleteAs far as if someone is dying, I feel that it is extremely difficult to describe in words what death is like without experiencing it ourselves. Descriptions of anything are difficult to grasp without the first-hand experience.
The article about the nurse about making herself the lesson was extremely interesting. I'm not sure if someone can actually explain the death to you, however, i think they can tell you what they feel and think and you can interpret it. I feel this puts a whole new perspective to death.
ReplyDeleteI feel that to "live in the light of death" is to live life positively and use death as a motivator in life because it is an enevitable event in life or to use death as just another way to live life as the nurse in the article did. She used her death to continue doing what she loved - teaching in the realm of nursing. Although she was going through the last months and weeks of life she was living her life to the fullest she could.
I read the article about the nurse teaching about her cancer. I thought it was interesting and I think it was nice that the women was willing to teach up to the very end. However, death is different to everyone. The way she seemed more at peace with death and relieved to know what was going on with her. I've met very few patients that are actually at peace with death. Usually they know its coming and they are in denial, fear, or anger. Death happens in so many different ways and each person can interpret it differently. This nurse expressed her experience which there is no wright or wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is better to face our mortality head on, rather than avoid it. Facing our mortality head on can be through fearing our death. As chapter 4 in Barry mentioned, fearing death can be a good thing. It can lead us to try to accomplish everything that we want to do and not waste the limited amount of time we have. If we avoid thinking about death, then we may live under the false assumption that we have an infinite amount of time to accomplish the things that we want. If we do this, by the time that death becomes real to us, we may start thinking like the people who have feared death all along. At this point, it may be too late to do anything about it. These individuals may be unsatisfied with the things they have and haven’t accomplished. I would rather face mortality head on and know that I am going to die someday. In knowing this, I can use it to help drive me to live a more fulfilling and satisfying life.
ReplyDeleteI want to avoid my mortality because I don't want to think about it, but I do believe it is in my best interest to face it head on. If I face my mortality head on I do not think that I will be as afraid of it when it actually happens. I will be able to have more peace of mind knowing that I did everything in my power live a life I am proud of. If I were to avoid my mortality it would be much easier for me to make mistakes that would not be anything I was proud of, but with facing my mortality head on I will have to think about my actions and the consequences more.
ReplyDeleteIn my own personal opinion, I think it is best to face one's own mortality head on than avoiding it. In one sense, yes, ignorance is bliss, but that is at a certain price. If people people ignore their own mortality it is almost certain they deny the mortality of their loved ones around them. If one can face their own mortality and can come to terms with it, I feel as though those individuals will live a better/ fuller life and also have a easier time accepting the loss of loved ones. This whole idea coincides with living in the light of death, at least in the face-to-face fashion. If people were a little bit more self conscience about themselves and their lives, I think this world would be a completely different place.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, it is better to face mortality head on rather than avoid it. This allows the individual to accept the inevitable. By avoiding mortality I feel this will only bring fear, anxiety, depression, and pain. This fear, anxiety, depression and pain not only effects the dying individual but their relatives as well, as many families witness the death. In turn this could be considered good and bad because this causes fear of dying for those who have witnessed it but also pain for watching their loved one suffer. If the individual is at peace with the inevitable then this also effects the family. I feel that fearing death can be benificial though because in many cases it pushes the individual to live a better more fullfilling life.
ReplyDeleteI feel like death is not avoidable. Everyone is going to die, some way, some how, at some point in time. You can not escape death. You may have an experience where your life may end but doesn't, however you will still die at another time. That sounds horrible to say, but I find it true. Death is not scary to me because it is a natural part of life. It is all about how you accept it. Growing up surrounded by death and working in a area where death comes in large numbers can change how you percieve the event.
ReplyDeleteI welcome death with open arms because I believe it truly is the end of suffering. I have seen many patients in the dying process, and even die right before my eyes. I don't say that meaning it gets any easier. Each time death happens it is a horribly saddening event for me, yet I feel such relief because I believe the person does too. I have had a patient and a family member as well tell myself to let them go. I was lucky enough to grow up with a great-grandmother for 17 years, and she was the most precious person in my life. Even in my most rough times she was always there for me and for some reasons I'm not proud to say. However when she became ill she refused any treatment because she wanted to be with the love of her life that she lived without for more than 20 years after losing him to a brain tumor. She was so happy to finally become ill and know she will get to see him again for the rest of eternity. She never said she was in any pain, she never felt sorry for us or herself. This made the process feel so much better for myself and my family. I believe that event is what changed my perception of death because she spent weeks in hospice and enjoyed every moment of it. One night she happily went to sleep after her daily manicure from my aunt and myself. That next morning she never woke up and she looked more peaceful and more rested than I've ever seen her.
Death can bring great things as well whether it to the person who left, the family or friends, or even complete strangers. Its all about the interpretation.