Death. Only two things are certain in life, death, and taxes. As the Human condition is concerned death is directly related to mortality. Mortality is in a sense the focus of all human existence. In most cases, the human mind inadvertently neglects this concept. In the true depth of mortality is hidden behind a shroud of humor. In the inquisitive, the brain creates a logical fallacy to cope with the concept. The basis of the human condition is mortality. The main points of the human condition are birth, growth, emotionality, aspiration, conflict, and mortality. Birth, growth, and aspiration all stem from the concept of mortality. The radiant feelings associated with birth are directly proportional to the enveloping darkness of death. Without …show more content…
Construint by Efrai is a sculpture of a boy made out of blocks creating a tower of blocks. This is the obvious the unobvious deeper meaning of this piece is the human condition. He is using the experiences of his life( the blocks he is made of) to construct a tower of growth. In the end, all of the growth and life experiences will only be seen in the experiences of future generations as mortality is final yet growth is infinite. A Case For Tragic Optimism by Victor Frankl states “ With the increase of the imperative urge of hunger all individual differences will blur, and in their stead will appear the uniform expression of the one instilled urge.”The one urge this piece discusses is the urge to exist. The basis of human nature is to avoid mortality. All of the experiences of life will blur and all that remains is the urge to exist. Aspiration in life is the desire for experiences and knowledge before the time of life is over. Life is full of aspiration because without aspiration, life is an endless decay into In Chapter 34: Thirst of the Buddhist sacred text The Dhammapada states “ A creature's pleasures are extravagant and luxurious; sunk in lust and looking for
The pleasure-seeking behaviors in life are the behaviors that lead to the end of
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini is a story of two Afghan women, from seemingly different backgrounds, whose paths cross and lives are changed by each other. Although it may seem like this story is one of resilience and optimism, A Thousand Splendid Suns is clearly a story that represents pain and hopelessness.
Most people hope the world is the way they believe it is. That is, most people hope that their view of the world is right. They usually do not hope for the truth about things to be much better than what they suppose it is. Sometimes the hope is a factor in causing the belief; sometimes the hope stems from the desire to be right about one's belief; and in some cases the hope may follow the belief, i.e., one becomes accustomed even to an austere view of the world and finally comes to prefer it. It seems that most people, especially most philosophers, would rather be right than have the world turn out to be even a better place than their theory allows. They might not admit this outright, but one sees in their writings no signs that they hope they are wrong and the world is better than they have supposed; one never sees them say: ``This is a somewhat grim view I have proposed, and I hope very much that I am wrong, but I am driven to this view by solid considerations''. The late A. J. Ayer is reported to have said shortly before his death that he certainly hoped that death would be the end of him, in spite of having had a ``near death experience'' which had ``slightly'' shaken his disbelief in survival. It is hard to know why anyone would hope for annihilation.
As a natural phenomena that occurs frequently yet is still not completely understood, death has confounded and, to a certain degree, fascinated all of humanity. Since the dawn of our species, people have tried rationalize death by means of creating various religions and even attempted to conquer death, leading to great works of literature such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Cannibal Spell For King Unis.
In the United States and worldwide people have different culture, beliefs and attitude about death. Over the past years, death is an emotional and controversy topic that is not easy to talk about. Everyone have a different definition of what is death and when do you know that a person is really dead. In the book Death, Society, and Human Experiences by Robert J. Kastenbaum demonstrates that you are alive, even when doctors pronounce you dead.
Lack of regeneration can be seen by the way that birth fails to bring hope and death constantly fails to validate life or create any sense of community. Aaron Kelly states that ‘funerals reassure community of its own regeneration’ (49) as do births.
Life for people today is full of technology that helps extend our lives. It connects us and keeps us together as a whole. The meaning of life is a philosophical question concerning the purpose of existence. Not everyone in the world is ready to face death, even though we all have to hit the hay at some point in our lives. We humans believe we are invincible whether we mean to think that or not. Perhaps one of John Donne’s most famous written works is called “Meditation 17” and it highlights on death, society, and isolation.
Optimism is a state of mind in which an individual will tend to “expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation” (freedictionary.com). Over the past few decades, optimism has become more than just a state of mind; it has become its own empire, a power in itself. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, “Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America,” she expands on the notion that optimism, or positive thinking, has emerged as a strong “ideological force in American culture…--one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune, and blame only ourselves for our fate” (Ehrenreich 43-4). By using her own experience of being a breast cancer victim, a victim constantly bombarded by pink ribbon culture and the overwhelmingly positive attitude that comes with it, she shows how America’s “retreat from real life drama and tragedy of human events is suggestive of a deep helplessness at the core of positive thinking” (Ehrenreich 59). Many movements have been overrun by the power of positive thinking that swept the nation, including the breast cancer movement. With all the campaigns, pink products, and corporate sponsorships that the movement has come by, a sort of breast cancer culture was created. This culture, otherwise known as pink ribbon culture, is deeply rooted in positive thinking. The problem with positive thinking is that it distracts us from the reality we are living in, a reality where we have yet to find a cure to breast cancer, and that it makes us lose sight of larger problems at play. Positive thinking does more than just divert our attention away from our primary goal to eliminate breast cancer completely with the discovery of a cure, it ...
nsciousness after death, or maybe a combination of both, which creates this fear. The fear felt is undoubtedly universal. However, the ways in which it is dealt with are varied and diverse. The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. It is the society, which has the greatest impact on an individual’s beliefs.
John L McIntosh. (2003) . Handbook of Death and Dying. Volume 1: The Presence of Death. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
"Make sure you stay away from the abandoned building," they said. I should have listened. Now held at gunpoint makes me regret my every decision about going to this place. I should’ve been more aware. I should’ve known better.
Humans are bound to die inevitably. Not a single person, no matter how much money you have, or how beautiful you are, death is inescapable. While we all know we are eventually be deceased, we try to make the best of it. We all strive to make our life as comfortable as possible; surround ourselves with warm people, fall in love, start a family, make friends, and the list goes on. Majority of people lead a normal, satisfying happy life until their age catches up and passes away. But not so many people might agree with that statement. As a matter of fact, some people might live a miserable, bitter lonely life. Why? It’s not that they choose to, but it’s the society they live among that they can’t be compatible with. Obviously no one would choose to live a life full of hate and regret. Sometimes, in the cruelest circumstances people come across social death before biological death. Now how is that possible, you ask. Excellent question. We humans come in two forms. Physical and emotional. While physical is what is presented towards others, emotional cannot be seen because its our feelings and emotions. Even though emotions has no actual presence, physique is considered nothing when there are no emotions living inside. There is a deep underlying meaning when we say that a person can die a “social death” before actual biological death.
Human nature. What is human nature? By definition, human nature is the “general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” This applies to everything humans do, and although each person is unique in the way they act in a given situation, everyone shares common characteristics of behavior, especially when put in life or death situations. We may see ourselves, humans, as sophisticated, civilized creatures who calculate our decisions, taking everything into account, using logic to do what is in our best interests. Most individuals would agree with this, especially due to the fact that we think highly of our individual selves. The prospect of death causes a fear in humans so great
Death is the one great certainty in life. Some of us will die in ways out of our control, and most of us will be unaware of the moment of death itself. Still, death and dying well can be approached in a healthy way. Understanding that people differ in how they think about death and dying, and respecting those differences, can promote a peaceful death and a healthy manner of dying.
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.
Why are we who we are? Or more importantly, why are we human? Why does humanity act, think, work, live the way that it does? The answer to this statement may or may not be known, but it is generally agreed upon that this question can be explored with a thorough analysis of an abstract topic known as the Human Condition. The human condition is a philosophical idea, which revolves around figuring out what makes humans human. The human condition is a core principle in humanity, with many different interpretations; many of which can be considered contradictory, due to the nature of philosophy, and is made up of 6 core traits, 3 of which will be explored throughout this essay.