Certain individuals are not very intrigued with the idea of studying religion or even becoming a part of a religious faith. These individuals believe that they are comfortable with knowing what their lives are about and have no interest in learning about what religions have to say about life and death. As a McMaster University student, I have learned to become open to many different perspectives of life throughout my years of studies here. Within the class RS 2M03 (Religious Studies: Death & Dying: Comparative Views), I have been able to acquire the ability to understand certain people’s positions with their religious beliefs and what values they have behind them. As the Christmas break is coming very quickly as my third year is about half way done, I now allow myself to ponder as to whether or not this relief and liberation I feel is similar to what Heaven would feel like. This paper will examine a few religious beliefs presented in RS 2M03 and whether or not the concept of an eternal Heaven will deem temporal work (i.e., getting an education) to being misguided from what my true calling is. Furthermore, I will discuss how the religious concepts of Heaven and Hell influence my interpretation of death and how it shapes the way I live.
I titled this paper “There Is Nothing Else Than Now”, a quote by Earnest Hemingway, because this is the way in which I feel about life. Life in my opinion only begins and ends from the time you wake up and to the time you go to sleep. A person’s life is not measured by what people consider is right or wrong for you to do, but for what actions you carry out along the way. This is not to say that our temporal lives are of utmost importance, but we must first consider how the actions somebody performs...
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Works Cited
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, September 16). Heidegger and the Gift of Death. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, September 23). Bio-Medical Model. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, September 30). The Way of the Samurai. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, October 28). Tibetan Book of the Dead pt. 2. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, November 25). Heaven. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Penner, D. (Director) (2013, December 2). Hell. Death & Dying 2M03. Lecture conducted from McMaster University, Hamilton.
Tibetan views on death are focused on nirvana and spiritual perfection. These practices are spiritually meaningful for both the living survivors and the dead. Works Cited 1 Geoff Childs Tibetan Diary From Birth to Death and Beyond in the Himalayan Valley of Nepal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004) 41. 2 Ibid., 54. 3Ibid., 54.
Kraus, Peter. "Heidegger on nothingness and the meaning of Being." Death and Philosophy. Ed. Jeff Malpas and Robert C. Solomon. New York: Routledge, 1998.
“But it is not the fear, observe, but the contemplation of death; not the instinctive shudder and struggle of self-preservation, but the deliberate measurement of the doom, which are great or sublime in feeling” (John Ruskin). Human beings never stop making efforts to explaining, understanding and exploring the meaning of the death, and death became an important topic in human’s literature. According to the scientific definition “death is the state of a thermodynamic bio-system in which that thermodynamic system cannot obtain non-spontaneously energy from the environment and organize non-spontaneously the energy obtained from the environment” (Nasif Nahle). Which means that all human beings fundamental biological systems are stop working after
Death is one of the concepts that is perceived differently throughout cultures. Some see it as a punishment or loss, some take it as just another chapter of our existence – a transition to the unknown. Death is so much more than just life running out of time; it includes a great deal of pain: physical, social – leaving our loved ones behind, mental – trying to understand what fills that void when we die, emotional – frustration and regret, and spiritual – fear of not having led a fulfilling life. There is a fear of death, or the unknown that awaits afterwards not only in relation to ourselves, but also in relation to people we love, and despite the pain that fills our hearts, sometimes we need to do the right thing to ease their journey.
Death is an eternal mystery and the most controversial subject stemming from human inexperience. Its inescapability and uncertainty can give insights on the core principles and vulnerability of human nature. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet he skilfully makes use of death as a lashing force to explore the depths of his characters along the way illustrating man’s continual dilemma “To be or not to be”?
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
The concept between life and death cannot simply exist without one another, where the topic is widely discussed throughout “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi. This memoir explores Paul’s definition of death as he passes through the distinct “stages” of his life. As Paul progresses through each stage, he views death differently as he transformed from a student to a neurosurgeon, neurosurgeon to a patient, and eventually becoming a father, where he needed to take full responsibility as an adult.
Phillips, Jayne A. "Crowding Out Death." New York Times 13 Jan. 1985: n. pag. Web. Web. 10 May 2014.
Is there such a thing as free will, what is the relationship between mind and body, and the true difference between right and wrong are a few questions about human existence that have plagued philosophers and average men alike since the days of Socrates and Aristotle. While not everyone may pay these questions much attention, there is one philosophical thought that has probably crossed the mind of every human at some point in time, and that is the concept of death and what happens after. There are widespread thoughts about what happens postmortem which range from the idea of immortality during the days of the ancient Greeks to the belief in reincarnation that is associated with many Eastern religions. These beliefs, along with others similar to them, provide some with a sort of safety net because they know that their essence (soul, spirit, etc.) will continue to exist after they pass. That being said, not everyone shares these opinions and for some the idea of death can be frightening. Don DeLillo’s novel White Noise examines this fear through Jack Gladney and several other characters. While the novel does not offer any answers, it does stimulate thought regarding death in modern society and how it should be handled. Although many of the characters try to do things such as ignore or embrace their fear in order to get it off their minds, Jack cannot shake his angst, all of which mirroring the various reactions people in today’s society have regarding death.
Death is a great wave whose shadow falls upon the lives of all beings below Olympus. Amidst this shadow and its immediacy in war, humans must struggle to combat and metaphysically transcend their transitory natures. If they fail to forge a sense of meaning for themselves and their people in what often seems an inexorably barren world, they are lef...
The concept of human mortality and how it is dealt with is dependent upon one’s society or culture. For it is the society that has great impact on the individual’s beliefs. Hence, it is also possible for other cultures to influence the people of a different culture on such comprehensions. The primary and traditional way men and women have made dying a less depressing and disturbing idea is though religion. Various religions offer the comforting conception of death as a begining for another life or perhaps a continuation for the former.
Frederick, Calvin J. "Death and Dying." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
These two thought provoking stories take widely separate approaches on the idea of death. One being
Intro : Introduce the concept of death, and how the concept of death is shown to be something to be feared
I was very excited to take Death and Dying as a college level course. Firstly, because I have always had a huge interest in death, but it coincides with a fear surrounding it. I love the opportunity to write this paper because I can delve into my own experiences and beliefs around death and dying and perhaps really establish a clear personal perspective and how I can relate to others in a professional setting.