In the illustration, Death’s Door, published first in 1805 as part of The Grave, William Blake is depicting the transition from this life into the afterlife. (Blake, 2008) Blake represents this transition as going through the door old, sick and feeble and coming out the other side as he was at his prime, a young muscular vibrant man. The illustration is a strong reflection of the Christian idea of life after death or. Blake depicts the move from this life to the next as one which will bring happiness and pleasure to those who pass through it. This illustration depicts death, as something to be welcomed, rather than feared when the time comes. The image represents a positive image of what death can be like and what one can have to look forward to in the afterlife. In this paper I will use Death’s Door as one way to answer the question, should we have hope for an afterlife after death in this world? I will discuss how the artwork supports the idea of life after death in a positive way. I will then look at some potential problems with this view of life after death. Finally, I will look at whether this illustration supports the idea of life after death and is well supported or the arguments against it are better to be believed. The illustration shows an answer to the philosophical question, is there life after death? Death, as portrayed in this art reflects death as the end of existence in this life, but shows it continuing in another. When man dies in this world, he proceeds to another world. The representation of death and moving through a door to the afterlife is a strongly influenced by the Christian idea of what one can expect in the afterlife, if they have lived a good life. To be rejuvenated in a more youthful fo... ... middle of paper ... ...ife would not be able to bask in the glory of God’s light as displayed by the rays of light surrounding the glorified figure. Works Cited Blake, W. (2008, February 25). ebooks@adelaide. Retrieved from Illustrations to The Grave (1805): http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/blake/william/grave/ Davis, S. .. (2010). Traditional Christian Belief in the Resurrection of the Body. In S. Brennan, & R. J. Stainton, Philosophy and Death Introductory Readings (pp. 77-98). Canada: Broadview Press. Edwards, P. (2010). Existentialism and Death: A Survey of Some Confusions and Absurdities. In S. Brennan, & R. J. Stainton, Philosophy and Death Introductory Readings (pp. 3-37). Canada: Broadview Press. Epicurus. (2010). Letter to Menoeceus and The Principle Dotrines. In S. Brennan, & R. J. Stainton, Philosophy of Death Introductory Readings (pp. 163-171). Canada: Broadview Press.
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Show MoreWhat do the following words or phrases have in common: “the last departure,”, “final curtain,” “the end,” “darkness,” “eternal sleep”, “sweet release,” “afterlife,” and “passing over”? All, whether grim or optimistic, are synonymous with death. Death is a shared human experience. Regardless of age, gender, race, religion, health, wealth, or nationality, it is both an idea and an experience that every individual eventually must confront in the loss of others and finally face the reality of our own. Whether you first encounter it in the loss of a pet, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a pop culture icon, or a valued community member, it can leave you feeling numb, empty, and shattered inside. But, the world keeps turning and life continues. The late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers and of Pixar Animation Studios, in his 2005 speech to the graduating class at Stanford, acknowledged death’s great power by calling it “the single best invention of Life” and “Life’s great change agent.” How, in all its finality and accompanying sadness, can death be good? As a destination, what does it have to teach us about the journey?
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.
To sum up, in different times in history when it comes to art the idea of death is always present. Whether it is from the time in history in which they are talking about religion or just moral meanings of life. The first painting The Crucifixion showed the idea of death religious wise but didn’t have a precise anatomical feature of the human body. The second painting the Death and the Maiden illustrated the advancement of the human body. The modern painting Someday Soon emphasized how in time how far artists have come in figuring out the human body and how it was taken even further to an abstract. All in all, the idea of death is always present when it comes to the human body.
At the most basic level of subconscious thought, every living animal possesses a desire to stay alive. Usually, this instinct lays dormant, although in dire situations, we can be led to do unexpected things. In addition to this subconscious drive, there is a socially constructed motivation for fearing death. Thanks to the pervasive nature of religion throughout history, much of humanity has, at some point or another, feared the prospect of eternal damnation and torture during one’s life after death. Although not every religion has a negative aspect of the afterlife, or even any semblance of an afterlife at all, those religions which do contain some such construct receive much more attention in this regard. Throughout history, many academics have countered people’s irrational fear of the unknown by noting that there is no definitive evidence to prove the existence of such a postmortem experience. According to Lucretius, this fundamental fear of death is completely speculative, and wholly illogical; he argues that we have no reason to fear death because there is nothing after death. What makes Lucretius’ argument so significant, is not how he counters religion, but how he bases it upon his own revision of atomism. It is because of this foundation of logical thought that Lucretius’ writing on the nature of death can still be thought of as a sound hypothesis.
Thomas Nagel begins his collection of essays with a most intriguing discussion about death. Death being one of the most obviously important subjects of contemplation, Nagel takes an interesting approach as he tries to define the truth as to whether death is, or is not, a harm for that individual. Nagel does a brilliant job in attacking this issue from all sides and viewpoints, and it only makes sense that he does it this way in order to make his own observations more credible.
Smith, Andrew. "Chapter Nine: Life After Death." 2014. A Secular View of God. 12 May 2014 .
Life and death represent a dyad; their definitions inherently depend on one another. Simply defined, death is the cessation of life. Similarly, life can be defined as not death; however, not everything not alive is dead. Boniolo and Di Fiore explain this dyadic relationship well, and other authors have cited this interdependency to better define life and death.1-6 The academic literature contains multiple definitions for both terms depending on which discipline or interest group attempts the definition. Nair-Collins provides a thorough discourse on this diversity in terms of death, differentiating between “biological death, death of the person, death of the moral agent, death of the moral patient, legal death, and the commonsense notion of death.”2(p.667,668,675) Through the dyadic relationship, similar groupings could be arrived at for defining life. Whether or not one accepts Nair-Collins’ categories, at least some differentiation of this type is necessary given the complexity of these concepts. I propose a simplified categorization of the definitions of life and death: (1)scientific/biological, (2)medic...
Wagner, Stephen. “Descriptions of the Afterlife from Those Who Returned.” ThoughtCo. Accessed 6 Sept. 2017.
The center of the painting contains a pyramid-like shape. There are the bodies of the dead at the bottom that slowly lead up to the hopeful living. This pyramid is representing the rise from death to hope. Because of this, two intense moods are established throughout the work of art; hope and despair. Even though there are two prominent moods of the piece, the interpretation of the piece can be described as hopeful. Despite the bodies of the dead shown in the painting, the energy of the hopeful overpowers the death. Their will to live outshines the desperate feelings given off from the bodies and the
Vermander, Jeane-Marie. "Celse et l'attribution a Athénagore d'un ouvrage sur la résurrection des morts." Melanges de Science Religieuse 35 (1978): 125-134.
Death is the occurrence that everybody has to face; it is very traumatic experience that we are trying understand and art helps to process our feelings. In our Western society everybody is scared even thinking about death and everybody takes all measures to avoid dealing with dead, we all try to achieve the immortal life and the eternity.
William Cullen Bryant wrote a poem regarding the passing of people from this world into the afterlife which he called “Thanatopsis”. The word Thanatopsis is actually a Greek word meaning ‘meditation on or contemplation of death’. It is the opinion of some readers that this poem expresses a traditional religious view of afterlife in heaven where as others who read it see it as a process that only involves our rejoining with nature. Bryant made references to heaven, nature and spirits which contribute to the discussion on both sides of the argument. Poetry, just like every other form of art, is subject to interpretation. After taking a closer look at Thanatopsis it will be easier to see just why these people cannot seem to agree. Bryant made
Dahl E. "The Resurrection of the Body: A Study of First Corinthians 15." Journal of Bible and Religion (1963): 31-2. JSTOR. Web. 1 May 2014.
Frederick, Calvin J. "Death and Dying." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Life then death, life after death, or life and death, and so on. These phrases represent the varying understandings throughout the world’s cultures of the relationship between life and death and its relationship to living creatures. Throughout, it is understood that all organisms spend time on earth in a specific form and after some time that form will wear away and the physical form of that being will die--the body will no longer function and can return to the earth and nutrients from which it came. However, the disagreement lies in whether or not there is a literal end to that organism’s existence, or its being, its spirit. Both a culture’s understanding of this relationship and historic influences, cause variations of cultural attitudes toward life and death.