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Death and the Afterlife Final Exam > Death and the Afterlife Final Exam > Flashcards

Death and the Afterlife Final Exam Flashcards

1
Q

Meaning of Islam

A

Surrender, Submission

Muslim: he who surrenders to the will of God

All things functioning in the universe according to the eternal will of God

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2
Q

Inshallah (meaning)

A

God willing

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3
Q

Well of Zamzam

A

miracle well that springs up under Ishmael’s foot when he and Hagar are sent to Mecca; eventually Abraham returns to Mecca and builds the Ka’aba with ishmael

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4
Q

6 “possessions” of nomadic lifestyle

A
  1. word
  2. identity
  3. tribal loyalty
  4. hospitality
  5. generosity
  6. personal honor
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5
Q

Mohammed’s Visit by Gabriel

A
  • visited during Ramadan, over 23 years, in the mountains
  • Gabriel told him to recite the words spoken to him (which becomes the Qur’an)
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6
Q

Mohammed’s Message (3)

A
  1. Worship and submission to the one God
  2. Generosity to the poor of society
  3. Day of punishment/reward/judgement - (either go to paradise or hell) - paradise for those who have done an atom’s weight of good
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7
Q

Naf and Ruh

A
  • Naf: the Soul (personality, character)
  • Ruh: Divine Spirit (life breath of God)
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8
Q

Cosmology in Islam - macrocosm

A
  • Outer layer: visible material world (clay, matter) - darkness
  • Core: Invisible world of light (angels)
  • In Between: Imaginal beings (Jinn) - 1/2 way between material substance and light/dark
  • humans are the opposite: Microcosm
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9
Q

Human as Microcosm

A
  • outside (body), center (pure light of God’s spirit), in between (soul)
  • people are NOT different in body or spirit, only in soul and the degree to which they develope the divine characteristics (99 most beautiful names of God)
  • when soul leaves body at death you can differentiate one from another
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10
Q

Imaginal (def’n)

A
  • something that appears in a form that shows its meaning (i.e. tiger in dream to mean power)
  • it can appear in any kind of shape or form
  • soul thought of as an imaginal in afterlife
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11
Q

Barzakh - Def’n

A
  • Intermediate state between death and resurrection where await judgement
  • after death the soul will show its “true” shape (whereas in our body of clay we were able to hide our true thoughts) - if dominated by greed will be seen as a pig
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12
Q

The Garden and the Fire

A
  • Paradise (Garden) - divine garden, fortunate ones well dressed, reclining on couches, relaxing, eating drinking, perfect weather
  • Fire: (Hell) - chains, iron colars, blazing Fire for the “disbelievers”
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13
Q

Gardens of Paradise

A
  • place for resurrected souls
  • the light in the paradise is taken from the fire (in hell the heat still remains from the fire but it is dark) ***
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14
Q

Al Ghazali’s stages end of times

A
  1. trumpet (Angel Seraphiel) - marks destruction of physical world and everyone but God
  2. God rejuvinates earth, trumpet calls dead from graves
  3. Gather before God - naked and circumcized to await judgment
  4. Everyone questioned by God, all humble
  5. Weighing of good and evil deeds - (if given back right hand good, left bad)
  6. Traverse: bridge over hell; have to cross it’s sharper than sword, thinner than hair - if slip go to perdition
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15
Q

Who are Munkar and Nakir

A
  • 2 angels that visit the person the 1st night in the grave
  • how they appear may depend on your past deeds
  • If answer correctly grave is widened and you sleep peacefully awaiting resurrection
  • if are obvious hypocrite, grave will tighten around person and have to stay that way till resurrection
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16
Q

3 places man knows only himself

A
  1. Weighing of good and evil deeds
  2. Assessment of the scrolls (see which hand you are handed book
  3. Traverse - will find out which are more in balance (good or bad)
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17
Q

Traverse (def’n)

A
  • bridge over hell
  • each crosses the bridge their own way
  • either get across or go to perdition
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18
Q

Muslim Death Rites

A
  • Read verse from Qur’an to dying person
  • encourage to recite Shahadah or read to them
  • close eyes and mouth when die
  • cover body
  • lay body on right side facing qibla
  • wash body (relatives same sex)
  • shroud in plain white cloths
  • no loud wailing or excessive displays
  • body to mosque for funeral prayer, communal
  • Only men go to gravesite
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19
Q

Muslim Disposal of Body

A
  • NO embalming, no cremation - prohibited
  • Bury as quickly as possible, preferaby within 24 hours
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20
Q

Goal of Sufi Mystic

A
  • to be one with God, in complete union, worship out of pure devotion and not out of hope for paradise or fear of hell
  • when the ego “I” is extinguished, the person can live only in God
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21
Q

3 symbolic deaths of Sufi mystic

A
  • biological: reject bodily pleasures/needs
  • psychological: renounce all ordinary desires EXCEPT the desire for oneness with God
  • Social:“enslaved” to God through love (so slavery)
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22
Q

Shirk (def’n)

A
  • worst sin in Islam - associating anything or anyone with God or believing there is any harm or blessing that is not from God
  • Major and Minor Shirks:
    • major: worshipping other Gods or putting others on level of God
    • minor: acts of worship to gain fame or praise
    • inconspicuous: inward dissatisfaction with what comes to you (others can’t see it)
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23
Q

Atman / Brahman

A
  • Atman: eternal soul (Hindu term/concept)
  • Upanishadic sages wanted to know basis for all existence -for individual called ATMAN, for universe called BRAHMAN
  • liberation comes to those who realize that they are not two - they are one and the same
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24
Q

Who are Yama and Naciketas

A
  • Yama: (God of Death); re Vedic myth, first mortal to die & reach world gods
  • Naciketas: represents man as his noblest, longing for realization and enlightenment and able to resist all temptation by Yama
  • Naciketas insists on knowing the the mystery of death
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25
Q

Three Favors of Naciketas

A
  1. How can he appease his father’s wrath
  2. Instruction on the Fire Sacrifice, through which he will gain entry into heaven
  3. Does man continue to exist after death?
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26
Q

3rd Favor of Naciketas

A
  • Knowledge of afterlife / liberation from death
    • secret of atman-brahman
    • self-realization
    • once free from desire, are free from grief
    • must discriminate the Atman from the body, which is the seat of desire
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27
Q

Cyclical View of Time

A
  • View of Eastern Religions (versus monotheistic view of creation through to End of Time)
  • many kalpas (unit of time) within which have creations and destructions
  • beginnings are therefore not “the” beginning
  • things will reoccur archetypally again & again
  • Western view of time = view of person (one life / one death vs Samsara cycle of birth/death
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28
Q

Vedas (def’n)

A
  • sacred scriptures of the Hindus
  • earliest vedic text: Rigveda
  • Agni: God of fire
  • Yama: Lord of Death
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29
Q

Dharma / Karma

A
  • Dharma: Law or Duty
    • a) Religious, social & family duty
    • b) eternal cosmic law / truth
    • need a) to live in harmony with b)
  • Karma: Action (any intentional action)
    • Vedic: Karma = ritual action of the fire
    • Upanishad: = intentional action & results
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30
Q

Dharma

A
  • fulfill one’s responsibilities in context of family life, caste and stages of ife
  • Vedic: emphasis on household life
  • Upanishad: emphasis on renunciation
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31
Q

Moksha

A
  • liberation from Samsara through the realization of the true nature of atman (soul), tha the nature of soul is same as nature of universe
  • Atman is Brahman
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32
Q

4 Realms of Vedic Universe

A
  1. Celestial: sky gods
  2. Atmospheric: gods of atmosphere (in between sky and earth)
  3. Earth: humans and gods of earth
  4. World of the Fathers: ancestors and dead
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33
Q

Vedic Fire Sacrifice

A
  • Brahaman priests do it - to help successfully transition to World of Fathers
  • 3 Fire altars:
    • Home Fire - earth cooking fire/ prep sacrificial animal
    • Sky Fire: put prepped sacrifical animal in to go up to the Gods
    • Southern Fire: offering for ancestors (“Hungry Fire”) to nourish them
  • Home & Sky fires symbolize relat. bet. humans/Gods
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34
Q

Agni God of Fire

A
  • In sky as the sun
  • In atmosphere as lightening
  • On earth as the Home Fire
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35
Q

World of Fathers

A
  • Place of the dead in the Vedic Age (World of the Dead)
  • NO cycle of Samsara at this point
  • Did Fire Sacrifice ritual (their “karma”) to ensure blessings of the Gods - health, wealth, kids, etc.
  • The concept of Samsara is in Upanishads
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36
Q

Hindu Cremation Last Sacrifice

A
  • It is called this because it is an offering to the Fire God (Agni)
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37
Q

Importance Ritual Action Vedic Period

A
  • even gods could not prevent results of a properly conducted sacrifice
  • good afterlife dependent on whether the karma (ritual action) of the sacrifice was performed properly
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38
Q

Karma / Upanishads

A
  • now karma related to the intention of action/will (+ or negative) and capacity of action to bring results independent of divine force
  • now action itself has the power
  • reject goal of World of Fathers; goal now is Moksha
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39
Q

Samsara

A
  • cycle of redeath and rebirth
  • Upanishad idea
  • keeps going due to self-oriented itentional action (karma)
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40
Q

Upanishad Questions (2)

A
  1. What is essence and foundation of universe
  2. What is essence and foundation of individual
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41
Q

Upanishad Unchanging Reality

A

2 aspects:

  1. Brahman: cosmic level, personal God or impersonal absolute
  2. Atman: (individual soul); what is real, unchanging, undying, unborn about the person (everything else is impermanent and belongs to Samsara - Gods, ancestors, humans, etc.)
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42
Q

3 paths to liberation from Samsara

A
  1. Path of Action
  2. Path of Knowledge
  3. Path of Devotion
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43
Q

Path of Action Bhagavadgita

A
  • All action without attachment to the result
  • NOT just ritual action like Vedic (Fire Sacrifice)
  • action as offering and combined with path devotion, no self interest that would keep person in Samsara
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44
Q

Karma Yoga

A
  • discipline of acting according to Dharma without fear of punishment or hope of reward (the undiscipline man is in bondage, attached to the results of his intention)
  • in this way, action leads to liberation
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45
Q

Path of Knowledge

A

Path of Knowledge: study, contemplation, meditation to realize true nature of indiv. soul (atman) as not separate from Brahman

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46
Q

Path of Devotion

A
  • open to anyone even outcast
  • goal is union with God but not to become him/it, need 2: lover and the beloved
  • afterlife goal of devotee: rebirth in heaven of the beloved & opport. to keep loving & worshipping one’s personal God
  • easier route to liberation than path of knowledge as only requires loving your God (e.g. Krishna) & making him object of all faith
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47
Q

Stages of Upper cast male

A
  1. Student - study vedas, maintain celebacy
  2. Householder: family, social and ritual oblig.
  3. Retirement (more spiritual pursuits)
  4. Renunciation (sannayasin) - rare today
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48
Q

Hindu Funeral Rituals

A
  1. Body cremated within 12 hours of death -
  2. Eldest son lights cremation fire
  3. Ashes immersed in river (Ganges) or ocean
  4. Oil lamp lit for dead, 11 days mourning - 11 days for soul to reach destination (liminal zone),when sapindikarana carried out
  5. Feast at end 11 days / family bathes, clean clothes, oil lamp burns out
  6. Memorial ceremony on anniversary
  7. sacrifices to 5 generations (3 previous, current, future) - represe. by 5 Brahmins
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49
Q

9 stages Hindu death rituals

A
  1. preparation for death
  2. moment of death
  3. preparation of body
  4. procession to cremation ground
  5. cremation
  6. disposal of ashes
  7. shraddha rituals
  8. sapinikarana
  9. annual shraddha
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50
Q

The Last Sacrifice

A
  • Cremation “last sacrifice” - (Purusha) death as sacrifice defeats destruction
  • 2 paths: world of fathers / world of gods then to moon⇒sky⇒wind⇒rain⇒earth as food then rebirth (not same as samsara)
  • sons performed death rituals to create new body for deceased and to feed soul
  • need sons so marriage and procreation, debt owed ancestors
51
Q

Sapindikarana/Shraddha Rituals

A

Shraddha Rituals

  1. Offerings to establish temporary body for the deceased (use rice balls to represent body)
  2. Rituals to nourish and give soul strength to journey to W.O.F.
  3. Sapindikarana: final transformation of deceased from wandering spirit to divine and benevolent ancestor spirit;- closes funeral/mourning period (let lamp burn out)

All takes place in 11 days after death except Sapindikarana which is on 12th day (end symbolic year)

1.

52
Q

Destination Hindu Soul

A
  • heaven of chosen Lord then soul reborn and new form depends on Karma past life
  • Wicked go to naraka (hell), to Yama then eventually soul reborn in Samsara
53
Q

Sumangali

A
  • auspicious woman - married with living husband - if outlive husband, not sumangali
  • Sati: impale herself on husband’s funeral pyre (now illegal)
  • If she dies while he is living - she’s powerful ancestor
  • widows still seen as inauspicious today
54
Q

Phrase “This is That”

A
  • Tad Etad
  • This = Atman (true Self, NOT small ego), the innermost essence of the human being
  • That = Brahman (basis of all existence - sustaining essence of the universe)
  • The “I” is perishable, circumscribed by the senses
  • So: Atman Is Brahman / Essence of Self is the Essence of the Universe
55
Q

Paranirvana

A
  • Final Nirvana / Further Nirvana
  • Complete Enlightenment without any remainder
  • Buddha attained nirvana in life and once enlightened then no rebirh so paranirvana
56
Q

Four Noble Truths

A
  1. All beings experience dukkha (suffering)
  2. Suffering has a cause
  3. Suffering can cease - if the cause is eliminated
  4. There is a path to attain cessation of suffering (eightfold path)
57
Q

How did Buddha die?

A
  • ate poisoned food in low caste person’s house and died of dysentary (very normal death)
58
Q

3 characteristics of all phenomena

A
  1. impermanence
  2. essencelessness or anatman
  3. suffering (dukkah) - will all have that as long as we are attached to things that are impermanent
59
Q

Last Words of the Buddha

A

Whatever is compounded must eventually break apart

60
Q

Stupa

A
  • Buddhist reliquary and funerary monument for great persons
  • symbolizes enlightened mind of Buddha
  • walk around it clockwise to remember his life and enlightenment
61
Q

Buddhist Philosophy of Death

A
  • Life is fleeting, impermament
  • Wealth won’t prevent death
  • Whole life will collapse in one moment
  • See it as “dying every instant” - i.e. coming into being and passing away every moment
62
Q

Meditation on Death

A
  • intended to put aside useless regrets
  • create sense of futility of grasping for things
  • chant to let go of attachment

Why Contemplate Death?

  1. Death is certain
  2. Time of death is incertain
  3. Spiritual practice is the only protection at death and beyond (one’s own virtuous mind only protection at death)
63
Q

Person/Soul in Buddhism

A
  • Person/Soul just mental habit we develop
  • Anatman - NO SOUL (soul is Hindu concept)
  • NO permanent, unchanging aspect to person
  • What is reborn? No Thing (nothing) goes on but there is going on…
  • Any idea of eternal, unchanging part of person is just an illusion or fiction
64
Q

6 Worlds of Rebirth

A
  1. World of the gods - pride
  2. World of the anti-gods - jealousy, aggression
  3. World of humans - desire (always want more)
  4. World of animals - ignorance (instinct vs. know)
  5. World of hungry Ghosts - avarice, greed
  6. World of hell beings - anger
65
Q

Cycle of Rebirth

A
  • Keeps on going based on karma, self oriented actions driven by greed, hatred and delusion
  • OR positive actions driven by love, generosity
  • Tibetans: Good Karma (golden chains) and Bad Karma (Iron chains)
66
Q

Forces that drive Wheel of Life

A
  • Karma - self oriented actions driven by:
    • greed
    • hatred
    • delusion
    • generosity
    • love
    • unselfishness
67
Q

3 Poisons Centre Wheel of Life

A
  1. Greed/desire/attraction - Rooster
  2. Hatred/aversion/fear - Serpent
  3. Delusion/Ignorance - Pig

Will only attain Nirvana when all these 3 are extinguished then no more rebirth

Can also attain this through meditation

68
Q

Kisa Gotami Story

A
  • woman loses child, sorrow so great losing mind
  • goes for help from Buddha
  • told to find house where they had suffered no death (could not)
  • realizes that no one and no house free from death/mortality, death comes to all
69
Q

Nirvana/Paranirvana

A
  • Nirvana - enlightenment / extinguishing the defilements of the 3 poisons
  • Paranirvana: further nirvana / death of an enlightened being (no rebirth cuz enlightened)
70
Q

Mara

A
  • Mythological demon: holds the Wheel of Life
  • Twin forces of Death and Desire & everything that is an obstacle to enlightenment
  • Headdress 5 skulls: represents 5 aspects of human personality
  • Nirvana = triumph over Mara (victory over cycle of death and rebirth and over desire)
  • Mara =”me” / ego/ greatest obstacle is “me”
71
Q

Dedicating Merit

A
  • Merit: Good karma that leads to good rebirth
  • Should be shared / dedicated to welfare of others - living, sick and dying
  • Bad Karma is demerit
72
Q

3 major Divisions Buddhism

A
  1. Theravada - only one that still represents early Buddhist traditions ( saffron robed monks)
  2. Mahayana - inludes Zen, Pure Land
  3. Vajrayana - Diamond Way, Tantric Buddhism, strong in Tibet so called Tibetan Buddhism
73
Q

Bardo Thodol

A
  • Tibetan Book(s) of the Dead read to dying (thought to still be able to hear)
  • “The Great Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo
  • Bardo = “in between” / “intermediate”
  • Thodol = liberation through hearing/understanding
74
Q

6 Bardos

A
  1. Bardo of Life (in between birth/death)
  2. Bardo of Dream (in bet. deep sleep/wake)
  3. Bardo of Meditation (not asleep, not awake)
  4. Bardo of Dying Process (ends at death)
  5. Bardo of After Death (Reality - as-it-is)
  6. Bardo of Rebirth Process (ends at conception)

Cycle so #6 ends when Bardo of Life Begins

Death: When consciousness separates from body

75
Q

How to avoid untimely death

A
  • give life to save life
76
Q

Tibetan Buddhist Def’n Death

A
  • When consiousness leaves the body and there is a sign: blood from crown of head or nose
77
Q

3 Bardos of Death

A
  1. Bardo of dying (dissolution period - mind and body)
  2. Bardo of the Reality-as-it-is - between final death and rebirth
  3. Bardo of rebirth process
78
Q

Outer Dissolution

A
  1. Dissolution of the Earth element - body loses its strength wavy images
  2. Dissolution of Water element - liquids of body dry or lose control smoke-like images
  3. Dissolution of Fire element - digestive process, memory goes, sparks images
  4. Dissolution of Air element - breathing stops, not concious of external things; flickering light images

Dead from Western perspective not Eastern (still have awareness at cellular level)

79
Q

Inner Dissolution

A
  1. Conceptual thought ceases white light - bright moon
  2. When mind dissolves - red light - autumn sky
  3. Blackness(empty, darkness)
  4. Clear Light of Death - buddha mind and if have that are liberated (subtlest level of consciousness) and if don’t see it then just have state of unconsciousness
80
Q

Bardo “Reality-as-it-is”

A
  • clear light period (or unconscious if clear light not recognized)
  • have hallucinations
  • like a dream which is projections of your mind
  • can be aware of people around them crying
  • if recognize the nature of your own mind then liberation is instantaneous
81
Q

Bardo of Rebirth Process

A
  1. Consciousness longs for stability
  2. Consciousness looks for a womb to rest
  3. B.D. says if can’t find liberation look for human rebirth

The 3 Bardo periods last 49 days

82
Q

Outer and Inner Dissolution

A
  • Outer dissolution: senses / elements dissolve
  • Inner dissolution: dissolution of the gross and subtle thought states and emotions
83
Q

Sleeping Lion Pose

A

Position for body when dead/dying: right side, position position the Buddha died in

Left hand on left thigh; right hand under chin; right nostril closed; legs stretched out

Lying on right blocks channels that encourage karmic wind of delusion and helps consciousness leave at crown of the head

84
Q

Disposal of body Tibetan Buddhism

A
  • High altitude and little wood for cremation so body left in open (sky burial) for vultures - body is of no more use
  • Otherwise: mostly they cremate, can bury
85
Q

Daoism

A
  • mystical way of nature and magic inherant in the nature of things
  • concerned with the “natural way of things” (the Dao)
86
Q

Yellow Springs

A
  • earliest Chinese view of the underworld
87
Q

Yin / Yang

A

Yin: qualities of death, darkness, cool, depth, contraction, tranquility, femininity (Daoism is Yin, leading to “actionless action”)

Yang: light, heat, height, expansion, activity, masculinity

Everything has balance of yin and yang (ppl, nature)

NOT OPPOSITES, they are complimentary

88
Q

Hun and P’o souls

A
  • Based on Yin/Yang
  • On death, the soul separates into two:
    • Hun (Yang) soul - energy (chi), life force, intelligence, heaven, ancestor tablet
    • P’o (Yin) soul - physical body, grave, ghosts so have to bury properly
89
Q

Gods and Ancestors

A
  • Gods are YANG: yang soul goes to heaven
  • Ancestors YANG: venerated by individual families: cook for them
90
Q

Ghosts YIN

A
  • Ghosts are Yin - yin soul goes to Earth
  • can become harmful if body not buried right or spirit not cared for with offerings
  • worship deceased (spirit) as a God to pacify the ancestor to prevent it from becoming a ghost (exam)
  • souls of dead infants and small children or accidental or violent deaths
91
Q

Chinese Ancestral Spirit Tablet

A
  • signifies the spiritual presence of a deceased ancestor/ how they honor the dead
  • Also worship the Earth God (first) as are buried in ground
  • Home altars
  • Ancestors come in dreams asking for stuff
92
Q

Ancestor Veneration

A
  • task of the living to ensure that the souls of the ancestors are given their due honor and attention
  • venerated ancestors ensure well-being and prosperity of family
  • if nobody to venerate them (die prematurely or accidentally) then not an ancestor and become wandering ghost (offerings placed outside back door)
93
Q

Daoist Funeral Rites

A
  • 49 day mourning period then burn clothes
  • burn spirit money - “provide” for ancestors
  • Ritual secrets of Daoist priest transferred from father to son
  • Death: breach in nature / disharmony
  • duck (yin) - death forces
  • cockerel (yang) - life forces
  • give elixer of immortality to effigy of dead
94
Q

Attack on Hell

A
  • heaven/hell like ancient Chinese bureaucracy
  • dramatic rescue of soul from hell so can go to world of blessed
  • priest attains soul’s release by breaking pieces of clay (9 gates of hell) then takes tablet, jumps over fire to purify karma (gets the “writ of pardon”)
95
Q

Qingming

A
  • Tomb sweeping day
  • Chinese people visit the columbaria, graves or burial grounds to pray to and honor their ancestors
  • offerings made to the ancestors
96
Q

Daoist Views of Afterlife

A
  • earliest record: Yellow Springs: underworld
  • Heaven: court of celestial Jade emperor
  • Hell: ruled by 10 Kings of Hell (judge souls according to behavior in life, can be promoted to heaven if bribe guards
  • accept Buddhist ideas of Karma & rebirth
97
Q

Second Burial

A
  • ultimate honor for dead
  • geomancer picks day to dig up bones
  • happy time, refurbishing bones, new house
  • umbrella so as to not shock with daylight
  • keep ALL bone fragments
  • pick an urn
  • remove teeth so won’t eat living
  • paint skeleton - ressemble blood vessels
  • geomancer picks day for 2nd burial
98
Q

Feng Shui

A
  • Art of geomancy
  • position graves and homes to benefit from universal energy
  • position grave so yin soul happy/comfortable
99
Q

The Dao (2 forms)

A
  • Religious
  • Philisophical
100
Q

Religious Daoism

A
  • tried to find immortality through substances (alchemy) and failed so then tried through meditation & yoga (inner alchemy) - those who achieved it (eight immortals)
101
Q

Philisophical Daoism

A
  • based on The Way and its Power
  • goal is harmony with the way things are (simpler life the better)
  • Philisophical Daoism views death: as phase in the continuing cycle of being (Chuang Tzu’s story re his wife’s death)
102
Q

Isle of the Blessed

A

abode of the Immortals, paradise of immortals

103
Q

Daoist Longevity techniques

A
  • balanc the yin/yang forces in body to suffuse body with qi (try to retain breath, blood, semen)
  • try to turn body into something ethereal so it is no longer affected by process of decay/death
  • return to pre-infancy, to state pure energy
104
Q

embryonic breathing

A
  • emulate the “closed circuit” breathing of the embryo in the womb
  • hold breath for as long as possible, collect in belly below abdomen (Sea of Breath)
  • all for goal of immortality
105
Q

Chinese view Death & Afterlife

A
  1. moral justice (karma)
  2. overall concern for well being in this life & next
  3. responsibility for and interconnectedness of human beings, alive or dead
  4. less concerned with soul (more Hindu thing) but more how do relate to soul
  5. Life/death a continuum - no one disappears
106
Q

Chinese Show Concern for Dead

A
  • burn spirit money
  • continually thinking of person’s well-being (so think of that in terms of life here so might burn a paper mansion or car, etc.
107
Q

Secularization

A

turning away from religion (which is oriented towards the transcendant)

108
Q

Atheism and belief in afterlife

A
  • can be atheist and still wonder about the afterlife even though might not believe in God
  • may be difference also between what we believe in Church and what we believe in traffic jam or on deathbed or losing someone
  • religious beliefs are not the same as common values
109
Q

Tony Walter 3 theses

A
  1. Death in the modern world is an alienating and terrifying experience (unproven)
  2. Modern death is a good death (unproven)
  3. Modern society has developed new ways of dealing with death - rejects #1 and #2
110
Q

Walter Thesis #1

A

Death in the modern world is an alienating and terrifying experience

  • society isolates the ill, dying in hospitals or old age homes (only 16% British in old age homes)
  • grieving people not welcome in our society
  • modern society has lost religious symbols that comfort people at time of death or grieving
111
Q

Happy Death Movement

A
  • Claim that modern death is unnatural to life - there is a more natural way to die and grieve
112
Q

Happy Death movement claims

A
  1. modern medicalized death not natural - Research:doctors 18C said death natural part of life/Bible says death result of sin (so scary) + only 16% ppl in British old age homes, pain meds good
  2. Religious beliefs in heaven/hell help ppl die - Research: don’t know what people believed (didn’t say for fear of punishment by death)
  3. Community mourning/funerals of past psychologically comforting - Research: psychological approach to death modern idea so no way to study this re past
113
Q

Religious Faith and Dying - easier?

A

Religious faith makes dying easier - Research: both firm believers in God and firm atheists face death with mental calmness, composure; not what you believe but what you have no doubt about

114
Q

Research Thesis 2

A
  • We still fear death, but have repressed it
  • Still 7 out of 10 ppl believe in heaven and 50% believe in hell so not necessarily reducing the need for religion
  • Conclusion: A good life, long life and easy death does not reduce the need for religion
115
Q

Thesis 3

A

Modern society has developed new ways of dealing with death

116
Q

Research Thesis 3

A
  • rejects both #1 and #2
  • psych counseling used by health professionals and religious authorities
  • media contributes to help ppl grieve, face death
  • doctors do, in fact, help ppl deal with the trauma of death and illness and to manage physical, mental and emotional pain
117
Q

Searching for Closure/Acceptance

A
  • can spend life looking for something because someone has handed you these words
  • During that time life goes by
  • Preference: many religious traditions make you stop and think about death to help appreciate and recognize life
118
Q

Ivan Ilich as metaphor

A
  • his illness represents our mortality creeping up on us until it is hard to ignore
  • aging picuture shocks our society & makes us see old & ill as ugly, weak, pathetic
  • tries to reverse illness: represents modern day search for youth through surgery, products
119
Q

Gerasim - Peasant Boy

A
  • treats Ivan with acceptance, sympathy, pity (as compassion) does NOT try to hide fact that he is dying (unlike his family)
  • finds comfort in Gerasim
120
Q

Ivan as judge of his life

A
  • reviews his life (Death develops life’s photographs - lose all moments stored in memory)
  • tries to understand death by understanding his life but sees death as injust (thinks he lived life according to what he was “supposed to do”)
  • Finally realizes he valued wrong things as he did not value the “real thing”
121
Q

Ivan Illich’s Torment

A
  • Two things:
    • has been deceived by his family (who don’t acknowledge to him that he is dying) and the lack of sympathy from others
    • too late to fix his life, make it right
  • was living a lie so can’t die in peace
122
Q

What is the Real Thing

A
  • What IS the real thing?
  • at end…feels for others, for their pain without wanting anything from them or wanting them to change so his pain is transformed into pain he feels without hating it; he just accepts it
  • compassion for and empathic connection with other human beings
123
Q

Ivan Illich’s last words/Death

A

So that’s what it is! What joy!

Note: story shows that dying well has a lot to do with loving well

He dies with a last breath - he stretches out and dies

124
Q

Course Themes re death

A
  • Death as phenomena that creates anxiety that reigious traditions can help cope with
  • Death is opportunity for new life/beginning
  • Death is uncontrollable and unpredictable and therefore we cannot control it
  • Death is associated with disorder, chaos; the control is how we guard against the chaos
  • Humans see control as good
  • Death = nothing to claim or control
  • BUT if we abandon what we think we own and control we will have no fear as death will have nothing to take from us

Death and the Afterlife Final Exam (2 decks)

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