IDEA POST: 2/17/2010 Death

It is really funny how things come around and influence the things we are working on. I am taking a Religions class called Death: Myth and Reality. In it we are studying what death is, and what death means in different cultures and religions. In the last class session the whole class was crying by the end.... I mean everyone. We were discussing euthanasia and the pros and cons for this controversial medical procedure. We were discussing situations where the patient is terminally ill and does not want to wait for it to get worse. We watched a documentary about this old couple, the husband was sick and losing muscle function quickly. He chose to be medically killed. I don't want to use the word "kill" but there really is not other word, but this is the act of being put to sleep and then given  medicine that stops the muscles from performing. Before the man was put to sleep, he told his wife, "Don't worry you'll know where to find me, I'll be at the Milky way and Little Dipper." Oh my gosh, I cried so hard.

But anyways One of the big points of this lecture and the class so far is about the meaning of life and the reality that cannot truly know the meaning of life until we know the meaning of death.We know what happens to the body when we die, but what happens to the consciousness??? Death is absolutely a huge part of our lives, we fear death, we fear the unknown.

Death is unpredictable. It can happen any time to any one. Our fragile bodies carry our consciousness, does our consciousness die with the body in death? I was occasionally taken to church as a child and Im not even sure what the Judio/Christian traditions say about where the consciousness goes. I know that every once in a while a hardcore religious person will approach me and ask if I am going to Heaven or Hell. How do we know what exists?? I think all these thoughts that are unconfirmed and we will probably never know the anwsers are the reasons that death is feared. I hope I learn not to fear death.

A book for the religions class is call "How we die" by Sherwin Nuland. She writes this book to tell us how we are most likely going to die and in doing so, suggests how we can live a fuller, more meaningful life. "'Oh Lord, give each of us his own death." This book is about the doors, and the passageways that lead to them; I have to tried to write it in such way that insofar as circumstances allow, choices may be made that will give each of us his or her know death." ( pg xvii How we Die)

For my project I want to really be able to speak about the value of life, not from a religious standpoint, but from a realistic awareness of the short time that humans live for.