Life against death

Most of us fear death. We do not want to leave our spouses, children, grandchildren and friends. We also do not wish to part with our material possessions. However, at some point in our lives, we all face death - certainly our own, as well as the death of friends, loved ones, and even strangers. In other words, death is the most inevitable event in life. While death remains a frightening and emotion-laden topic, there is nothing more stressful than the death of a loved one. As we grow old we tend to contemplate our own imminent death. Our struggle to keep away from fatal diseases shows the battle life is fighting against death.

Unlike animals, human beings have a fore knowledge of death. Only an animal being dragged to a slaughter house will experience a sense of impending death. However, every human being, except very young children, is aware of his death. This is not a simple and isolated fact. It is built on a wide range of facts that disclose our human predicament on this planet. We rapidly go through our childhood, youth and become old and get ready to die. Sometimes, death comes earlier than expected. Even modern science has failed to find a way to arrest the decline of the human body.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross brought the subject of death out into the open.

Although everything in this world is subject to decay, the lowest form of life, such as the amoebae normally do not die. According to animal biology, when they grow very large amoebae divide and make two small ones ready to grow. They simply grow old and become young ones. This may be an exception to the general rule that every living being has to die.

We cannot deny the fact that most of us turn to religion for fear of death. We want to know what happens to us after death. According to Buddhism, a dying person will be reborn as another human being, animal or he may suffer in hell or enjoy the bliss of heaven - depending on his Kammic forces. Unlike in Hinduism, Buddhism does not believe in a soul that migrates from one birth to another. Buddhists believe that their rebirth depends on what they have done in this life.

According to the Bible, God's answer to death is life. The Bible is filled with emphasis upon life. It preaches a faith based on life, not death. Christians believe that our conception of death as a horror is unrealistic. Robert Louis Stevenson said, "If this is death, it is easier than life." Socrates, one of the wisest men who lived in ancient Greece, said, "No evil can happen to a good man either in life or after death."

Some men and women who have passed the so-called valley of death have recorded their experiences in journals and newspapers. Most of them say that the other side is a place of life and beauty.

As an eminent physician put it, "A great wave of peace seems to come over and all human suffering ends." Thomas Alva Edison who invented the electric light bulb is reported to have told his physician, "It is very beautiful over there" at the time of his death. There is no reason for us to disbelieve such near-death experiences.

J. Krishnamurti, who was one of the renowned Indian philosophers of the 20th century, discussed death as a total ending and destruction of the brain, an ending to a continuity of life. He said, "We have never asked what is the meaning of death. We have put out death in opposition to life, but continuity implies time. The movement of thoughts. Time means movement. From here to there - to psychologically reach from that which is not beautiful to that which is beautiful". According to him, death implies the ending of attachment. "It is only in the ending that there is beginning."

A generation ago, talk of death was taboo. Children were never allowed to attend funerals. The topic of death was not mentioned to children and especially dying people. Gerontologists had little to say about it either. Parents and teachers avoided talking about death openly.

The situation, however, changed with the pioneering work of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who brought the subject of death out into the open. She observed that those facing impending death tend to move through five broad stages. In the first stage, those facing impending death resist the idea that they are dying. One might say, "Don't worry. I can get over this hurdle". In the second stage, a dying man gets angry. He would say, "Why should I leave this world, I have so many things to do." In the third stage, a dying man will try to bargain, with Death. "Can't you postpone my death?" he would plead. In the fourth stage, a dying man finds that bargaining is not going to help. As a result, he gets distressed. In the fifth stage, a dying man makes up his mind to accept death. He makes peace with himself and accepts death with little bitterness.

Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's theory may not apply to all those who are on the threshold of death. People react to death in different ways. Some accept death most unwillingly. Others may accept it as there is no alternative. However, some awareness of the psychological aspects of death can prepare us to face it in a dignified manner.