HUMAN-PERSON-AS-ORIENTED-TOWARDS-THEIR-IMPENDING-DEATH-1.pptx

HUMAN PERSON AS
ORIENTED
TOWARDS THEIR
IMPENDING DEATH

Have you ever wondered about how
nothing seems to last forever?

Only in reflecting on the reality of death can we begin to
explore and understand the meaning of our own existence.
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT IT
MEANS TO DIE?

How does the reality of death define our
lives?

Death is commonly understood as the end of bodily functions
which signals the end of a person's life. It also refers to the
separation of the body and the spirit.

The body, being material, is bound by the laws of time and
space and is subject to growth, death, and decay. The spirit,
being immaterial, will continue to exist even after the body has
passed.

It can be said that we are also beings who are moving
towards our impending death. This makes a person's life
limited in time. The focus on this limit has led to several
attitudes towards death.

These attitudes are not necessarily bad but they may prevent
us from reflecting on the reality of death.

How should I live my life before it finally
ends?

Understanding the person as a being-towards-death brings us
back to a very important topic: freedom. It has been discussed
previously that the essence of freedom is self-determination

Self-determination is the capacity to choose and act for
oneself. While there is no freedom in the inevitability of death,
a person can still exercise freedom in choosing how to face
the reality of death in their lives.

The temporal existence of a person means that his or her life is
temporary; he or she is not a being who exists permanently
and for eternity. Accepting the fact that we have a limited time
in this world allows us to determine the course of our life to
paint a picture of how our life will progress and how we
envision it to end.

Temporality challenges us to make choices that will be good
for us and the people around us. It must also be noted that
since we have a body, we are always in the moment - we
exist in the here and now.

Given all these considerations, we may
ask: what is the end of this life?

The term end can be understood in two ways. Some
philosophers view end as a terminus which means the full stop
or end of a line. For them, life ends and nothing follows. Others,
however, consider end as telos which means "goal, purpose, or
fulfillment."

Ancient Greek philosophy considers happiness as an
achievement and it must be gained by living a productive and
moral life. Religious philosophers consider happiness as a union
with God. Other contemporary views define happiness as
"whole-life satisfaction," based on our evaluation of our overall
life experiences.

How do I define true happiness?

As we understand ourselves better, we also come to realize
that happiness is a state of being and not merely an emotional
experience or a chosen mental attitude. We do not really
choose happiness because we all have a tendency towards it,
but that we choose the means to achieve it.

What makes a person happy is that which fits his nature - we
are made truly happy by things that are true and good. On the
other hand, what is false and evil does not make a person
happy.

As an embodied spirit, we must also consider the goods or
sources of happiness which are proper to a person.

A noble good is one which is pursued for its own sake; it is
good in itself.

A useful good is considered good so long as it serves as a
means to an end; its goodness is found only from what it can
provide.

A pleasurable good is good so long as it provides some form
of pleasure, though it does not have to be physical. It must be
understood that a specific good cannot be categorized strictly
under one kind.

The kind of happiness that can be gained from a good is also
closely tied to its nature.

When was the last time you experienced suffering? What was
the reason behind it?How did you overcome it?

Suffering takes place when we patiently endure
unpleasantness, discomfort, and pain. It can come in the form
of physical suffering and mental suffering.

Physical suffering when we experience physical sensations
such as discomfort, hunger, distress, and pain.

Mental suffering, which involves emotional and mental states
such as depression, anxiety, fear, loneliness, and grief.

We normally experience difficulties in life, and how we deal with
them is often determined by our mindset regarding suffering.
Generally, suffering is viewed as an undesirable condition, and that we
naturally seek pleasure and avoid pain. Those who adopt this
perspective often focus on the various means to avoid suffering or
eliminate it entirely from life. Another view considers suffering as
necessary because it helps existence.

How do happiness, suffering, and death
give meaning to your life?

As we approach our death, we experience both happiness and
suffering. Although these are distinct experiences, the two are not
really meant to be complete opposites, for there may be instances
when they enrich one another. The pursuit of happiness requires that
we go through the effort to achieve it. Our efforts are often marked
by difficulties and discouragement.

If we are willing to suffer through adversities and maybe even suffer
cheerfully, it makes the pursuit of happiness even more worthwhile.
As a result, we not only attain the happiness that we want, but we
also become better persons in the process.

We have the tendency to form bonds with others. This is in our
nature as human persons. This also means that we also find meaning
in life when we open ourselves to others. Therefore, we have an
opportunity not only to enrich our lives but also to touch the lives of
others.

Because of our freedom, how we choose to live our lives is entirely
up to us. Against the backdrop of death, we are now called to use
our freedom in the best way possible to bring us closer to our
happiness and bring happiness to others as well.

Human Persons as Oriented Towards Their Impending Death

All evils are to be feared, but nothing good is to be feared but it is
not a tautology that does not "tell us nothing", for it makes our
concepts, the meaning of our words, of how we are using our words,
clear).

According to Socrates, to
fear death is to think one
knows what one does not
know
But Aristotle thinks he
knows something better,
for he lists death among
the evils to be feared.

Aristotle thinks he knows that death is a sleep without dreams, and
that this extinction of man's life is evil (Even a speculative afterlife is a
shadow of this life, and shadows have no real existence.)

Now death is the most terrible of all things; for it is the end, and
nothing is thought to be any longer good or bad for the dead. Death
does not play by the rules of any game. "It comes as a thief in the
night."

Like and unlike the religious man, the philosopher does not see this
world as his home (Maybe he has no home, no "continuing place", but
in any case, his home is not here in this world). The religious man
sees himself as an exile, or the Christian does, but for the philosopher
this world is simply his temporary residence (whether or not it is a
transit point to some other), one he is always in readiness to leave.

Whether his life in this world ends with a dreamless sleep or not, his
life in this world ends, and therefore and therefore? That is the
philosophical question. The perspective of the philosopher is not this
worldly rather than eternal. That is another thing that "makes a man
into a philosopher."

Death's Implication for Socrates

After the jury's verdict at his trial, Socrates was asked by his friends
if he was preparing for his trial (where the indictment against
Socrates demanded the penalty of death). He replied,
"Do you not think that I have been preparing for it all my life." My life
in this world must come to an end; I must die. What does it mean for
the philosopher?

There are two questions:
1. What is death?A metaphysical question, irresolvable like all such
questions.
2. What, if anything, does it imply for how I should live my life? An
ethical question.

Does my death affect what is the good for me, which Socrates
identified with the excellence (areté) that is proper to me as man and
as an individual man?

"We are discussing no small matter, but how to live."

Man can choose either the life of philosophy (the Socratic life) versus
a life of self-abandonment. But if, on the other hand, virtue is
knowledge as ignorance is vice? What is the relationship between
ethics and metaphysics here? There is none-- but between ethics
and thinking you know what you don't know, namely what death is -
- there is a relationship.

The most vital question in any study of the nature of death is this: in
what sense can death be said to be the destiny of Man? This will help
us to answer further questions about the natural character of death,
and help us to understand Christ's death and our own.

St. Thomas Aquinas is very clear about the nature of death. He says:
"The necessity of dying for Man is partly from nature and partly from
sin.

Death due to nature is caused by the contrary elements of the body.
Every material element in the body is composed of both active and
passive elements held together in a tenuous connection.

Yet, Man is not only a body, but also a soul. The soul is the spiritual
element in Man's composition. Philosophy and the Catechism call it
the form of the body, that element in Man that organizes matter into
being, and into the being which is Man.

St. Thomas Aquinas' Notion of
Death

Though the body tends to death because of its contrary elements, it
tends to life because of the presence of the soul. In fact, from the
point of view of the soul, death is not natural to Man. St. Thomas
says: "A thing is said to be natural if it proceeds from the principles
of nature. Now the essential principles of nature are form and matter.
The form of Man is his reasoning soul, which is immortal, whereas
death is not natural to Man from the point of view of this form or this
soul."

The first implication of this idea in the discussion of death should be
that it is absolutely impossible even from the standpoint of reason to
maintain that death is the final destiny of Man, or for that matter that
life is absurd. Death is a fact, but it cannot be the destiny of Man for
this reduces Man to only the material order. In fact, there is no
solution to the problem of death until it is considered from the point
of view of the soul.

Aristotle speaks of this intellectual power or dynamism in his first
book of metaphysics. He says this: "For it is owing to their wonder
that men both now begin and at first began to think philosophically.
They wondered originally about obvious difficulties, then advanced
little by little and stated difficulties about greater matters. For we
know each thing only when we know its ultimate cause."

St. Thomas makes much of this text when he discusses the problem
of human destiny. He also exactly reproduces it when he considers
that, even reason must reach the necessary conclusion that Man must
see God to be fulfilled. This is because of the natural desire of the
intellect. If this is true, our intelligence must see God to be fulfilled;
this is our final purpose, and Man must be able to live forever.

According to Aristotle, anti-natural or violent conditions cannot exist
forever. Therefore, the ancient philosophers were brought by these
considerations to a box canyon.

Now, Man considered in this way was truly an absurdity. How to
explain the fact that the soul has this dynamism to go to God; the
soul itself must live forever yet the body, which is inexorably joined
to the soul (absolutely necessary for the existence of the human
being) dies forever? There is neither power in my soul nor in my
body to make it live forever.

In fact, the resolution is not possible by reason. One has to
experience the Bible, revelation and especially the fact of resurrection
to resolve it. Ancient philosophers could not solve this problem
because they did not know that Man had been and could be called to
intimacy with God. They did not know about grace.

Seneca, an ancient Roman philosopher who
taught that death was natural to Man,
taught this because he did not know about
the Scriptures and he did not know about
the condition of Man before the Fall. (Adam
and Eve did not have the necessity of
dying before the Fall)

St. Thomas says about them, "Seneca and the other
philosophers considered human nature according to
those principles that belong to it (human nature)
only from the principles of nature. They did not
know about the state of the first condition of
original innocence, which is held only by faith.
Therefore, they only spoke about death as a natural
defect, although this natural defect for us is a
punishment in some way.

By way of conclusion, it is obvious that the death of Man is a tragedy
that is caused by a much deeper tragedy: the death brought about
by sin. The experience of death without knowing about grace causes
an extreme tension within each human person because death seems
so unnatural and absurd.

This is not because life after death is just some sort of wishful
thinking. The necessity of the afterlife is perfectly reasonable because
of our understanding of intelligence. Man in the state of sin is left in a
box canyon without an exit. This is because Man can know that the
soul lives forever. However, for the body to not share in this life is a
violence that cannot be explained.

The source of the tragedy is sin, of course. The philosopher, who
relies solely on reason, can recognize this as an intolerable condition.
He cannot possibly know why it exists. Therefore, the problem is not
that Man is hopeless and finds life completely absurd, something of
which he can make no sense. Rather, the source of the absurdity is
that Man knows that life is eternal.

But in the first place, because of the death of the soul he has no
power to arrive at any object that is eternal. Secondly, even if he
could, his body could not follow where his soul would lead. If one
were a Platonist (Plato believed that the body was a prison that the
soul was in unnaturally) this would be fine.

But, for one who understands both the eternity of the soul and the
unity between the body and the soul, the death of the body is an
absurdity precisely because of the immortality of the soul.

But nihilism, and existential anguish have no place here. If death were
Man's destiny, sin would not be madness. However, the madness of
sin comes in the fact that men will exist, but in a completely unfulfilled
state, Man without grace can have no natural completion. And there
can be no completion for the eternally-existing soul, because union
with God is impossible.

Grace changes all this. The man who understands grace understands
that there is a twofold resurrection that corresponds to this twofold
death. To the death of the soul, we have the resurrection of the soul
and sanctifying grace. And to the death of the body we have the
resurrection of the dead, which is the perfect completion of the
resurrection of the soul.

The true existential anguish of Man, then can only be over the
existence of sin. The uneasiness experienced on the part of Man is
found in pagans who do not know that their nature is not as it ought
to be.

Man, in fact, was originally created correctly. He had communion and
intimacy with God. He had no sin, and therefore he did not suffer
from the necessity of dying. In other words, a condition of unity and
integrity in the human character was only as permanent as the state
of grace. God subjected Man to a beautiful union of love in which
God's grace and life permeated all of the powers of Man and gave
Man the gift of being able to control his own body.

This power was lost when sin entered the world. Sin, which is death
of the soul, leads to the necessity of the death of the body. There are
then two deaths of Man who is in the state of original sin: the death
of the soul is the cause of the necessary death of the body.

Of course, we know that the soul does not die in its being, and yet it
is like something dead, because as the soul gives life to the body, so
God gives life to the soul. A soul that cannot experience communion
with God is as though dead.

And that is why we call the sin by which we lose grace "mortal sin."

Pope John Paul II's Notion of
Death

John Paul II has said this: "Jesus had the clear vision of God, and the
certainty of his union with the Father dominated his mind (on the
cross). But in the sphere bordering on the senses...Jesus' human soul
was reduced to a wasteland.

What should our attitude be towards death?

It should be the same as the Lord's.

For the Christian, death is not darkness, an absurdity, or a plunge into
a nonsensical unknown. The Christian knows that death is painful and
sorrowful. It is not a pleasant experience. It is a punishment for the
original sin. Still, the Christian should not worry about physical death.

What gives death its sting? Is it that the body dies and corrupts in
the grave?

One who has lived a life of union with God on earth knows with the
firmest conviction of faith and of reason that the soul lives forever.
One also knows, following the resurrection of Christ, with the firmest
conviction of faith that he or she will have a part in that resurrection.

The real problem with death is that it is painful. But for one who has
faith, there should be no uncertainty about what lies beyond death,
nor does one have to resolve the seeming contradiction of the
spirit's dying by merely projecting something nice and wonderful and
possible afterwards.

The real absurdity of death consists in someone knowing what lies
beyond the grave, and yet going to it unprepared. The sting of death
is sin.

Human attitudes toward death, as well as our behaviour in the face of
death, have changed in the last quarter of the century: death and
dying stopped being an unmentionable question and became the
topic of numerous discussions. Now death is being interpreted in
various aspects (medical, psychological, legal or sociological) by
thanatologists who treat this fact in a scientific manner and propose
rational attitudes on death.

Whereas nuclear arms imply the possibility of total destruction of life,
while contemporary medicine creates an opportunity to prolong life.
On the other hand, terrorism courts death, while some people
demand the right to so-called death with dignity and promote
mercy-killing or suicide. There is then a rising interest in death.

One can ask, however, if it is possible to explain death in a scientific
way. May one demand his or her right to die in the same way as
human beings demand their right to live? What is death: is it a
phenomenon of life, its natural end? What is the ultimate sense of
death in the total existence of man? If Thanatologists do not answer
these questions clearly, can philosophy give proper answers?

From the philosophical point of view we should recognize first that
we can experience death, because we ought to know the cognitive
value of our conceptions and judgments about death and its relation
to the whole of human existence.

Only human beings experience death as an ultimate and shocking
event. In the world of nature we deal only with the phenomenon of
passing, which is something natural for animate creatures other than
human beings. Why does man experience death as something
unnatural; what does he see in it?

One cannot totally experience its essence for when he dies he
experiences it personally but cannot transmit the content of his
experience to the others after his death. He falls absolutely silent; the
dead ones tell us nothing about death and about the life that follows.

We can experience death only in others' dying and only until they
actually die. So it is given to us as an ultimate personal event in the
life of another human being, never as an event of mine. This is the
principal limitation of the possibility of our experience of death. We
know that it must happen, but it is always far away from us. Thus, it is
given to us in a one-sided manner; exclusively on that side of life.
Death itself designates the limits of the possibility of its experience.

This should be considered in philosophy. All the conceptions of death
and of its connection with the whole of our existence are based on
one-sided incomplete experience, which is had in the lifetime before
death. never after it. Our understanding of death is given to us
exclusively on the basis of the self-understanding of a living- man,
who is inevitably approaching death as the ultimate event of his life.

Thus, we come to an understanding of death by analyzing our actual
existence in the light of the one-sided experience of death and dying
by the others.

What can we say of death itself? We are absolutely sure that it will
come into our lives; each of us certainly will die. What can it be then:
the law of life and destination of our existence; the entrance into a
new life, or a total destruction of our being?

Death comes into our lives without any rules, inconsiderately and
irrationally, as a thief, a dark power that we cannot control or
understand.

Let us try to analyze these various ways:

1. The death of an old man or woman as a quiet end and passing
away of life.

In each case death annihilates the visual presence of man among the
living: it takes him away from the community of life. This negative
element of death is aggressively evident to us because we have to
remove the corpse as soon as possible. Therefore we experience
death as a dark, damaging force, inimical to life.

2. A sudden death of a man dying in his prime as a tragic breaking of
life.

This negative element makes us treat death as an unnatural and
odious phenomenon, even in the case where someone dies quietly in
old age. It is difficult to understand death as a natural end of life or
liberation, because the visual existence of man is absolutely
annihilated, so that we do not know what happens to him.

3. Death as a result of an incurable disease taken as a liberation by the
neighborhood of the dying man and sometimes also by himself.

Death as negative and inimical to life is hardly considered as a natural
and normal law of human personal life, even when it is assumed to be
something natural for the human system. A human being as a person
is intrinsically directed toward life; he transcends the world of the
values created by himself and therefore experiences death especially
as something unnatural and shocking for his desires and creative
actions.

4. A death that breaks the bond of love as an inexorable enemy of
life.

Death comes into human life in an irrational way and is itself an
irrational event at the end of life, because it explains nothing and does
not solve anything in a positive way. So it is difficult to consider the
phenomenon in question as a wise law of nature for human beings.

5. Death experienced consciously in the unity with God as passing to
a new life.

Death cannot be given any exact definition or conceptions: it is
something basically negative and absurd. Its "eidos" and its own
"What" is best expressed with the image of a skeleton with a scythe.
Anything that could positively be said of death, e.g., that it introduces
seriousness in human life or makes us spiritually mature, can be
derived from the fact that human beings discover some sense for the
experience of death in themselves as a religious act of sacrifice for
some other higher values or as an act of resignation.

In view of such experiences of death it is remarkable that human
beings have been opposing the idea of personal immortality to the
phenomenon of death throughout the history of mankind. What is the
reason for this fact: is it only the fear of death, or, is it perhaps some
experience of the immortality of our own selves?

It should be remembered that the conception of soul itself and of its
immortality is posterior to the idea of personal immortality. The
conception of an immortal soul is connected with the attempts to
find some rational arguments that have been being made since the
birth of philosophy.

The primary source of the idea of immortality and the hope of lasting
after death is the consciousness of the sense and value of being a
personal "L" Such an interpretation is made evident by the historically
common facts of burying human corpses and worshiping the dead
ones.

Since the very beginning of history humans have experienced the
fact of being a personal "I" as something high and precious, regarding
themselves as transcendent entities in the world of nature. Thus, they
have been worshiping the bodies of the dead and burying them with
the hope of a future meeting and continuation of life, understanding
that the destination of a human being as a person is to be, rather than
falling into oblivion as a non-entity.

All later ontological arguments for the immortality of man were
derived from the above-mentioned pre-understanding of the sense
and value of being a person. It is remarkable, however, that in all
cultures known to us human beings connected their primary
consciousness of the sense and value of being a person with some
religious experience, referring their own existence to the absolute
"Thou" of God.

The religious understanding of human existence in the world always
made them experience death in their lives in terms of awaiting
hopefully the new life that would be given to them by God (or the
gods).

Human beings always tend to interpret the fact of their inevitable
death and to give some sense to it. Their freedom is expressed in
taking various attitudes. However, we do it always in a manner
depending on our understanding of ourselves and of our existence in
the world, because it is only our consciousness of the sense and
value of life (whether it be spontaneous or philosophical) that allows
us to perceive immortality as our eternal significance and destination.
Man knows that as a person he deserves eternal life.

A philosopher is not able to give a "stronger" argument for
immortality. However, if he believes in Jesus Christ and His promise
that a person will live even when he dies, this argument will satisfy
him.

Different beliefs of every religion about Death

CHRISTIAN
Belief: Christians trust they will go to heaven to be with God once
they have died and so in some respects a funeral is a time of joy,
although also sadness, as the person will be missed by friends and
loved ones.

CHRISTIAN
Preparation: The church minister may come and visit the person and
their family to discuss any concerns and to help the person to
prepare for their death. Depending on the form of Christianity (i.e.
Anglican, Presbyterian etc.) and the particular church, there may be
slightly different customs that will be followed.

CHRISTIAN
At the time: The church minister will offer any comfort or assistance
the family needs to help them cope with the death and to organize
the funeral. Friends will often send their sympathies in the form of
cards and/or flowers to the deceased’s family.

CHRISTIAN
Funeral: A Christian may be either buried or cremated, depending on
their preference. The ceremony will typically be held at the deceased
person’s church and conducted by the minister, but it could also be
held at a funeral home. The ceremony may involve hymns, readings
and prayer by both the minister and the deceased’s family and
friends.

CHRISTIAN
The casket may be present in the room during the ceremony and
carried out at the end by pallbearers usually members of the
deceased’s immediate family. There is often the opportunity for
people to view the deceased and to say their last goodbyes before
the deceased is buried.

CHRISTIAN
Burial: If the deceased has been cremated the ashes may be
scattered. Otherwise, the ashes or body will be buried in a cemetery
and marked with a gravestone to remember the deceased.

CHRISTIAN
After: On special occasions such as the deceased’s birthday,
Christmas or anniversary of the death, family and friends may come
and visit the grave. Often, flowers or other objects to remember the
deceased will be placed on the grave as a sign of respect.

CATHOLIC
beliefs: Catholics believe that there is an afterlife and that once a
person dies they will see God face to face. If a person has committed
a grave offence and has not repented at the time of death then that
person would not enter into the full glory of heaven.

CATHOLIC
Preparing: The sick and the elderly can receive the Sacrament of the
Anointing of the Sick on a regular basis if they wish to. If they can’t
get to church on their own they will be taken there by other
members of the church.

CATHOLIC
At the time: When a person is close to death the family or friends ask
a priest to come and pray with the sick person and the Sacrament of
the Anointing of the Sick is administered. This includes anointing with
Holy Oils and the reception of the Sacraments of Reconciliation and
Holy Communion. After the person has passed away the priest
comforts the family and helps them prepare the funeral arrangements.

CATHOLIC
Funeral: The Catholic funeral rite is called the Order of Christian
Funerals. Family and friends pray for the soul of the deceased person
and ask God to receive their soul into his eternal glory. The Vigil of
the Deceased (a prayer service) is held the night before the funeral.
On the day of the funeral a Requiem Mass for the deceased person is
celebrated. This includes scripture, prayers and hymns. Family and
friends are invited to take part in the service.

CATHOLIC
Burial: At the grave or place where the body has been entombed the
Rite of Committal is celebrated. Family members and friends along
with the priest pray once again for the deceased person as they
commit the body or cremated remains to the final resting-place. The
gravesite is also blessed.

CATHOLIC
After: Over the next year family members and friends often have
Mass celebrated for the peace of the soul of the deceased person. On
special occasions such as the deceased’s birthday, Christmas or
anniversary of the death, family and friends will often visit the grave.
Flowers or other objects to remember the deceased are sometimes
placed on the grave as a sign of respect.

Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints
beliefs: Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (or Mormons as they
are also known) believe that at death the body and the spirit
separate. The spirit goes to the spirit world before being reunited
with the body. The judgment will then occur and after that the person
will live in Heaven with God.

Preparing: The ward bishop and members of the church will offer
support to the person who is dying and their family.
At the time: The ward bishop will go to the deceased’s home and
offer assistance to the family in making arrangements for the funeral.

Funeral: Funeral services are generally conducted by the bishop in a
ward chapel or in a mortuary. Although people mourn the loss of a
loved one, the funeral service is viewed as a celebration of the life of
the deceased. The service will consist of a eulogy, doctrinal
messages, music and prayer. The funeral is designed to bring peace
and solace, as church members believe families may be reunited in
the life hereafter. Mourners often send flowers to the family to show
their support.

Burial: Church members who have received temple ordinances are
buried in their temple clothing. The grave is dedicated as a place of
peace and remembrance for the family. Cremation is generally
discouraged.
After: The gravesite is considered to be a sacred place for the family
to visit and place floral remembrances.

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