Death and Dying around the Globe

Since the beginning of human history, different cultures have striven to explain and understand the phenomena of death in their own capacities. When the human body’s physiological processes come to a grinding halt, what happens to the individual in question? There are many hypotheses regarding what happens after death, almost all of which have been the foundation of one religion or another. This essay will explore the similarities and differences regarding the viewpoints on death and dying in the eastern and western cultures of the world, in addition to attempting to outline a solution to the many dysfunctions represented by the western concept of death.

The “western” concept of death is centered on a Judeo-Christian philosophy that was begun by the Hebrew people circa 2000 A.D. (“Judaism”). The Jewish religion belongs to a group of monotheistic religions that worship the god of Abraham and are categorized as “Abrahamic” religions (“The Middle East”). Abrahamic, monotheistic religions are the most populous religious sects on the planet and are comprised of various denominations and sects of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These religions form the basis for the western concept of death, which is the belief in the philosophy of an eternal, continuing soul that embodies the individual as they were in life. When a person dies, their soul goes to heaven to enjoy eternal happiness at the side of their god. As a consequence, death in the western world is often viewed as harshly final and is often a source of fear for individuals brought up in western cultures. It should be noted that prior to the importation of the Abrahamic faiths to the Americas by the likes of famed (see: infamous) explorers Hernando Cortez and Christopher Columbus, the native tribes in north and south America embraced polytheistic religious systems that embraced a far more eastern slant regarding the concepts of death and dying. For example, the Aztecs believed in the sacrifice of life in order to spur the creation of new life, essentially equating death with creation. However, this way of thinking was overshadowed by the beliefs of the Jewish religions.

The “eastern” conception of death and dying is far more abstract than the one-and-done concepts put forth in western cultures. Instead of viewing the soul as a continuing entity, wherein the individual remains in their current form and consciousness forever, the eastern concept of death largely revolved around the concepts of rebirth or reincarnation. In Chinese Buddhism, rebirth is a part of the life cycle, wherein an entity’s soul is rebirthed in a new form for every life cycle; the individual is on a quest for enlightenment across lifetimes, and once enlightenment is reached, the individual will be taken to Nirvana (the Buddhist concept of heaven) and will be rebirthed no more (Boeree, C.G.). The Hindu faith espouses a belief in this concept as well, attributing “Karma” to an individual based upon whether or not they have lived a good life. Basically, an individual is either rewarded or punished according to the accumulated Karma from their past life: If you lived a good life, your next life will be one of leisure; if you lived an evil life, you will suffer in the next (“Karma and Reincarnation”). This view of continuing life after life fosters, not only less conflict regarding religious differences but also less fear on the part of an individual being brought up within an eastern culture. Knowing that death is not the end likely erases much of the unease associated with the western notion of “the unknown” or “void” that is left following death.

While there may be basic philosophical differences regarding the concept of death in eastern and western cultures, the funeral and death rituals have remained largely the same. Many religions across the globe embrace the burial of their dead, likely as an evolutionary response to rampant disease spread by rotting corpses during man’s paleolithic era (“Rites and Rituals”). Burial is predominantly practiced by the western cultures and the Abrahamic religions. Another widely practiced funeral ritual is cremation, wherein the individual in question is burned to ashes on a funeral pyre. While modern cremations take place within crematoriums, the religiously practiced version of this ritual often saw the individual being cremated in front of their friends and relatives, as witnesses to the individual’s transcendence to heaven or transformation into their next life. Cremation, while acceptable in certain circumstances within the Abrahamic religions, is generally practiced within the eastern cultures.

A famous case of death and dying from the past few years that really highlights the dysfunctions present in the western conception of death is the death of Terry Schiavo: More specifically, the concept of physician-assisted suicide. Terry Schiavo was a middle-aged woman who had suffered trauma-induced brain damage. As a result, her prefrontal cortex did not function properly, essentially rendering her a vegetable. Her husband wished for her to be taken off of her life support machines, so as to die with dignity and move on, as he expressed the notion that his wife would not want to live in such a vegetative state. Terry Schiavo’s parents, however, were adamant that their daughter remain on life support and that if Terry was supposed to die, then she would have. The parents of Terry Schiavo were self-described “fundamentalist” Christians, and despite their insistence and belief in the divinity of their god, they made the decision regarding their daughter’s life based less upon logic and more upon, not only their religious philosophy but fear of the finality of death. This fear caused Terry Schiavo to be kept alive by machines for nearly a decade before the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of her husband and Terry was taken off life support. The fear of death espoused by Terry Schiavo’s parents can be directly attributed to their philosophical belief in the finality of death and represents the single largest dysfunction in the western conception of death.

In order to change the western culture’s concepts of death and dying, the basis upon which western culture has been built, namely the monotheistic Abrahamic religions, must be undermined and abolished. The insistence of such beliefs that the soul leaves the mortal plane for eternity following death facilitates fear and anxiety when confronted with death, and this fear and anxiety manifests itself in religious and sectarian violence among the Abrahamic religions. Alternatively, eastern religions that espouse the belief of spiritual continuity, enlightenment, and collective existence with the universe at large rarely see such violence and persecution across religions or sects. In fact, many eastern religions are adamantly nonviolent. The only way to replace the fear and anxiety created by western philosophy is to begin inserting more eastern concepts and ideas into western culture.

While there are many differences between eastern and western cultures and their respective concepts of death and dying, there are equally as many similarities. Fear of death isn’t solely cultural and is both healthy and natural. Man has feared the unknown since our inception, and fear of death is an evolutionary necessity that has kept our species alive. However, the levels of fear and anxiety created by the western philosophical conception of death are unnecessary, and many a culture would be better served by adopting an eastern ideology concerning the finality of death.

References

Boeree, C. G. (n.d.). The Wheel of Life. An Introduction to Buddhism. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.html

Judaism. (n.d.). BBC News. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/judaism/

Karma and Reincarnation. (n.d.). Basics of Hinduism. Retrieved February 8, 2014, from https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/karma-reincarnation

Rites and Rituals. (n.d.). Christianity. Retrieved February 6, 2014, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/

The Middle East. (n.d.). Global Connections. Retrieved February 7, 2014, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/themes/religion/