Lesson 16: Human Persons as Oriented towards their Impending Death

Time Frame: Week 18

Content Standard:
The learner understands human beings as oriented towards their impending death
Performance Standard:
The learner writes a philosophical reflection on the meaning of his/her own life
Learning Competencies:
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Explain the meaning of life
2. Reflect on the meaning of his/her own life

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 LESSON CONTENT

Survival after Death

The study of death is very difficult for various reasons. First of all, because anyone who speaks of death
must do so without having experimented with it, given that who has experimented with it can no longer speak
of it. Secondly, it is difficult because of the accumulation of contrasting and contradictory response already
existing on this argument. It is important to take into account three things in the study of death” 1) of the
undeniable fact that man dies 2) that this is an event concerning a being gifted with self-consciousness, self-
transcendence, freedom, spirituality and subsistence in the areas of the spirit and personality 3) that although
we lack direct experience of death, nevertheless it is not completely missing when it comes to knowledge. In
fact, we possess a twofold indirect knowledge of death: first is the sight of others who die; the second is the
cognizance and progressive yielding and subjection to death, so much so that we can say: quotidie morior,
every day cedes to death a part of the days which have been assigned to me for my life. As Augustine says:
“from the moment a man begins to exist in a body which is destined to die, he is involved all the time in a
process whose end is death.”

Importance of the argument

Spinoza, in a celebrated proposition of the Ethica (Ethics), proclaims: “homo liber de nulla re minus
quam de morte cogitate; et eius sapientia non mortis, sed vitae meditation est” (of no other thing does man
have less thought of than of death; his wisdom remains not in the meditation of death, but of life).

It is inevitable for us to interrogate ourselves on our death and on the lot of our being after death,
because as, Pascal writes, “what we are speaking of is not some unimportant interest extraneous to us: we are
speaking of ourselves and our all. The immortality of the soul is something which regards us so strongly, which
touches us profoundly, that we need to completely loose our good sense to be indifferent to the knowledge of
how things stand. All of our actions and thoughts must take very diverse directions, according to whether
there is (or not) an eternal life to hope for, so that it is impossible to make a sensible and prudent choice
without working from the solution of this problem, which refers to our final end.” Man cannot escape from
the research of the existential truth – that is the truth that ensures a sense for our present and future life. “I
find it correct”, writes Pascal, “to not deepen the opinion of Copernicus, but this! The knowledge of whether
my soul is immortal or mortal is important for my life”, in effect, “this allows for a complete diversity of
morals.”

Therefore, since we are speaking about his supreme interest, man finds himself before an undeniable
duty: as Pascal said “thus our first interest and our first duty is to inform ourselves on this argument, on which
all our conduct depends.”

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Notion of death and immortality

In man’s quest for the meaning of his/her life and of life in general it must be taken into account that
life will end in death. Let us find then appreciate and live life by exploring and understanding it by contrasting
it to the concept of death. Let us also take into account on contemplating the concept immortality. Taking into
consideration that what we believe is how we live and how we conduct ourselves in society. Also realizing that
what we believe in is how we treat others and ourselves.

Death and immortality are terms used frequently with a clear and precise meaning. But, there are
some definitions and divisions regarding these terms that are worthwhile to note.

In the widest sense “death” means “the cessation of the vital process in a living organism.” In the
language of molecular biology death is defined as “the dissolution of the molecular structuralization necessary
for the phenomenon of life.” Philosophically, but even in ordinary language, the most common definition is
the one that states that “death is the separation of the soul from the body.”

Two principal types of death can be distinguished, clinical and absolute. Clinical death is the one that
provokes in man the cessation of functions essential to the body, but not necessarily “the separation of the
soul from the body.” While Absolute death is the definitive separation of the soul from the death.

Immortality means “perrenity of life”, or, speaking in the etymological sense of the term “in (non)-
mortality.” Saint Thomas gives a very beautiful definition of the term immortality which is: “immortalitas dicit
potentiam quondam ad semper vivendum et non moriendum (immortality signifies a certain power to always
live and to not die).” Concretely, immortality means the continued and perennial existence of the spiritual
dimension of man, the soul. Therefore, immortality has nothing to do with either apparent death or even with
survival of someone in the memory of a family, friends or descendants. Properly speaking, immortality is an
attribute which only man can adorn himself with, not God or the angels. To talk of immortality concerning God
and the angels does not make sense, because they are beings that by their own nature are removed from the
contagion of death.

The drama of death

Let us further understand death in comprehending deeper the meaning of life and how should we live
by knowing the “drama of death.” The tragic event of death is singularly dramatic because it is singularly
universal, inescapable, imminent, inexorable and fearful. Let us briefly examine these characteristics of death.

 Universality – all men fall to the scythe of death: youths and the aged, scholars and illiterates, atheist
and believers, the rich and the poor, the black and the white, men and women, the healthy and the ill.
Death looks no one in the face before striking its murderous blow and does not take into account
position, or race, or wealth, or age, or sex, or religion.

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  Inescapability – there is nothing to do against death: any battle begun against death is doomed to
failure, as the saying goes “if it is your time, it is your time.”
 Imminence – men cling to life as if death did not exist or as if it were enormously far away, or as if it did
not regard the man personally.
 Inexorability – before death every prayer, supplication and invocation is vain.
 Fearfulness – because of the preceding characteristics, death appears frightfully. It gives rise to horror,
aversion and anguish in men.

Death is inevitable but this truth should not hinder us to live fully and in bliss. Death’s truth should help us
realize that life is something precious and that we must do everything to make good use this gift. Whether a
person believe in life after death or not, life should always be aimed for the good, not only for the self but for
the whole of the world. One thing we must make sure of is, before we exit this world be it to live forever in
paradise, to fall back into atoms or to be reborn in any kind of creature. Live life to the full and leave this world
better from yesterday.