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Loss of Significant Person (1) The death of a loved one often constitutes a shocking experience, on the part of just about anyone. This is because people have a hard time, while rationalizing the fact that the death of individual means the death of his or her individuality. Only the people entitled with the sense of intellectual honesty are capable of perceiving death as being absolutely natural in its essence, which in its turn, allows them to cope with the loss of a family member with apparent easiness. As a person who relies on his sense of rationale, while dealing with lifes metaphysical challenges, I know that it is not only that there is no life after death (in religious sense of this word), but that there is no death after death, as well.
As Greek philosopher Diogenes used to say there is no point to be afraid of death, because - while you are still alive, there is no death, and once there is a death, it cannot affect you either, since you no longer exist. Therefore, people who turn the death of a loved one into the tragedy of universal magnitude are best described as not being overburdened with intelligence. It appears that reading Jack London's novel Sea Wolf can sooth the mourning person much better, as opposed to reading Bible, for example, because this book provides us with the insight onto the fact that there are no rational reasons to treasure the life of just anybody too much: Why, if there is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world. There is only so much water, so much earth, so much air; but the life that is demanding to be born is limitless It has no value. Of cheap things it is the cheapest.
Everywhere it goes begging. Nature spills it out with a lavish hand. Where there is room for one life, she sows a thousand lives, and it's life eats life till the strongest and most piggish life is left (London, p. 150). Therefore, ones grief over the death of a family member has largely irrational properties. We can say that it is only the death of a child, due to some accident, which can be thought of as really tragic, because childrens existential value is much higher, comparing to the one of adults and especially of elderly people. (2) When the health of my grandmother began to deteriorate rapidly, after she had reached the age of 75 years old, I knew that it was only the matter of very short time, before she dies. While talking to me, she would often say that she could physically feel the breath of death.
At that time, I was not too sure of whether I would be able bear her loss, because I loved my grandmother very much she was an embodiment of traditional grandma values, entitled with boundless sense of kindness. By the time she passed away, which was about three years ago, I was on Caribbean cruise, and since my mother did not want to spoil my vacation, she never mentioned the death of my grandma, while talking to me on the phone. I was only able to find out that my grandma was no longer among the living, by the time I got back home. What had stricken me, as being particularly odd is that I only felt being saddened by the news and nothing else, but this sensation was far from being overwhelming, as I used to think it would be the case.
I tried bringing tears into my eyes, but I could not and it was disturbing me psychologically, as I knew that my grandma deserved to be grieved by me more intensely. At the beginning, I used to explain this fact to myself as an indication of me having grown cold at heart, but then I realized that this could not really be the case, because my affection towards grandma remained the same. I simply did not feel like crying and could not bring myself to intensely mourn her loss. It was only a year later that I had finally realized why I was able to accept the news about grandmas death with apparent calm I have never seen her being actually dead, because I had never had a chance to look at her dead body (her coffins lid could not be lifted). I guess this was my grandmas last gift to me she passed away when I was not around, thus sparing me of having to mourn her death too much. Also, as time went by, it started to dawn on me that, even if I was present at grandmas deathbed when she was dying, my posture would still be rather indifferent, simply because people who pass away in advanced age can be missed but their dying can never be perceived as something unnatural, which would have been the case with the death of a young person or a child.
Despite her formal association with Christianity, my grandma was the last person to be referred to as Bible thumper. This was one of the reasons she passed away quietly and with apparent ease (as my mother had told me later), without experiencing the sensation of utter uncertainty, as it is the case with majority of Bible thumper's on their deathbeds. My mom, who is a registered nurse, had told me once that it is only atheists and a very few Christian fanatics (who have no doubts as to the fact that they had led a righteous lives), that pass away, while being in high spirits, with majority of other people experiencing a sheer horror from even thinking about death. Being a highly educated person, my grandma was also entitled with the sense of intellectual honesty. I remember she used to joke around that she will die before her senility would turn her into a walking vegetable and this was exactly what happened my grandma was not clinging to life with all her might, as it is often the case with folks in assisted living facilities. This is one of the reasons why I believe that grandma might still be enjoying the very comfortable afterlife, but not in spiritual but rather scientific sense of this word.
In fact, it was my grandmas passing that prompted me to do some research, on the subject of process of dying, which in its turn had brought me to the conclusion that there might be life after death, after all. Let me explain why, despite being an atheist, I now believe in the probable existence of afterlife. People who have been through some truly dramatic and extreme situations, like car accidents, are aware of the fact that the flow of time drastically slows down, during the course of these situations. In her article Time out of Mind, Annabel Gillings says Mostly, we " re pretty good at estimating durations of time - how long you " ve been online, for example. But people also speak of "time flying" when they " re enjoying themselves, or slowing right down in perilous situations such as car crash (Gillings, 2006). The relativist properties of time have been proven by Einstein, which is why educated people do not refer to time as static category.
The Michael Stephen article What happens When we Die, contains an explanation as to the fact that speeding up or slowing down the flow of time (under different circumstances), is not just an illusion: When we look at the world around us, Newtonian physics is perfectly sufficient. It explains most things that we deal with. But then it was discovered that actually when you look at motion at really small levels beyond the level of the atoms Newton's laws no longer apply. A new physics was needed; hence, we eventually ended up with quantum physics (Stephen, 2008). Under extreme circumstances, the flow of blood into the brain increases by hundreds of times, within a matter of a split of a second, which results in brains neurons beginning to perceive time differently.
People who have been through the state of clinical death, tell the doctors of their absolutely real and vivid near death experiences (NDE) as having lasted for weeks, even though that these people have only been clinically dead for a minute of two, at the most. Therefore, it is quite possible that the brain of a dying person perceives the last millisecond of its physical existence as being stretched into eternity the person may have been buried for many years, but he still exists in another timely dimension, created by his dying brain! This is why it is the matter of a foremost importance for the dying person not to experience a severe physical or mental suffering, while still alive, because their brain might just stretch this suffering forever. My mother had told me that grandma did not suffer, in fact she remained in very good mood until her very death, which was one of the reasons I did not feel like grieving her loss too enthusiastically, as on subconscious level, I sensed that grandma was still around, even though I am the last person to be referred to as Christian or even agnostic. Back in Ukraine, where my grandma was born, people believe that by mourning the loss of their loved ones too much, during the course of the funeral, they are doing their relatives a bad favor, as it prevents the souls of deceased people from reaching the state of tranquility.
Such their belief appear as being heathen, in its essence, since Christianity is more concerned about salvation then about tranquility, thus proving itself as an absolutely unscientific religion. The death of my grandma had sharpened my understanding of the fact that I will not last forever either. At the same time, it made me to despise Bible thumper's even more, as such who never get tired of promoting the good news, while not being in particular hurry to reunite with their savior. I came to conclusion that it is only obeying the laws of nature, which might qualify an individual for afterlife, if such exists.
For example, smoking and drinking destroys ones body, therefore, such practices are best described as being unnatural in its essence. The same applies to sexual abstinence. Despite the fact that Jesus wanted men to cut off their genitals (to be able to fight temptation) and to simply wait for his second coming, indulging in sex with representatives of opposite gender is absolutely natural and therefore, a must. Apparently, my grandma was well aware of this fact as well, which is why she had given birth to seven children, all of whom turned out to be physically and mentally healthy, which in its turn, allowed them to gain a social prominence, by the time they grew up. Nowadays, it is very rare for White parents to have more then one child, which is one of the reasons why America is being slowly transformed into a Third World slum, as we speak. While my grandmother was still at the old folks house, I had visited her there a few times.
What had stricken me as particularly odd is the fact that 100 % of senior citizens there were White, whereas the percentage of White kids in about any American elementary school rarely over-exceeds 30 %. Despite her advanced age, my grandma had never lost her sense of sarcasm, which is why she continued to openly refer to the proponents of multiculturalism as parasites, who should have been issued with shovels and put to work, instead of being allowed to spiritually corrupt American society. In other words, she remained in her sober mind, right until her death, while never ceasing to pay attention to socio-political dynamics in this country...
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Research essay sample on Life After Death Sense Of This Word
