Life and Death: Mystery and Realism that Provokes Meaning - Essay Example

? Life and Death: Mystery and Realism that Provokes Meaning Life and Death: Mystery and Realism that Provokes Meaning Introduction Life and death are two subjects that promote the use of a variety of disciplines as the search for meaning for both is undertaken. In order for the individual to awaken to his or her own life, it is often the fear of death that will evoke the need to engage in the world around them in a more meaningful way. Death is a mystery that plagues most people as they search for both meaning in the death of others and relief from their own imaginings of what the experience of death will be like once they pass to the next life. The importance of ritual to support the beliefs that are cultivated about death brings a sense of reverence to the body of the deceased and the need to perform rites in order to give honor and respect to the life that was once held within that body. More importantly, the rituals are often believed to hold sway over the course of the soul into the afterlife which can create a deeper tragedy even than death when those rituals are denied to a loved one. In this paper I will discuss the human concept of life and its oppositional state of death as it is framed by the beliefs that create meaning through ritual so that life and death are manageable ideas in the context of experience. Life In many ways, life is framed by the way in which the individual conceptualizes death. In Phaedo, Plato writes about the death of Socrates who is attempting to explain the connection between the inevitability of death and the way in which life is lived. Socrates says that living is a continual practice of dying, a preparation that is intended for the finality of the end of death. That it is feared to the extent that it is feared means that a lifelong practice has been in vain (Plato 2000: 10). This discussion begins a dialogue on the meaning of life as it relates to the differences between the body and the soul. In this discussion, death becomes a relief from bodily burdens. The nature of the body is desire, according to the way in which Socrates frames his discussion on the topic. He states that the body requires sex, food, and drink. The individual needs clothing, thus is burdened by the needs of the body. The discussion is defined by allowing for the interference of bodily needs to the production of knowledge and thought which he gives over to the mind which seems to lead to the enlightenment of the soul (Plato 2002: 11). The discussion determines that the nature of the soul in differentiation with its nature as it is embodied within the flesh is almost in stasis, waiting to be freed into death so that the encumbrance of the body is no longer relative. The soul has the capacity for enlightenment whereas the body sits in desire and need. Plato, through the inspired story of the impending death of Socrates, suggests that life is a space of waiting until the soul is freed from the body. Aristotle, on the other hand, discusses the meaning of life in relationship to action and capacity. In many ways Aristotle is extolling the ability of the body to perform, to take action and to have the capacity for production. The soul is served by these acts and capacities, also contributing to them through the ability to reason or through obedience to reason (Aristotle 2002: 20). In the two frameworks of action and capacity the result is then the good, which is exampled through the product of action. In other words, the individual works towards a goal and in achieving that goal has created what is good (Aristotle 2002: 18). Aristotle has discussed the present and its goals as being important where in this case Socrates through the interpretation of Plato has discussed that the earthly life is merely in the way until the time of death when the soul is freed from desire. Aristotle also discusses that desire is can be futile if the choices one makes are based upon something other than the actual end that will come from that goal (Aristotle 2002: 18). This seems to mean that if one is living life in such a way to make an end that is really intended for another outcome, which can be considered manipulation, then the choice for happiness and for the good will not be achieved. So in the comparison to these to ideas, one suggests that the meaning of life is to pursue and achieve what is good while the other suggests that everything that is done is in practice for the time when death relieves the soul of the body. What is thought of as the body is integral to the self, however, and while the individual may be relieved of desire when relieved of the body, the hope of this relief seems to not have substance when considering the importance of life. Death is the fear, desire, and dark place that every human being must reconcile, whether it is through applying illumination to that dark place or in finding an end to miseries of desire. The meaning of life must be reconciled with the inevitability of death or life is a stagnant place where meaning has no significance. Death Aristotle discusses the nature of life as being something that is complete when a wealth of good comes from goals reached through the actions and capacities to perform for those goods. Max Weber asserted that “the pursuit of meaning is at the heart of human activity” and went on to discuss that the analysis of social structures is based upon understanding meaning rather than looking at the causes of those meanings (Verdery 1999: 25). Therefore, it might be concluded that meaning is the core of life and that life without meaning has been without substance. The fear of death is associated with the end, but it is also associated with having been devoid of meaning. Without something to hold onto as a ‘good’ for which life has been experienced, the prospect of death can be daunting and a feared space of non-existence. It might be considered that in death is the fear that there will be no more time in which to achieve those things that give meaning to life. It is not the fear of the unknown that dominates the fear, but the absence of time to do those things which would have given meaning to life but are no longer possible. At the time of the discourse that Plato relates in Phaedo, Socrates was facing death and may have had to reconcile death with his near future rather than time in which to achieve more in his life. In facing death, he welcomed the release from the turmoil of his body, the need in which the body existed holding back his ability to nurture his mind and soul. Socrates had no more time so therefore he reconciled that all of his desire would leave him upon death and he would enter a state of pure capacity for enlightened reasoning without the interference of desire. The meaning of life was not bound to an end in death, but was opened upon the release that death would give him. One of the ways that human beings reconcile life and the ways in which outside influences or internal but uncontrollable influences such as illness and aging affect an end on life is through defining rituals that make sense out of the unknown. Socrates saw a definitive afterlife through which is ability to continue in knowledge and reason would be possible. Ritual and belief allows human beings to have a capacity of control on how and what will comprise their end. In imposing a reality beyond life, the ritual that creates that transition belongs to the living that can move through death of loved ones and reconcile the event of their own death through action. The existence of a dead body is a reminder to the living that the mind and the soul, if one believes in the soul, leave the body which in order to continue to have meaning must be ritually disposed of in some form of a funeral rite. Dead Bodies Nothing incites a complexity of emotions like that of a dead body. Verdery (1999: 23) quotes James Ellroy who said that “Dead people belong to the live people who claim them obsessively”. One of the most clearly obsessed literary characters within this capacity was Antigone who risked her life in order to perform the rituals of death on her brother so that he could enter safely into the afterlife. In the play Antigone by Sophocles, the meaning of death overrides that of life and gives purpose to Antigone as she tries to create some control in world of chaos by insisting on defying Creon and giving her brother the respect that he has earned through the love of family and the experience of having existed within that social position. Performing the rituals of death likely had no meaning to Polyneices, but in asserting the need and the right to perform them Antigone created a sense of control where the losses that she had experienced through the deaths of her father, mother, and both her brothers had left her helpless Antigone tells her sister Ismene that “We had two brothers, equal in our love. But now by proclamation Creon honors/One and shames the other” (Sophocles, Grene & Lattimore 1991: 2). Antigone establishes that the control has been taken for her despite the feelings of love that she had for both of her brothers. Control comes from the act of performing funeral rituals to find closure for those still living and often comfort in the ideas that are supported through funeral ritual towards the belief in the afterlife. Dead bodies represent that absence of life. For the living, the tangible evidence of the possibility of the absence of life creates fear and anxiety. In the absence of life there is the potential for life having no real meaning in relationship to the afterlife. In other words, dust may be all that is left of the existence of an individual and the possibility of no afterlife means that Earthly existence really is all that is available to each individual. As human beings, there is a desire to believe that mothers, fathers, siblings friends, and even beloved pets who have passed on are all waiting so that the joy of having them in one’s life is available in the future. This asserts control over the chaos of death and what is stripped from the living when death takes those they love. Dead bodies have importance on a number of different levels. They represent the individual that once breathed, thought, and had desire within that body. Verdery (1999: 26) writes that “their corporeality makes them important” and as they have materiality have been used as relics and even as building components in monasteries, asserting the wishes of the dead as support for the meaning of the lives of those who continue in life (Verdery 1999: 26). Life has meaning, death is given meaning by the living, and the remains of life that are still tangible are all imposed upon with defining the meaning of life as it relates to a finite amount of time through which Aristotle’s good can be achieved. Conclusion What this all means is that human beings create meaning from the unknown qualities of death in order to assert control over death. In doing so, life takes on a different quality as in the example of Socrates who saw life as a hindrance to his true desires for knowledge and reasoning through philosophy. Life and death are intrinsically linked for human beings as they work towards defining life through defining the meaning in death. Aristotle saw life in moments of achievement, setting goals towards getting to a ‘good’ that was at the end. He saw life as a series of these moments and only diverted when the end ‘good’ was perverted by having another intention, thereby manipulating other things through the achievement of goals that should have stood as valued on their own. What often occurs, however, is that the actions that are taken in life assign meaning for death rather than in the immediacy of joy that could be discovered through the ‘good’ of that creative effort. The greatest manipulation of all may be in doing actions that are intended to earn some reward in an afterlife rather than providing for happiness in this life. The connection of death to life frames how some people live, but in living well and pursuing happiness through good, the unknown of death is likely to work itself out for the best outcome. Resources Aristotle. (2002). Happiness makes life choice worthy. In C. A. Levenson, & J. Westphal. (Eds). Life and death. (pp. 17-21) Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Lennon, J., & Ono, Y. (2005). Memories of John Lennon. New York: HarperCollins. Plato. (2002). Phaedo. In C. A. Levenson, & J. Westphal. (Eds). Life and death. (pp. 9-16) Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Sophocles, Grene, D. & Lattimore, R. (1991). Sophocles. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Verdery, K. (1999). The political lives of dead bodies: Reburial and postsocialist change. New York: Columbia University Press. Read More