Human person as oriented towards their

impending death
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 explain the origin, meaning, and purpose of life,

 enumerate the goals a person wants to achieve,
 define the projects an individual intends to do in life, and
 reflect on the meaning and purpose of his or her life.

“ Since the day of my birth, my death began its walk. Its walking towards me, without hurrying.”

- Jean Cocteau -

The Certainty of Death:

We have no personal experiences of death. But we are sure that sooner or later we will die.

- Our knowledge of death may not be experiential, but it is with certainty, perhaps the only
certainty we can speak of- that we will die.
- Death does not choose our age, our physical condition, our decision, or our position in life.

“ No matter how strong, powerful , wealthy, and well situated a person may be, his strength, power,
wealth and social position are of no avail when death summons him. Of course, one may use his power
and wealth to prolong his life, toward off danger, and to outsmart and outlive his fellows; but ultimately
he is going to reach the end of the rope. For anything that has a beginning has also an end.”

- Death is said to be the greatest equalizer of life.

- The poor and the rich possess no more lands than six feet below the ground.
- No one can claim supremacy over death.
- All have to bow down their heads and be ready to face their ultimate destiny.
- Everyone dies, It is an ultimate truth, a truth that no one can deny and no one can defy.

The Uncertainty of Death:

- Death is certainly is that which anything physical in human person comes to an end. But as to
when life will come to an end is beyond human will.
- One thing uncertain about death and that is we don’t not know whether life continues after
death.
Two General Views About Death:

- Materialist : believe that human person is nothing but a material entity. A person does not have
any spirit or soul.
- Belief in the existence of spirit or soul is an illusion
- When the body dies nothing exists after it

- Spiritual :

- According to Plato a human person is composed of body and soul, when the body dies the soul
continues to live.

- Through death, the soul is liberated from the trap of the body.
- This concept of life and death is said to have influenced the Christian perspective of death.
- For Christians a human person is also composed of body and soul, and death ushers the journey
of the soul back to his creator. To die is to be home in heaven with God. Dying then is supposed
to be embraced with a joyful heart.

- The Hindus also believe in the existence of eternal soul. According to them when the person dies
the soul is either reincarnated to another being or is reunited with Brahman ( supreme being)
depending on his state of mind.

- The Buddhists do not believe in the existence of the permanent soul of the Hindus. They believe
that just like anything in the world a human person is impermanent and hence does not posses
any enduring substance in him.

- For Buddhists there is nothing permanent in this world and that includes us, we have to realize
that we, just like anything in the world, will die and there is nothing else to be expected.

Death’s Absurdity and Meaning:

A. The Absurdity of Death –

- Death is the contradiction of life

B. The Meaning of Death –

- We are teleological beings said “ Aristotle”
- We live for the a purpose and we commit ourselves to that purpose believing that it can be
realized which in turn brings meaning to our lives.
- Our present life hangs on to our faith that the future will come, the unfortunate thing, however,
is that this future may not come.
- Viktor Frankl – believes that death does not render life meaningless on the contrary life
becomes meaningful because of death.
 - According to Frankl just imagine if life has no end.
- “ If we were immortal, we could legitimately postpone every action forever. It would be no
consequence whether or not we did a thing now, every act might just as well be done tomorrow
or the day after or a year from now or ten years hence.”
- Death actualizes Man’s Potentials-
- For Frankl our death does not render the meanings we have fulfilled meaningless, meanings are
not lost with our death.
- Life is like the wax of a candle that loses itself by giving out light. The wax is lost but a light is
created. A human person may have gone but the meanings he/she created stay forever; they
are not lost but they are stored in eternity.

The Truth of Living and Dying:

- Death is the mirror of life

- Some believes that death takes away the meaning of life
- Others if not most believe that life remains meaningful amidst death because there is life after
death
- Life after death may be true but it might also be an illusion.

Attitude toward Death:

- Death is an impending reality to all of us

1. Know thyself –
- Most of us if not all are afraid of death
- For Socrates, we are afraid of death because we think that death is evil.
- We are afraid of death not because death is evil but because we think that it is evil, that sort of
thing according to Socrates is IGNORANCE.
- If ignorance is the root cause of the fear of death then knowledge is the antidote- this is the
reason why Socrates says “ Know Thyself”

Gautama Buddha –

- Just like Socrates he also believes that we are afraid of death because of our ignorance of our
human nature.
- We crave for life, we cling and attach to it. It is because of this craving, clinging, and attachment
to life that makes us afraid to die and makes us suffer.
- Buddha doesn’t believe in eternal soul, he said that believing in eternal soul is a product of
ignorance which is the root cause of suffering.
- When a person dies, no permanent and eternal self or soul remains, a human person according
to Buddha must realize this truth, only when he/she does he/she will no longer be afraid to die.
He /she will allow death to take its course as part of life.
2. Live a Meaningful Life-
3. Live fully in the present Moment
4. Live calmly
5. Live courageously
6.