Meanings of Life Oct.

10 Meanings of Death

First: Discussion of Hong Kong’s situation in terms of meanings of life…

Death, Ikigai, and Meaning

--Without death, there would be no ikigai, one of my Japanese interviewees said. He meant that
ikigai can exist only when we know that our lifespan is limited. Is this true? If death didn’t exist, would
we still try so hard to achieve? Perhaps we would not. If death didn’t exist, what would love mean?
--Few of us want to die, and yet death—the fact that our lives are of limited duration--seems to be what
gives our lives meaning. What is the relation of ikigai and one’s sense of one’s own personal meaning of
life, to death and to one’s sense of the meaning of life?

The Denial of Death

--The fact that we die is something that societies everywhere more or less deny. Why? Because the social
order depends on continuity; death is a profound threat to this. This is why death is hidden in the modern
world-- by retirement, by hospitals, and by mass media, which makes death an act, as if to tame death.
--This effort at denial is by some interpretations the ultimate purpose of human societies: to deny that we are
only animals, and have no more significance than animals (see next week’s readings: Becker, Solomon; see
Manson in this week’s readings).
--Senses of life after death, by this interpretation, and religious beliefs as well, are personal denials that we
are no more than animals. (Are we or are we not more than animals?)

Life After Death

--Human beings throughout history have believed in some form of life after death, from animism, to
reincarnation, to ancestor worship, to nirvana, to heaven and hell, or heaven alone. It is only very recently in
history that many people don’t believe in such a thing: although many continue to believe.
--Senses of life after death are, for many people in today’s world, no longer matters of following a set religious
faith: instead, they are matters of individual choice. This too is historically new. Today, many people believe in
the different forms of life after death mentioned above; many more believe that they will continue after death in
this world through their children or fame or art. Many people are agnostics, saying that they just don’t know
what happens after death. And some people accept that they simply die, and that’s the end (see this week’s
readings: Tony Walter). Many of these people hold to an unconscious symbolic immortality.
--What do you think happens to you after you die?
--If there is a heaven and hell, then this life is no more than a brief preparation for eternity: an all-important
preparation, determining whether you are eternally blessed or doomed. If there is reincarnation, then you
have endless lifetimes to develop wisdom—in the end, according to some Buddhist and Hindu doctrines,
you become nothing, or according to others, you go to something like heaven. Or there may be other forms
of symbolic life after death, such as your children, or your art, or your fame, or your inventions, or your
books, or some other contribution, or even simply returning to nature.
--Each of these has different implications as to how you should live. Should you be faithful to God in order
to go to heaven? Should you be virtuous in your life in order to go to heaven? Should you strive to be both
good and wise, to be well-reincarnated? Should you strive for fame, or for your art or scholarship to be
remembered by others on this earth after you are dead? Should you strive to live for something larger than
yourself, that will continue after you die? Or should you simply try to experience all you can, since “you only
live once”? These lead to very different kinds of lives lived, and imply very different kinds of ikigai.
--What is the relation of your sense of life after death to how you live your life? If there was no life after
death, and you knew this with certainty, would you live in the same way that you do now? If you knew that
you were going to die in a year, would you live in the same way that you do now?

The Link of Life after Death to Society Before Death

--Max Weber wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in which he argued that modern
capitalism was in large part created by Calvinists in the 17th century who believed that hard joyless work and
saving money on earth was proof that God would bless them with eternal life in heaven. This shows how
belief in a certain vision of life after death can very much shape the world of the future before death: these
Calvinists had no idea of the ultimate effect of their beliefs, but their beliefs shaped our world today. On the
other hand, Karl Marx wrote that religion is “the opium of the people”: people’s belief in a world after death
caused them to tolerate oppression in this world before death.
--What is the relation of belief in God in heaven to the sense that the ultimate fate of the earth doesn’t really
matter, and thus that the environmental crisis can be ignored? What is the relation of reincarnation to, for
example, the examination system in its impersonal weighing of merit? What is the relation of ancestor
worship to living for one’s family in this world and reliance on, for example, guanxi? What is the relation of
believing that nothing happens after death to the idea of living for pleasure or for experience in this life?
These relations are not necessarily direct, but they do need to be considered.
--Is a sense of life after death necessary to have a good society? Or can a good society have no sense of
life after death? For those who are well off, no life after death may seem necessary; but what about those
who lead lives of suffering on this earth? How can that be made sense of? How can that be tolerated?