Course Paper
.pdf
School
California State University, Bakersfield**We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
RS 4518-60
Subject
Sociology
Date
Dec 16, 2024
Pages
5
Uploaded by MinisterLobster1541
1Adriana RodriguezPatrick EmmettRS 4518 The Meaning of DeathNovember 27, 2024Course Paper"Death is the simplest fact of life: You were born, you live, and you die. Everyone does it.What could be simpler? (Chidester: x). We have discovered that the meaning of death is morecomplicated than we initially believed after delving more into it. Death is the subject of manyintricate ideas. Since the beginning of human history, death has been a normal aspect of ourbiological cycle. Every human being must embrace death in order to live according to theurgency of our own lives and the acceptance of death by those around us. This essay will addressthe various facets of death, including its significance, the components of the human body, and thevarious forms of death that are discussed in the book “The Patterns of Transcendence” byChidester.Mother Nature created death itself, which is the primary reason why death is necessary.Death was Mother Nature's most important gift to mankind. There is no doubt that death is thereason we are all here. Second, death served as a metaphor for the urgency of life, which is alsohow the idea of rebirth came to be. Life would be gloomy without death since there would be nodeadline for tasks to be completed. People would just put off their goals because life is nevertruly over. Last but not least, we couldn't leave room for future generations if we didn't die.From what we have produced, we all want our family lines to endure.
2What does it mean to be human? Our understanding of what a "human being is" isinfluenced by four factors: biological, physical, societal, and religious. The initial aspect of ahuman being's identity is their biology. A biological definition would identify human beings as aspecies of animal life. (Chidester:4). Although humans are able to reason and utilize tools, we arestill only animals. Our ability to think, walk upright, and have opposable thumbs arecharacteristics that distinguish us as human animals. We die by the same basic processes asanimals. (i.e. loss of respiration, heartbeat, and pulse.) The physiological definition of a humanbeing would be the second factor. "A physiological definition of a human person would focus onthe individual, personal features of conciseness and will." (Chidester:4). This second elementwould be the mere reality that people are capable of resisting and denying death while still beingmindful of their own independent actions. The sociological component is the third factor.According to a sociological definition, people are situated inside a web of social relationships.Within a broader social structure, an individual is a unit. (Chidester: 4). The world in which welive is one in which we form social groupings, relationships, and identities. This ultimatelyaffects how people react to our passing and how the world views us when we pass away.Religion is the final element that defines a human being. A human being may be all three ofthese things: a social being, a conscious agent, and a human animal, according to the study ofreligion. (Chidester: 5).Ancestral, experimental, cultural, and mythic deaths are among those Chidester hasdiscussed in his writing. In addition to giving life a definite structure, setting objectives, andguiding people, the manner in which death is envisioned may also enable people to die
3meaningful deaths. (Chidester: 12). First, we associate biological death with transcendence orancestral death. The concept of biological death changes into what we associate with it. Thismeans that even when a member of your family passes away, it shouldn't be taken lightly. It doesnot imply that the familial line has completely ceased. The next generation simply creates theirown lines after someone dies. Many religions, including Islam, Christianity, and Judaism,mention ancestral death. Abraham is a prime example of ancestral death. All of these religionsshare Abraham as an ancestor, and he lived via his descendants. We associate the psychologicalexperience of death with experiential death, which is the next death addressed. Powerful andprofound psychological experiences that embrace death in ecstasy or acceptance. The first step toachieving psychological peace at the end of your life is to accept and welcome it. Knowing whatit's like to die and be reborn while still alive is another way to embrace death.According to Kubler-Ross, humans go through five stages as their lives come to an end;experiencing actual experiential death is possible if you can make it to the fifth stage. Denial,anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance are the next five stages. Chidester's remarks regardingexperimental death are directly related to the acceptance step. Cultural death is the third deaththat Chidester mentions. Social dimensions of death are associated with culturaldeath/transcendence. People are kept alive as social beings by cultural death, which is a type ofcollective memory and remembrance. (Chidester: 16). Since everyone can connect to howsomeone is viewed after they pass away, I believe that cultural transcendence is the idea thatpeople find easiest to understand. Cultural transcendence, for instance, is the idea that thedeceased continue to exist in our hearts, minds, and all of the memories we have of them whenthey were living. Dia de los Muertos is the most well-known instance of cultural transduction.
4The Mexican holiday known as Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, is observed fromOctober 30 to November 1st. On Dia de los Muertos, the living give the deceased the items theyused to treasure in the hopes that the deceased will come see them and accept their gifts.According to Chidester, mythic transcendence is the last and most evident kind of death.(Chichester: 18). Every facet of transcendence that has been discussed contains elements oflegendary transcendence. Mythic transcendence is the process of imagining one's post-mortalstate, including what one becomes, where one goes, etc. At a funeral, legendary transcendence ismost frequently praised. In order to find closure and come to terms with the fact that thedeceased individual has moved on to the afterlife, family and friends meet for this ritual.To sum up, death is a complex subject that defies easy definition. The concept andsignificance of death vary greatly throughout individuals and religions. The four basiccomponents that help us grasp what a human being is, the numerous sorts of death that Chidesterhas represented in his work, and why death is so essential are all explained in the book. We mayaccept death and acknowledge its inevitability when we comprehend the author's meaning.
5Works CitedChidester, David.Patterns Of Transcendence: Religion, Death, and Dying.Wadsworth/ThomsonLearning, 2002. Print.