Lesson 3: History of Death
Attention
Fear seems to have many causes. Fear of loss, fear of failure, fear of being hurt, and so on, but ultimately all fear is the ego's fear of death, of annihilation. To the ego, death is always just around the corner. In this mind-identified state, fear of death affects every aspect of your life. -- Eckhart Tolle
Defeat the fear of death and you welcome the death of fear. -- G. Gordon Liddy
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able
- Discuss the topic of death, thereby opening up previously avoided lines of communication with family and friends.
- Seriously contemplate and accepted the reality of one's death.
- Relate the social and cultural context of death and dying to wider social structures.
- Begin to explore differences in socio-cultural approaches to death and dying practices.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the way conceptions of death and dying change over time, place and culture.
Teaching
Complete an image search using death as the search term. What do you see? Why, do you think, you are finding the images you find?
Read Preface & Chapter 1 in Kubler-Ross text
Examining the changes in medical technology, preventative interventions and rituals and rites across cultures allows us to become aware of some of the reasons and rationales for our ideas about death and dying. How do these socio-cultural exchanges affect our understanding of death and dying??
WATCH: National Geographic’s Taboo: Death- there are some graphic and unsettling ideas contained in this documentary. The description is as follows:
Death is one of the few constants in life. Taboo explores how several cultures deal with their dead, ironically gaining unique insights into how each group approaches life. In the United States, entrepreneurs earn a good living from the dead, coaxing the deceased’s last stories from its body. In the Hindu holy city of Varanasi, India, “untouchables” are both reviled and respected for their handling of the dead. And in Indonesia, a dead relative demands an elaborate funeral that can bankrupt the survivors. Around the globe, what is held as taboo in one culture is simply considered the most natural way to handle death in another.
which explores the death myths most common in our culture
which explores the myths of ‘East vs. West’ in order to help us better understand cross-cultural death/life beliefs.
Through time and history, death has been portrayed and discussed in various ways by people from all walks of life. Death and dying ideology spans history, culture, and time. An individual’s upbringing and/or religious views can have an impact on how they perceive death, as well as their own personal mythology.
One indicator that our culture has fears regarding death is our use of language. This anxiety is demonstrated in the euphemisms individuals use when describing or explaining a death. This class will discuss our first experiences of death, and the experiences that led to our own ideas about death and dying.
Many popular movies and media presentations present death with the story of angels and the stars. Our culture may state that ‘God has decided he needed our loved one to be an angel.’
Many people avoid using the word ‘dead,’ that somehow using the word ‘dead' would make the experience too painful, too final and the use of the term angels, somehow makes it more safe and less emotive. Western culture uses euphemisms such as, “passed away” or “gone to a better place.” You may have heard phrases such as “passed on,” “crossed over,” or even “kicked the bucket,” (however, this is usually when referring to someone not well known or not close).
Why do you think our society uses these terms?
Ideas related to religion and spirituality have exemplified our further avoidance of a finality in death. The death myth we may use can help us understand death as the beginning of a journey from this world to what is described as the ‘spirit world.'
Komaromy (2005) spoke of how she found that whilst exploring how death and dying were managed in care homes, she was “frequently met with difficulty over the use of words ‘death', ‘dying' and ‘dead'” (Komaromy, 2005, p 13). It would appear the fear of using these words were not necessarily from the residents themselves but by those who cared for them.
Why do you think?
Within the social context of death and dying you will consider how views of death have changed over time and the ways in which contemporary Western societies view and respond to death and dying. Central to this exploration is the extent to which the public views and our own private experiences are in a dynamic relationship with each other. The cause and place of death may affect our beliefs upon the subject. What else may have influenced your understanding?
Assessment
Lesson 3 Journal Entry
Assess the language used in your culture/family/experience regarding death. Evaluate death images and death myths around you. Watch Taboo: Death and the lesson module above. Write a substantial journal entry regarding these ideas and questions. Do not forget to respond to two others’ posts. These responses must be substantial, and engage the recipient with further inquiry, elevating the discussion in order to learn together.
Lesson 3 Quiz
- Relate the social and cultural context of death and dying to wider social structures. (Family, faith, religion, education, history)
- Discuss differences in socio-cultural approaches to death and dying practices.
- Give three examples (with discussion of why these examples changed conceptions) regarding the way ideas of death and dying have changed over time within the Western World. (Cite your book)