


Terry Cullen
Mar 19, 2024
Worldwide
Categories:
Death, Dying, Life, Charity, Racism, Greed, Natural Environment
How would that affect you and humanity if you knew the exact date and cause of your death? In this article from the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Future series, many professionals shared research and points of view.
Everyone knows they will die someday. And many psychologists maintain that this truth motivates everything we do in life. Some choices could be what you eat, how much you exercise, when to have children, and if you should join a faith-based institution.
We can't know when and how each of us will die. However, reflecting on it helps us better understand what motivates individuals and societies and how we might do things differently.
Work done in the 1980s by psychologists examining how humans deal with death coined the term "terror management theory." As the theory goes, people ward off the paralyzing existential terror of death (death anxiety) by embracing culturally constructed beliefs and striving to increase their sense of self-worth.
The researchers demonstrated that flashing the word 'death' on a computer screen or holding a conversation near a funeral home is enough to trigger changes in our behavior. We become more defensive of our beliefs and hostile to whatever threatens them. We are more likely to favorably treat people with similar looks, political outlooks, geographic origins, and religious beliefs. We treat those not sharing similar views with contempt and even violence. We claim to love profoundly our partners who are similar to us more and even vote into power leaders who incite the fear we feel within.
As individuals, we may conclude that life is futile and indulge in behaviors that are dangerous to our health, financial stability, families, and environment. Society would likely be more racist, violent, warlike, self-centered, greedy, and environmentally destructive than it is now.
So, does death anxiety influence those destructive behaviors within us today? Perhaps, but it is essential to understand that we can be different, and there are examples worldwide. Buddhist monks in South Korea do not have death anxiety. Instead, researchers have termed it "death reflection." Death anxiety is a fear and an abstract one. In death reflection, an individual has an underlying belief and acceptance that death is a part of life and an understanding of our connectedness to the greater whole. In death reflection, a person reflects on how they might die and the impact it will have on their loved ones. Many people working with death reflection show a more generous side to their personalities.
Still, much is dependent upon the individual's personality. Palliative care patients typically have two phases of thinking when faced with their mortality. The first phase is understanding whether it is imminent or whether they can fight it. The second thought phase is what they will do with their remaining time. Many different behaviors can happen, but they typically fall into two categories. One, how will they fight their illness? And then, how can they spend the remaining time with loved ones and be happy?
The article provides some insights into our own lives and the communities where we live. Death anxiety is a fear, and according to researchers, this fear may drive many aberrant behaviors both for us as an individual and collectively for our community. Could it be that the fear that drives intolerance and anger is rooted in death anxiety? Maybe, and it might be worth exploring in your community by looking at some of the principles of death reflection. Different elements of our community deal with death (past, present, and future), for example, medical professionals, hospitals, medical researchers, funeral homes, faith-based organizations and leaders, historians, palliative care organizations, grief counselors, and then all the individuals in the community who have experienced the death of a loved one. Community conversations around the different perspectives and beliefs can build a calmer and more knowledgeable community and, perhaps, a wave of altruism that follows.
We cannot stop death, but we can be free of fear.
Photo by Miguel Bruna on Unsplash
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