Religion and Theology

The concept of death is very intriguing to humans. Compared to the concept of life, death seems to be very mysterious. Although humans have a lot of information about life, still death remains unexplored. With this mystery, many thinkers view death in different ways. As a definite fact in a persons life, death cannot be prevented or be stopped. However, death is still among the intriguing and mysterious part of a persons life- as a person cannot know when and how he will die and define the true meaning of death. The various concepts of death and its process contribute to the reactions of every individual towards death.

According to Sigmund Freud, death is the aim of all life. As he argues, It is indeed impossible to imagine our own death.and whenever we attempt to do so we can perceive that we are in fact still present as spectators (Strachey, 1961). A person has no ability to imagine his death without first seeing or experiencing it.  Although humans try to perceived death in many ways, death and the things inside of it are still unknown.

Death is the unvarying element in the life of every person. According to James L. Bernat, a neurologist, death is a nontechnical word that is and has been used broadly and correctly by the public. And before any psychologist, thinkers and other related professionals remark on this nontechnical word, it is evident that the concept of death be explored.

The concept of death can be approached through different context. For example, a person having his rest suddenly saw a cockroach in the floor. He began to chase it until the cockroach was killed. In this situation, the cockroach is definitely dead and its biological system is obviously not functional. In more proper terms, death, as Bernat defines it, is the permanent cessation of the critical functions of the organism as a whole.

In another context, death is connected to the notion of life after death. Contradicting this concept is Herbert Fingarette. According to him, the state of death cannot be imagined. Since death is the end of existence of a person, it is obviously impossible to visualize hisher own death. If envisioning death is really possible, humans can imagine a state of loss of their loved ones and other things that they love. However, Fingarette contradicts this state. According to him, this state is only an image of what a person values in life. This is perceived through each individuals prism of imagined death.

However, the traditional and the most popular concept of death is the idea of immortality and life after death. In contrast, Rosenberg asserts that life after death is obviously contradictory when it is based to the Bernats biological concept of death. Applying the biological concept of death is to say that the death of a person would be involving the cessation of the critical and functional parts of the person as a whole. This is very different to the idea of life after death which involves the transition of another entity of a person or organism in the immortal life.

The perception towards death is mostly influence by the religion. Under the influence of Christianity, the world perceived human person as having a metaphysical duality. In this concept, a person is believed to have a combination of two kinds of things the biological body which have features like any other organisms and the soul or the spiritual body. This soul is immortal and (according to the Christianitys main doctrine) have an eternal life together with God in heaven. Moreover, many of worlds great religion believed in the concept of immortality either through reincarnation or through inclusion to the great One.

The concept of immortality- a dualism which involves the mortal body and the immortal soul of a person- trigger the doubt and belief of the true meaning of death. If this dualism really exists, then the biological concept is obviously different- for the death of a person will include the death of the biological body of the person and the transition into a new form of existence of a conscious non-biological entity that had inhabited that person or organism. Thus, it follows that the living individual or person has two separable identities the biological body and the soul. 

Death is also perceived differently through time. At childhood, almost all individuals view death with more inquisitiveness than apprehension. Many children view death as something dramatically unusual and best distinguished through inability to move, coldness and dullness of a persons human body. However as individuals grow, they tend to fear death in the sense that the concept of death is not the same as when they are only a child. People perceived death as not only a loss of life but the loss of social attachments to our loved ones. With this perceived loss, many people are afraid of death and of doubts.

The different concepts and perceptions of death in every stage of peoples lives change the view on life and thus affect all the peoples actions and goals. As the simplest childs perception of death changes to an intriguing concept of death in the adolescent and adults stage, the actions that people do still depend on the options they have chosen.