What is Death?

1. What is Death? Feraco Search for Human Potential 9 December 2010

2. “…I’m not scared to die / But I’m a little bit scared of what comes after / Do I get the gold chariot? / Do I float through the ceiling? / Do I divide and fall apart?” • Numerous cultures and theologies provide different explanations for what death actually is • Why don’t we have a “Unified Theory of Death”? • However, it’s useful to begin with our old logic, the Laws of the Excluded Middle and Noncontradiction • Either something lies beyond death – regardless of what it is – or nothing does • Either P or Not P is true, and P and Not P cannot be true simultaneously • For the sake of our exploration today, we’ll consider both

3. The End of the Storm • Scientifically speaking, death represents the end of corporeal existence • “Corporeal” = “Physical” – “Corpus”  Body  Corpse • It seems like such a simple deal • To a materialist, it is – but to others, not so much • If you are a materialist, you don’t believe in a division between realms – you think this is it • This doesn’t mean that a dualist can’t believe this is it – just that dualism is a prerequisite belief if one wants to believe in some sort of afterlife or reincarnation

4. Idealists • As you might expect, a monist doesn’t think anything happens after death – or happened before life • Notice this isn’t a debate about when life starts • This works for idealists (who believe we’re nothing but mental energy and projections) as well as for materialists • The idealists, after all, recognize that death “happens” – and so assume it represents the fundamental ending of a consciousness

5. Dualists • A dualist, on the other hand, operates under the principle that there’s more to us than meets the eye • Again, you don’t have to believe in an afterlife if you’re a dualist • However, a belief in something after death requires you to assume that humans are more than sacks of meat and bones

6. The Shape of the Fear • If you’re a monist, can you fear death? • Sure – there’s a push and pull between accepting what you see as the natural necessity of death and facing the overwhelming terror of oblivion • Plus, an interesting possibility: What if you’re wrong? • Is this a good or bad thing? • I suppose it depends • If you’re a dualist, should you fear death? • Sure – What if you’re wrong? • Plus, who’s to say you live well even if you’re a dualist?

7. In No Particular Order… • “Man is the only animal that contemplates death, and also the only animal that shows any sign of doubt of its finality.” William Ernest Hocking • The realization of a deep-seated fear – that something we did in life will come back to haunt us • The possibility that nothing we do will impact our fate • That the end will involve suffering • The fact that the end remains unknown to us – a mystery • The possibility, in turn, that nothing awaits us • Finally, the possibility that your deeply-held belief about the end is wrong – that something else will happen

8. Plato Approaches Death • The great philosopher Plato took a physically practical approach to the study of death • The philosophical equivalent of the “21 Grams” experiment, hundreds of years ago • He argued physical objects don’t just stop existing • If you want to “kill” a chair, what do you do? • Breaking it up just separates it into its components • Even burning it leaves ashes • The chair’s been transformed into something else, but not eradicated from existence

9. No Breaking Down • The same thing holds true for a statue – if it falls over, it breaks into little shards, but the stone remains • This, he argues, is how things get destroyed in our world – they break down into components, but they aren’t eradicated • Plato, a dualist, then goes on to argue that since the soul is not substance, it cannot be broken down into parts • Since it can’t be broken down, it cannot be destroyed

10. Stuff • Plato’s thought process may hold true for physical things – but is everything in this world physical? • This is the sort of question that makes a materialist angry • One would insist that everything is physical, and that it therefore makes no sense for there to be this mysterious thing composed of something unknowable beyond sensation • If you’re not a materialist, however, you acknowledge that there are a variety of different “substances” in the world • Is the beam from my laser pointer made from the same “stuff” as the grass on the library lawn?

11. Without Its Source • Things do exist that stop existing • Where does light go when you shut off its source? • Possibly nowhere – possibly everywhere • If I play a note on the piano, does it play forever? • What if I destroy the piano? Can the note live on without its host – its source?

12. Questions Upon Questions • How does Plato know that the soul isn’t made of something as transitory as a musical note – or a physical body? • Then again, if the soul isn’t meant to endure, what’s the point of one? • With death – as with many other things – human questions lead to more questions

13. What’s the Point? • We often wonder about the meaning of life in the context of the meaning of death • If there’s no “beyond,” many wonder, is there any point to the “here and now”? • Some would argue that the lack of a “beyond” makes the good we perform in this life even more important; if this is all we get, why not make it as wonderful for everyone as possible? • “I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.” William Penn

14. So Cruel • Others, however, argue that life must have meaning – and that, if life has meaning, it is meaningful because of goodness • They submit that in a moral, meaningful universe, goodness cannot be annihilated – it wouldn’t check out morally • What a waste, we think – nothing could be so cruel

15. Out the Window • How would our lives in this “plane” (using the dualist system) change if nothing lies beyond? • Is Penn’s philosophy best? • Should we throw morality out the window? • Does the mystery surrounding death actually help us live better lives? • It depends on your view regarding fear, I suppose – is it a positive or negative force?

16. Samsara Spin • Many theologies and cultures account for some sort of continued existence • One wonders if this shared tendency towards a reverence for an “afterlife” is meaningful in and of itself, or if it merely reveals something interesting about the human character – whatever that interesting thing may be • We have people who claim to have been contacted from beyond, or to have come back from the brink of death • In some cases, people insist that they remember previous lives – previous revolutions of the Samsara cycle, perhaps

17. Hope in the Mystery • In any event, the mystery surrounding death – the sheer enormity of all that we don’t know – isn’t necessarily a prescription for negative possibilities • After all, if we don’t know whether we continue beyond our corporeal end, we don’t know that we can’t continue • Perhaps that’s part of the meanings of life and death: that we have an opportunity to explore the infinite possibilities of existence – and, in turn, the infinite possibility for discovery, both of new answers and new questions • Remember the arrow lesson: Don’t aim for a target with the intention of hitting it and stopping – always aim toward, through, and beyond