by Kazeem Olalekan (CEO Iforg Limited) and Katerina Mesmer (Project Facilitator)
The question of why understanding death is good for your health exercised our curiosity recently. It became all the more relevant when a good family friend lost her dad in July after a courageous battle with cancer. The Legend that is Sir Bobby Robson also lost his battle with Cancer on the 31st of July 2009. So Kat and I went to work on this very challenging topic. We are publishing our findings under the Iforg Research heading of our blog.
What actually happens when we die?
A scientist might say you decompose and that signals the end of life as we all know it. According to the dictionary, death represents the termination (or endpoint) of life. If you were Hindu, you would perceive death to be a temporary cessation of physical activity. Christians believe death to be part of the current human condition affected by sin. Christians await the second coming of Jesus Christ for complete realisation of their immortality. Muslims on the other hand, believe the life on earth is only a transition period that precedes the latter life. There are many different views on death and these views are shaped up by variety of influences. Religion is the most prominent influence of these. So we have below a summary of what different religions say about death:
For people of Christian faith who are guided by the Bible, death is a part of the current human condition, affected by sin. Although eternal life is a gift that is granted to all who accept salvation through Jesus Christ, faithful Christians await the second coming of Jesus for complete realization of their immortality. There seem to be only two ways after death, its either heaven or hell. (1)
Muslims believe the life on this earth is only a transition period that precedes the latter life. The current life is therefore a mission and it is their responsibility to care for life in physical way by keeping fit and healthy and spiritually by maintaining their faith. Worshipping Allah sincerely is guaranteed to purify the soul and to secure the latter life. According to Quran on the judgement day, the souls of the deceased will come back to their recreated bodies and come out of the graves. (2)
Hindus perceive death as a temporary cessation of physical activity. It is natural process in the existence of soul as a separate matter, by which it is reborn and reincarnated to the earth to continue its journey. Hinduism believes in the existence of not one hell and one heaven but in the existence of many sun filled or dark and demonic worlds. What happens to a soul after the death depends on various factors, such as previous deeds or state of mind at the time of death. By cremating the body, the elements are rightfully returned to their respective spheres. (3)
Sikhs believe that the soul moves on to meet God, the supreme soul. There is no heaven or hell. Heaven can be experienced by being in tune with God in this life and the suffering and pain caused by ego is seen as hell on earth. Sikhism views spiritual pursuits as positive experiences not as sacrifices made in order to obtain a reward after death. (4)
Judaism has stressed the natural fact of death and its role in giving life meaning. Since God is ultimately just, the apparent injustice on Earth has propelled many traditional Jews into seeking the afterlife. It is also possible that there is no separate heaven and hell, only lesser or greater distance from God after death. Judaism does not believe people who are gentiles will automatically go to hell or that one will go to heaven on the basis of their belonging to the faith. (5)
The ultimate aim of Buddhism is to obtain nirvana, a state of liberation and enlightenment from the limitations of existence. It is the liberation from the cycle of rebirth through countless lives. This state is obtainable in this life through the right aspiration, purity of life, and the elimination of egoism. According to Buddhism, our lives and all that occurs in our lives is a result of karma and every action creates a new one. Death is an awakening, breaking apart of the material we are composed of. (6)
If religion is an important influence of how we perceive death, then we wondered what the statistics in England tell us about religious beliefs. We found a ready answer in the census conducted in 2001 about region in England and Wales (7). Over 37 million people in England and Wales state their religion as Christian. The proportion of people in England who follow other religions is 6%. Of this 3.1% are Muslims, 1.1% are Hindus, 0.7% are Sikhs, 0.5% are Jewish and 0.3% are Buddhists. Of the population, 14.6% state they have no religion. Furthermore, a relatively large group (7.7%) chose not to answer the question regarding religion. Is it therefore safe to assume that those religious individuals share the belief of their respective faiths about death? For the sake of argument, we will say yes. Now we have a large group who have no religious beliefs or choose not to answer the question (a staggering 22.3%). A penny for their thoughts on the subject of death…or we just ask Google or Bing (search term: different perspective on death). The following is the summary of our finding on alternate perceptions of death:
The Pagan view of death is a positive one. Most Pagans believe in reincarnation, and regard death as part of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The souls of the dead rest for a while in the Summerlands (the Pagan afterlife) before returning for another reincarnation. There is no doctrine of sin and redemption, rather everyone must evolve spiritually throughout their successive incarnations. Many souls return to Earth again and again, either because they love and cherish the planet, or because they wish to help others. In Hinduism, these souls are known as bodhisattvas. (8)
Now we know. So how can we make sense of these findings to answer the question we posed at the start of this article? The first thing we have to accept is this: Everyone must surely have a view about death. This may be informed by their religious or other beliefs. That said, we know there will be people who will argue categorically that they have no views on death or are still undecided. To these people, we say this: physical death is inevitable. We are sure they know that of course. If something is certain to happen, then we think it is a good idea to start forming a view on it. Have you ever heard the expressions?: ‘he lived like he’ll never die’ or ‘he died like he’d never lived’? If not, we will now try to unpack the two expressions:
To Live like you will never die
When someone is described as living like he will never die, what does it actually mean? If we take this literally, it simply means that this is someone that believes they will never die. Of course we will all die a physical death but that person may be defining death more broadly. As far as that someone is concerned, the existence of an afterlife (in whatever form it takes) means they will not die. For the sake of the current discussion, we are not too concerned about this viewpoint.
There is another meaning. It describes a nonchalant or sometimes lavish existence. Take the simple example of a manager who takes rash decision without given due regard to the welfare of his workforce. Or a doctor who deliberately set out to kill his patients for personal gains – a certain Doctor Shipman comes to mind. Anyone looking in might observe that such an individual is living like they will never die. Like he will never get his comeuppance. We can accept that natural laws support the theory that every action we take will trigger a reaction. So the way one acts or interacts with the physical world will determine what we get back from it. So a negative interaction will reflect back negative vibes in most (not all) cases. The world is littered with examples of how being positive has resulted in favourable health related outcomes. So what has death got to do with the way we live? There seems to be a correlation between the way we live and the way we die. The Jihadists that blew up the Twin Towers thought they will be rewarded in heaven. Likewise the person that acts to grab it all (to the disregard of others) on earth might be doing so in the belief that this is all there is i.e. there is no other existence but the current one. A view on death thus determines how we live. So your understanding of death may lead you to live a healthy or an unhealthy life.
To die like you have never lived
This expression refers to the way we die. No one knows when physical death will come. It may happen very suddenly or after a prolonged illness. By forming a view on death, one is able to be ready for it, irrespective of when it comes. If someone is said to be dying like they have never lived, it usually means the person is not facing death bravely and courageously. What constitutes brevity at the point of death is a subject of passionate debates which is beyond the scope of the current article. Nevertheless, the expression refers to a way of dying that discounts or disregards all the beautiful things that have happened in the life of the person dying. A view on death thus determines how you die. So your understanding of death may lead you to die a healthy or an unhealthy death.
Haven established that the understanding of death will determine how you live and how you die, there is another effect to consider: Your understanding of death will determine how you perceive others who are alive and those facing death.
We hope we have established in your mind now the importance of understanding death. That is however, only half way through our analysis. We are actually positing that an understanding of death is good for your health. All we have managed to establish so far is that one’s understanding of death can lead to either a healthy or an unhealthy outcome. We think there is one understanding of death that will always lead to a healthy outcome. We will now examine this below.
The only understanding of death that is good for your health
Before we can even begin to decipher this, we need to establish in our mind what we mean by good health. As scientists we may define good health as a natural and consistent state of well being. Some might say that if you are not taking pills then you have good health…or if you are disease-free, then you have good health. If we now say something is good for your health, what we are really saying is this: It helps maintain or improve your current state of heath. The only understanding of death, which is good for your health is that based on belief. The irony is that no one actually knows what happens when you die. No one has died and lived to tell the tale! To understand what death is you need to believe in one of the many theories of death. At this point, it doesn’t matter what it is. If you believe in something and after a while it fails to make sense, change it or make something up. You can of course pick and mix beliefs so long as it makes sense to you. It is only then that you will be motivated enough to make the necessary changes to maintain or improve your health. A belief, and a strong one at that, provides motivation for good acts and fear of consequences from behaving badly. That way you will not live like you will never die and not die like you have never lived.
What actually happens after one dies is another issue altogether. Nothing wrong with decomposing in the ground or being incinerated if that helps the grieving relatives. And certainly nothing wrong with donating the body to support medical advances that affect the lives of future generations. Either way, what stays is the impact their good or wrongful acts had on their lives and the lives of others and the wealth of knowledge and achievements they contributed to. You see, just because they die, does not mean they go away.
Footnote:
In our research, we came across different perspectives of death. The following are links to the noteworthy ones:
1. A different Perspective of Death: http://dappledair.blogspot.com/2009/02/different-perspective-about-death.html
2. Close call to death, Life from a different perspective: http://www.bahikrishnakhanthan.com/articles/Reverenceforlife.pdf
3. Beyond Death: Different Spiritual Perspectives on the Outward Journey: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/pdf/CanonOutwardJourney.pdf
We dedicate this article to Emma for the sad loss of her father.
Please make any donations to the Cancer Charity Force if you are moved to make a donation: http://www.justgiving.com./force/
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