By Babatunde Jose
Death is the possibility of the impossibility of any existence at all – Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (1962)
The philosophy of death spans many subdisciplines of philosophy. It is “intersubdisciplinary.” And it begets many questions that are still begging for answers. The first philosophical question to ask, is “what is?” Thus, we begin with “what is death?”. It is natural to say that to die is to cease to be alive. But there seem to be cases in which a thing ceases to be alive without dying. These include cases of suspended animation, where life processes stop but could be restarted, and fission, where a living being divides into two new living beings.
Among the oldest philosophical questions are questions about personal identity. What is a person? What are the persistence conditions for people? The answers to these questions bear on the question of what happens to us when we die. Most non-philosophers seem to believe that each person has a nonphysical soul that continues to exist after the death of the body, perhaps in heaven, hell, or purgatory.
But this view is not widely held by philosophers, because the existence of a nonphysical soul is usually thought to be problematic. The most popular views about what we are include the view that we are, fundamentally animals—the biological view—and the view that we are essentially psychological entities—the psychological view.
Fred Feldman posits the view that we continue to exist after death, either as dead people or as dead things that were once people. Eric Olson objections to this view but concludes that all views about what happens to us when we die are beset with problems.
Ted Sider argues that we need not adopt any view about the metaphysics of time to hold that death is bad. The claim that death is bad is an ordinary claim, while views about the reality of the past and future are views about the underlying nature of reality.
Lars Bergström suggests that if time is not linear but circular, then we will, in some sense, live again one day. Accepting this view about time should to some degree temper our sadness about our deaths.
Two arguments have received the most attention. The timing argument goes like this: there is no time at which death could be harmful since at the time of death there is no overlap in time. In short you cannot feel your death; thus, death cannot be bad for me.
The symmetry argument goes like this: there is no reason to be afraid of my own future nonexistence because future nonexistence is no more to be feared than past nonexistence.
The standard way to account for the badness of death is to endorse some sort of deprivation account. According to the deprivation account, death is bad for someone if, and to the extent that, it deprives that individual of a more valuable life.
Thus, it is possible for death to be bad without involving any painful postmortem experiences. Would it be a good thing to live forever? It is claimed that one would eventually run out of reasons to live, and then death would cease to be a misfortune.
In various ways, and from different perspectives, all these conjectures might be thought to answer one or both of the following questions: what is death, and why does death matter? These are the questions that define the growing inter subdisciplinary field of philosophy of death.
Ruminating over the questions raised by the philosophy of death, we look at the recent deaths of family and friends and what they portent for the rest of us. If death was a part of our essence, maybe we would be disposed to better receive it and it would be easier for us to accept it.
But, on the contrary, life resists to death, and that is why it is hard to accept it, and even during the worst moments, those who want to die are rare.
We plan many activities and projects for the coming days, months, and years. Although death is the only event that is certain to occur, we don’t usually think about it or plan for it. Even if the thought of death does arise in our mind, we usually push it away quickly—we don’t want to think about death. But it’s important to think about and be prepared for it.
Contemplate the following points to get a sense of how death is going to happen to you. Everyone must die. To generate an experience of death’s inevitability, recall people from the past: famous rulers and writers, musicians, philosophers, saints, scientists, criminals, and ordinary people. These people were once alive—they worked, thought, and wrote; they loved and fought, enjoyed life, and suffered. And finally, they died.
Can you think of an example of someone who was born on this earth but who did not die? For all the advances in science and medicine, no one has found a cure for death, and no one ever will.
Now think of the people you know who are still alive. Contemplate that each of these people will one day die. And so will you.
Our lifespan is decreasing continuously because time never stands still—it is continuously passing; we are travelling closer and closer towards death.
Since you are getting closer and closer to death all the time, what are you doing to prepare for it? The best way to prepare for death is doing spiritual practice. This is because the only thing that continues after death is the mind, and spiritual practice is the only thing that truly benefits the mind, preparing it for death and the journey to the next life. But how much time do you devote to spiritual practice and developing the positive aspects of the mind and behaving in ways that are beneficial to others?
There are many ways that death can happen to people. Sometimes death happens due to external causes. These include natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and volcanic eruptions, or accidents such as car or plane-crashes. People can also be killed by other people—murderers or terrorists—or by dangerous animals or poisonous insects.
Death can also happen due to internal causes. There are hundreds of different diseases that can rob us of our health and lead to death. There are also cases of people who are not ill, but their bodies simply stop functioning and they suddenly die.
Even things which normally support life can become the cause of death. Food, for example, can sometimes lead to death, as when people overeat, or eat food that is contaminated: Medicine is another thing which normally supports life, but people sometimes die because they took the wrong medicine, or the wrong dose. Houses and apartments enable us to live comfortably, but they sometimes catch fire or collapse, killing the people inside.
The human body is very fragile and vulnerable; it can be injured or struck down by illness so easily. Within minutes it can change from being strong and active to being helplessly weak and full of pain.
Right now, you might feel healthy, energetic, and secure, but something as small as a virus or as insignificant as a thorn could become the cause of your death. Think about this.
Your body will not last forever. During your life, you might manage to avoid illness and accidents, but the years will eventually overtake you; your body will degenerate, lose its beauty and vitality, and finally die.
Today we sing Nunc Dimittis, the song of Simon, beseeching God to let our brother Charles Dele Adeola depart in peace. One day we too shall taste the inevitable. Don’t be afraid! Death is a normal part of life. It is the normal cycle of nature. Everything, everyone lives and dies. Everyone!
Death is natural. It is inevitable. “But at least today it wasn’t you or me.” May the soul of the departed Rest in Peace. Amen.
The Prophet said: Allah says, I have nothing to give but paradise as a reward to my believer. Who, if I cause his dear friend or relative to die, remains patient and hopes for Allah’s Reward. Sahih al-Bukhari 6424
Barka Juma’at and a happy weekend.
