The scariest part about losing my faith wasn't that I was leaving behind the weekly communal gatherings or even the structure and guidelines provided by my church. What scared me the most was that I no longer had eternal life in heaven to look forward to with God and my loved ones. At times I felt regret for letting my curiosity, "lead me astray," because although secularism made sense to me intellectually, suddenly life didn't seem as special, important, or meaningful anymore. Over the years, however, I have managed to find peace, comfort, and meaning again in my secular worldview.
My report will examine secular perspectives, in comparison with religious perspectives, on the nature of death, and what kind of impact these different views have on the meaning of one's life. For further discussion, I will introduce concepts and ideas from Christopher Hitchens' memoir, Mortality. Hitchens, a prominent atheist, wrote this book during his struggle with esophageal cancer, the disease that eventually took his life.
I am looking forward to sharing these ideas with everyone on Tuesday, and I hope that we can have some thought provoking conversations on the topic in class. Below are my discussion and quiz questions.
Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think happens when people die? How does/doesn't this impact the meaning of your life?
2. Do you think that your life is intrinsically special/significant?
3. Are you afraid of death? Why/why not?
Quiz Questions:
1. In response to his seemingly unfair and untimely cancer diagnosis, Christopher Hitchens says, “To the dumb question ‘Why me?’ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: ‘_______?’”
“Why Not?"
2. In his memoir, Mortality, Christopher Hitchens says, “…I don't have a body, ________.”
“I am a body."
3. Who came up with what Hitchens calls, “the notorious stage theory”?
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
Looking forward to your report, Heather!
ReplyDeleteThis may be too irreverent or flip for your taste, but...
are you familiar with ex-Mormon Brian Dalton's video series "Mr. Deity"?
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=mr.+deity
I was not familiar with him before but I just watched "Episode 1: Mr. Deity and The Evil." Good stuff! He did a great job using humor to make an important point about the contradictions of a loving, yet all powerful God.
DeleteI am not afraid of death. I can agree with Epicurus that death is nothing to fear. Once I accepted the fact, aided by Stoic thinking, that I, and everything I hold dear, is perishable, that I exist now but will at some point in the future cease to exist, I felt strangely comforted. Death is just part of life. I don’t fear death, I hope for a good one. I hope there is no painful process leading up to that moment. I hope I don’t develop Alzheimer’s disease and spend my final days in a nursing home with a low quality of life. But what is there to “fear” about death, unless you’re anxious about it being the moment they open the envelope and announce you’re going to hell? No problem for me there, since I believe that after I die I simply return to the dust whence I came. “Fear” relates to this life, not the next. It seems rational for me to conclude that it is not death we fear, but the loss of the experience of life. I love my life, and I don’t want to give it up. Is not self-preservation, survival, a biological instinct? My life is intrinsically special – to me. Thus, is it not rational to “fear” the loss of life, the end of experience? It is my experience that gives my life meaning. And the fact that it will end is what makes my life, and my experience of life, meaningful. (Queue up The Good Place.)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds terrific, Heather. Really looking forward to it! I have a connection with the chaplaincy profession and know that a lack of resources for non-religious patients who are dying remains a problem.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I would be interested in learning more about that issue. Hopefully there is a way to find some sort of solution soon.
DeleteWhat do you think happens when people die? How does/doesn't this impact the meaning of your life?
ReplyDeleteI don't think anything happens after someone dies. For me it just makes this life even more important because this is the only one you have.
I definitely have a fear of death and dying too soon.
ReplyDeleteTerrific report, Heather, and great conversation, class!
ReplyDeleteAs Socrates said long ago, echoed by the stoics: for all we know, it's just the Big Sleep... the most restful slumber you've ever had, and you had it for an eternity before your birth. Back to bed. We won't miss a thing, though of course in contemplating it we begin to miss it NOW. The antidote to that premature feeling of loss is to rededicate ourselves to enjoying every moment we can, while we can. As the late Warren Zevon told David Letterman: "enjoy every sandwich."
BLT
by Barbara Crooker
Enjoy every sandwich.
—Warren Zevon, talking with David Letterman about his terminal
lung cancer shortly before his death.
Here’s how to make a great sandwich:
country white bread lightly toasted,
contoured with mayonnaise, leaf
lettuce spilling over the borders,
overlays of tomatoes, train tracks
of bacon leading straight
out of town. No need for road
maps, potato chips, or pickles.
Yes, winter is waiting, just over
the horizon. But right now, I’m
going to sit in the sun and listen
to birdsong. I’m going to eat
every crumb, every plottable
coordinate, now, while I can.
“BLT” by Barbara Crooker from Some Glad Morning. University of Pittsburgh Press © 2019.
Writers Almanac http://www.garrisonkeillor.com/radio/twa-the-writers-almanac-for-february-18-2020/