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Chapter 2: The Reality of Death

Chapter 2: The Reality of Death. A Fact of Life. Death is a fact of life. Everyone, sooner or later, is going to die. The mortality rate for human beings is 100%. A Fact of Life.

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Chapter 2: The Reality of Death

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  1. Chapter 2: The Reality of Death

  2. A Fact of Life • Death is a fact of life. • Everyone, sooner or later, is going to die. • The mortality rate for human beings is 100%.

  3. A Fact of Life According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Top 10 leading causes of death in 15- to 19-year-olds in 2005 (13, 812 teenagers) were: 1. Accidents 52% (Motor Vehicle 40%)2. Homicide 14%3. Suicide 11%4. Cancer 5. Heart disease 6. Congenital (present at birth) problems 7. Chronic lower respiratory diseases, such as asthma 8. Cerebrovascular disease (affecting the brain and blood vessels) 9. Influenza, pneumonia 10. Diabetes AMONG TEENS, THE TOP THREE CAUSES OF DEATH ARE LARGELY PREVENTABLE. OTHERS CAN BE CAREFULLY MANAGED.

  4. Some Basic Questions about Death • “What is death? How do we know when someone is truly dead?” • “Why do people die?” • “What does death teach us?”

  5. “What is death?” • In ancient Rome, the family would call the person’s name three times to “make sure” he or she was really dead. • The Jews at the time of Jesus would lay the “dead” person in an open sepulchre (a place of burial; tomb) for three days. After which, if there was no signs of life, the person would be buried. • In the early 20th century, people held a mirror to the “dead” person’s lips. If no beads of moisture formed, the person was pronounced dead.

  6. “How do we know when someone is truly dead?” • Death- the permanent cessation of all vital bodily functions: • Total brain function • Spontaneous function of the respiratory system • Spontaneous function of the circulatory system After a person dies, the body undergoes certain changes.

  7. The Signs of Death • These signs, used by doctors and coroners to determine the time of death. • Signs of Death: • Cooling (algor mortis) • Rigidity (rigor mortis) • Blood clotting • Staining (livor mortis) • Cell breakdown • Putrefaction

  8. “Why do people die?” • In many different time periods and many different cultures, people told stories to “explain” why people die. • In many of these myths, the origin of death was connected with snakes, which were thought to live forever since they could shed their skin. • Read the Melanesian and Vietnamese tales on pg. 25 of the workbook.

  9. Activity pg. 25 • Read Genesis 3 for the Jewish story about the origin of death. • Compare the Genesis story to the Melanesian and Vietnamese tales. • How are they similar? How are they different?

  10. “What does death teach us?” • Death can motivate us to make sense out of life and being human. • The inevitability of death can lead us to prepare wisely for death. • Death can provide us with insights about dealing with the “little deaths” that happen all through life (experiences of loss, failure, rejection). • Death can teach us the importance of living fully.

  11. Why Some People Deny Death • Most people speak delicately about the “deceased” (a person who has died). • People will use phrases such as “passed away” instead of saying someone has died to try and soften the blow of death. • Death makes us uncomfortable because we have no control over it.

  12. Why Some People Deny Death • Possibly the greatest example of the denial of death in our modern society is the cryonics movement. • Cryonics- the practice of freezing a person who has died of a disease, with the hope of bringing him or her back to life in the future when a cure for the disease has been found.

  13. Cryogenically Preserved?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kphsXBswCyQ&feature=related

  14. 5 Reasons American Society Denies Death • Since the Civil War (1861), Americans have not had firsthand experience of wide-scale death. • Public executions have been banned. • Medicine and better nutrition have prolonged life. • Death has been removed from mainstream living. • Society glorifies youth.

  15. Worldwide Life Expectancy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Life_Expectancy_2008_Estimates_CIA_World_Factbook.svg

  16. The Fear of Death • One of the reasons many people deny death is because they fear it. • The fear of death cuts across every age and culture.

  17. Ancient Customs that show Fear of Death • Ancient Mesopotamians believed that those who bodies remained unburied, their souls roamed the earth bringing sickness, misfortune, and other ills. • In Babylon, a special class of priests were in charge of spiritualism (attempts to communicate with spirits and departed souls by use of séances, etc.)

  18. Ancient Customs that show Fear of Death • Anglo-Saxons used to remove a tile or cut a hole in the roof to “let out” the spirit of someone who was dying. • In Russia, people were afraid to take a corpse out through a regular door. • Ancient Minoans of Crete built tombs shaped as a maze or labyrinth so the ghosts couldn’t find their way out.

  19. Modern-Day Customs • Closing the eyes of a person soon after death was originally done so that the ghost couldn’t “see” the living and then haunt them. • Covering the face of a dead person with a sheet was done for the same reason. • Tombstones were meant to weigh down the dead and keep them in the ground.

  20. The Communion of Saints • Communion of Saints- the union of all faithful people, living and dead, who belong to the family of God. • The early Christians saw death as a passage to be united with Jesus in heaven. • Also, they would pray for the faithful departed for those in heaven and in purgatory-state of purification through which some people pass after death and before they experience heaven.

  21. Sanctoral Cycle • Sanctoral cycle- a church calendar of saints’ feast days. Commemorates each saints life, death, and the appeal for their help. • In the sanctoral cycle, the feast day of a saint is observed on the day of death.

  22. All Saint’s Day • The purpose of All Saint’s Day is to honor all the saints in heaven, whether they are canonized or not. • It is a holy day of obligation in the Catholic Church. • It is celebrated on November 1.

  23. All Soul’s Day • The purpose of All Soul’s Day is to remember and pray for all the faithful departed, especially those in purgatory. • It is celebrated on November 2, unless that day is a Sunday. Then the feast is celebrated on November 3. • The Church sets aside the entire month of November as a time to remember the dead.

  24. How Long Will You Live? • On average, woman tend to live longer than men. • Why?? • Take the quiz on pg. 32 and 33. How long will you live?

  25. Average Life Span for White and African American Residents of the U.S.

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