The Weight of Finitude: On the Philosophical Question of God

Book Information The Weight of Finitude: On the Philosophical Question of God. By Ludwig Heyde. State University of New York Press. Albany. 1999. Pp. 177 + xviii. Paperback, US$17.95.     

Life,Death, and Life After Death: Meanings of the Relationship Between Death Anxiety and Religion

ABSTRACT

A sample of 389 individuals completed a death anxiety scale and a series of items that measured self-reported religious practices and beliefs. Those lowest in religious practices and beliefs were significantly higher in death anxiety. Contrary to some prior research, depth of belief had a stronger negative association with death anxiety than did religious activities. Strongest relationships had to do with concepts of life after death. The oldest respondents reported the least death anxiety.     

Death Unto Life: The Power of the Incarnation

Black families traditionally print photographs, poems, songs and sayings in funeral programs as a tribute to the deceased. These artistic expressions, which are part of the black funeral tradition, communicate a theology of death and the afterlife. Yet, the contributions of black, feminist, womanist and pastoral theologies are conventionally ignored in the development of theologies of death. This essay explores the practical implications of using elements of these theologies—black, feminist, womanist and pastoral—to effectively minister to a person with fears, doubts, and questions, and who is facing death. These theologies reveal that death is not the enemy of the dying person who taps into the power of the Incarnation—the “erotic power” housed in human flesh that overcomes and triumphs over death.     

谈生说死

“生”是自然大化的创造,“死”是自然大化的杰作。古今中外人士及宗教看安乐死,是生还是死,如何生,如何死;由生观死,由死观生,生死相安,这是最佳境界的一种生死大智慧。     

The Confrontation with Death and the Renewal of Life

ABSTRACT: Several writers have argued that a majority of suicidal acts are “gambles with death.” A distinction is made between cases where the gamble with death is merely consequential (i.e., arising from ignorance, apathy, indifference) and cases where it is the very essence of the act. Typically in these latter cases others are excluded from possible intervention. The individual is thus playing a game of “pure” chance. Death is summoned and challenged in order that life may continue. It is argued, from an interactionist perspective, that such acts are desperate efforts to confirm existence in situations of extreme uncertainty and represent a distinct form of what Shneidman has called “egotic” suicide.     

超越死亡的道家生死哲学观

关于生与死的思考铸就了人类哲学的恢弘与博大。中国古代哲学中关于生死之论,不乏智者和睿者,其中道家先哲们以“万物皆一”的开阔视野看待生死,超越了一时一事、一得一失,确立了极具特色的超越死亡、生死存亡一体的生死哲学。并以其丰富的理论内容,深刻的思想内涵,脱俗的不凡见解和独特的美学意境,为中国乃至世界生死哲学理论宝库书写了不可或缺的一笔,对后世产生了极其深远的影响。     

Life and Death Without the Present

The Journal of Ethics - In this paper, I explore the connection between certain metaphysical views of time and emotional attitudes concerning one’s own death and mortality. I argue that one...     

Dreams of Life and Death

This article examines the personal and archetypal aspects of images from six dreams that occurred during the illness and after the death of the dreamer's sister. It connects the dream images to the unresolved issues in the relationship between siblings and to the dreamer's own reflections on typology. It also explores the larger questions concerning the psychological process of grief, the common occurrence of synchronistic events related to death and loss, and includes Jung's comments on life and death. Finally, the article suggests solutions to our very human fears of death and encourages the development of our capacity to discover a personal mythology, a working sacred story, of “the beyond” or “life” after death.     

论陶渊明之生死观

本文认为,陶渊明的人生观表现为任真自得,恬淡高洁;而其死亡观则主要显现为乐天委分,识运知命。对陶渊明生死观的探讨,可以使我们认识到:第一,陶渊明在中国文学史上占有崇高的地位,影响巨大,其生死观对中国传统文化及中华民族也产生了深远的影响。第二、从陶渊明的生死观思想来看,在人生观及死亡观上,各种观念杂陈,前后变化甚大,有着非常复杂的情景。第三、在陶渊明的生死观中,始终存在一种生命与生活的二难紧张,这是理解陶渊明生死观思想的关键所在。     

The Seam Between Life and Death and Therapeutic Presence

This paper will explore the difficulties of treating people in an environment that is intraumatic-where trauma never ends. These circumstances evoke the massive use of primitive defence mechanisms that makes it difficult to work through the horror. I will examine the ongoing relationship between life and death and the clinical meaning of walking the line between them while maintaining it. In the heart of this approach is the paradoxical statement that in order to live you have to maintain the feeling of death. The therapeutic position is not necessarily interpretive but more of holding the infinitive unbearable and enigmatic meaning of death. Questions of setting are raised, especially around meeting a patient outside the therapeutic setting, for instance at the grave.     

Life in Overabundance: Agar on Life-Extension and the Fear of Death

In Humanity’s End: Why We Should Reject Radical Enhancement, Nicholas Agar presents a novel argument against the prospect of radical life-extension. Agar’s argument hinges on the claim that extended lifespans will result in people’s lives being dominated by the fear of death. Here we examine this claim and the surrounding issues in Agar’s discussion. We argue, firstly, that Agar’s view rests on empirically dubious assumptions about human rationality and attitudes to risk, and secondly, that even if those assumptions are granted, the fears that Agar adverts to are unlikely to dominate people’s lives if and when radical life-extension is made possible. Further, we claim that the structure of the decision-making process around life-extension is unlikely to be the way that it would have to be in order for Agar’s claims about fear of death to make sense. Finally, we argue that Agar is implicitly committed to a narrow conception of human value. In response, we suggest that the pursuit of life-extension can itself be seen as an expression of certain important aspects of our distinctively human nature.     

Considering Life and Death in Psychoanalysis

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis - Psychoanalytic therapy is not supposed to cure man from death, nor to help him forget about it. It is supposed to deal with the soul, and it is up to the...