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Existential and Humanistic Approaches to Death

will be judged. Because man has been taught that he is sinful, he will most probably have to suffer for some indefinite length of time directly following his death.

In Hinduism there are several variants of the afterlife and the soul's role in it (Long, 1975). The Upanishads teach that the self departs through some aperture of the body, leaving behind lifeless matter. It then enters upon a rebirth cycle, which continues until the self realizes its oneness with the Universal Self. At that time it enters a state of physical and spiritual liberation. The Gita has a slightly different outlook on the soul's doings after leaving the body. There is not a stressed doctrine of rebirth. Instead, "death is conquered and mortality is achieved by identifying oneself with the personal, all-knowing, all-loving God, Vishnu (in the form of Krishna) in the spirit of faith and in strict obedience to his will."

Buddhism also contains several doctrines concerning the condition of the self after death. Basically, each birth is seen as a rebirth - which may have occurred directly following death or a set number of days thereafter, depending on one's particular beliefs. At any rate, the human self is known to be a shifting consciousness, composed of the passing impressions of moments. The "imagined 'self' who thinks in terms of 'I' and 'mine' does not survive from one moment to the next and hence, does not transmigrate." Death to the Buddhist is inevitable and to be faced peacefully. It may lead to Nirvana or to rebirth.

One of the great virtues of the traditional religious approaches to death has been that they tend to bring the living together around the dying, and to help the survivors to overcome the pain of separation through death. For instance, the Jewish tradition (Heller, 1975) brings families and friends together with the dying person. It "confronts death directly and specifically views the period of terminal illness . . . a...

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Existential and Humanistic Approaches to Death. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 11:24, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1682220.html