The phenomenal growth of modern medicine and its curative prowess in the 21st century has not only lent it full custodianship of our health and ill health, but also of our death and dying. And yet medicine does not seem to be able to adequately address the existential suffering that invariably accompanies illness, frailty, death and dying. Perhaps the challenge posed by advanced serious illness and death is much larger than the scope of modern medicine, and beyond the pale of our technology induced prowess to sufficiently answer. In the face of death, life seems to be asking us a fundamental question, and we are obliged to answer it. Why do we die? What is the purpose of death? This article reflects upon these fundamental questions in life.

Death is psychologically as important as birth. Implicit in the advances of modern medicine, has been the vilification of death. It is an “enemy” to be defeated, not something to engage with deeply. In a profoundly materialistic culture, with its emphasis on the tangible, the physical and the body, death is exiled. And yet, death is a certainty. It is integral to life. Instinctively, we are aware of its inevitability, and yet have little interest in engaging with it. Regardless of our intellectual position, whether we view of death as a full stop or lights out, or place our faith in mythical archetypes or religious pedagogy, I argue that an engagement with the philosophical premise of death, its purpose and value in our life is central.

I propose two suggestions to answer the question what is the purpose of death? This blog examines the first suggestion about the purpose of death:

Death as Regeneration- Death is a facilitator of life

By design, birth and death are juxtaposed in a cosmic dance. Death is the mechanism of disintegration and dissolution of what is born. Birth and growth uninhibited by the process of decay and disintegration, is a core causal factor of malignant bio-physiology. In the absence of the innate balance brought about by disintegration and death, life cannot bear expression to its nature as a flow of forms through time and space. In other words, life is enabled by death.

Death enables the flow of life with its constant diverse and multiple forms, finding itself in its rapturous flow. Death facilitates renewal, within individuals as well as collectively within societies, nations and civilisations. When a death occurs, people can report that there is anappreciation of life, a call to living it more vividly and fully. This is sometimes consolidated into new habits of living more deliberately, i.e. with a receptivity and sensitivity to the present moment, rather than routinely from old mental frameworks and habits. The dissolution of old forms – physical, mental, emotional- inspires birth of new and higher levels of consciousness. Bereaved individuals may experience changes in the way they understand themselves, their existence as mortal human beings and, their connection to something transcendent (1). Literature on post traumatic growth in family caregivers after the death of a loved one has been consistent in its findings over the last several decades (2,3).

The mechanism of death is disruptive. The lived experience of the pain of losing a loved one can initiate a process of re-examination of the key elements of our assumptive world (4). The greater the disruption to the assumptive world, the greater the motivation for enquiry, motivating plasticity in one’s mental, emotional and even physical states (5). Life thus continues to flow and create newer and higher forms facilitated by death as the dissolving agent.

Death is therefore salvific and regenerative. Nature with its changing seasons represents the flow of life. With birth and death harmoniously aligning to create ever newer cycles of evolution in consciousness.

References: