Escaping the Inevitable
ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Modern Culture and Death: The Last Inescapable Reality.
“In wartime, not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever.” -Screwtape, from C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters.
“Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back.” -Commodus, from the movie Gladiator
“The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live.” -Joan Borysenko
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” -The Apostle Paul, in Philippians 1:20-21(NIV)
In all my railings against modern culture, which is one of my favorite pastimes, I have neglected, it seems to me, one of the most fundamental things behind all of the hubris and irrationality of postmodernity. In all my complaining against the egocentrism, moral relativism, subjectivism, irresponsible humanism and general godlessness of our times, I neglected to ask a foundational question.
Every action has an ideology which fosters it. Every action has a motivation, however unconscious. No one, despite the claim often made, does something for "no reason." We all have our reasons for what we do. So when it comes to our modern culture, what are the motivations for why we do what we do? Why do we worship youth and jettison our older people? Why are the aged so ignored? (In Eastern cultures, for example, the elderly are revered for their contributions and their wisdom. Where is that equivalency in Western culture? The nursing home? The cancer ward? The retirement community?) Why are we so infatuated with youth culture and their icons? Why do we care about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline? Honestly, why do we care? What is it about middle age that causes the "mid-life crisis" so often talked about among people in their 40’s and 50’s?
Let me reframe the question:
What are we so afraid of?
The answer: We fear death.
We fear it like darkness fears the morning. Why?
We know from the many cultural cliches, that death is simply a part of life. [Insert your own cliche about death here.]
But do we believe it? I’ve been to many funerals, and I’ve watched people at funerals. I’ve written before on how the beliefs people demonstrate when someone they love dies are truly brought to bear. I’ve watched purportedly Christian people go beyond grief to something else when someone dies. It certainly isn’t Christian doctrine informing that behavior–to the Christian, death is to go home to the Lord. What is informing it? The answer, it seems to me, is culture.
We do worship youth. We do fear old age. We do pack as much life as we can into our days. We do try to extend life as long as we can, even after the point of it making sense to do so. (Brief caveat: I think life is given by God, and it isl, in one sense, necessary to respect the life which God has placed in us, I’m not arguing for euthanasia here.) But why is modern medicine so obsessed with making life longer and curing diseases like cancer, heart disease, etc.
There was a time when being 50 was considered old. Now, if someone dies before they turn 70, we talk as though they’ve been robbed of something that was their possession and their right. I’m not saying that it is wrong to live a long time either, or that medicine should just give it up already. I’m not interested today in the activity, but in the ideology that makes the activity possible.
Let me tell you what I think.
I think we fear death. We fear the questions it makes us ask. We fear the answers more than the questions themselves. With the increasingly secular spirit Western culture has adopted, the question of what comes after this three-score-and-ten is too profound to consider. If the secular humanists and atheists are right, and there is no God, there is nothing. Death is an ending. It is the end of everything, and our organic material decomposes. When there is no metaphysical, and no mind, and no soul, then we are left with only this seventy or so years, and there are good reasons to fear death. No matter how stoicly an atheist tells you they are ready to die, they live as though they must cram in all they can to their lives. They have to, because of their ideology. The belief creates a drive to succeed, to experience, and to invest only in this life. Our entire modern culture reflects this near-panic level striving to fill life with goodness: there is nothing more after this–this is all you get.
But if we are in Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. While the atheist spurns our faith in what we cannot see on the lack of empirical proof, we have hope that the passing from this life to the next is not simply a vain delusion, Marx’s anaesthesia. We believe that God, the author of life, omnipotent and sovereign, calls people back to him, and death is simply getting your ticket to the next life stamped. When God takes a life, it is his to give back. And so we needn’t fear death. And for the belief that there is life after death, we are scorned as antiques. Don’t we know that this is all we get? Why would we waste time worshiping a figment of our imaginations when we could spend time revelling in ourselves and in this time? The answer returns from the empty silence of modern graveyards: This is not all there is. As Hosea writes, "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?
Are you avoiding the obvious today? Are you trying to escape the inevitable? Does your life reflect your beliefs? The way we answer this question is fundamental to so much else. It is worth considering. One day, all of us will die and be forgotten. Does your life have meaning apart from this moment?
And now, in anticipation of the criticism from certain quarters, here is the question that this entry, from a atheistic framework, begs: What proof do we have that anything at all exists beyond this life? What proof do we have that God exists, or that even if he does, God is what we think he is (e.g. omnipotent, creator, sovereign…) ad nauseam. I know it’s coming. And that’s ok.
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Actually, I don’t really disagree with anything that you’ve stated hear. There is far more ‘reason,’ based on conflicting ideologies, for an atheist to fear death than someone who believes in a comforting afterlife of some sort. Of course, for me, there’s nothing about death per se, as the termination of experience, to fear except perhaps a painful and drawn-out one.
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That’s an admirable (and stoic) position to take about it, Atheist, and one that makes sense given your framework. You’re authentic to what you say you believe, and that’s laudable. This is in fact all there is, according to your framework, and so there is no sense in denying the cold hard facts of existence. Our sensory experiences of this world cease, and we expire.
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The question I then have to ask as a theist is: Are you sure this is all there is? How you answer that question is of profound experience, especially if the person asking it is a theist (which I am). It is at this juncture where the much maligned Pascal’s wager applies, but notes are not a good place to discuss the subtleties of Pascal. It will wait. Thanks for the response, Atheist.
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I agree with An Atheist on this one–I fear the experience of death (much like I fear childbirth) but I don’t fear the nothingness that comes after death. In fact, for me that’s a bit comforting. What saddens me is what if, just maybe, possible, if if if we are correct and theists are wrong…well, then you’re wasting your life by not making the most of it and counting on this borrowed
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afterlife time. But again, its your life to waste or use as you see fit.
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“Are you sure this is all there is?” As sure as I am of anything else.
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“Are you sure this is all there is?” Based on what I know about the nature of our reality and the nature of biological existence – yes, I am sure that this is all that there is. Not closed-minded, but confident. As Michael Shermer says when asked if he believes in an afterlife: “I am for it.”
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I appreciate your concern, Aard. But, in my case, my faith has enriched this life too. So, I haven’t really wasted anything. My capacity to love and be loved, to experience joy (as opposed to happiness alone), my appreciation for life, and hundreds of other factors are actually augmented by my faith. If, as you suggest, atheists are right and there is no God, I’m still not out anything.
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For me, the afterlife promised by the Bible is a bonus feature of the working God (or whatever the atheist would call my experience with the numinous) has already done in me. According to my faith, Jesus did not ask His followers to stop living here, but to live more fully, and more abundantly. Then, after this life is past, we get the additional bonus of the eternity.
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There is not even the slightest trace of escapism in my faith. While I do look forward to the afterlife I am fully convinced awaits me, I do not look forward to it at the expense of this life either. I quite enjoy my little niche in this world, and the opportunity to discuss and reason and love and live. As I say, even if I’m wrong, I don’t think I’m out anything.
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And now, in response to Atheist’s statement, I have another question: You’ve said you’re willing to accept the possibility that there may be a life after this one, but that you’re fairly certain there isn’t one. I understand your position. The question I have to then ask is: What kind of proof would you be willing to accept as support for the existence of an afterlife?
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“What kind of proof…” That’s really difficult for me to answer because I am not sure what such proof would even look like or consist of. Mediums (for example) have long claimed to have “proof” of an afterlife by their alleged ability to converse with the deceased. But these people never really give us any extraordinary info. that couldn’t have been gleaned through easier methods.
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So it really depends. If the deceased have no way to communicate back to the living in any way, and if there is no other way to “detect” their non-bodily existence, then I am at a loss at figuring out how one could go about “testing” for an afterlife. Some have claimed that Near-Death Experiences are proof, but these experiences can be induced through naturally occuring drugs.
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Additionally, with regards to NDEs, it’s not even possible to determine whether or not the experience is happening while the person’s brain is still active or not, because all one has is the person’s testimony after the fact.
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And what if ‘theists’ are right. What if there is a heaven and a hell and what if only those who have a relationship with Christ go to heaven and the others go to hell? Ardvark, being in your boat I think I would err on the side of caution, don’t you? I mean the only difference in your ‘afterlife’ and mine (a christian) is that there’s no relationship involved in yours. I really think…
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…that’s a small price to pay when the othere option is spending eternity in hell – the absolute worst/agonizing place that you can think of times 100. Just give it a thought, well, a deep thought :).
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Ambassador4Christ – And what if ‘muslims’ are right. What if there is a heaven and a hell and what if only those who acknowledge Allah as God and Muhammed as his messenger, and deny the trinity, go to heaven and the others go to hell? Believers who pander Pascal’s Wager tend to forget that it’s not a choice betweeen a specific Christianity and unbelief.
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Well… Regarding Pascal’s wager…Pascal DOES solicit a specific faith in Jesus Christ, and the Pensees is Pascal’s apologetic for the value of faith. His anthropological argument is extremely interesting, and “the wager” proper springs from that. So, Pascal does solicit a particular Christian faith. As for what Ambassador suggests, I don’t think it’s really the wager at all.
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It is certainly an argument related, but the wager as it springs from Pascal’s writings is much less cut and dried than it has been caricatured as. Doug Groothuis’s book, On Pascal, outlines the wager and the many misinterpretations of it very clearly, and in this instance, I’ll defer to him.
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“As for what Ambassador suggests, I don’t think it’s really the wager at all.” It is a wager, if not Pascal’s then “Ambassador’s Wager.”
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Thanks for your recent notes on the Wal-Mart affair. It’s genuinely frustrating to be labeled as “enemies of Christmas” when all that we ask for is a bit more tolerance and recognition that this is a pluristic society. It is, after all, our America 🙂
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RYN: Answer any of the questions in this entry: http://www.opendiary.com/entryview.asp?authorcode=A446391&entry=20120&mode= If you prefer “God did it” just substitute that for ID in the question. Either way I’d like you to try it.
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