Humanity throughout the ages have seen death as something loathsome and gruesome; something dreadful, something preferable to avoid at all cost–that is, if a choice were given–but without any other option, are forced to succumb for lack of any power over its occurrence. Anticipating the termination of life at an unexpected moment and the possible prospect of annihilation of self-identity, humanity views death as a state or condition to be feared. This fear is sustained when all around, most of the dying are seen to seemingly suffer in anguish and in agony in the death process. The fear of death is actually man’s fear of the unknown, and it indicates man’s bondage to his ignorance which ultimately grows into superstitious expressions. Because of the underlying fear, man attempts laboriously to postpone death through medicine and other means; medical science has, however, not yet found a way to prolong life indefinitely–or to ease one’s fears, to offer solace, or to answer profound questions regarding this ancient mystery. Knowing the true nature of death releases man from his bondage to his fears and to the clinging of his varied superstitions pertaining to it. Such knowledge based upon personal experience may be acquired–beliefs to the contrary places an illusory boundary upon the unfolding soul. Alice Bailey, writing for the Tibetan in “A Treatise on White Magic,” refers to man’s fears regarding death:

“The mind of man is so little developed that fear of the unknown, terrors of the unfamiliar, and attachment to form have brought a situation where one of the most beneficent occurrences in the life cycle of an incarnating Son of God is looked upon as something to be avoided and postponed for as long a time as possible.” (1972:494)

We can see from her statement that one of the factors that causes man to struggle against death, is the attachment to form. The identification of the Self with the physical form misleads one into thinking that the dissolution of the physical body results in the annihilation of the Self. Sri Sankaracharya, the eminent exponent of Advaita Vedanta, taught that the deluded mind with its beliefs in the reality of form causes bondage to Maya, or Cosmic Illusion. Philosophically speaking, this is the state of duality, and unless man perceives the One Reality underlying the dualistic worlds, and as his true nature, he lives in fear and in a state of slavery. What is Real cannot be destroyed, what is unreal does not exist apart from our false perception and understanding. This is avidya, or ignorance. To apprehend the true state of things is to be truly liberated from death. One’s consciousness is expanded and raised to a divine estate when Reality is known and death seen for what it really is. What Bailey does not mention is that the soul-process of “death” may be experienced in the meditative state. Mystics call this “dying while living,” and advanced mystics have reached a state where they may predetermine and trigger the time and process of their physical and mystical deaths–these are executed with divine permission. Mystical deaths offers one the opportunity to acquire the beautific vision called Marifatullah by Islamic gnostics. We will not dwell on this mystical aspect in this paper but focus more on the physical side of death and dying.

Before continuing further, let us first provide a definition of the branch of study dealing with death. The study is properly termed, “Thanatology” (from Greek thanatos, “death”). The Encyclopedia Britannica explains it thus:

“. . . the description or study of death and dying and the psychological mechanisms of dealing with them. Thanatology is concerned with the notion of death as popularly perceived and especially with the reactions of the dying, from whom it is felt much can be learned about dealing with death’s approach . . . Generally, psychologists have agreed that there are two overall concepts concerning death that help in understanding the simultaneous processes of living and dying. The “my death versus your death” concept emphasizes the irrational belief that while “your death” is a certainty, an exemption may be made in “my case.” The second concept, “partial deaths versus total extinction” stresses the belief that by experiencing the bereavement following the deaths of friends and relatives, a person is brought as close as possible to realizing “partial death.” These experiences colour the individual’s attitude toward greater personal losses, culminating with the ultimate loss, life itself.

“Thanatology also examines attitudes toward death, the meaning and behaviours of bereavement and grief, and the moral and ethical questions of euthanasia, organ transplants, and life support.”

Thanatology deals with death from various perspectives, from the cultural and anthropological standpoint, the clinical, biological, religious, metaphysical, etc. Death itself is defined in dictionaries as “an extinction of life,” the “ceasing to be.”

Ordinarily, the average person would avoid talking or thinking about death. When chosen as a topic for discussion, for instance, the subject is frequently and promptly relegated to the background of life’s many “evil” necessities and often spoken in hushed tones. Death has always been a taboo subject in unenlightened social circles. Man’s present negative attitude and understanding of the nature of death may cause self-inflicted suffering, torment, and pain. Man’s lack of understanding of the truth of death is mainly the result of a deficiency in the knowledge of spiritual verities, and in an absence of spiritual awareness. Religious doctrines and materialistically-oriented educational systems have inadvertently encouraged man’s negative attitude towards death. They paint horrible conditions of the after-death state, ranging from eternal punishment and torture in fashions exceeding the cruelties and atrocities of the Inquisition, to the materialistic view of nihilism and annihilation. Religion and the academic institutions offer no real comfort or solace to those whose loved ones have faced the great change. The only recourse for individuals seeking a greater understanding of death is by acquiring metaphysical knowledge concerning its nature and by developing a greater awareness of multi-dimensional life; for life simply is, it cannot cease to be. Life is Real and eternal for it is not compounded. Forms are compounded, therefore, they are evanescent. Clinging and being attached to what is temporal, and from the point of view of the Absolute as “illusory,” makes one often feel threatened to life’s varied circumstances.

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In order to be relieved from suffering in the form of bereavement and anguish, humanity as a whole would have to be re-educated as to the true nature of death, its value, its process, and regarding the state of life after the great transition. One’s frame of reference for personal existence has to be expanded to include multi-dimensional worlds, to one’s immortal aspect, and not circumscribed to physical matter. Concomitant to this cleansing process of the mind of its false beliefs and notions concerning death–both the result of social conditioning and brainwashing–there should also be a search, an investigation into the true purpose of life. For to pass through transition not knowing the purpose of one’s personal existence is to have lived in vain. It is said that to die well we must first learn to live well, and this is true, for our negative karma and our wrong attitudes and apprehension of death causally leads us to pain and suffering in the bardo, the death process–of which we will deal in later chapters. For this reason it is incumbent upon us all to embark upon the study of thanatology–the science of death, as understood by metaphysics, to live a worthwhile life, to relieve the sense of suffering, and to efface our misgivings regarding death and the after-death state. Death is simply a transformation, a process analogous to a caterpillar-turned-butterfly through metamorphosis.

Our “fate” and experiences in the afterlife and in the death process are both determined largely by our karma, beliefs, knowledge (or lack of it), purity, righteousness, and understanding of the mission and purpose of our sojourn in the physical plane. Life in this physical dimension should be seen as an opportunity to mature and to liberate oneself from all mortal restrictions even though functioning through an organic vessel. Some people experiencing the vicissitudes and hardships of life often complain that it was not their wish to be born, implying that it was not their wish to live or to be here in this physical world, and yet, in this they contradict themselves by expressing a fear of death, saying that they do not wish to die–implying that they wish to live. Such inconsistencies reflect the state of non-awareness of spiritual realities and verities. Death should be perceived as an initiation into the higher mysteries of Nature. It is thus one of the most important events in one’s spiritual journey. Mastery of one’s life, of one’s lower self, and service to the Higher Intelligences, is the wise preparation for this great initiatory experience.

In ancient cultures, the existence of the afterlife was taken for granted. In former eras there have been concepts or beliefs in the afterlife such as the “Happy Hunting Grounds” “Olympus” and the “Elysian Fields.” The spiritual instincts of early and modern man have always rebelled against the idea of death, and rightly so, for death in reality is non-existent, but the average person is normally unaware and ignorant of this truth, or he chooses to ignore it for

Question by : Which modern philosopher do you life the best?
By modern I mean anybody who is born after 1400 ACE
* life= like….. lol

Best answer:

Answer by Applehunter
Immanuel Kant or John Locke.

What do you think? Answer below!

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (IPA ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhəlm ˈniːtʃə) (Röcken, near Lützen, October 15, 1844 – Weimar, August 25, 1900) was a philosopher, poet, musician and German philologist, considered one of the most influential modern thinkers of the 19th century. He made a thorough critique of the culture, religion and Western philosophy, through the deconstruction of the concepts that comprise them, based on the analysis of moral attitudes (positive and negative) to life. This work profoundly affected generations of theologians, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, poets, novelists and playwrights. He meditated on the consequences of the triumph of the secularism of the Enlightenment, expressed in your comment “God is dead”, in a way that determined the agenda of many of the best-known intellectuals after his death. While some argue that the defining characteristic of Nietzsche is not so much the theme was but the style and the subtlety with which did it, he was an author who introduced, like no other, a worldview which has reorganized the thought of the 20th century, authors such as Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault and Deleuze among others. Nietzsche received recognition during the second half of the 20th century as a significant figure in modern philosophy. His influence was particularly noticeable in the Existentialist critics, phenomenological, Existentialism and postmodern philosophers. He is considered one of the three “masters of suspicion …

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Duties and Delights: The Life of a Go-Between: Interviews with Catherine Portevin (SB-The French List)

Tzvetan Todorov is one of Europe’s leading intellectuals. Beyond his work in cultural and literary theory, philosophy and psychoanalysis, Todorov’s influence is extraordinarily far-reaching specifically because of the clarity of his writing and his refusal to be bound by systems of thought and disciplinary straitjackets.Todorov’s many writings include The Poetics of Prose, The Conquest of America, Mikhail Bakhtin: The Dialogical Principle, Facing the Extreme: Moral Life in the Concentratio

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www.egs.edu Jean-Luc Nancy, French philosopher and author, talking about art, culture and the political. In this lecture, Jean-Luc Nancy discusses the concepts of faith, art, the political, retrieving the political, belief, Pascal’s Wager, and otherness, in relationship to Umberto Eco, and Maurice Blanchot, focusing on Fascism, the political, and democracy. Publiclecture for the students and faculty of the European Graduate School EGS Media and Communication Studies department program Saas-Fee Switzerland Europe 2010 Jean-Luc Nancy. Jean-Luc Nancy (b. 1940, Cauderan, France) is the GWF Hegel Chair at the European Graduate School. Nancy received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1973, writing a dissertation on Immanuel Kant, under the supervision of the esteemed French philosopher, Paul Ricoeur. Shortly following his graduation, Nancy became the ‘maître de conférences’ at the University of Strasbourg. During the following decades Nancy lectured at numerous universities, including the Institut de Philosophie in Strasbourg, Freie Universität in Berlin, and the University of California. In addition to his professorships, in 1980, together with his long-time collaborator Phillipe Lacoue-Labarthe, Nancy organized the infamous Les fins de l’homme conference. Two remarkable and ambitious books emerged from this conference Rejouer le politique (1981) and Le retrait du politique (Retreating the Political, 1997). Later, Nancy and Lacoue-Labarthe founded the Centre for Philosophical …

Question by MichaelJesusJacksonChrist: Which has greater impact on modern life: the atheist Philosophers of ancient Greece or the ancient theologies?

The Philosophers used reason and observation to determine the ‘truth’ about the human condition and reality. Which teachings are still taught in halls of higher learning today?

Best answer:

Answer by moldenke
With the amount of religious people in the world, anything having to do with religion has to have had a greater impact than anything doing with atheism.

Add your own answer in the comments!

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The Monk and the Philosopher: A Father and Son Discuss the Meaning of Life

Jean Francois-Revel, a pillar of French intellectual life in our time, became world famous for his challenges to both Communism and Christianity. Twenty-seven years ago, his son, Matthieu Ricard, gave up a promising career as a scientist to study Tibetan Buddhism -- not as a detached observer but by immersing himself in its practice under the guidance of its greatest living masters.

Meeting in an inn overlooking Katmandu, these two profoundly thoughtful men explored the questions that hav

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read this sidebar please i realized my anger is destructive. i realized i am judging others, and imposing my beliefs on others. i realize that i am hypocritical, and need to develop tolerance. i saw my own faults clearly through an honest exchange with another human being. my raison d’être… i am going to learn to kick box to vent my anger in a more appropriate way. wikipedia.org raison d’être is a phrase borrowed from french where it means “reason for being”; in english use, it also comes to suggest a degree of rationalization, as “the claimed reason for the existence of something or someone”. in the truest sense of raison d’être, french philosophers lay an elaborate roadmap of descriptive text that contrasts the current status of an implementation of a prototypical object with the purist view of perfection that the object should achieve without the hinderance of imperfections. the philosophical roadmap brings to a crecendo the imperative urgency that motivates participants to immediately take the steps necessary to achieve all the intended qualities that an object was designed to exemplify. en.wikipedia.org according to webster rai·son d’ê·tre: reason or justification for existing. dictionary.reference.com schism/tool i know the pieces fit cuz I watched them fall away mildewed and smoldering, fundamental differing, pure intention juxtaposed will set two lovers souls in motion disintegrating as it goes testing our communication the light that fueled our fire then has …
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During his life, George Grant (1918-1988) received many of Canada’s uppermost honours. He was appointed in the direction of the Order of Canada, he was a Fellow of the Royal Society and received its distinguished Chaveau Award, and he was awarded seven honorary degrees by Canadian universities. There are few professors of philosophy, political science, or history who do not know his name. He is included in every important reference book. His most important book, Lament for a Nation, has been named one of the hundred most Canadian books.
In spite of this fame in Canada, Grant is very little known outside his native nation. Why? The simple answer is: He did not much care about being famous and, although he achieved great achievement, his success came since he was a great philosopher, not because he popular success.
That was not because he didn’t know the nature of achievement. Both his grandfathers were extremely eminent Canadians. His paternal grandfather, G.M. Grant (1835-1902), was a Christian clergyman in the Scottish Presbyterian tradition. He rose to national prominence, though as an educator. Canadian knew him as Principal Grant, the head of Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. When he turned its principal in 1877 it was a small, struggling, almost bankrupt college. At his death it was a energetic, financially sound, and academically respected institution. Grant was also a political figure of note. He could count on assured access to the prime minister of the day. His journalism was influential and he was one of the best public orators of his era.
Grant’s maternal grandfather, Sir George Parkin (1846-1922), was also an educator and a significant political figure. Like Principal Grant, he was a superb platform orator and, in the 1880s and 1890s, he traveled widely throughout Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom arguing the case for maintaining close ties between the colonies. In 1896 he became head of the important Canadian private boys school, Upper Canada College, where he implemented progressive educational reforms. He is most well-known for his activities in the period from 1902 to 1920. He was responsible for organizing, setting up and administering the Rhodes Scholarships, and it was for that achievement he was awarded his knighthood.
Grant’s most famous relative was his uncle, Vincent Massey (1887-1967). Massey married Parkin’s eldest daughter. He was Canada’s first Ambassador to the United States, and served as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom for eleven years, including the critical period of the Second World War. However, he is best known as the first native-born Canadian to serve as Governor-General (1952-59). Another uncle was a cabinet minister and a third a famous inventor.
His family was not wealthy but he had a comfortable and privileged upbringing. His father, William Grant (1872-1935) was also headmaster of Upper Canada College. The position brought with it a significant salary, a house, servants, and free education for his son, who grew up with the children of many of the country’s social and economic elite.

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This is my first video in my series on the Philosophy of Science. In this short video, I discuss the importance of scientific hypotheses and how to comparatively evaluate them. Other videos in the series include: Parapsychology – The Pretenders of Science – www.youtube.com Sources: Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn. “How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age.” (Chapter 7 “Science and Its Pretenders”)
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Metaphysics Lesson 4

Metaphysics Lesson 3

Metaphysics Lesson 2

Metaphysics Lesson 1