This week to coincide with the death theme, i attended a symposium which was held by the graphics department. It was entitled 'In the face of Death'. There some really great speakers here and they had some great things to talk about. I'm just going to talk about the ones that caught my attention the most.
Stephen Cave: He was mainly speaking on the things we hold to when we think about death and the end, what beliefs we hold on to. And when someone does bring up the idea of death or has a near death experience, that we cling onto these beliefs even more. Apparently, when we face the fact we are immortal we search for ways to live on, stories, faith. "Put the fear of death in and they'll run to Jesus". He was questioning for something that is so natural to happen to happen to us, and something we see all around us, why and how have we evolved to be so fearful of it. Jorge Luis Borges beautifully writes: "To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal". The 4 things that people turn to are: Elixier, a drink that prolongs your life; Ressurection, heaven or chrigentics; soul, that this will be passed onto somewhere else or into something else; legacy, where people remember.
Dr Death/ Tony Walter then spoke. he was speaking on my death and thy death. We apparently memoralise the dead, we would rather remember them than care for them in the afterlife. People from other cultures have offering of food and money and shrines, whereas we simply remember them e.g. candle, poetry. We have a whole language of memory "At the going down of the sun we will remember them" - apparently this is very protestant. He stated that through grief and loss, love continues beyond the grave and is a mortality strategy.
Stephen Cave: He was mainly speaking on the things we hold to when we think about death and the end, what beliefs we hold on to. And when someone does bring up the idea of death or has a near death experience, that we cling onto these beliefs even more. Apparently, when we face the fact we are immortal we search for ways to live on, stories, faith. "Put the fear of death in and they'll run to Jesus". He was questioning for something that is so natural to happen to happen to us, and something we see all around us, why and how have we evolved to be so fearful of it. Jorge Luis Borges beautifully writes: "To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death; what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal". The 4 things that people turn to are: Elixier, a drink that prolongs your life; Ressurection, heaven or chrigentics; soul, that this will be passed onto somewhere else or into something else; legacy, where people remember.
Dr Death/ Tony Walter then spoke. he was speaking on my death and thy death. We apparently memoralise the dead, we would rather remember them than care for them in the afterlife. People from other cultures have offering of food and money and shrines, whereas we simply remember them e.g. candle, poetry. We have a whole language of memory "At the going down of the sun we will remember them" - apparently this is very protestant. He stated that through grief and loss, love continues beyond the grave and is a mortality strategy.