Lecture Notes, Lecture All Lectures - Mrs. Anne Vallely. PDF

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Did not miss any classes. Teacher was Anne Vallely....

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2016-01-13 Death & guilt  Deathbed guilt over not living enough – extremely common Is the terror of death the origin of religion? 2016-01-18 Religious Traditional  Suffering and death = meaningful  Rite of passage Contemporary Materialist  Suffering and death = Annihilation  Age of anxiety  End of meaning  Cult of youth/ fear of aging/ devaluation of elderly o No elders can show us how to live or die Modernity  Defined in opposition to the supernatural/ the invisible  Rejection of the spiritual/supernatural o Rejection of metaphysics/ reign of physics Modernity Characterized  Scientific materialism o Copernicus (1473-1543) – earth no longer stationary an immovable entity, but spinning and circling the Sun; no longer the centre of the universe, but a mere planet. o Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) – What is real?  Our minds shape our understandings of reality  Phenomena – that which we can know (by our senses)  Noumena – the “thing in itself”; no access to this; it is outside our knowledge  Paved the way for triumph of physics over metaphysics. o Charles Darwin (1809-1882)  Evolutionary theory of Natural Selection challenged ideas of human exceptionalism.  Metaphysical eliminationism o Not believe in the metaphysical Mircea Eliade, (1907-1986)  Religious Studies scholar  Modern Westerners don’t live in a cosmos; we live in history  We emphasize Self-Actualisation  Our purpose and meaning is no longer given; we need to create it ourselves. 2016-01-22 Primal Peoples

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Non-objectified world o Living in a particular cosmos; meaningful cosmos; everything signifies something Nothing outside of consciousness, everything is conscious. o Cosmos is meaningful, death is meaningful o Natural world is infused with “spirit”; “Mother Earth”/Sacred World Ancestors/ continued relationship with spirit through visions, dreams. Animist = perspectivist/ anima = animating principle/ soul o Whatever possesses a soul = a subject o A subject has a point of view or “perspective” o All animated life has the capacity of conscious intentionality and agency Cree round dance used to commune with the dead.

Theories about the origin of religion  Beginning in the 18th century Enlightenment o The emergence of a great numbers of theories to explain its existence.  Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) o Religion as a form of neurosis; should give way to reason and science o God as an illusion, based on the infantile need for a powerful father figure.  Karl Marx (1818-1883) o Religion offers an illusory, displaced happiness for real suffering. o Suffering has meaning? = sinister and self-serving idea, used by powerful to maintain status quo. o For Marx, religion emerges from social inequalities, not from death anxiety.  E.B. Tylor, Father of Anthropology (1832-1917) o Religion emerged from primitive humanity’s ignorance o Confusion over dreams + fear of dead bodies = led to theories of souls.  Ernest Becker, Cultural Anthropologist (1925-1974) o Religion as a response to human existential condition for meaning o Death anxiety is universal’ Religion = potent “immortality device” o The basic motivation for human behaviour is our biological need to control anxiety and deny the terror of death o Culture provides us successful ways to engage in death denial  “Healthy minded” – death anxiety is not natural; results from trauma  “morbidly minded” - death anxiety is universal. Part of self-preservation.  Religion = “experiments in being human” o Religion allows humans to transcend the purely biological functioning physical selves o Symbolic immortality.  Religion = the path to “transcendence” o Enter into something more enduring than our individual selves. 2016-01-29  Religion as death denying? o Connect with something greater than ourselves is a kind of “immortality project”

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Religion has so many themes of death and sacrifice

What kind of creatures are we?  Our minds can soar to the heavens, but we have “feet of clay”  We are conflicted, not just death denying  We are “dyers”, mortals What does the archeological evidence tell us?  In graves (50,000 BCE) are found: o Men with weapons, portions of food and drink o Women with necklaces o Utensils o Facing east o Red ochre/dye = blood? o Pollen/flowers = life? o Fetal position, grave as a womb Human predicament: an absurd fate  Indonesia: The Stone and the Banana o Life is sweet but short, since they chose the banana  West Africa: The Chameleon and the Lizard and Human Mortality o Chameleon took a break so the lizard reach humans first, therefore we are mortal  Melanesia: Grandmother puts back on her old skin o Because she put her skin back on we all die Ancient Egypt  3rd millennium BCE (Old Kingdom  “obsession with death”  mummified corpses  Egyptian Book of Dead o Guide individuals on passage to the other world o Guide book for immortality o Magic spells to be spoken + amulets to carry along journey  Pyramids as burial grounds of pharaohs (Gods on earth)  Stocked with everything they would need in afterlife  Osiris o Lord of the Underworld and fertility o Osiris murdered by brother Set; dismembered. Tossed into the Nile o Isis (wife/sister) gathers up body parts. Unites them all, except his phallus which fetilises the Nile o Regent of the underworld responsible for life on earth o Responsible fertility of the Nile river o Judges the dead by weighing their hearts against a feather  Mummification: first for nobility; later became available of commoners

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All internal organs removed except the heart Anubis, guardian of the dead Weighed against a feather; light (with no sins) = eternal life o If failed = devoured by Ammut, Eater of the Dead

Ancient Greeks  Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (epic battle that ends the Heroic age)  Usually dated c. 800 BCE  Highlights difference between mortals and immortals  We are “thanatoi” (dyers)  Iliad “a poem of death” o Central theme is the reality of death and its implication for human existence o Paradox of “kléos” (warrior’s glory) that can only be had through death.  Why fight? o We have to prove something/ accomplish something o We can gain glory; the immortal gods cannot o Envy of the gods? Yes  Odysseus o Great warrior hero o Survives the battle against Troy o Many adventures on his way home to his wife o Calypso offers Odysseus immortality o He doesn’t want it  Myth of Tithonus o Curse of immortality o The Goddess of dawn (Eos) fell in love with a mortal, Tithonus. Captured him o Persuaded Zeus to make him immortal. But forgot to ask that he stay young.  Epic of Gilgamesh in Babylonia o Sumerian King of Uruk, Gilgamesh o 2/3 god; 1/3 Man o Arrogant o He and Enkidu offended the gods (killed Bull of Heaven)  Enkidu dies and he becomes inconsolable. Becomes terrified of his own death. o Earliest work of literature o Seeks Utnapishtim (a man who was made immortal by the gods) Death and Fertility See slide 2016-02-11 Judaism (missed class, see borrowed notes)  Covenantal relationship with God

 Strong themes of death/fertility  Strict Monotheism Christianity  Began as a Jewish movement  Maccabeen Jewish control 142-63 BCE  Rome conquers Palestine in 63 BCE  Variety of Jewish movements (Sadducees, Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots, etc.)  Christianity began as a small Jewish apocalyptic, messianic movement.  1st century CE  followers believe Jesus is the anticipated messiah o Crucified by Roman occupying force (c. 33 CE)  The crucifix becomes the symbol of Christianity  His death is central in Christianity (defeat death through death) o He “conquers death” o Jesus transcends flesh and time o The triumph of the spirit o Jesus saves humankind from sin through his death on the cross out of His love.  Sacrifice is emphasized  Death through Adam, Life through Jesus  By 4th century, largely a Gentile (non-jewish) religion.  Paul the Apostle, a jew dedicated to the persecution of the Christian community. Resurrected Jesus appeared to him, he was blinded for 3 days and his eye-sight was restored  Eucharist – From death to life Abrahamic Traditions: Idiom of Sin & Disobedience  Covenantal relationship with God  Death is due to sin/disobedience  Heaven and Hell are the results of one’s relationship to God’s path/to God. Dharmic Traditions  Hindu, Jaina, Buddhist  Dharma = duty, socio-cosmic law, the path, the way, ‘religion’  All existence follows a dharma (animals, plants, humans, etc.)  Souls are eternally immortal  Death is due to ignorance Hindu Dharma  Cosmos o A closed-circuit system o Death & regeneration of life o Gods & Goddesses are part of the system o Ultimate goal: Moksha; to escape the cycle  Many creation myths o Creation out of a sacrifice o Creation out of a cosmic dance

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o Many more creation myths God (Brahman) communicates with us through the manifest world o The world is animate, intentional, and informed by spiritual presences. Sacrifice as central religious act of early Hinduism (Vedic tradition) 1200 BCE o Offering is made to “Agni” (God of Fire) Cremation as sacrifice o Sacrifice as cosmogonic acts o Recall creation myth of sacrifice o Sacrifice is a re-creation of cosmos; a renewal of time o Agni is always present at sacrifices; the same Agni who is present on the cremation pyre. o The body is transformed, through fire, into proper offering. o No cremation in case of…  Pregnant women who dies  Child deaths  Diseased individuals (small pox, leprosy)  Sannyasi (renouncers) – already pure, “died to society”  Because…  Cremation is an offering which becomes the source of new life.  These deaths cannot be considered offerings or self-sacrifices  An effigy will later be cremated; otherwise the spirit will not be able to move on  No effigy for ascetic who has transcended cycle of birth and death Shrâddha (post-funeral rites) o Passage of spirit to ancestor (preta to pitri) o 10-12 days after cremation; Pindas = rice balls, to create a temporary body for the deceased. 1 pindas will be eaten over a 10-12-day period.  Chief mourner takes on role of the ascetic (celibate, shaved head)  Tapasya (heat of asceticism) helps generate a body  Sapindikarana – on the last day a bigger rice ball is divided into 3 and added to the ancestors (honoring of 3 generations) o Pitri Paksha: annual celebration for the well being of the ancestors The good death o Is to abandon one’s body at the right time o Not prematurely The bad death o Inopportune, unplanned Homology (connection) between body and cosmos o World’s eventual annihilation by fire & water will be a necessary prelude to its recreation. o In the same way, the deceased is cremated and ashes immersed in water so that s/he is reborn o = rejuvenation from destruction

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Aghori (“fearless”) Ascetics o Incarnate the Lord of Destruction + Regeneration o Aghoris seeks to transcend the dualities of existence. o Seeks concrete experience of the identity of opposites.

2016-02-23 Stacie Swain; “Critical Religion: An Introduction and Application to the Study of Death”  “Religion” is a problematic concept to define + usually highly political  Who gets to define what is and what is not religion?  “Religion” as a concept denoting a realm of private experience separated from politics, economics, science = is a modern Western concept.  CR: discourse analysis of scholarly and political uses of the term to reveal its political, ideological underpinnings.  What counts as “religious phenomenon”? o Phenomenology = branch of philosophy that asks very rudimentary questions: what kind of beings are we? o What type of beings are human beings? o Human Beings widely concerned with a reality taken to surpass the ordinary world taken to surpass the ordinary world revealed by the senses. (populated by god[s] and/or metaphysical principle) and who live in a reciprocal relationship with this reality. Andrew Pump; “Derrida, Death & Religion”  Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) – French philosopher and deconstructionism  Interrogated Western philosophical tradition to reveal its underbelly; to reveal that which it marginalizes  Binaries/ dualism  “The Question of the Animal” explores the Human/Animal dichotomy in Western thought.  And ethical bond with non-human resides in our shared finitude  “gift of death” o Our vulnerability generates a moral response to each other (other living beings) o Conceptual thought can never know what it is to be dead. o We know it through the death of others o We are indebted to the other for this “gift of death”  We have a blindness to what our conceptual life is o Concepts grasp at a reality that is ungraspable o Derrida’s language is often enigmatic  Photographs: where life & death are joined o All photos are haunted o “photos are reproducible in our absence” o when photos are taken we already know they will be shown in the future, when we are gone. 2016-03-04

The Death of Ivan Ilyich = The Bad Death  Tolstoy describes Ivan as: “most simple and commonplace – and most horrifying”  Petty, frivolous, trivial man (judge)  Hanging curtains – falls… Becomes ill: ego-rage, abject terror. Death happens to others, not to him.  We begin to sympathize with Ivan.  Pain of disease and slowly awakening consciousness  He never considered his own death/inarticulate about his own death  Excruciating detail  Masterpiece; most celebrated death in literature  No authentic, loving relationships. His most real relationship is with pantry boy Gerasim. o Gerasim was not repulsed by death.  The realization that he did not live well.  At the end, accepts that his life was not authentic.  Ivan Ilyich never thought about his own death  Completely inarticulate about his own death  Everyone conspired in this “lie”; only talked about his intestine, kidney (only talked about his body) … 2016-03-07 Guest Speaker: Professor Angela Sumegi Buddhism and Death  Siddhartha (the Prince who will become the Buddha) comes across the four sights o An old person o A sick person o A corpse o A holy person or a renunciate (samana)  First time he sees the human condition  He leaves his palace, exchanges his luxurious robes for rags and cuts his hair. Joins ascetics. But does not find what he is looking for.  Period of fastening, where he almost dies. Still no enlightenment.  Sitting under a tree meditating, he attains nirvana or enlightenment. “Shakyamuni Buddha”  Died at the age of about 80 years old.  Death of the Buddha – Parinirvana (death means rebirth in Buddhism)  Nirvana – means ‘blown out’ or extinguished but translated as “awakening” or “enlightenment” and can be attained in life  Parinirvana means further nirvana and refers to the death of an enlightened one  “Decay is inherent in all component things! Work out your salvation with diligence!” Buddha’s last words  Stupa – Buddhist reliquary and funerary monument for great persons – 2 nd century India  3 realisations to come to when contemplating death o death is certain o the time and occasion of death is uncertain

o spiritual practice is the only protection at death and beyond. 2016-03-07 According to Jenkinson: the “wretched anxiety” at time of death is connected with this: we fear we will be forgotten as we have forgotten our ancestors; fear of annihilation  We are “orphans”; our culture is “inauthentic”; we live in ignorance of the debts we owe.  We live in history not in a cosmos, we celebrate novelty and youth. Self-Actualization.  We live in a death phobic society, where old age is feared = loss of autonomy and control  Old become socially dead. Locked away in old age homes.  Anthropology of aging o In non-industrialized countries, aging was associated with authority/prestige o Especially significant for women o In youth: association with sexuality/fertility. The body is at centre of duty/roles/identity.  Lots of restrictions (e.g. modesty) o With age, de-sexualisation: more autonomy. o Increased spiritual authority/power.  Grief – a natural response to loss, especially of a loved one, involving emotional suffering o Grief goes hand in hand with gratitude o Know how death nourishes us = walk with grief o “grief is a skill” o Emphasizes importance of maintaining ongoing connections with “what came before us”  Animal grief o Empathy? Sorrow among animals? o It looks like grief. o Researchers divided. Simply adaptive responses?  Attachment theories o World of Bereavement = Need to learn to accept loss and build new attachments o John Bowlby: numbing, yearning & searching, disorganization, reorganization o Lindemann’s grief work = emancipation from the bondage of attachment to the deceased o Rando: recognize, react, recollect, readjust, relinquish and reinvent.  Freud 1856-1939 o Mourning a process during which the bereaved comes to accept the loss and form new attachments 2016-03-23 Guest Speaker Dr. S. Chambers – Euthanasia or dying with dignity. The Terry Schiavo Case  Schindler’s – absolutist  Schiavo – idealist – quality of life 2016-03-30  Grief (continued) o Physician-assisted suicide 

Moral complexity Documentary explore Oregon’s “Death with Dignity Act” BBC documentary “Between Life and Death”  Deals with grief + ethical issues surrounding life and death choices  Explores complexities involved in measuring “quality of life” and “human dignity” o Grief work, cross culturally  1. Communal/Public signs of mourning  2. Ongoing, albeit changed, relationship with the deceased  3. The living have important work to do for the deceased o Grief Work in our contemporary culture  1. Emancipation from the bondage of attachment to the deceased  2. Work on repairing and building new attachments Philippe Ariès, historian (d. 1984) o Studied death and mourning in Western world from medieval period until present. o 11th-18th: death was common, shared, public rituals or mourning, “tame” o c.18th to present: invisible, individuated, no communal rituals of mourning: “anxiety ridden”. Grief in contemporary society o Hidden, unpredictable, guilt-ridden, isolated, “wild” o Grief is “a downer”; embarrassing o Keep it to yourself/public displays are tabooed C.S. Lewis (d. 1963) o A powerful phenomenology of grief o Book describes C.S. Lewis’s experiences of anger, isolation, loneliness, guilt, ‘embarrassment’ o Consolations of religion?  What is this?  CS Lewis rejects this idea. Why?  According to Freud, religion “infantilizes” us  Religion “consoles” us o A Grief Observed  One of most important literary personalities of c20th  A very “contemporary” book  Went from being an ardent atheist to devout Christian  Raw true-to-life  Description of grief as “fear”, “suspense”  World is “boring”, “shabby”  He rages at God, the Vivisector/Cosmic, Sadist/Dentist?  CS Lewis ridicules this idea of “getting over” grief  Grief = an amputation, which he will live with   

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At end of book, he writes about “joy in marriage” between dead and living o Grief Work  “Life that doesn’t end with Death” – TedTalk with Kelli Swazey  Tana Toraja in eastern Indonesia. o Indigenous peoples  Connections with ancestors continues  E.g. Cree Round Dances during which spirits return  Spirits can return to the living through mediums, visions, in dreams, etc. o Strict Monotheism of Abrahamic traditions “mediates” relationship with dead  Prayer is not “to” the dead but “for the dead”  Pray to God to help deceased. o Judaism  Tearing of the garment  “Sitting Shiva” (7 days after burial): strict observances  30 days: gradual reintegration  1 year of ongoing practices of mourning while individual fully reintegrates into society. o Modernity and its underbelly  Modernity = the absence of the supernatural/the invisible  NO ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DEAD 2016-04-12 Tibetan Book of the Dead and Near Death Experience o Similarities?  Encounter with bright light  Encounter with beings  Life review  Consciousness more primordial than body o Quantum physicist Amit Goswami thinks the Tibetan book of the Dead might be correct… o Consciousness is the ground of being o NDEs reveal consciousness to be “non local” Raymo...