Healthy and Unhealthy Reactions

1. Chapter 4 Healthy and Unhealthy Reactions

2. Staring Death in the Face • TV and modern forms of communication have brought us face-to-face with death. • Ex: Nightly news, TV shows, movies, Obituaries, Memorial websites • Media overexposure of death numbs us.

3. Response One: Death is Final • What people believe often determines how they respond to suffering and death. • View of some philosophers who believed that death was final, that there is no life after death. • Some of these philosophers believed in God; others were atheists.

4. Socrates (470-399 B.C.) The Death of Socrates (1787) French painter Jacques-Louis David Neoclassical era Plato, Socrates’ greatest student, seen at the foot of the bed.

5. Socrates: Death is not to be Feared • Approached death with dignity and courage. • Considered the role model of ArsMoriendi, the art of dying. • His belief in God’s goodness and justice led him to overcome all fears about death. • “The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding wickedness; for that runs faster than death…It is always better to die than do evil.”

6. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) • German philosopher (Atheist) • Believed dying is one thing no one can do for another. • Because we die alone, the reality of death gives us a sense of individuality and uniqueness. • The important thing is to face death as final and take possession of it. • “As soon as we are born, we are old enough to die.”

7. Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) • French philosopher (Atheist) • Death is absurd. • The soul is not immortal; after death, there is only nonbeing. • Death is something we can never understand or control. • Death deprives people of their full potential. • “I am free to make meaning of my life, despite my mortality…We must make sense out of life while we have it.”

8. Karl Japers (1883-1969) • German philosopher • Defined death as the fulfillment of life. • Human life belongs to a larger cycle of birth, growth, decline, and death. • Not based on a belief in God or an afterlife, but on an understanding of the material universe.

9. Response Two: Death as a Way Out • Some people embrace death as a way out of their problems; they end up committing suicide. • The Jews considered suicide to be a violation of the 5th Commandment—”You shall not kill.” • Accounts of suicide in the Bible: • Saul (Old Testament) • Ahithophel (Old Testament) • Judas Iscariot (New Testament)

10. St. Thomas Aquinas on Suicide • Refined the Church’s thinking on suicide, saying that it is wrong for 3 reasons: 1. it violates the instinct to love oneself and to preserve one’s own life. 2. it is an offense against society since it deprives the community of one of its rightful members 3. it is a crime against God, who alone has power to give and take away life.

11. Suicide Statistics • In 2008, it was the 10th leading cause of death in the United States (34,598 deaths). • The overall rate was 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people (National Institute of Mental Health)

12. Suicides according to Gender

13. Men More at Risk….Why?? • Few Reasons: • Reluctant to discuss their emotional state • Do not seek help when they need it. • Societal pressures to conform to maleness. • Less likely to think things through.

14. Suicide by Age Group

15. Stereotypes of Suicides #1—Only the rich or very poor commit suicide #2—The desire to commit suicide is inherited #3—People who commit suicide are mentally ill #4—Most suicides occur around Christmas #5—Suicidal people want to die and there is little that can be done about it. #6—People who talk about suicide will not commit it.

16. Warning Signs of Suicide • Mood swings, emotional outbursts, aggressive behavior • Ongoing depression, loss of interest • Drop in grades or work performance • Increased use of alcohol or other drugs • Giving away important possessions

17. Response Three: Death as Self-Sacrifice • For some people, death is the ultimate expression of love—a way to express belief in a noble cause, a sense of patriotic duty, or a religious ideal. • Death that is motivated by the love of God and others is known as an altruistic death. • Ex; Oscar Romero, Maximilian Kolbe, Jean Donovan • Then there are martyrs—one who voluntarily dies for his or her faith or some Christian principle.

18. Response Three: Death as Self-Sacrifice • In the Bible, we see many examples of sacrifice; • Samson • Jesus Christ • Modern-day society offers a few examples of people who risked or even sacrificed their lives. • During World War II, Japanese kamikaze pilots • Medical personnel in wars who attend to the wounded. • In our present society, soldiers, firefighters and police officers risk their lives every day to save others.

19. Response Four: Death as the Beginning of New Life • Seeing death as the beginning of new life marks one of the radical differences between Christianity and traditional Judaism. • The apostles, like most Jews of the time, believed that the Messiah would never die. • The apostles came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah; consequently, they believed he could not die.

20. Death as the Beginning of New Life • The resurrection of Jesus is the cornerstone of our Catholic faith. • Because Jesus rose from the dead, Christians believe that death is the beginning of new life. • We no longer need to be afraid of death. It is not final and has no power over us.