The study of the concepts of death in various religions prompts additional exploration in me. Naturally, I cannot fit all of the aspects that I find intriguing, but I will mention several of them and try to connect them in a coherent journal entry.
I find it most interesting how human societies tend to come up with the idea of the temporal nature of death due to the cycles of seasons and the day and night that they witnessed continually. In Egypt, for example, the Nile and its flooding that brought fertility to the land of its people was the symbol of resurrection. The life of Egyptians depended on this cycle, and I do not find it surprising that they tended to link the former and the latter and consider them to be similar (Sumegi 1946).
Naturally, Egyptians never saw people become revived, but the issue can be easily resolved by assuming that the alive were not admitted into the land of the afterlife. The Egyptian concept of death can be described as the journey, which was performed by the soul (Ka, Akh, and Ba) of the human being as it was transported to the better world that was ruled by Osiris together with venerable ancestors (Agai 2-7). As a result, Egyptians simply needed to come up with the set of laws that could grant them the admission to this land. These rules, while they were concerned with proper behavior, also placed great emphasis on the magical rituals. As a result, improper burial meant that the soul would not be able to rest in Egyptian peace (Agai 3).
Similarly, the idea of the immortal soul that cannot perish and needs admission to a better world occurred in Christianity and Islam. In Christianity, for example, the central figure that symbolizes resurrection is Jesus. He died, and he was resurrected; moreover, the sincere belief in him is the path towards the resurrection of other humans (Agai 2). The early Christian Church did believe in the idea that the Second Coming would bring all the dead back to live together with their bodies. In fact, this idea was the reason to noticeably less elaborate burial processes of Christians (Agai 1-2).
When compared to the pyramids, Christian funerals are much more modest, but their initial idea of faith being sufficient for the right to live after death caused criticism even among Christians themselves (Agai 2). It is not surprising, therefore, that eventually the faith was complemented by just and fair life. Similarly, such a combination provided good Islamic people with the right to live in the paradise (Moreman 83). Opposed to the paradises of the two religions are their hells meant for those who have only little faith and committed many sins. Thus, the evolution of the concept of death, resurrection, and afterlife provides humans with a “choice” of what they are going to do when they die.
Death in the Eyes of a Child
Death is probably one of the most difficult concepts that a person, nevertheless, has to realize. What is more, this realization typically occurs in childhood, and by the age of ten or twelve, this process is completed, which means that a child perceives the concept of death the way adults do (Colman et al. 1).
What was amazing to find out is that children may begin to express interest in death at the preschool age, but the specific age for every child may vary. According to Himebauch, Arnold, and May, two-year-old children may begin to form the concept, but until the school age, death is typically perceived as something you can reverse (242). What is more, at the preschool age children actually offer their own explanations of the process, which shows that they attempt to do the same thing that the civilizations have been trying to do for centuries: explain death with the help of magical thinking. Later, a child learns to comprehend that death is going to happen to him or her, which distinguishes the “adult” concept of death (Himebauch, Arnold, and May 242).
This process has been primarily studied to assist children in the grieving that can be connected to personal terminal illness or that of a close person. Still, it is apparent that the process of understanding what death is can be somewhat disturbing on its own, without terminal illnesses. I recall being absolutely terrified at the prospect of coming to an end. It is not surprising, therefore, that adults attempt to “hide” the concept of death from children for as long as possible. However, I am not sure that it is the right strategy.
Nowadays, there are growing concerns with the imagery of death in children’s movies, which are in part attributable to the fact that the modern media plays a more and more significant part in our lives (Fleur par. 1-9). A recent study by Colman et al. is devoted to exploring the incidence of the on-screen death of important characters in children’s and adults’ movies. The authors found out that two-thirds of children’s films contained deaths of significant characters, and only the half of the studied adult dramas shared the same specifics (Colman et al. 2).
However, it is noteworthy that the researchers were interested in the most popular films, and their sample included 90 dramas for adults and 45 animated children’s films. Therefore, it cannot be claimed that their study is generalizable to all the products of the movie industry, but the authors do not attempt to make such a generalization. Instead, they make another one, concluding that children’s animated films are “hotbeds of murder and mayhem” (Colman et al. 4). Their advice to the parents is to watch such movies together with children to be able to provide the emotional support needed to survive through their “inevitable horrors” (Colman et al. 4).
While I do not agree with the generalization and do not trust the overall emotional appeal that the authors decided to introduce into a scholarly article, I think that this strategy is a very good one. I believe that it is wonderful if a child goes through the understanding of the inevitability of death without too much trouble, but the advice, support, guidance of parents can turn out to be vital in this respect. Civilizations have been creating complex concepts that would help them understand death (and attempt to defeat or cheat it) for centuries.
For a single child, this process, simplified as it may be, takes up much less time. As a result, it is a shock, but it is truly inevitable (unlike TV violence that can easily be banished to another world by pushing a single button). Children are explorers; their whole existence is aimed at perceiving and understanding. They learn about life, so they will eventually learn about death. At this moment, someone older and more experienced can become a real teacher and a great assistance in the process of a child’s formation of the concept of death. The main difficulty is not to cause more harm while trying to help, though.
Works Cited
Agai, Jock M. “Resurrection Imageries: A Study Of The Motives For Extravagant Burial Rituals In Ancient Egypt”. Verbum et Ecclesia 36.1 (2015): 1-7. ProQuest. Web.
Colman, Ian, Mila Kingsbury, Murray Weeks, Anushka Ataullahjan, Marc-AndrĂ© BĂ©lair, Jennifer Dykxhoorn, Katie Hynes, Alexandra Loro, Michael S. Martin, Kiyuri Naicker, Nathaniel Pollock, Corneliu Rusu, James B. Kirkbride, Henry Dale. “CARTOONS KILL: Casualties In Animated Recreational Theater In An Objective Observational New Study Of Kids’ Introduction To Loss Of Life”. The BMJ 349.168 (2014): 7184-7184. Web.
Fleur, Nicholas. “Kids’ Movies Are Full of Death.” The Atlantic. 2014. Web.
Himebauch, Adam, Robert M Arnold, and Carol May. “Grief in Children and Developmental Concepts of Death.” Journal of Palliative Medicine 11.2 (2008): 242-243. MEDLINE Complete. Web.
Moreman, Christopher M. Beyond the Threshold. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub., 2008. Print.
Sumegi, Angela. Understanding Death. New York, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2013. Print.