From: jamcdani@zia.. ("jennifer mc daniel")
Subject: Re: Death and life
Organization: Indiana University
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 92 00:49:54 GMT

In article <QduplXu00UhWA6XkAO@andrew.cmu.edu> ac10+@andrew.cmu.edu  
(Alison Rebecca Colman) writes:
> I asked Joy a question, and I am surprised no one (including Joy) has
> really answered it. I asked her, "how do you know that life is better
> than death?" I personally don't think that anybody *knows* the answer to
> this question, but it makes for interesting discussion. 

I'll give it a shot...and unfortunately, I end up with something that
sounds trivial. Not living may just be the best option for _some_ 
people, but it's for those people to decide, not us. IMHO, there are 
some "fates worse than death." I've just been lucky enough to not
suffer them.
 
> Someone said that life is better because they could look at the rainbows
> and smell flowers, etc. etc., but that isn't the kind of answer I am
> looking for. I, of course, enjoy life just as much as the next guy, and
> I am also definitely not implicitly advocating that everyone should go
> jump off a ten-story building tomorrow to see what death is like.

Let's put it this way. I'm glad that my parents decided to give me 
life, and I truly feel like I owe them for it. It was a sacrifice of 
their future (and very nearly my mother's life), not to mention the 
future of my brother and sister. I refuse to be so arrogant as to 
say that I deserved it. And I refuse to be so sadistic as to force
other people in similar situations to make the same sacrifice. They're 
not self-pitying victims, just hard-working people who are best left
alone to make decisions for themselves. 
 
> I get the impression that most people see death as something rather
> horrible, but I can't really see why. (I am talking about being dead, by
> the way, not the *causes* of death.)

Perhaps because I'm agnostic, I just see death as complete nothingness.

> I read somewhere this passage in this book about Eastern religions (I
> think the particular section was about Taoism) that I found interesting,
> and relevant to my question, (I think). I can't remember it verbatum,
> but the essence of it was something like:
> 
> A monk heard of the passing away of the wife of another monk. So, the
> first monk decided to pay a visit to the second monk, to see if he
> needed comfort in his time of mourning. When he got there, he was
> surprised to see the second monk smiling and happy, sitting on his butt,
> playing his drums, and singing. He said, "your wife has just died! Why
> are you so happy?" and the second monk said, "why should I be unhappy?
> She was old, and it was her time to die. She did what was completely
> natural, it is just part of the cycle of life. Why should this be cause
> for unhappiness?" 

When a person dies, I feel we should celebrate the life rather than 
mourn the death. See the quote in my .sig? I'd love to have that song
played at my funeral.

> And so on. I thought that passage was kind of cool. What do y'all think  
of it?

An interesting perspective, to be sure. I hope I've helped.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
    Jenni McDaniel, Indiana University, Department of Psychology
"All we ever look for: a god...a drug...a great big hug." -KaTe Bush
 Big ol' IU taking the opinions of one undergrad?!? Yeah, right....
Newsgroups: talk.abortion