The following topic is extracted from my popular science book :- " The Universe - A Personal View " at page 183 which represents my personal view on death based on science :-
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Of Death and Destruction
The British novelist, Henry Fielding ( 1707-1754 ) wrote aptly about death in the following manner :- “ It hath been often said, that it is not death but dying,which is terrible. “ This cannot be more akin to the truth. Ageing is part and parcel of theprocess of dying and it can be really terrible. There are four kinds of unavoidable painsand sufferings in life according to the Gautama ( Sukymuni ) Buddha - birth, ageing, sickness and dying. Two of those- aging and dying are different stages leading to death.To look at it in a even wider perspective, death actually begins at birth. The finer point to note in this classification is that death or more precisely the instance of death to the buddha is just a beginning of the next life - the beginning of reincarnation. Therefore, it is just a stop on the way to the next life. There is nothing more natural than death. It is just one stage of the eternal cycle of life through death and death through life. Come to think ofit, it is actually the stark reality. The conditioning of our brain through life long experienceof daily routines has led us to emotionally attach ourselves to the idea of life. Death withall its unfamiliarities and unknowns naturally evades our attention. Or is it actually adeliberate disregard ? It is our ignorance about death that gives rise to the great fear in usregarding death. Strictly speaking, it is not death but the fear for the unknown after deathand the process of dying ( the sense of helplessness, the feeling of loneliness, thedeterioration of our body and the loss of contorl over our life resulting in diminished personal dignity ) that is so frightening. Strange isn't it ? There is no surer thing than death in our life and yet most of us are not really prepared for it or even shun it by turning death into a taboo subject. I think otherwise. As ignorance is the number one cardinal sin to me, Iadvocate a more positive and aggressive attitude towards death to enable us to beprepared for its certain arrival. As a result of improved health service and coupled with thelow birth rate, the proportion of the elderly population is increasing by the day. Therefore,there is a very urgent need to face up to the problem of ageing and death by learning moreabout it and educating our elderly citizens on the proper and sensible way of dealing withthis extremely personal problem with a profound social connotation.
Let us start with the more practical and fundamental issue of ageing.
The British novelist, Henry Fielding ( 1707-1754 ) wrote aptly about death in the following manner :- “ It hath been often said, that it is not death but dying,which is terrible. “ This cannot be more akin to the truth. Ageing is part and parcel of theprocess of dying and it can be really terrible. There are four kinds of unavoidable painsand sufferings in life according to the Gautama ( Sukymuni ) Buddha - birth, ageing, sickness and dying. Two of those- aging and dying are different stages leading to death.To look at it in a even wider perspective, death actually begins at birth. The finer point to note in this classification is that death or more precisely the instance of death to the buddha is just a beginning of the next life - the beginning of reincarnation. Therefore, it is just a stop on the way to the next life. There is nothing more natural than death. It is just one stage of the eternal cycle of life through death and death through life. Come to think ofit, it is actually the stark reality. The conditioning of our brain through life long experienceof daily routines has led us to emotionally attach ourselves to the idea of life. Death withall its unfamiliarities and unknowns naturally evades our attention. Or is it actually adeliberate disregard ? It is our ignorance about death that gives rise to the great fear in usregarding death. Strictly speaking, it is not death but the fear for the unknown after deathand the process of dying ( the sense of helplessness, the feeling of loneliness, thedeterioration of our body and the loss of contorl over our life resulting in diminished personal dignity ) that is so frightening. Strange isn't it ? There is no surer thing than death in our life and yet most of us are not really prepared for it or even shun it by turning death into a taboo subject. I think otherwise. As ignorance is the number one cardinal sin to me, Iadvocate a more positive and aggressive attitude towards death to enable us to beprepared for its certain arrival. As a result of improved health service and coupled with thelow birth rate, the proportion of the elderly population is increasing by the day. Therefore,there is a very urgent need to face up to the problem of ageing and death by learning moreabout it and educating our elderly citizens on the proper and sensible way of dealing withthis extremely personal problem with a profound social connotation.
Let us start with the more practical and fundamental issue of ageing.
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Our senior citizens need to know how to age graciously and peacefully. Education andcounselling is the answer. A lot of research and surveys have been conducted on theproblem of ageing. One of the most comprehensive studies ever done on the problem ofageing was carried out in the USA mainly under the sponsorship in the form of a generous grant from Harvard University. The subject population for the study involved over 800males and females from three different suburban groups of varying economic and socialbackgrounds over a period of more than 50 years to research into the important factorsaffecting the process of ageing in these individuals. The subjects were interviewed everyfew years since the 1940s starting from their twenties all the way to their late seventies tosee how their lives and the ageing process had been affected by their family, social andeconomic backgrounds. The results of this comprehensive research together with somecase studies have been published in a book by George Vaillant called “ Ageing Well “. Wewould not go into the technical details of the study but would only attempt to learnsomething from the conclusions and recommendations which we may find useful andilluminating. The following factors are cited as being important for ageing well. These are :-(a) social and emotional maturation, (b) identity, ( c ) intimacy, (d) career consolidation, (e)generativity, (f) keeper of meaning, (g) intergration. Let me give a brief explanation of eachto enable the reader to have a clearer understanding of their significance to the process ofageing well. (a) concerns the maturity of a person in terms of his emotional state ( oremotional quotient, EQ ) and knowing one's position among other people and in society.The more mature one is in these respects the better one can adapt to the ageing process.(b) means knowing about oneself or being able to attach ( or identify ) oneself with yourown social group. With a sense of place and purpose, one can naturally age betterbecause there is emotional support from your social group. ( c ) deals with intimatepersonal relationship. If one is emotionally involved in a congenial personal relationshipwith someone, there is naturally more sense of purpose in life. Therefore, we can appreciate that the most important purpose of marriage or a de facto relationship is companionship in old age as far as the partners are concerned. (d) is the sense of achievement in one's career. A fully accomplished career in life would, of course, be agreat consolation and something to be proud of when one gets old. This helps a lot inone's ageing process. (e) is the sense of continuity one has in your off-springs and yourgrand children. This is most important to us as human beings because having a part in the propagation of the human race is such a great feeling as if we become part of the grand scheme of Mother Nature. No wonder having children and grand children has a positive effect on ageing despite all the physical and emotional pains and hardships in raisingchildren. In other words, you feel needed. This will give rise to a profound sense of purpose. (f) is the responsibility of old people in up keeping moral values and traditions either in the family or society. (g) is very relevant to one's ageing process insofar as beingable to integrate into one's emotional, social and economic backgrounds will give rise to asense of harmony and peace with one's existence. One will not feel out of place in life ifone is integrated with one's physical and emotional environment. So, there you have it.These are the helpful pieces of advice for ageing well.
Then, there is a second tier of factors that can help in the ageing process.While some of the factors important for ageing well set out above are beyond our control,some steps suggested in the study are very useful for ageing people. Furthermore, theseare well within our control. These suggested activities include :- Friendship and social contacts, hobbies, community service activities, religion and recreational sports. These arevaluable recommendations and the the study also provides the following simple cues for positive ageing :- (i) Let go and let God ( relax and let nature runs its course ), (ii) firstthings first ( take care of the younger generation ), (iii) keep it simple ( back to the basics inlife ), (iv) carpe diem ( live one day at a time ) and, finally, (v) use the telephone ( or betterstill, use the internet for social contact ).
There is even a third tier of general advice for ageing well. This general advice is mainly to keep, a positive mental attitude and keep your humour. Do not be like King Lear in Shakspeare's tragic play ( which incidentally was one of my texts inmatriculation class ). One should accept ageing gracefully because there is no other alternative. To do this, the study suggests that you learn about the reality of ageing and learn from the numerous positive real life examples in the subject population. Pray that in
Then, there is a second tier of factors that can help in the ageing process.While some of the factors important for ageing well set out above are beyond our control,some steps suggested in the study are very useful for ageing people. Furthermore, theseare well within our control. These suggested activities include :- Friendship and social contacts, hobbies, community service activities, religion and recreational sports. These arevaluable recommendations and the the study also provides the following simple cues for positive ageing :- (i) Let go and let God ( relax and let nature runs its course ), (ii) firstthings first ( take care of the younger generation ), (iii) keep it simple ( back to the basics inlife ), (iv) carpe diem ( live one day at a time ) and, finally, (v) use the telephone ( or betterstill, use the internet for social contact ).
There is even a third tier of general advice for ageing well. This general advice is mainly to keep, a positive mental attitude and keep your humour. Do not be like King Lear in Shakspeare's tragic play ( which incidentally was one of my texts inmatriculation class ). One should accept ageing gracefully because there is no other alternative. To do this, the study suggests that you learn about the reality of ageing and learn from the numerous positive real life examples in the subject population. Pray that in
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old age you'd be able to strive for the possible ( whatever that may be under your ownexisting circumstances ) with perseverance; to accept the inevitable ( biology only runsdown hill under the irreversible flow of the Second Law of Thermodynamics of everincreasing entropy or disorder ) with serenity; and have the wisdom to tell one from theother. My own attitude in dealing with human affairs is, as always, to exercise caution in applying any hard and fast rule. Therefore, I suggest that one should adapt the above advice to suit one's own particular circumstances. The human brain is such a complex and chaotic system that I cannot even vouch for myself with 100% certainty ( c.f. TheUncertainty Principle in Quantum Theory ) what my exact behaviour will be like in the next moment. Nevertheless, over a sustained period of time some general guidelines arealways helpful. My own golden rule is that there is no golden rule with universalapplication. With regard to the problem of ageing, I feel that the most sensible attitude to maintain is to expect the worst and hope for the best. A lot of humour (or what I call Mr.Q's attitude ) will come in most handy.
Ageing will end in death ultimately. This is unavoidable butcould be made less unpleasant by learning about its nature and by making sufficient preparation for it both physically and mentally. Let me share with you some of my limited experience of encounters with death. By encounters with death, I do not mean that myown life is at stake. It is simply my personal experience of being present at the moment of death of other people including that of my relatives which has provided me with some insights into this sad but inevitable event in everyone's life. My most graphic encounterwith someone else's moment of death was experienced by me when I was twenty-sixyears of age. I was then working for an international CPA firm. When we were young we were very often careless about our own health. May be youth is so filled with life andenergy that we more often than not have taken life and health for granted. We may eventhink that we are physically invincible as we are most of the time feeling mentally strong.Anyway, I did not take good enough care of my own health and used to work 10 hours aday under normal circumstances and even up to 12 hours in case of urgent assignments. So much so that I was hit with a bleeding stomach ulcer that required blood transfusion thus resulting in my being hospitalized and bed ridden for a week. That wasback in 1974 which was the first time I was ever admitted to a hospital. Any first hospitalstay however non-life threatening is a frightening and thought provoking experience. It wasalso the first time I ever had enough idle time to really do some soul searching since mygraduation. Such was the hectic schedule of my profession which left me no time at all todo some introspection. The motto for office life in Hong Kong then and always is to “ work hard and play hard “. It was supposed to be my last night in hospital but due to a fever resulting from my blood transfusion, the doctor required me to stay on for an extra night.Sharing my room was another old gentleman in the seventies. We had becomeacquaintances during our few days together as room mates. We talked about life ingeneral and the old gentleman had given me a lot of the benefit of his wisdom. Inparticular, he advised me to take good care of my health while I was young. Otherwise, I would be sorry at my old age when it would be too late. He also suggested that I should spend more time to enjoy my youth. He became some kind of mentor to me in hospital and
I was very grateful.
According to his doctor, he was also supposed to be able to check outin the next few days but life could give us a nasty shock out of the blue. As he was supposed to be recovering, all his family members who used to stay with him in turn everynight had all gone home. At about 3.00 a.m., I was woken by his painful moaning. Hecoughed continuously and did not seem to be able to breathe properly. I helped him tosound the emergency alarm which was answered right away by the nurses. Alas, beforethe doctor's arrival on the scene the old man coughed a lot of blood that gushed out of hismouth like a fountain and became motionless and died within a matter of less than aminute. It was a horrifying and bloody scene of chaos with some four nursing staff trying to revive him and blood spilling all over his bed. After everyting had calmed down, I wasmoved to the adjacent single room. I heard the heart breaking weeping of his familymembers who had arrived too late to be at his death bed. I was also gravely shocked bythe untimely tragedy and I felt like I had also lost a relative of my own. It was not thehorrific scene that had left the deepest impression on my memory but, strangely, it was the
Ageing will end in death ultimately. This is unavoidable butcould be made less unpleasant by learning about its nature and by making sufficient preparation for it both physically and mentally. Let me share with you some of my limited experience of encounters with death. By encounters with death, I do not mean that myown life is at stake. It is simply my personal experience of being present at the moment of death of other people including that of my relatives which has provided me with some insights into this sad but inevitable event in everyone's life. My most graphic encounterwith someone else's moment of death was experienced by me when I was twenty-sixyears of age. I was then working for an international CPA firm. When we were young we were very often careless about our own health. May be youth is so filled with life andenergy that we more often than not have taken life and health for granted. We may eventhink that we are physically invincible as we are most of the time feeling mentally strong.Anyway, I did not take good enough care of my own health and used to work 10 hours aday under normal circumstances and even up to 12 hours in case of urgent assignments. So much so that I was hit with a bleeding stomach ulcer that required blood transfusion thus resulting in my being hospitalized and bed ridden for a week. That wasback in 1974 which was the first time I was ever admitted to a hospital. Any first hospitalstay however non-life threatening is a frightening and thought provoking experience. It wasalso the first time I ever had enough idle time to really do some soul searching since mygraduation. Such was the hectic schedule of my profession which left me no time at all todo some introspection. The motto for office life in Hong Kong then and always is to “ work hard and play hard “. It was supposed to be my last night in hospital but due to a fever resulting from my blood transfusion, the doctor required me to stay on for an extra night.Sharing my room was another old gentleman in the seventies. We had becomeacquaintances during our few days together as room mates. We talked about life ingeneral and the old gentleman had given me a lot of the benefit of his wisdom. Inparticular, he advised me to take good care of my health while I was young. Otherwise, I would be sorry at my old age when it would be too late. He also suggested that I should spend more time to enjoy my youth. He became some kind of mentor to me in hospital and
I was very grateful.
According to his doctor, he was also supposed to be able to check outin the next few days but life could give us a nasty shock out of the blue. As he was supposed to be recovering, all his family members who used to stay with him in turn everynight had all gone home. At about 3.00 a.m., I was woken by his painful moaning. Hecoughed continuously and did not seem to be able to breathe properly. I helped him tosound the emergency alarm which was answered right away by the nurses. Alas, beforethe doctor's arrival on the scene the old man coughed a lot of blood that gushed out of hismouth like a fountain and became motionless and died within a matter of less than aminute. It was a horrifying and bloody scene of chaos with some four nursing staff trying to revive him and blood spilling all over his bed. After everyting had calmed down, I wasmoved to the adjacent single room. I heard the heart breaking weeping of his familymembers who had arrived too late to be at his death bed. I was also gravely shocked bythe untimely tragedy and I felt like I had also lost a relative of my own. It was not thehorrific scene that had left the deepest impression on my memory but, strangely, it was the
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sense of helplessness in life and the surprising peace of mind that I experienced for having accompanied him on the moment of his passing that had left the deepest imprint onmy mind. Right after the tragedy as I lay alone in the next room, I originally thought that Iwould be very much fightened and would not like to be left alone. But instead, I felt asense of serenity and peace, thinking, as my religious influences had led me, that such akind and gentle soul would definitely be somewhere nice and quiet, and perhaps inheaven. Life works in very mystical ways. I could never have imagined in a million yearsthat out of all the people in this world I had to be the last person to befriend this kind, oldgentleman and no one else, not even his loved ones, but just me to accompany him at thefinal moment of his life. I felt my life had been greatly enriched by this experience. I still think of this kind, old man from time to time. May his soul rest in peace ! The insight I had gained into life and death in this tragic episode is that life is uncertain and nothing can be taken for granted. We should always be prepared for any eventuality. Secondly, we can deal with the issue of death in a peaceful and informed manner and without panic. As long as we have fufilled all our obligations towards ourselves and other people, we can always feel a sense of peace in our mind regardless of the unfortunate or frightening circumstances.
Then there was another incident in 1981 at my grandmother's death.She was 81 when she passed away. At the time of her death she was staying with me. Noone else except a maid was in the house when her heart failed due to old age. I and my wife who were both working in Central - the commercial and banking district in Hong Kong- rushed home by taxi and I found my granny lying on the floor unconscious. The ambulance had arrived at about the same time and the paramedics tried to resuscitate her without success. We were allowed to accompany her body to the public hospital in the ambulance and I held her in my arms for a while on her last journey. My granny had been weak and frail for a few years without any particular complaints about her health. She hadbeen alone after my grand father's death back in 1949. So, she had lived for 30 years as a widow but had always helped out around the house and to look after us when we were kids. She used to take me to school until I was in year three of primary school and give mepocket money for snacks during recess at school. Those were my fond and warm memories of granny. Although I could not hold back the tears, I still felt the same sense ofserenity I had before and was subconsciously happy for her in the sense that she wouldbe joining my grand father for always. Even though my granny's death was expected thesense of loss was still deeply felt by all of us. The only sensible way to deal with the issueof death is to rationalize it as a stage in the eternal cycle of change. No matter how muchyou love the dearly departed you must accept that their death is at some point inevitable. So is your own. Nothing is permanent and life must go on. I always try to comfort friends who have lost their loved ones by telling them this :- “ First of all you must sincerely believe that the dearly departed have to be in a better place where there is neither pain nor sorrow. Secondly, imagine that they are overseeing you just as guardian angels do. Do you think their everlasting consciousness would feel good if they see that the loved ones they left behind are devastated by their passing ? You should live happily for their sake and in honour of their memory ! “ I have always found such advice to be most useful and comforting to my griefing friends.
Is death the destruction of life ? I have always doubted about the validityof this idea. If one defines death as the destruction of the physical body, then this question should be answered in the positive. However, if one sees death as only a stage in theeternal cycle of change that is represented by the alternating state of life and death, thenthis question should be answered in the negative. Furthermore, the idea of death being thedestruction of life is only a materialistic world view which is not the only valid interpretation of the reality. As I have time and again stressed the point that the reality is not composed of things ( materials ) but processes, this narrow materialistic world view appears to be out of touch with the reality, even for the objective reality (OR). If consciousness is also taken into account, the materialistic world view would even be less tenable. However,there is still a lack of consensus on the nature of the human consciousness so that, for the time being, the materialistic world view, with all its inherent faults, has so far survived an outright refutation. But its inadequate nature is seldom in dispute. Nevertheless,indirect and circumstantial evidence has clearly points to a deeper level of reality similar to
Then there was another incident in 1981 at my grandmother's death.She was 81 when she passed away. At the time of her death she was staying with me. Noone else except a maid was in the house when her heart failed due to old age. I and my wife who were both working in Central - the commercial and banking district in Hong Kong- rushed home by taxi and I found my granny lying on the floor unconscious. The ambulance had arrived at about the same time and the paramedics tried to resuscitate her without success. We were allowed to accompany her body to the public hospital in the ambulance and I held her in my arms for a while on her last journey. My granny had been weak and frail for a few years without any particular complaints about her health. She hadbeen alone after my grand father's death back in 1949. So, she had lived for 30 years as a widow but had always helped out around the house and to look after us when we were kids. She used to take me to school until I was in year three of primary school and give mepocket money for snacks during recess at school. Those were my fond and warm memories of granny. Although I could not hold back the tears, I still felt the same sense ofserenity I had before and was subconsciously happy for her in the sense that she wouldbe joining my grand father for always. Even though my granny's death was expected thesense of loss was still deeply felt by all of us. The only sensible way to deal with the issueof death is to rationalize it as a stage in the eternal cycle of change. No matter how muchyou love the dearly departed you must accept that their death is at some point inevitable. So is your own. Nothing is permanent and life must go on. I always try to comfort friends who have lost their loved ones by telling them this :- “ First of all you must sincerely believe that the dearly departed have to be in a better place where there is neither pain nor sorrow. Secondly, imagine that they are overseeing you just as guardian angels do. Do you think their everlasting consciousness would feel good if they see that the loved ones they left behind are devastated by their passing ? You should live happily for their sake and in honour of their memory ! “ I have always found such advice to be most useful and comforting to my griefing friends.
Is death the destruction of life ? I have always doubted about the validityof this idea. If one defines death as the destruction of the physical body, then this question should be answered in the positive. However, if one sees death as only a stage in theeternal cycle of change that is represented by the alternating state of life and death, thenthis question should be answered in the negative. Furthermore, the idea of death being thedestruction of life is only a materialistic world view which is not the only valid interpretation of the reality. As I have time and again stressed the point that the reality is not composed of things ( materials ) but processes, this narrow materialistic world view appears to be out of touch with the reality, even for the objective reality (OR). If consciousness is also taken into account, the materialistic world view would even be less tenable. However,there is still a lack of consensus on the nature of the human consciousness so that, for the time being, the materialistic world view, with all its inherent faults, has so far survived an outright refutation. But its inadequate nature is seldom in dispute. Nevertheless,indirect and circumstantial evidence has clearly points to a deeper level of reality similar to
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the intricate order pioneered by David Bohm. My own views favour a higher level of existence for all forms of life. I base my convictions on the indicative evidence from luciddreams ( LD), near death experience (NDE), out of body experiece (OBE), multiplepersonalities disorder (MPD), reincarnation claims (RC), extra sensory perceptions (ESP),psychokinesis (PK) or mind over matter incidents ( such as a mother lifting a falling car ofclose to a ton to save her baby ), the mysterious relation between energy and matter ( the equivalence of energy and mass – but energy is massless while mass is considered to befrozen energy ), non-locality ( first proposed by Einstein in his ERP thought experimentand proven later by Bell's Inequality Theory ), inextricable relationships between elementary particles (quantum entanglement), Alain Prospect 's experiment ( confirming faster than light propagation of signals) together with the theory of Holographic Model ofthe universe by David Bohm ( the intricate order ). Details descriptions of all these phenomena have been set out in chapters (iii) and (iv) respectively. To me, death of the human body is definitely not equivalent to the destruction of the human consciousness ( the master mind of our body ) which I believe to be an enduring entity akin to energy thatis eternally conserved within the universe according to the Law of Conservation of Energy.
Regardless of the conclusion we have reached on whether or not death represents the destruction of life, we must all face the hard fact of death as a practical and inevitable issue. And one thing is certain. The more we learn about it the better we will be equipped to face it when the fateful moment of death descends upon us. To this end, we can start with demystifying death by excluding it as a taboo subject for discussion andscientific research. Neural scientists should do their very best to conduct serious researchinto the subject starting with NDE and other related phenomena and not to dismiss suchphenomena as hallucinations under the possible influence of drugs. Most psychiatrists,clinical psychologists, neural scientists and members of the medical profession are generally sceptical about NDE claims, at least in an official capacity, because they are always under peer pressure to avoid these difficult issues lest they may be branded asabnormal and unscientific by their colleagues. As a matter of fact, there have been unofficial reports and comments from some prominent psychiatrists in the USA to the effect that they are basically holding a positive attitude towards such research. They are simply reluctant to express their true stance on this matter in public due to fear of ridicule by their peers. In my opinion, such attitude is counter productive and not in the interest ofthe advancement in science and technology. Some prominent members of the scientific community must have the courage and foresight to take up this worthwhile challenge. Withthe fast improving computer and neural monitoring technology, there should be a lot ofroom for further research into the nature of death to benefit the ever increasing ageing population. No further delay should be tolerated on this pressing issue.
Before we leave death and destruction behind, let me give you someof my eccentric thoughts on this taboo subject. Everyone including myself is fearful ofdeath to a greater or lesser degree. But just imagine for a moment what would have happened if there were no death for anyone of us and everyone has life everlasting in the physical sense. This would be a disaster for the individual as well as society, wouldn't it ? It would be an impossible situation from both the personal as well as the social perspective.On the personal level, you would find that you would have an endlessly extended retirement for which you would not be able to support financially. You could, of course, continue with your working life indefinitely and that in itself would be a punishment in the form of everlasting labour. Then, you would get bored with life which would be forever so that you are liable to run out of interesting things to do. You would be bored to death but could not die from this boredom ( still remember the evil Dracula in the horror movies – in particular, the one in which Tom Cruise took the leading role – Interview with the Vampire ). It would be living hell. Furthermore, you would have so many children or grandchildren that you would not be able to even remember their names. Of course, you could do family planning but then how could you stand the loneliness of a childless but everlasting life. Even your wife, if you had one, would not have agreed to your childless arrangement. Worst of all, you would never be given an assessment for the success or failure in your life either by yourself or others because your enduring life's work could never be done. Then, on the social level, over population would have resulted from thezero death rate. Providing employment and aged care for the undying population would be
Regardless of the conclusion we have reached on whether or not death represents the destruction of life, we must all face the hard fact of death as a practical and inevitable issue. And one thing is certain. The more we learn about it the better we will be equipped to face it when the fateful moment of death descends upon us. To this end, we can start with demystifying death by excluding it as a taboo subject for discussion andscientific research. Neural scientists should do their very best to conduct serious researchinto the subject starting with NDE and other related phenomena and not to dismiss suchphenomena as hallucinations under the possible influence of drugs. Most psychiatrists,clinical psychologists, neural scientists and members of the medical profession are generally sceptical about NDE claims, at least in an official capacity, because they are always under peer pressure to avoid these difficult issues lest they may be branded asabnormal and unscientific by their colleagues. As a matter of fact, there have been unofficial reports and comments from some prominent psychiatrists in the USA to the effect that they are basically holding a positive attitude towards such research. They are simply reluctant to express their true stance on this matter in public due to fear of ridicule by their peers. In my opinion, such attitude is counter productive and not in the interest ofthe advancement in science and technology. Some prominent members of the scientific community must have the courage and foresight to take up this worthwhile challenge. Withthe fast improving computer and neural monitoring technology, there should be a lot ofroom for further research into the nature of death to benefit the ever increasing ageing population. No further delay should be tolerated on this pressing issue.
Before we leave death and destruction behind, let me give you someof my eccentric thoughts on this taboo subject. Everyone including myself is fearful ofdeath to a greater or lesser degree. But just imagine for a moment what would have happened if there were no death for anyone of us and everyone has life everlasting in the physical sense. This would be a disaster for the individual as well as society, wouldn't it ? It would be an impossible situation from both the personal as well as the social perspective.On the personal level, you would find that you would have an endlessly extended retirement for which you would not be able to support financially. You could, of course, continue with your working life indefinitely and that in itself would be a punishment in the form of everlasting labour. Then, you would get bored with life which would be forever so that you are liable to run out of interesting things to do. You would be bored to death but could not die from this boredom ( still remember the evil Dracula in the horror movies – in particular, the one in which Tom Cruise took the leading role – Interview with the Vampire ). It would be living hell. Furthermore, you would have so many children or grandchildren that you would not be able to even remember their names. Of course, you could do family planning but then how could you stand the loneliness of a childless but everlasting life. Even your wife, if you had one, would not have agreed to your childless arrangement. Worst of all, you would never be given an assessment for the success or failure in your life either by yourself or others because your enduring life's work could never be done. Then, on the social level, over population would have resulted from thezero death rate. Providing employment and aged care for the undying population would be
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an impossible task for society. A lot of drastic measures would have to be taken leading to serious conflicts of interest and clashes of human rights among the everlasting population.All in all, it would have been an impossible situation. Therefore, enough is enough. Deathis, in fact, a blessing in disguise. To quote from the words of Nicholas Rowe (1674-1718)in his book called “ The Fair Penitent”,-” Death is the privilege of human nature. And life without it were not worth our taking.” Therefore, I have come to the ridiculous conclusion that death through nature's course is not only logical but necessary for the survival of the human race as a whole. It is without a doubt one of the finer points in the grand design ofthe universe or multiverse. Life without death is unbearable and may even lead to adiminished level of dignity for the individual because nobody will be missed by anyone elseif human life is everlasting. My final remark on death is that we can always overcome its destructive power over our physical body by immortalizing our brighter ideas ( such asuseful and practical advice ) and useful creations ( such as technical inventions andmaster pieces of music and art ) that could make a difference to our younger generations and future society. This idea is, in fact, the basic premises for my own goal in life which isto try to make this world a better place when I leave than when I have found it at my birth.If you want to know whether or not you have lived a good life, just ask yourself this question. What would you do if you knew you were going to die tomorrow ? If you could answer that you would carry on as before, then you would have lived a happy life. This is because you would have done everything that you had wished for and had no regrets. I sincerely wish I could be in that position when I die. Having made a dream of a wish for myself, I would end our present discussion with my own saying :- “ It does not matter how you die. It only matters how you have lived ! “ - Death be not proud !
JKHC.
9/9/2006JKHC.
