Life
During Life
Why
concentrate so much on what happens after we die rather than
give more attention to how we live our present lives?
--
Dr R Neerunjun Gopee
It
began with “Life after life” by Raymond Moody, a
psychiatrist. This book received wide publicity when it was
first published many years ago. In it, the author gave an
account of NDEs – near-death experiences of several
patients whom he had handled. These people had, well, neared
their deaths, but luckily – or unluckily? – had come
back to life. They all seemed to describe a beatific state
in which they found themselves before they were brought back
to this world, when they travelled out of darkness and found
themselves carried along a tunnel towards a light beyond
that gave them a sense of joy. Some found themselves in the
presence of their religious icons, others reunited with
their families and so on, but all of them felt
“detached” from their physical body and were most
reluctant and unhappy about having had to re-enter the body.
In
the wake of this book, there followed a spate of
publications on this theme, namely NDE and about the
afterlife. They focused on everything other that what must
surely be more relevant to our immediate existence ici-bas:
life during our life here on earth. In a number of religious
traditions, a lot is made of rewards that can be obtained after
we die. Whatever we have done here, particularly on
behalf and even at the apparently written-in-stone behest of
a presumed creator, there is always the possibility of a
last minute salvation through some intermediary. Thus
absolved, there is the assurance that the lucky beneficiary
will find a place in an exalted place on one side or other
of the creator of this world – and presumably of the other
worlds too, which are ascribed the desired physical
characteristics by earthly aspirants.
Of
course, the credulous are entirely free to accept this
scenario, and there are millions who in fact do. But the
point is, why concentrate so much on what happens after we
die rather than give more attention to how we live our
present lives? Surely this should be of more direct concern
to us? In fact, if we give it a bit of thought, we find that
the issue resolves itself into three aspects: do we know who
we are – this mere body or something else? What is or
should be our relation to what exists other than us, that is
other objects living and non-living including plants and
animals, other human beings, our dear ones in particular?
And lastly, what is the source of this existence, including
of course ourselves, and how are we connected with it?
Once
we have identified and acknowledged these three fundamental
issues, the next question is: how do the answers – or
absence of answers – to them inform our life? In other
words, what solutions or guidance do they offer about how we
lead our lives?
As
far as the first and third aspects are concerned there may
be a lot of speculation, and we may not yet have the
definitive answers. The second aspect, however, is concerned
not only with our mere survival as biological entities but
more crucially it is about the relationships which sustain
and give meaning to our day to day living. Our relationship
with our physical environment, for example. It is public
knowledge, isn’t it, that human activities are the primary
drivers of the global warming and its consequent climatic
changes whose dramatic effects we are already witnessing in
many parts of the world, some beneficial, others
devastating. And this is leading scientists and other
stakeholders to take position and to study these phenomena
in all its aspects and implications, and trying to mobilize
the necessary resources to cope with them. As individuals
whose every survival is directly at stake, we definitely
have a role to play in preserving planet earth. Thus, what
is happening all around us and in the world at large must
force a radical rethink about our relationship with the
earth.
Then
there is the more intimate level of our relationship with
our fellow humans. The preceding reflections were triggered
while surfing on the net and reading news that is making
headlines in Europe at the moment. The most dramatic one is
about the 73-year-old Austrian engineer Josef Frizsl who
sequestrated his daughter, now aged 42, in a dungeon that he
deliberately planned and built for the purpose, for 24
years. During this time he raped and beat her regularly, in
the process fathering seven children one of whom died in
infancy, and the other a 17-year-old girl who is now
fighting for her life on a ventilator. In fact it is her
illness that forced the case out into the open.
The
horror of it all has stunned the whole of the continent,
more so as this person led a double life whose outer aspect
was one of a model employee. But the skeletons are now
tumbling out of the cupboard: his raping of a nurse, his sex
trip to Thailand. He is neither the first nor most likely
the last – but the sheer magnitude of his crime about
which his wife was ignorant defies imagination let alone
explication.
But
perhaps the most bizarre twist is that now, assisted by
lawyer and psychiatrist, claiming to be innocent and a
victim of a media campaign! As if this were not enough for
Austrians, another case has come to light where a woman has
killed her seven children and stuffed buried their bodies in
various places, such as flower pots and so on. In England,
the level of teenage street crime has risen to such an
extent as to lead a leading public figure to state that the
English society is broken. Lest we feel too smug, we have
only to scan our own dailies to realize that both in our
front yards and back yards there as crapuleux crimes
that are taking place with a regularity that should make
ourselves ask too whether we have not reached the breaking
point in our society and what are we doing about it. Not to
speak of all the other crimes against women, children,
political opponents, refugees and so on that are being
perpetrated on a massive scale elsewhere.
Have
we reached a point of no return for humanity? We tend to
turn to Europe and the West because of the way we have been
trained and because of the trends that are most visible
there. Here is another piece of news that is equally
disturbing and must make us pause to think. It is about the
institution of family and marriage in Europe, and these are
some facts and figures from an article read yesterday:
The
family in Europe
*
There is one marital breakdown every 30 seconds in Europe
*
There were 920,089 fewer babies born in Europe last year
than in 1980
*
The average marriage lasts 13 years
*
There are 1 million divorces annually
*
The number of people getting married went down by 24 per
cent between 1980 and 2006
*
France has the highest annual abortion rate (206,311)
Comments
are superfluous.
RN
Gopee
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