Dying on Death and Dying:

Dying

On Death and Dying: A Review of Historical Perspectives and Implications for Modern Society

All living creatures must eventually die; this is one of the simple facts of life and one of the ways in which life and living can most clearly be understood and defined. That which cannot die cannot be alive, and even the most long-lived organisms -- some of which can persist for thousands of years -- suffer the deterioration and depletion of the cells and tissues of which they are made, and which sustain the functions that keep them alive (Luper 2009). This is just as true for the smallest form of bacteria as it is for the giant creatures of the world's oceans, and from the simplest unicellular organisms to the most complex and sophisticated mammals -- no matter what form an organism takes or how the organism lives, it must eventually die.

Death is not merely the end of biological life, however; though this is its clearest and most concrete definition, death is often a process that involves many non-biological and abstract concepts for both the individual organisms that is dying and others that continue living around it. A sense of impending death and facing the unknown void that lies beyond life often accompanies the dying process for individuals, and the sense of loss that others experience following a death is equally if not even more profound, with the death itself and indeed the entire process of dying most often viewed with a great deal of reverence and care. Despite the ultimately biological nature of life and death, that is, many of the most important aspects of death and of dying have little or nothing to do with direct biological realities.

This is true of many creatures in the animal kingdom, and is not limited solely to humans. Elephants legendarily have "graveyards" of sorts where aging individuals go to die, and where the bones of many successive generations can be found; while the factual existence of these sites might be somewhat overblown, there is increasing evidence that elephants recognize and show great reverence for the bones of their species and may even recognize the remains of individual family members (Battacharya 2005; WNET 2010). Many other species also exhibit a recognition of the facts of death and how this impacts themselves as living creatures and their ongoing existence in social groups that must move beyond the deaths of individual members (Angier 2008). Though such sentiments are definitely not universally observed in all animal species, the fact that they exist in so many higher-order beings makes it clear that experiencing death in profound emotional, psychological, and social manners is as natural an occurrence as the process of dying and death itself.

The most complex attitudes and understandings of death and dying, of course, are observed in human beings, if for no other reason that we understand our own behaviors and actions at least somewhat better than those of the species -- they are more communicable, if nothing else. Death rituals amongst humanoids stretch back at least as far as sixty thousand years, to the time when a recently discovered Neanderthal man was adorned with animal antlers and flowers after succumbing to nature's terminal forces (WYFDA 2000). Though the specifics might have changed in the millennia that followed this ritual, the handling of death remains the same.

Every human civilization ever studied or encountered has its own rituals for dealing with death, and though these vary a great deal from culture to culture and from one historical period to the next, there is always some standard practice in every culture associated with death and dying (Powell 2010). In this paper, certain historical rituals associated with death and the ways of handling the dying process in various cultures will be examined, and the modern Western methods of handling this process and its ultimate outcome will also be examined. Death in modern society has become de-ritualized in some senses, as science and rationality have replaced religion and spirituality, which has not necessarily been a benefit to society, to dying indivituals, or to their families. Recommendations as to how our society might able to restore dignity, reverence, and respect to death and to the process of dying will also be made as a part of the scope of this paper.

Death Throughout History

The oldest known civilization with a true written record of its customs, traditions, and beliefs is the Mesopotamian culture from the part of the world now known as the Middle East. Death was a highly important part of this culture with death rituals serving to form kinship bonds and perpetuate familial dynasties in ways that were both personally and politically potent (Cohen 2005). Religious and political custom were inseparable in this culture, as in many ancient cultures leading to highly codified and extremely reverent ways of dealing with death (Cohen 2005). Though death was not necessarily well understood, there is not question it was respected.

Some of the most famous and well-known death rituals from ancient civilizations are those of the ancient Egyptians, whose monuments still stand as one of the great wonders of the world. It is the attitude behind these monuments, however, that is truly fascinating and relevant to discussions of death in our own time. The physicians of ancient Egypt were as concerned with death and the preservation of the dead as they were with the preservation of life -- possibly more so (O'Brien 1999). The mummification and enshrining in large, ornate, and richly-appointed tombs of many ancient Egyptian ruler and members of the aristocracy is also indicative of the care that was taken with the dead, and the belief that death itself was merely a passageway to another existence (O'Brien 1999). The process of dying was therefore not seen predominantly as an event leading to loss, destruction, or mere emptiness but was actually viewed in something of a celebratory manner (O'Brien 1999).

Death was not always seen with the same level of respect by the ancient Romans, for whom great sport was made of watching political prisoner of various stripes meet violent and horrific deaths in venues such as the Coliseum (Kyle 1998). This disrespect, however, did not extend to the whole of Roman society but was reserved for the lowest classes that existed therein. In the higher strata of Roman culture the dying process was attended to by physicians as well as religious figures, prominent community members, as well as the family and friends of the dying person (Bernstein 2000). Death was also a significant community-building tool leading to the foundation of public buildings as commemorative monuments (Bernstein 2000).

Even in the Middle Ages, a time that is traditionally thought of as one of the darker periods of Western society, the dying process and death itself were seen as important events for both the individual going through them and the larger community. New concepts instilled by the advent of Christianity had changed somewhat the tenor and trajectory of attitudes and perspective towards death but these only served to increase the reverence and moment associated with the end of life (Golden 2000). Forgiveness and acknowledgement of sin became essential for the dying individual towards his or her community and vice versa, as death was seen as a necessary step on the path to salvation (Golden 2000). This made the experience at once more humanly humbling and grandly divine, and even those not close to the soon-to-be-deceased were an integral part of providing support for the dying individual and his or her family during and after the dying process. (Golden 2000).

In the Renaissance, attitudes towards death began to take a notable change in several different regards. One of the most notable of the new trends in the way death and the dying process were viewed during this period was the increased emphasis on the legal ramifications of death. Though issues of what happened to property after a person died had existed since before written records were kept, it was in Renaissance Italy that these issues truly came to the fore and were a very common source of disputes and conflict, with the person truly beginning to matter less in the minds of the community than their property and possessions (Cohen 2004). This dehumanization of dying carried over into other aspects of the dying process as well.

The Renaissance was also the period in human history when individualism, humanism, and a true focus on the importance of even the lowliest members of society as worthwhile persons in and of themselves was becoming a part of the overall worldview in Western society. Yet as the importance of each individual during their lifetime was increasing, their importance in and after death was on the decline. Despite the still widespread Christian beliefs and values during this period, death was increasingly seen as the end of personal existence and the termination of all purpose and meaning (Watson 1994). The dying process, therefore, became something to be abhorred, staved off for as long as possible, and even prolonged as a means of forestalling this ultimate destruction (Watson 1994). While various types of medical/religious practice had long attempted to prolong life, the emphasis of these efforts beginning during this period was placed on forestalling death.

Views of Death in the Modern Era

The trends that began in the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods continued into the modern era, and though the increased rationalism and emphasis on the scientific method and imperial fact served society well in many ways, this has not necessarily been the case when it comes to perspectives on death and dying. Increasing secularization and the general diminishment of spiritual influences on personal beliefs and decisions has led to an increasing view of death as the end of all personal meaning and achievement. Medicine and Science have improved the quality of life for many, but reduced the quality of death.

Throughout much of human history, as can be seen from the above descriptions, death and the dying process took place in the company of family and friends often in the comfort -- such as it may have been -- of ones own home. Starting in the nineteenth century with the advent of modern medicine, death became an institutionalized process that was directed and controlled by physicians and other medical professionals, generally with the prolonging of life in even the most undignified and painful of forms as the only or at least the primary focus of these professionals (Filippo 2006). Success became measured in the ability to put off death as long as possible even though this often meant nothing more than the prolonging of the dying process (Filippo 2006). Rather than being something natural and worthy of respect in its own right death -- and the promise thereof -- became something to be treated and shunned as if it were yet another undesired medical ailment (Filippo 2006).

It is also during this period that various government bodies became intimately involved in the death and dying processes of many is not most individuals (Aries 1975). As the medical industry, which at this point was a heavily scrutinized and regulated as well as an integral part of Western society, took near complete control of death and the dying process it made logical sense for medical regulations to extend to explicit issues of death and the timing of this event, and in fact this was increasingly seen by many as a primary objective for government and medical practitioners alike (Aries 1975). This was an extension the dehumanizing of the dying process that began with the legal entanglements of the Renaissance.

It is not simply the medical industry or the increased government attention to and control of death and dying that has contributed to the dehumanization of this natural process. Other industries -- and this truly is the most apt term for the entities about the be described -- have also changed death from a profound personal and interpersonal experience to something that has been commoditized and compartmentalized so many other aspects of modern capitalist society. From funeral homes to undertaking services, and caskets to cremation death and dying have become matters of big business with over a billion dollars spent in the United States alone on death related expenses even at the height of the Great Depression (Time 1936). With the bare minimum minimal death expenses currently estimated at approximately two thousand dollars, which includes cremation and only the briefest and most basic of services and close to three million deaths a year in the United States, the funeral industry now rakes in well over ten billion dollars a year (Woodruff 2005).

The end result of commoditizing, medical-izing, and governmental-izing death and the dying process has been to remove the dying individual and his or her family from any and all decisions that must be made during this profound period of personal development. Basic human needs for respect, dignity, and self-direction have been subsumed and subjugated by societies need for scientifically and economically defined success. While perhaps assuaging certain misplaced feelings of guilt on the part of family members, prolonging the dying process and removing it from its natural state of reverence increases the physical as well as the psychological pain and suffering associated with death and the dying process.