How Can We Learn To Accept Death?

It is strange how difficult it is for us to accept the true fact of life: death. After all, it is an absolute truth that we are all going to die. No one escapes this fate, yet we spend a good part of our lives trying to ignore or avoid it. Some people avoid all thoughts or conversations that have to do with death.

However, this has not always been the case. In ancient Egypt, for example, death was a daily problem. The pharaohs and the nobles, as well as their slaves, spent much of their lives preparing for death. Usually powerful men would design their own extravagant graves long in advance. They did not believe that life ended in physical death.

The ancient Romans also had a custom that says a lot about how they thought about death. When great generals had a military victory, they entered the city in the middle of the Hall of Fame. They were cheered on by everyone.

But behind him a slave had to repeat this sentence in his ear: “Memento Mori”. This means “remember that you are going to die”. They did not want it to happen faster, they just wanted to remind him that no triumph is so great that it will let anyone escape death.

Death as desire and purpose

The Middle Ages were an age of religious obscurantism, at least in the West. The world was seen as God’s creation, and everything that happened in it had meaning within divine logic. Death was a step that allowed an encounter with God. Physical life was just a kind of prelude to the final and eternal existence.

A poem that really captures the era is what is called “Vivo sin vivir en mi”, by Santa Teresa de Avila. The first verse says:

This reflects the idea of ​​death as desire. However, the impossibility of believing that there is an end to human life continues in this poem as well. No matter how it was portrayed, the reality of death was fully accepted. They had no problem accepting death as a fact that had to be talked about and remembered. A symbolic explanation was given and seen as something to get ready for.

The struggle to accept death in the modern age

Science has disappointed the imagination of many people through the ages. Some of its truths are still disputed by many today. Modernity brought a new flourishing of science. Leonardo Da Vinci, who was at the beginning of this age of science, dared to perform autopsies. With this, the sacred halo that hung over death began to crack.

Then came great doctors and scientists who began to fight to the death. The problem was scientific, not religious. One purpose of this new knowledge was therefore to prolong life, which was now seen as the best one could have. It was also discovered that man was a developed mammal, and that the laws of biology applied to us just as to other animals.

For the first time, a group of thinkers stopped believing in God, and they believed that it was something beyond physical life. Various movements appeared, which expressed this and betrayed a serious frustration with life. Nihilism and existentialism are two of them. Those who followed these mindsets had an attitude somewhere between disappointment and criticism.

To face death today

The industrial revolution brought with it mass production and a sense that there were no borders. The end of history was proclaimed, and it was a unique technological revolution. Step by step, we entered the world of the ephemeral, the available… short life cycles, which end only to start again.

The idea of ​​death has been diluted. It began to disappear from human worries. The time to reflect on this topic has been almost completely replaced by work. The rhythm of events hardly allows us to think about how to organize our next hour, let alone our death. It is as if death has become a catastrophic surprise, which is less real.

The denial of death is so intense that some even refuse to mourn when it shows its face t. They try to get over it quickly. To return to his routine as soon as possible. Go back to their usual worries. They try to pretend that it is not a reality, or at least just a distant one.

And what’s the point of thinking about death? Why accept death as an inevitable fact? These are questions that many ask themselves. The answer lies in depression and anxiety that invade many of us. Maybe if we accept death, it would be an exceptional way to learn to truly live. Maybe if there was a greater awareness that everything will eventually come to an end, there would be a reason to find meaning in this life.