...“On the Fear of Death” In the story “On the Fear of Death” by Elisabeth Kubler-ross she explains the thought and fear of death and dying. Kubler-Ross states many reasons why we, as people, fear death. However, she sternly believes that the root of our fears and the primary reason why we fear death is simply because the fact that death is inevitable. As humans we are accustomed to having things at our discretion. This is what causes a problem because we cannot choose when we want to die or how we want to die; we can’t control it. Ross explains how the unconscious mind can’t comprehend the actual event of death. It seems impossible in regard to ourselves. It is described in the reading that when an ill person is in the hospital we tend to out them out of humanity. We begin to have another person make all the decisions for them, despite their own wants and requests. We don’t listen to even one question they may have to ask. Ross’s main point is the sensitivity to the topic of death and she wants us to know as well as understand how to cope with the death of a loved one and ourselves. Personally, I believe death serves its purpose as does anything in human life. I feel at the moment I don’t fear death, but I fear my family and friends having to go through rough times of something ever happened to me. The best way to beat the fear of death is to live in determination and...
Words: 266 - Pages: 2
...Fear of Aging and Death Name of Student Liberty University Abstract This paper addresses the fear of death and aging in America. The United States is a culture in which people are judged by their appearance. The media idealizes youth and feeds into the fallacy that becoming older is somehow negative. Thus, the identity of those who are growing older is undermined, and older Americans are often devalued. The reality, however, is that God has a plan for every phase of our lives. Research indicates that between the ages of 75 and 84, 73% report no disability, thus proving that older Americans are living long, healthy lives and are valuable assets to society (Vaillant & Mukamal, 2001). Appearance has no relevance on the contributions one can make in society. Furthermore, our fear of death is irrational. Death is often feared as a result of our diminishing faith in God and unbelief in the reality of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Death is not the end of life, but only the beginning of eternal life in a place free from illness, heartache and death. A Society Obsessed with Youth Americans are obsessed with youth and physical beauty. The average adult male in the United States spends thirty-two minutes getting ready in the morning (Hamermesh, 2011). The average adult female spends forty-four minutes (Hamermesh, 2011). Time is not the only thing Americans spend on their appearance. “In 2008, the average American household spent $718 on women’s and girl’s...
Words: 2741 - Pages: 11
...4/11/13 Forever 21 - Research Papers - Nirvana3624368 Login Join The Research Paper Factory Join Search Browse Saved Papers Search over 95,000 Essays Forever 21 In: Forever 21 Forever 21: Dealing with America’s fear of aging and death Abstract This paper is about confronting America’s fear of the issues of aging and death. Over the years, American culture has grown uncomfortable with matters of growing old and death. The basis of this thinking is rooted in the mind and influenced by society. There is an ever increasing desire that’s rampant across our nation to remain young. This can be seen in the media, marketing for different products from makeup to apparel. Americans want to remain young for as long as they possibly can. In 1984, the band Alphaville came out with the song “Forever Young” to express America’s heart cry. However, aging and death is a part of life and a direct result of the fall of man. Aging and death were not the original condition of humanity, rather punishment that resulted from rebellion against God’s commandment. This paper examines why there is aging and death, America’s response to it, and a solution to rightly mature in the process. Since long ago America’s heart cry has been to stay young forever. In 1984, the band Alphaville came out with the song “Forever Young” to communicate the nation’s desire. In cities across the country and around every turn, materialism is vocalizing the longing for youth everlasting. This constant...
Words: 479 - Pages: 2
...Fear has two sides, just like any other character trait. Fear offers restraint and withholds us from making irrational decisions, it keeps us alert, and finally, it's a survival instinct. But, fear is not one sided, it also has its negative side. When you're constantly in fear, it causes you to have paranoia, which leaves you paralyzed. When you become paranoid because of fear, you are driven by something else, you're no longer yourself. You're driven by paranoia and fear, and that causes you to cloud all rational thoughts. In all of Edgar Allan Poe's work, all the main characters experience fear. Poe uses irony, symbol, and imagery to show us how paranoia and fear can distort one's mind causing them to have unhealthy obsessions which leads...
Words: 1375 - Pages: 6
...Anne Carson once said “I wanted to find one law to cover all of living. I found fear.” Miller Williams’ poem “Thinking about Bill, Dead of AIDS” expresses specific ways in which fear impacts a person when faced with a painful situation, regarding HIV/AIDS in particular, when articulating the experience of the speaker losing a loved one to AIDS. When it comes to human suffering and overcoming affliction, fear prevents one from surviving, understanding, and accepting the tragedy in which they are suffering from. To start, Miller Williams’ poem, “Thinking about Bill, Dead of AIDS,” begins with looking at the concept of suffering in a physical sense, rather than in its emotional form, We did not know the first thing about how blood surrenders to even the smallest threat when old allergies turn inside out, the body rescinding all its normal orders to all defenders of flesh, betraying the head, pulling its guards back from all its borders (Williams 1-6) The stanzas illustrate that the body is unable to relieve a person from the pain that is being inflicted upon them. When the sickness is too severe, fear takes over the body and, as Williams described the action in the poem, “surrenders” to the illness (Williams 2). Fear can penetrate much deeper than the mere imagination of the human mind. When one is paralyzed by stage fright, or rendered speechless when faced with the task of delivering heart wrenching truth, that is only the surface of the water. The poem illustrates that...
Words: 1042 - Pages: 5
...Running head: DEATH AND AGING: FEARING THE PROCESS 1 Death and Aging: Fearing the Process Aimmie Jenkins Liberty University DEATH AND AGING: FEARING THE PROCESS 2 Abstract The purpose of this study is to outline the fears, if any, that people have in regards to death and aging. Through theoretical research, aspects are explored to determine if people fear death or just the manner in which they will die, and if people fear aging or the effects of aging. Does the lack of faith in a higher power correlate with the fear of dying? Do people fear dying, the manner of death, or the unknown? Does one fear wrinkles, declining agility, and memory loss, or aging itself? Steps will be outlined for those that may fear death, to calm and educate them on death and aging. DEATH AND AGING: FEARING THE PROCESS 3 It is often said that as a culture, America has Gerascophobia, or the fear of aging. Fear that causes so much anxiety, which motivates some to seek anti-aging surgery and procedures. America is so consumed with looking young. In fact, in 2012, America spent over 11 Billion dollars on plastic surgery, alone. Wanting to look young is nothing new. The search for some magical ‘Fountain of Youth’ has been going on for centuries. Men...
Words: 2089 - Pages: 9
...All dying experiences are unique and influenced by many factors, such as the cause of death, length of the process, and beliefs of the person. Each patient understands death from his or her own point of view. Two patients with the exact same diagnosis will each comprehend their dying process differently. Whether it is age, gender, race, religion, the way he/she was raised, all people will uniquely experience the dying process. It is hard to quantify death because of this. First, we need to begin with definition of a critical word. Death anxiety is one found in almost every text describing the dying process. According to the Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine, death anxiety refers to the “fear and anxiety related to the anticipation, and awareness, of dying, death, and nonexistence. It can vary according to the person’s stage of development and sociocultural life experiences” (Gellman, 2013). This one definition already shows that there is going to be relationships between the dying process and age, gender, and different races. Effects of Gender on the Dying Process The connection of gender to the dying process is fairly inconsistent. Some reports state that there is no difference in gender relationship to death and the quality of the dying process (Venegas and Alvarado,...
Words: 1650 - Pages: 7
...Fear of Aging and Dying in America Hollis Phelps Liberty Developmental Psychology PSYCH 210 Dr. Shaw July 21, 2014 Fear of Aging and Dying in America Abstract The fear of aging and death is nothing new. Anthropologists, philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists are in agreement that since the beginning of mankind’s history, fear is the universal response to death. In America, the reaction is far greater striking chords of terror so horrific and becoming innately ingrained in the fabric of society to affect most every segment. This paper will look at this fear and determine the affects it has had on present day America’s behaviors toward and beliefs about the aging population and correlate it to the society’s fear of death. Everyone has heard the expression that “time flies by like the blink of an eye.” Humans have been attempting for centuries to make sense of and accept the concept of time. The great Albert Einstein, the most prolific physicist of the 20th century, in his Theory of Relativity proved that time was relative. In other words, time and it’s accepted concept of constant, continual progression at a fixed rate was incorrect or not an absolute. Einstein convinced himself and many others that the past, present, and future were only an illusion (Schwartz, 2003). However, to the majority of the world’s population, time is not a theory. It is something that propels us into old age and beyond. The subject of time has inspired many artists to attempt stopping...
Words: 2112 - Pages: 9
...Should Death be feared? According to philosopher Epicurus, death should not be feared. Epicurus argued that the ultimate goal of life is to pursue pleasure and minimize pain. In his view, since pleasure and pain only exists in the “living world”, there would be neither pleasure nor pain when an individual is dead. Therefore, the state of death should never get worse in terms of that pursuit of pleasure. Human beings tend to fear for the possibility that a situation might get worse, but when something doesn’t get worse there is nothing to be feared. Being dead is motionless, painless and sensationless. When the physical body is no longer functional, there is no conscious. Since all the neurons are dead, there would be no sensation to be felt. The good and the evil lie in in true sensation. Pleasure and pain are derived from a physical or psychological feeling we are, for better or worse, affected by. If there were no feeling, there would be no pain. Fear initially derives from the feeling of pain or imminent discomfort. The state of death possesses neither of those two evils. In a place where evil doesn’t exist, there is nothing to be feared. Epicurus also mentioned how death as the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, because the existence of our consciousness implies that we are not dead, while the status of being dead indicates that we are senseless. Since they are mutually exclusive, death should not dominate as one of our fears. While it is undeniable that death brings...
Words: 892 - Pages: 4
...Fear, whether it seems like it or not can be helpful. Fear, being a core emotion and all, can save you from danger, trouble, and even prevent harm to you and others. Despite all that, fear can also be harmful. Fear can lead to paranoia, obsession, and never a really full, happy life. Poe uses symbolism, irony, and imagery to depict how fear distorts the narrators’ minds and the result in which happens due to it. Symbolism, an essential part in the “Tell-Tale heart” and the “Masque of Red Death” shows us the events that will soon unfold. For example, this key quote from the “Masque of Red Death” symbolizes the remaining time before death takes them. “At each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to...
Words: 679 - Pages: 3
...Dealing with America’s Fear of Aging and Death Margaret Kimble Developmental Psychology 210 Liberty University Abstract Mankind has tried to cheat aging and death by freezing their remains, cosmetic surgery or marrying outside their generation hoping to stay young. However, these attempts are futile and Americans cannot hold back the clock or trick death. The clock is ticking and when it stops I will die and so will you no one knows when. Although there is a great deal of research on aging and death, no one has discovered how to halt the inevitable. It is a scientific and biblical fact that human beings will age and die. All life ends in death. This paper will cover some of the issues regarding, fear of death, and fear of aging. It will also explore if Americans fear death and aging because we have no control over it or we don’t understand it. Fear of aging can be attributed the fear of our health failing; losing our memory, independence and the energy for living our lives to the fullest (Berger, 2001). Fear of death can be attributed to not being able to speak to someone who is still experiencing it. Many fear growing older because of the onslaught of mental deterioration such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease; which are attributed to old age. (Philipchalk, 1994). Fear of aging and death is caused by America’s negative concept; it is the natural progression of life. In Strongman’s research he found that a dominant aspect of aging is death (Strongman, 2006)...
Words: 1731 - Pages: 7
...Death Anxiety Psychology / 600 November 17, 2014 Dr. Michael Welsh Death Anxiety Anxiety is an emotional disorder that occurs when an individual feels worried, stressed, and discomfort within a situation that is out of his or her control. Individuals believe that death anxiety and the fear of dying are alike. But, they are different in many ways. Death anxiety is a severe fear of death or the process of death. Death anxiety can be the fear that your loved ones may not manage without you. Death anxiety causes stressful situations, unpredictable life circumstances, and life-threatening illnesses. The fear of dying is when you believe death is frightening or painful. The fear of dying is the fear of the unknown and not knowing how or when death will happen. According to Yalom, "death anxiety is a dread that is formed early in life at a time prior to the development of precise conceptual formation, a dread that is terrible and inchoate and exists outside of language and image". In researching death anxiety, age, gender, and cultural variables are some aspects that impact the way we all deal with the anxiety of death (Yalom, 1980). What is Death Anxiety? Death is a power human concern, conceptualized as a powerful motivating force. Provoking and challenging human inevitability of death, and the anxiety associated with the awareness of death. Death anxiety is a term used to analyze the concept generated by death awareness. An abnormal fear of dying in which a person...
Words: 1633 - Pages: 7
... Kowgier Mao Zhengquan (Darius) Title: fear of death “Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.” (Bacon). Children are scared of the dark because it always gives you the feeling of death. This feeling is the fear of the unknown. In Charles Harrison’s Generals Die in Bed, lots of soldiers must face this fear because they can be killed at anytime in the war. In contrast, they have to hide their fear as much as possible because their strength shows the power of their country. When they cannot hide anymore, their fear comes out in three different ways: begging others, crying to release the pressure, and running away from the war. They do these things to survive the cruelty of war. This cruelty pressures the soldiers until they finally break and show their true emotion. When soldiers face death, they can do anything to survive, even beg their enemies. To begin with, during the raid on German trenches, the protagonist lunges Karl, a German soldier, by his bayonet. Karl shrieks lots of times and he wants to stop the pain, so he helps the protagonist to withdraw the rifle with piteous eyes (Harrison, pg62). Karl knows that he will die but he does not want to suffer from the pain. He is afraid of dying painfully, as a result he chooses to express his fear and beg the enemy to pull off the bayonet. His reaction shows that he is tired of pretending to be strong; he just wants to release his pain and fear before death. Also, the protagonist and other soldiers...
Words: 1313 - Pages: 6
...The Fears of Life: Conquering Them Can Be Difficult What is Fear? Fear is an emotion that one feels when they feel threatened or in danger. As for what is fear biologically speaking, when a person experiences fear, certain areas in their brain are immediately activated and appear to control the first physical response to fear. Adrenaline is released into the blood stream causing certain physical reactions such as: rapid heart rate, increased blood pressure, tightening of muscles, sharpened or redirected senses, dilation of the pupils, and increased sweating. When fear gets out of control, or when we fear something that cannot actually harm us, it can escalate to a point where it effects our daily functioning. Fear is no longer adaptive if we find we are constantly afraid of events that haven’t happened yet. Some of the most known cases of fear are: the fear of heights (Acrophobia), fear of spiders (Arachnophobia), fear of death (Thanatophobia), fear of the dark, fear of failure, and many more. Whether it is a fearful event you have experienced or the fear of an event or encounter in the future, there are ways to conquer and overcome these fears. The fear of spiders is one of the most common phobias today. The fear of spiders is known as Arachnophobia. As it may seem impossible to overcome these little, furry creatures, there are ways to do so. Though most arachnids are harmless, a person with arachnophobia may still panic or feel uneasy around one. Sometimes, even an object...
Words: 1115 - Pages: 5
...proud: you know your birth: For your embroider'd garments are from earth. You do obey your months and times, but I Would have it ever Spring: My fate would know no Winter, never die, Nor think of such a thing. O that I could my bed of earth but view And smile, and look as cheerfully as you! O teach me to see Death and not to fear, But rather to take truce! How often have I seen you at a bier, And there look fresh and spruce! You fragrant flowers! then teach me, that my breath Like yours may sweeten and perfume my death. THE POET: Henry King, English bishop and poet, baptized in January 1591. Henry King died at Christopher on the 30th of September 1669. His works include poems, Elegies, Paradoxes and sonnets (1657). This poem is an example of an ode, a formal way to address someone or something, it is a tribute. The poem is basically about a man wanting to accept death as it is. He watches the flowers accept death as nature. He then learns that the flowers are brave as they go back to the earth. He puts the flowers situation in his and which that they could teach him not to fear death and to be as brave when its time. As a human, I fear death and the consequences of it. It always seems hard to accept that life must come to an end, and that one day we all must die. In this poem by Henry King he makes a connection to flowers, which are very much like us in the way that they bloom, grow, and they must die. Just as humans a flowers life is filled with beauty and...
Words: 2179 - Pages: 9
