The Phenomenology of Death

By Arthur Pindle

Why do we prefer to say that someone has “passed away” rather than simply saying that the person has died? When did people begin to believe that there was existence after death? In what other ways does death affect how we live?

This book examines death as a phenomenon in human culture. It looks at how our attitudes about death have changed over many centuries. There is a detailed critique of views on the belief in existence after death, and an analysis of how our attitude about existence after death affects our attitudes about the meaning of life. There is also an explanation of how death influences our everyday psychology and psychological responses. An important indication is why existence after death will soon be generally considered to be a scientific fact.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Jun 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781685626662

Arthur Pindle

Arthur Pindle has a B.S. degree in physics from Morehouse College and a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Yale University. He did graduate studies in physics at Howard University and graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He has worked as a rocket engineer for the U.S. Navy, a research physicist for the National Oceanics and Atmospherics Administration (NOAA), a university administrator, and a university professor.

Book preview

About the Author

Arthur Pindle has a B.S. degree in physics from Morehouse College and a Ph.D. degree in philosophy from Yale University. He did graduate studies in physics at Howard University and graduate studies in philosophy at the Catholic University of America. He has worked as a rocket engineer for the U.S. Navy, a research physicist for the National Oceanics and Atmospherics Administration (NOAA), a university administrator, and a university professor.

Copyright Information ©

Arthur Pindle 2023

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Ordering Information

Quantity sales: Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the publisher at the address below.

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data

Pindle, Arthur

The Phenomenology of Death

ISBN 9781685626648 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781685626655 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781685626662 (ePub e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023907374

www.austinmacauley.com/us

First Published 2023

Austin Macauley Publishers LLC

40 Wall Street 33rd Floor, Suite 3302

New York, NY 10005

USA

[e-mail]

[phone]

Preface

Ontology, Phenomenology, and Religion

Ontology

The African Ontology is the earliest known formulation of an intellectual conception of the absolute. Before the age of the prophets, philosophers recognized the idea of an Absolute which was distinct from and above the gods of the many polytheistic religions. During the age of the prophets, the Absolute became identified with the God recognized by the historical prophets. The important characteristic of the African ontology was that it conceives of the Absolute as both Immanent and Transcendent. The Immanent Absolute is the idea of a Universal or Absolute which is contained within the world. The world itself is the Absolute’s manifestation of itself. The Transcendent Absolute is the idea of a Universal or Absolute which is outside of and distinct from its creation. The Transcendent Absolute looks at the world from the outside.

Around 10,500 BC, a group of people called the Natufians established a culture in the region of Palestine and southern Syria. This region became known as the Levant. Originally, the Natufian culture was based on African ontology. However, as the Levantian culture developed, the African Ontology also developed. The ideas of the immanent absolute and the Transcendent Absolute became separate and distinct ideas. These early conceptions spread out from the Levant. The idea of the Immanent Absolute spread eastward into Asia and became the basis of Oriental philosophy and religion. In Asia, the traditional concept of the absolute became non-being. The idea of the Transcendent Absolute spread westward into Europe and became the basis of Occidental philosophy and religion. In Europe, the traditional concept of the absolute became being.

Phenomenology

In the twentieth century, a series of philosophers pursued the philosophy of phenomenology, which had been introduced by Edmund Husserl. By the end of the twentieth century, a concept of the mind was developed. This phenomenological concept described the mind as a complex structure constituted by two primary parts – the noesis and the noema. The philosophers referred to these two components of the mind with varying terminologies. I have chosen the psychological terminology which refers to the noesis as consciousness and the noema as the phenomenological ego or simply ego. The ego contains all the objective content of the mind, both conscious and subconscious. This includes memories, emotions, ideas, concepts, etc. The contents of the ego include material stored in the electrical circuitry of the brain as well as material in the form of mind energy.

This concept of the mind was developed in the context of a broader idea called the ontological structure. To understand the ontological structure phenomenology looks at the concept of being from the point of view of the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Traditionally, being is defined in terms of the predicates of perfection and similar concepts. As such, from a Kantian perspective, being is strictly phenomenal. The Absolute, however, must encompass the noumenal. being, therefore, is not an appropriate terminology for the Absolute. The proper terminology for the Absolute is non-being. ‘Non-being’ is used here with the meaning it has in Asia – as a reference to the noumenal. This concept is frequently misunderstood because philosophers in the western tradition usually associate the concept ‘non-being’ with the concept ‘nothingness.’ This interpretation is one reason why many western scholars have difficulty understanding Asian philosophy. In the ontological structure, the external world is non-being. The noesis, or consciousness, is also designated as non-being. When consciousness looks out at the world, it must look through the ego. The ego functions as a filter and gives the world a structure. This structure is called being. This ontological structure is defined by the two following principles:

Being is the negation of non-being.

Consciousness is the alienation of non-being from itself.

Religion

Modern religions had their beginnings during a period known as The Age of The Prophets (c. 600 BC–600 AD). During this period, a number of men appeared and introduced a completely new concept of religion to various cultures. They established two religious traditions; the Eastern religions which include Hinduism and Buddhism, and the Western religions which include Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. There are several religions in each tradition and the scriptures of these religions give accounts of many Prophets. However, only four of these prophets have been established as real historical individuals by independent historical evidence. These are known as the Four Historical Prophets and include Zarathustra (c. 628–551 BC), Buddha (c. 563–483 BC), Jesus (c. 5 BC–30 AD), and Muhammad (c. 570–632 AD).

These four prophets taught a concept of religion that was based on the Asian ontology in which the technical term for God is non-being. This religious concept is contained in what many religious scholars call the Esoteric Doctrines. This concept was taught by each of the four historical prophets, and can be summarized as follows:

The Unity of God. There is one universal principle that unifies reality and which is beyond human conception. The traditional concept of the universal God was non-being, which represents that which cannot be understood. In the western tradition, this idea is found in the Jewish doctrine of Kabbalah and the teachings of the Sufis of Islam. The expressions ‘God is beyond human understanding’ and ‘non-being is noumenal’ are simply two different ways of saying the same thing.

The Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the three primary spiritual manifestations. All of the Prophets taught this principle, and in Christianity, the Holy Trinity is called The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The Prophets were specific about what these concepts represented:

The Father. The Father is a reference to the one absolute that is beyond human understanding and is referred to as a non-being.

The Son. The son is thought of by Christians as Jesus. In a more general sense, the son is a reference to a spiritual entity known as the Tathagata. The Tathagata is a spiritual entity that manifests itself as the Prophets. According to this doctrine, each prophet is an individual manifestation of this one entity. There can be only one prophet on earth at a time because there is only one, who appears at different times to different peoples.

The Holy Spirit. The ‘Holy Spirit’ was an expression first used by Zarathustra as a reference to the inner structure of the mind – the part referred to in phenomenology as consciousness or non-being. That God is non-being and consciousness is non-being is why the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to as the Image of God in Man. The fact that this concept of the Holy Spirit is based on the ontology of non-being is why many western scholars – working in the ontology of being – call the Holy Spirit an unexplainable mystery.

Graded Spiritual Intelligence. This principle means that all life is a form of spiritual manifestation. This is frequently expressed as the popular slogan ‘life is sacred.’ What the prophets meant first of all was that there is a form of energy, called spiritual energy, which was present in all living things. This is the same energy which is also called Mind Energy. Secondly, they meant that this spiritual energy was developing and evolving, and that the different levels observed in the evolution of life manifested the different levels in the evolution of the mind.

Changes in Earth and the Unseen Worlds. This doctrine says that reality is not only material but that there is a spiritual dimension to reality and that the spiritual realm was part of the real world. The spiritual realm is composed of Spiritual Energy which is a real energy and interacts with other forms of energy. The mind is able to travel to other realms than the physical world we normally occupy. In psychology, these states are called altered states of consciousness, and in physics, they are represented by the additional dimensions recognized in modern theory.

Universal Law. This doctrine says that there is a system of law that governs how reality works. This Universal Law includes the laws of science but it also includes events in the spiritual realm and interactions between the two realms. Spiritual energy exists in two forms, one positive and one negative. The duality of spiritual energy is the basis of our moral sense and the origin of our intuition of the good. Two interpretations of the Universal Law have survived through history: The I Ching from ancient China and the Tarot from medieval Europe. These two systems appear to be very different when looked at externally, but can be seen to be very compatible.

Continual Unfoldment of Consciousness. This doctrine says that evolution is an ongoing process and that mankind will determine the direction of its future evolution. The practice of religion is important to keep the evolution going in the proper direction.

The theoretical physicists of today are very near to defining mind energy, or spiritual energy, in precise mathematical terms as a function of other forms of energy. When this is accomplished, we will have an idea that is agreed upon by philosophy, physics, and religion.

Introduction

At first, men never died, but when they advanced in life, they cast their skins like snakes and crabs and came out with youth renewed. After a time, a woman growing old went to a stream to change her skin. She threw off her old skin in the water and observed that as it floated down, it caught against a stick. Then she went home, where she had left her child. The child, however, refused to recognize her, crying that its mother was an old woman, not like this young stranger; and to pacify the child, she went after her cast integument and put it on. From that time, mankind ceased to cast their skins and died.¹

1. The Meaning of Death

Death has always been a major element in the life of mankind. The materials recovered from prehistoric man’s burial rituals are the earliest evidence we have of man’s ability to think and act on the basis of abstract concepts. Much research in modern anthropology and the sociology of religion is centered around death. Death has even been regarded as the source of all religion. Although this might not be completely true, the following discussion will indicate that death was certainly one of the major causes, even the original one, of religious practices. One general connection between death and the organization of human culture has been repeatedly observed and analyzed since the beginning of this century. This is the connection between attitudes toward death and the sense of community purpose and meaning a people may or may not have.²

Death is also a crucial issue on the level of the individual. Many psychiatrists and psychologists have recognized the mental hygienic aspects of attitudes about death. Dr. Herman Feifel, for example, has advanced the hypothesis that "one of the functions of schizophrenic denial of reality in certain persons is a magical holding back, if not undoing of possible death."³ In the same vein, Dr. John Brantner indicates that a proper attitude toward death is a key issue for a meaningful existence. Dr. Brantner says that "we might well examine, question, and perhaps change our attitudes about death. Unless we do, we can not become fully realized, fully developed persons. We cannot achieve identity. We cannot achieve selfhood."⁴

Throughout history, people have adopted a variety of attitudes toward death. What we need today is an interpretation of death that takes into consideration the great diversity in responses to death, and uses this diversity to make death more meaningful to modern experiences. To present such an interpretation, by way of a reinterpretation of Heidegger, is the purpose of this book.

Before I proceed with this task, however, we need some basic working definitions of death. Although we all know what death is, giving a universally accepted definition is virtually impossible.

The Oxford Universal Dictionary gives the following definition of death: That has ceased to live; in that state in which the vital functions and powers have come to an end, and cannot be restored. So we say that death means not being alive. But what is life? According to the dictionary, life is:

Primarily, the condition, quality, or fact of being a living person or animal, b. More widely: The property which differentiates a living animal or plant, or a living portion of organic tissue, from dead or nonliving matter; c. Continuance of animate existence; opp. to death.

We see, therefore, that death means not being alive, and life means not being dead. One is hard-pressed to find a more circular set of definitions. One clue to unraveling this is the finality of death; that is, it ‘cannot be restored.’ This distinguishes death from sleep. Death is also distinct from inert matter, such as dirt and water.

While discussing this problem of the definition of death, Ian Crichton⁵ points out a whole range of definitions of death. These include the broadly scientific definitions, such as permanent cessation of the vital functions of the body; the highly jargonized definitions of absolute dysfunction with zero transitional probability to a higher state; such chemical definitions as lack of ability to synthesize molecules in an integrated organized system; and theological definitions such as the separation of the soul from the body. Medical definitions are the most important, but there is a variety of these also. There is molecular death when the individual body cells die; somatic death, or whole body death; clinical death which is indicated by cessation of heartbeat and respiration, and brain death indicated by a flat electroencephalograph (EEG).

The importance of a concept such as ‘somatic death’ was stressed by M. Ryan in 1836 when he said that individuals who are apparently destroyed in a sudden manner, by certain wounds, diseases or even decapitation, are not really dead, but are only in conditions incompatible with the persistence of life.⁶ The instantaneous death of a beheaded person is a somatic death. Some time would be required for the other medical symptoms of death to appear.

In the past, some medical-legal signs of death were cessation of heartbeat and respiration, changes in the eye, insensibility to electrical stimuli, rigor mortis, and relaxation of the sphincter. Early medical practitioners recognized that these methods were unreliable and dangerous. Burying someone alive was always a possibility.

Modern medicine has added a new definition of death – brain death. A flat EEG reading is usually taken as an indication of death, even if heartbeat and respiration can be restored under resuscitation. The brain, therefore, often becomes the final factor in determining when a person is dead. In 1968, the Harvard Medical School recommended at least ten minutes and preferably twenty before a flat EEG is taken as conclusive evidence of death. Other indicators of death that were emphasized were lack of response, movements, reflexes, and breath.⁷ Hazards still exist, however, even with these criteria. A massive dose of barbiturates can reduce the functions of the central nervous system to a degree that simulates the brain-death syndrome. Consequently, when barbiturate usage is suspected many physicians prefer to wait at least four hours. Some feel even more time is required.

The problem of deciding when a person has actually died stems from medicine’s ability to restore the functioning of the heart and respiratory system. The heart can actually go without beating for as long as half an hour and still be reactivated by a cardiac massage or electrical stimulation. The brain, however, can do without blood circulation for only a few minutes; and, thus, would be irreparably damaged by such a heart stoppage. For this reason, Dempsey suggests yet another definition of death: "assuming the brain is alive, one dies only when resuscitation is not possible."

The United Nations Vital Statistics define death as the permanent disappearance of every sign of life. In any particular case, if brain function is abolished and spontaneous circulation and respiration have