strategy
Denying death
Synonyms:
Using fear of deathAvoiding confrontation with death
Claim:
1. The concept of "preparing for death" is alien to the Jewish tradition. Psalm 71 emphasizes retention of hope: "cast me not off in my old age when my strength faileth, forsake me not... But as for me, I will hope continually". Hence many sources suggest that it is not in the dying person's interest to disclose the nearness of death.2. We deny death because it takes all our intelligence and all our heart to understand death.
Counter Claim:
Like a hen before a cobra, we find ourselves incapable of doing anything at all in the presence of the very thing that seems to call for the most dramatic and decisive action. The disquieting thought, that stares at us like a fact with a freezing grin, is that there is, in fact, nothing we can do. Say what we will, dance how we will, we will soon enough be a heap of ruined feathers and bones, indistinguishable from the rest of the ruins that lie about. It will not matter in the slightest whether we met the enemy with equanimity, shrieks, or a trumped up gaiety. Broader:
Using fearCoping with bereavement Constrains:
Dying strategically Constrained by:
Ensuring a proper death Facilitates:
Reducing fearProlonging the dying process Problems:
Fear of deathHuman denial of death
References:
Lonetto, Richard and Templer, Donald E: Death AnxietyBecker, Ernest: The Denial of DeathBardy, Gust H: Denial of Death and Its Effect on Environmental Degradation Subjects:
Life → DeathCommunication → Censorship
Defence → Conflict
Type Classification:
D: Detailed strategies