IDLEchild
Well-Known Member
After watching Ray Charles win 7 grammy awards after his death I started wondering: Why are we so fascinated by death and so entrenched in honoring the dead?
Is it something intrinsic like the urge to survive? Or like religion, started early in human history but not a built mechanism into the human mind?
Is it because death is the final unknown? One mystery which is incapable of being solved untill it is too late? Well that may explain the morbid fascination humanity has with death, but what about the fascinating, detailed rituals societies have to honor those who have passed? Why be so meticulious and thorough with death rituals?
In the age of primitive cave men how were the dead dealt with? They couldn't have been nearly as concerned as the Egyptians...who seemingly were born so they could prepare to die.
Fast forward to today's Western society. We aren't nearly as devoted or as concise with our death process to honor the dead, yet still. It is almost criminal to overlook the dead or say anything negative about those who have recently passed. Someone who could have been a peon all of his/her life, earning zero respect for the individual they were, are suddenly put on a holy pedastal for a week or two. So it is harder to respect a person when alive? Thier death warrants a closer inspection into their lives so their relatives and coworkers could find good things to say about them...why not this much effort when they were living? They would be a lot more appreciative of the effort. Why?
What is about death that brings out this, almost illogical, attitude in humanity? I am not saying it is an useless act, a waste of time, but I don't understand the taboo atmosphere around it. The dead die (duh!) but do we feel as if we must keep honoring them, keep being respectful even when we feel that maybe there just wasn't that much to the person who died. Or that some maybe be glad that the certain person died.
Is it something intrinsic like the urge to survive? Or like religion, started early in human history but not a built mechanism into the human mind?
Is it because death is the final unknown? One mystery which is incapable of being solved untill it is too late? Well that may explain the morbid fascination humanity has with death, but what about the fascinating, detailed rituals societies have to honor those who have passed? Why be so meticulious and thorough with death rituals?
In the age of primitive cave men how were the dead dealt with? They couldn't have been nearly as concerned as the Egyptians...who seemingly were born so they could prepare to die.
Fast forward to today's Western society. We aren't nearly as devoted or as concise with our death process to honor the dead, yet still. It is almost criminal to overlook the dead or say anything negative about those who have recently passed. Someone who could have been a peon all of his/her life, earning zero respect for the individual they were, are suddenly put on a holy pedastal for a week or two. So it is harder to respect a person when alive? Thier death warrants a closer inspection into their lives so their relatives and coworkers could find good things to say about them...why not this much effort when they were living? They would be a lot more appreciative of the effort. Why?
What is about death that brings out this, almost illogical, attitude in humanity? I am not saying it is an useless act, a waste of time, but I don't understand the taboo atmosphere around it. The dead die (duh!) but do we feel as if we must keep honoring them, keep being respectful even when we feel that maybe there just wasn't that much to the person who died. Or that some maybe be glad that the certain person died.
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