The irony of this "Life cult" is that it's often those whose commitment
to Life is religiously motivated (believing in Eternal Life After Death)
who seem to be most terrified of the fact of Death - witness North
American funeral procedures etc ; Waugh's satire *The Loved One* comes
to mind here, and with regard to the desperate & pointless protraction
of life, Huxley's brilliant *After Many a Summer* . And I think, like
Alison, that it is up to a person's nearest & dearest - as guided by
medical and or/religious advice - to decide when death is mercy.
As far is suicide is concerned, some speak of cowardice or selfishness -
I don't think social obligations reach that far & consider that nobody
knows what inner hells may drive people to that extremity. When a
person's gotta go, s/he's gotta go. We are all survivors, as long as we
live - to pick up on Ann's point with reference to Ken's anguish - and
pain is *just* part of the scenario. It's the implicit guilt that is the
problem, in my view, which fuels a lot of strange human behaviour.
Martin
Ann White wrote:
> Kenneth Wolman wrote:
>
>>>
>>> This is not a
>>
>>
>> fucking death cult, Alison, it is a struggle to preserve people,
>
>
>
> It's more like a Life cult. Everybody's got their own beliefs. My tend
> toward the "body as temple to the spirit" side and from the little
> information I have about Terri, my conclusion is that her body has
> failed her spirit.
>
> What goes hand in hand with so much of the religious ramblings I've read
> (which often hurl accusations at Michael Schiavo because somebody has to
> be bad in this good vs bad scenario) is this refusal to acknowledge or
> accept death, it's this glorification of life, any living. I just wish
> that this idolization of life also included death, which is its natural
> progression. What is so horribly wrong with death is the pain it causes
> the survivors. Beyond that., we know nothing. Why assume the worst?
>
> Ann
>
> --
> "The sweetest of all sounds is praise."
> -Xenophon
>
> ***
> The Red Hibiscus http://theredhibiscus.blogspirit.com/
>
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