Death and Adjustment - The Hypothesis Part - I
Death is known, from the view point of 21st century, as the end of one’s life. For any average person death is some inevitable but unpredictable phenomenon, and thus for such individuals death is mainly represented in relation to aging. Traditions related to death are important parts of human culture, and beliefs related to death are central to many religions. But in the current trend of civilization, death as a subject or knowledge is rather ignored and death as a point of time is more emphasized. As a result in medical science, biological details and definitions of death have become increasingly complicated as technology advances. Death, in the past, was defined as the cessation of heartbeat and breathing. This definition of death is called "clinical death".
As even without a functioning heart and lungs, a person can be sustained with life support devices, death is defined as the moment when the electrical activity in their brain ceases permanently. The visible indications are considered very important to ensure the event. They include mortal decapitation, rigor mortis, livor mortis, decomposition, incineration, or other bodily damage that is clearly inconsistent with life. Faith in afterlife, as a practical knowledge, is an important aspect of religious beliefs. So from that point of view it is possible to evaluate death as an event or subject, not a point in time at the end of one’s life.
Practically, experiences are expressed to others after an event and thus documented for research and knowledge. That means the scientific point of death or the event of death, as per religious view, has no time after it for that man himself and thus no scope to share the experience with the same capability as the surrounding living persons – no matter whether anything lies after it or not. But in any case, we know that death is a mandatory part of our life. It can be well explained by the position of a tree at the visible end of a road that might even have an acute turn after that point which is not visible. As science run with clear evidences, the tree, that is, in this case death is assumed as on the last point scientifically, because nothing afterward is visually or practically evident in the universally available experience. On the other hand what keeps science going is infinite possibility, especially in the cases of incompletely answered or un-answered questions. It can’t even deny the possibility of a portion of the road even after the tree without any clear evidence against the idea. Rather it remains as a responsibility for the science to answer the question or try to clarify the conception.
For ourselves, we exist both physically and mentally. Experiences, thoughts and feelings are innate part of our mental life. When we die what happens to this part? Does it decompose like the body? It’s true that the remaining alive ones are unable to find anything like this after the death of a person. But does it indicate the absolute disappearance or the incapability of the searchers to find it?
So we struggle to see the point, death, clearly, or to ensure it, or even decide and dispose the body for proper decomposing, thus mange it properly and every step we proceed, we proceed with the help of science, as far as the scientific peoples are concerned. But shall it not be called an in vitro experience of death in the language of science? Then what is the in vivo experience, that is, the experience of the person passed or attending the point of death for himself!
Till now, science could never clarify this; neither could accept the non-scientific ideas nor reject those with due scientific procedure. So let’s say, death is not defined truly by the science till now. Rather the approaches to define such may be questioned for their purposes, procedures and successes. The purpose of this hypothesis of mine is not excluding the science; rather it is an approach to push the current science further towards the clear truth.
About the Author:
Dr. Mohammad Samir Hossain PhD is a researcher teacher of Psychiatry and a Psychotherapist in Bangladesh. He is renowned for his educational and research activity in mental health sector nationally and internationally. The Dictionary of International Biography cites his brief biography starting from its 33rd edition. One of the best educational institutions involved with his educational activity is the Harvard Medical School of USA.Visit his personal web site at http://www.samirhossain.org
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