Week 16 Ending notes

This Week, We:

  1. Examined Christianity's view of an afterlife from a non-religious perspective.
  2. Assessed Hindu and Buddhist concepts of an afterlife.
  3. You reviewed your own belief about an afterlife.

These activities enables us to consolidate our efforts to obtain the following  Student Learning Outcomes:

  • Evaluate beliefs an afterlife. 
  • Analyze attitudes and practices about death and dying.
  • Examine religious, philosophical. and popular beliefs about death and dying.

Conclusion

From the beginning of our course, we have acknowledged our sometimes deep fear about the end of life, "the unknown" that awaits us.  Exploring our beliefs about immortality may not make us more acceptant of death, Nevertheless, such exploration can help us to develop a more coherent philosophy of life and death. 

Thank you for taking this academic and personal journey with me to explore perspectives of death and dying. Maybe we have learned that, if we are not afraid of death, we may not be afraid of life. Death is a stage of life.

In the course we have encountered an image of a Sunset representing dying and an image of a Sunrise representing a new beginning. They are stages of the Sun's movement; perhaps as life and death are stage of human existence. 

Dying light from sun over water

Fading rays of sunlight over water to represent dying.

sun rays rising over mountains

 Sun rays rising over mountains representing a new beginning.