DEATH IN THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

Abstract

Nowadays, death, illness, and suffering are experienced as danger: a threat to one’s own physical, psychological and social identity. And what accompanies all these, particularly paralizing from a spiritual perspective, is fear; the dread that all is lost, that things cannot be controlled by means of medicine, only to reach the greatest angst: the fear of death. And, in this respect, we can say that pain, suffering and the fear of death make up the anthropological foundation of the most profound religious concept of life, in the sense that these realities show man his limitations, his finite build, that of a creature, and, consequently, determine him look beyond his limitations. The fear of death brought about angst, anxiety, passion, hatred, and despair in man’s life. His need to escape death made him look for even more material elements to render him oblivious to it. The solution against despair is God: faith vanquishes despair because, by faith, man acknowledges his dependence on God, but turning within himself, at the same time.