Author Archives: jasbrwn

The Not So End of a Journey

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These past few weeks have been full of challenges, but also growth has emerged. Growth in knowledge and awareness. This quarter has flown by but this journey we collectively experienced is something that will live on. My group’s action project surrounding Terror Management was an enlightening experience. Being able to conduct a similar study of what the authors in The Worm at the Core but making it our own by using our own community and tying our own mortality to death in the Anthropocene was a great first-hand experience.

Our action project was the highlight of the quarter. It presented many challenges, but at the end of the day presented a piece of work that I believe was engaging and beneficial to the UW community. Even though I and my group were the ones that came up with the questions that were asked I found myself noticing, a different emotional response once hearing everyone’s answers. This video interview not only opened people’s awareness of their mortality intertwined with climate change but also mine in a deeper sense. It was exciting to hear everyone’s responses even on such a heavy topic as death. There were a lot of inspirational statements made that gave me a sense of hope. Hearing from people in my community about some of their actions in terms of achieving sustainability within their own lives was also intriguing. It reinforced my active hope and belief that everyone has their own way of being sustainably, but collectively we can make changes in collectively achieving sustainability on higher levels.

Overall, this class wasn’t as disheartening, or dreary as expected. I see myself consciously thinking in new ways about my mortality and death in the Anthropocene, that I wouldn’t have foreseen. Personal decisions such as, if I want to bare children or be turned into the soil instead of being put in a casket are all thoughts that have emerged from the material in this course. The fear of death is less prevalent as I continue to learn to connect myself, to the universe in a way that gives hope to future generations and our planet.

Terror Management Theory and the Afterlife – BahaiTeachings.org

 

Contemplative Practice ; A Deeper Thinking

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These contemplative practices we have been engaging in this quarter has increased my self-awareness. I have mostly become more aware of my body positions throughout these and, will perform tasks such as unclenching my jaw or fixing my posture. The connection of the poems to what we discussed that day also bring a deeper connection and I feel like it opens my mind to analyze these readings. I see these practices as tethering course materials with my own life in these moments of deeper thinking. This quarter has been a particular rough one with a lot of health complications that have really borne a weight on my performance. My life, like everyone else’s is chaotic and busy so the few moments of thought in these contemplative practices have opened this opportunity for breath and reflection. Which in my experience has led me to refocus on this class content with an open mind not so full of distractions. The material we have read in this class is heavy and I have experienced these practices helps develop capacity and increase mindfulness for these types of discussions.

One reading particularly that stood out to me and I seemed to reflect during contemplative practices was  Is a Fear of Death at the Heart of Capitalism? – Ernest Becker Foundation. Going back to that TMT that we learned about in The Worm at The Core, this reading examines how capitalism could be at the heart of our fears of death. This idea that being reminded of death increases our part in contributing to our capitalist society helped me see my part. When reflecting on the way my personal fear of death plays a part in contributing to those in power and big corporations the practices this reading helped me connect my personal behaviors with it. I connect my own purchase behaviors, jobs, and activities that I perform to this idea and see that the reasoning behind why I work or why I shop immensely is to cope or pass time with the fear of death in my subconscious.

On the ecology level, my impact on the earth and a lot of the readings in class have intertwined with the contemplative practices around this subject. The article Häagen-Dazs and Tide are turning to reusable packaging to fight plastic waste – Vox, gave me hope as well as a increasing awareness of the plastic products I use. The state our world is in, is extremely alarming to me and hearing about progress and companies that contribute to this becoming more sustainable, pushes me to increase sustainability in my life. I am persistently pondering how to change my actions to make as little impact on the earth with each new information I learn, and these thoughts have emerged extensively throughout these contemplative practices.

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Source: Deep thinking man – Zodiac Fire

Death is a system

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With the never-ending imploding climate disasters of our world, my desires to learn more about my connection with our environment and the not so scary concept of death are increasingly prevalent. At the beginning I was a little frightened to be talking about death but as we continue the importance is ever so increasing.

The attempts to extend our human lives leaves this catastrophic effect of disorder in our life cycles. Trickling down to disasters and death in our animals and ecosystems. As we are increasing human lifespan, they’re consequences that come with the typical American lifestyle filled with consumerism and a negligent lifestyle that carelessly increases our emissions. Climate change makes our part in this world complex. Is recycling really going to help the earth? Is using a reusable bag going to stop the earth from warming? Is what I learned in church and school going to stop wildfires? Our systems have failed us when it comes to climate change, yet we need them for our sanity and to keep our minds at bay.

Humankind blankets our self from death with symbols. Our worldwide views that we assimilate into and adopt such as religion helps us manage our terror of the inevitable end. In the worm at the core there is an example from the bible “to love our neighbor as ourselves”. However even people that adopt religion don’t follow commandments and this idea of using religion to compass our morals is just another way of navigating our systems of life. Neither less our sense of worth is determined by our self esteem that emerges from our culture views imposed by our connections to our past. Religion keeps us in check with our morals, even if not everything is followed there is some justice by making us acknowledge our connection with the earth as seen in many cultures. We discussed in class how there is a disconnect in where our food comes from depending on your culture, whereas in others its seen as normal to honor animals and see where they come from. This difference in culture is also seen when talked about death.

Our culture dictates our efforts on everything we touch, from the ground we walk on to the food we take home. The acknowledgment of death pushes us to change the life we so thought we had succeeded in. Climate change touches us on every part of the earth. Mother Earth is dying along with us, even though the fight for longevity is contradicting our ecosystems. Death is so simple, yet also complex when it comes down to human’s psychological needs.

Culture of Life vs Culture of Death

Works cited:

Is a culture of death gaining supremacy over a culture of life in today’s World? our bloggers fight it out: Flipped. ED Times | Youth Media Channel. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://edtimes.in/is-a-culture-of-death-gaining-supremacy-over-a-culture-of-life-in-todays-world-our-bloggers-fight-it-out-flipped/.

Solomon, Sheldon, et al. The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life. Penguin Books, 2016