There isn’t a particular piece of artwork that shaped my understanding of death. What I came to know as the idea of death, was that you are here on Earth now and one day, sooner or later, everyone will be gone. Coming from a Catholic background on both sides, it was also brought to my attention that once a person died they would be allowed to enter either Heaven or Hell, depending on how they had lived their life down here. For a very long time I believed this idea to be the truth, until my later teen years when I finally learned and understood that there are so many more religions and beliefs about death/the afterlife out there and that everyone holds their own belief as true.
After freshman year of high school, my perceptions and thoughts about death, and also religions in general, fluctuated a lot. I had the opportunity of exploring two very different religions, aside from Catholicism, and it wasn’t until I came to college and took a course in the Religious Studies Department that I realized that religion was just not for me. Therefore, at this point in my life I don’t have a set perception or belief on death. I don’t know if there’s anything after we die, or if we really do get judged based on our acts during our life, or if everyone goes to the exact same place after death no matter who you are. I guess taking this class will probably be really good for me, considering I don’t really know what to think about death. Sometimes I want to believe that I’ll remain on Earth in spirit and that that spirit will be 100% who I am now, or maybe it would be better if death just meant eternal sleep!
Since I don’t personally have a specific view about death, I cannot make many comparisons to the material we have covered thus far. If I consider the ideas and images I grew up with as a kid, then there can exist some similarities like we saw with the Ancient Egyptians and their idea of post-mortem judgment, as well as the idea that one must find true meaning in this world before they die. If there is one thing that I’ve found relevant within these past few days is exactly that idea of finding meaning and enjoying life while we have it, instead of having thoughts and feelings like the character in “A Dispute Over Suicide.”
