Humankind S Fear Of Death

Human society is shaped by many things, but underlying them all is one fundamental force - our fear of death. This is the ground-breaking theory explored in Mortals. 'Spoiler alert: if you read this book, you will die. But, as well as being fascinating, this book can also help you die a better death, and live a better life.' JULIAN MORROW, comedian, ABC presenter, member of The Chaser team 'A death-defying book from two leaders in the field.' PROFESSOR DAVID VEALE, King's College London The ground-breaking book that uncovers how our fear of death is the hidden driver of most of humankind's endeavours. The human mind can grapple with the future, visualising and calculating solutions to complex problems, giving us tremendous advantages over other species throughout our evolution. However, this capability comes with a curse. By five to ten years of age, all humans know where they are heading: to the grave. In Mortals, Rachel Menzies and Ross Menzies, both acclaimed psychologists whose life's work has focused on death anxiety, examine all the major human responses to death across history. From the development of religious systems denying the finality of death, to 'immortality projects' involving enduring art, architecture and literature, some of the consequences of our fear of death have been glorious while others have been destructive, leading to global conflicts and genocide. Looking forward, Mortals hypothesises that worse could be to come-our unconscious dread of death has led to rampant consumerism and overpopulation, driving the global warming and pandemic crises that now threaten our very existence. In a terrible irony, Homo sapiens may ultimately be destroyed by our knowledge of our own mortality. 'A fascinating tour of our species' attempts across millennia to come to terms with mortality. Mortals offers a stunning glimpse into what our fear of death means for our future. A must-read.' PROFESSOR THOMAS HEIDENREICH, Esslingen University

Ellen Goodman uses extensive extracts from original writings to highlight the main themes of the Western legal tradition. The strength of the book is its clear focus on the heart of the tradition: constitutionalism, representative institutions and rule by law. Goodman links Christianity to its origins in Greek philosophy and Judaism. She delves into the position of the Roman Church as the tenuous, Dark Ages conduit. Feudalism lives and dies and the common law and parliament emerge. The author accurately and vividly charts the main currents, avoiding both the shoals and the myriad tributaries, and so enables readers to have a clearer and deeper understanding of our present legal system.

This eBook could remove your fear of death forever It could teach you-for the first time in your existence-how to live outrageously alive. Now Not tomorrow. But now! It is a book about life and death. How to be alive-now. And how never to die. It is, however, a completely subversive and dangerous eBook. It is difficult to read-shattering in its impact-full of strange consequences for you, your family, your job, and your “responsibilities”. Its author grew up in and was inspired by for example was inspired by the “Hippie” movement. Had he written this book five hundred years ago, he would have been burned at the stake. If, therefore, you are satisfied with your life as it is now . . . If you feel that you are alive enough now, that you gain enough satisfaction and meaning out of each day now . . . If you do not want to discuss or confront the question of death-then turn away from this page now. The rest of this letter will simply be confusing and destructive for you. Now, for those of you who remain, let us look at the universe through different eyes: This book says that Western Society has tricked you-INTO BELIEVING THAT YOU ARE A PRISIONER IN A BAG OF SKIN! This book assumes that you are a normal American man or woman. In other words, that you are a member of our modern Western society. As such, it says, you have been condemned at birth to spend your entire life in the shadow of impossible-and essentially ridiculous-definitions of yourself that say this: That you are nothing more than a walking bag of skin-filled with a mind, personality, and perhaps (though no one can prove it) a soul. Therefore, that you are born-live-struggle-suffer-build-love-and all the rest, only to die. To vanish. To disappear into the same nothingness you came from. That-if you no longer accept the old Western idea of a heaven and a hell-once you die, you are simply gone. That death is like being buried alive forever-no more friends, no more sunlight, or birdsong, no more love or laughter. Only darkness without end. All that all humans live and die in this terrible loneliness. Each of us is irrevocably cut off from the other-separated and alone-with even love as only a flicker of light in aeons of darkness. Cast adrift in a hostile universe-which itself will probably end in eternal darkness. This, then, is the modern Western view. And, again, this eBook says it is ridiculous. Let us turn it upside down. Let us see how the universe looks through the other end of the telescope. This book gives you a new you. It takes away your bag of skin, and gives you both your conscious and unconscious in synchronistic equilibrium.

There are some new voices emerging in Christian theological conversation these days. They do not speak with American or Western European accents, but reflect their settings in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Since they come from many places, the theological questions they ask are not ones we are used to in the West. They are as likely to speak of ancestor worship or political oppression as they are of church growth or evangelism. One thing is clear: we cannot listen to their cries of hope (or despair) without being deeply moved. This book gives an opportunity to listen in to important conversations going on in different parts of the world. These Christian theologians do not respond to a common set of questions, but are setting their own agendas of theological discussion. With some general introductory comments, these pieces are meant to stimulate an appetite for further exploration. There seems little doubt that the major voices in theology in the next generation will share these non-western accents.

In an utterly unique approach to biography, On Love and Tyranny traces the life and work of the iconic German Jewish intellectual Hannah Arendt, whose political philosophy and understandings of evil, totalitarianism, love, and exile prove essential amid the rise of the refugee crisis and authoritarian regimes around the world. What can we learn from the iconic political thinker Hannah Arendt? Well, the short answer may be: to love the world so much that we think change is possible. The life of Hannah Arendt spans a crucial chapter in the history of the Western world, a period that witnessed the rise of the Nazi regime and the crises of the Cold War, a time when our ideas about humanity and its value, its guilt and responsibility, were formulated. Arendt’s thinking is intimately entwined with her life and the concrete experiences she drew from her encounters with evil, but also from love, exile, statelessness, and longing. This strikingly original work moves from political themes that wholly consume us today, such as the ways in which democracies can so easily become totalitarian states; to the deeply personal, in intimate recollections of Arendt’s famous lovers and friends, including Heidegger, Benjamin, de Beauvoir, and Sartre; and to wider moral deconstructions of what it means to be human and what it means to be humane. On Love and Tyranny brings to life a Hannah Arendt for our days, a timeless intellectual whose investigations into the nature of evil and of love are eerily and urgently relevant half a century later.

Introduction -- Embodiment -- Position without Identity -- Allegory and Collectivity -- Temporality -- Conclusion: Hasan the Potter -- Appendix: Poems in Transliteration and Translation.

This book is a dissertation on life, afterlife, and reincarnation given by Sylvia Browne's spirit guide, Francine. Within these pages, you'll find a 'gnostic' view of the world and the reason for life. As always, we encourage the reader to 'take what you like and leave the rest behind.' No single work can fully capture this enormous topic. We simply offer this book as a resting point in your lifelong search. Our goal, and hopefully yours, too, is to stimulate your mind to seek God - however you wish. We don't intend to replace your belief system. Rather, we only hope to expand your view to include areas not yet explored. Each person will find and understand God in their own way. This book offers one path, among billions, to find God.

This book challenges conventional notions of biological life and death in the area of robotics, discussing issues such as machine consciousness, autonomous AI, and representations of robots in popular culture. Using philosophical approaches alongside scientific theory, this book offers a compelling critique on the changing nature of both humanity and biological death in an increasingly technological world.