"That had to Be"

 

Visited Sentosa yesterday. The scaffolding was up around the Merlion, preparation for it to be torn down. I took a picture of it because it really seemed to be crying out in anguish. With its mouth opened it seemed to be terrified, sad, desperate and confused. Once a neon lighted icon beaming colourful lasers across the evening skyline, it now seemed to admonish the neglect of its former glory. 

I am philosophising again. If you think about it, which eldery person does not think about what the inevitable death means. The thought of "that's it folks" and "you will no longer be part of this historical world" can bring about a sense of loss, at least it is for me sometimes. The thought of complete absence from this evolving world and nothingless (ceasing to 'be') can be frightening.

That is why there is religion. Be it the promise of reunion with the supreme God or the ultimate merging with the Spiritual universe, it is comforting because there is still continuity. Under the "Terror Management Theory" (TMT) anthropologist Ernest Becker suggests that human goes through all means to ignore the inevitability of death.

Research has shown that  the less self-exalting individuals are the ones who have less fear of the end of existence. In fact affiliation to a community or group can be considered a form of TMT as it provides some comfort of continuity.

Research also tells us that older people who are able to live in the present moment are more calm and less anxious of death. Describing the last phase of life as 'ego integrity vs despair' , Erik Erickson (developmental psychologist) describes 'ego integrity" as "the acceptance of one's one-and-only life cycle as something that had to be".

Sometimes when meditating or when those rare beautiful moments occur when you feel part of the flow, you know what Erickson means when he further describes 'ego integrity' in the last phase of life as "a sense of coherence and wholeness"