Death Across Time and Cultures - Essay Example

How different cultures and people view death Introduction Death is a sophisticated and systematic process in both the ical and contemporary world that has created a point of argument among scholars, anthropologist, sociologists, critics and religious groups that are worth understanding. Therefore, the principles and concepts of death have been understood differently by different cultures and people, even though, there are some convergences experienced in shared rituals and ceremonies of deaths.

Among different cultures and people, death is seen as one of the passages that even one must undergo through in order to complete the stages of life. Thus, although death is regard as a typical figure or outcome for all human beings, the conceptualization of death events and cultural practices vary significantly (Åhrén, P. 154). Among different cultures such as the Chinese, Egyptian and religious cultures, death is seen as a conceived condition that involves sleep, illness or attaining a certain age of life.

In contrast, among the European cultures such as the Greeks, death is seen as a total cessation of life. Cultures that views death as a transition between life and death such as the African cultures and Buddhism cultures according to Anna Indych from the ‘’Death Across Time and Cultures’’ video episode sees death as a transition from one to other form of human beings. Similarly, among the Buddhist religious culture, death is seen as a continuous interaction between the living people and the death (Åhrén, P. 152). On a broad front, as Hindu cultures’ views death as circular patterns of multiple rebirth and deaths, the Christian religious culture views death as a final end of humanly life that involves no human activities after death.

In addition, different conceptions of death as described by Stanley in the view episode in relation to the art of living and grieving, significantly influence the peoples’ way of life and lifestyles. Therefore, different perception of death outcomes for different cultures and people affects their degree in which they fear death, the readiness to die as well as the nature of expression of mourning, grieving and the nature of funeral rituals conducted (Åhrén, P. 151).BibliographyÅhrén, Eva.

Death, Modernity, and the Body: Sweden 1870-1940. Rochester, N.Y: University of Rochester Press, 2009. Print.ReferencesZirpolo, L. H. (2008). Historical dictionary of Renaissance art. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.