What does it all mean? Mindfulness and less fear of death

StephenW

http://esciencenews.com/articles/2011/02/28/a.grudge.match.between.humanity.and.death.who.wins
A grudge match between humanity and death -- who wins?Published: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 15:34 in Psychology & Sociology
      Death can be terrifying. Recognizing that death is inescapable and unpredictable makes us incredibly vulnerable, and can invoke feelings of anxiety, hatred and fear. But new research by George Mason University psychology professor Todd Kashdan shows that being a mindful person not only makes you generally more tolerant and less defensive, but it can also actually neutralize fears of dying and death. "Mindfulness is being open, receptive, and attentive to whatever is unfolding in the present moment," says Kashdan. In his latest research, Kashdan and his colleagues wanted to find out if mindful people had different attitudes about death and dying.
"Generally, when reminded of our mortality, we are extremely defensive. Like little kids who nearly suffocate under blanket protection to fend off the monster in the closet, the first thing we try to do is purge any death-related thoughts or feelings from our mind," says Kashdan.
"On the fringes of this conscious awareness, we try another attempt to ward off death anxiety. We violently defend beliefs and practices that provide a sense of stability and meaning in our lives."
Kashdan says this practice often has an ugly side—intolerance and abuse. "When people are reminded that death is impending, their racist tendencies increase," he says. In a series of experiments conducted by the University of Missouri-Columbia, for example, white people asked to read about a crime committed by another person give harsher penalties for black compared with white defendants after being reminded of their mortality.
Kasdan wondered what might prevent these defensive, intolerant reactions from occurring. In a recent study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, he and his colleagues looked at what might happen when mindfulness and the terror of death collide.
"A grudge match between humanity and death," says Kashdan.
If mindful people are more willing to explore whatever happens in the present, even if it uncomfortable, will they show less defensiveness when their sense of self is threatened by a confrontation with their own mortality?
Based on the results of 7 different experiments, the answer appears to be yes. When reminded about their death and asked to write about what will happen when their bodies decompose (in grisly detail), less mindful people showed an intense dislike for foreigners that mention what's wrong with the United States (pro-U.S. bias), greater prejudice against black managers who discriminated against a white employee in a promotion decision (pro-white bias), and harsher penalties for social transgressions such as prostitution, marital infidelities, and drug use by physicians that led to surgical mishaps.
Across these various situations, on the contrast, mindful people showed a lack of defensiveness toward people that didn't share their worldview. Mindful people were diplomatic and tolerant regardless of whether they were prompted to think about their slow, systematic decline toward obliteration.
"What we found was that when asked to deeply contemplate their death, mindful people spent more time writing (as opposed to avoiding) and used more death-related words when reflecting on the experience. This suggests that a greater openness to processing the threat of death allows compassion and fairness to reign. In this laboratory staged battle, mindfulness alters the power that death holds over us," Kashdan says.
  Source: George Mason University

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mark

positiveattitud

I know i am too picky on this but i am not quite sure about this part:'What we found was that when asked to deeply contemplate their death, mindful people spent more time writing (as opposed to avoiding) and used more death-related words when reflecting on the experience. This suggests that a greater openness to processing the threat of death allows compassion and fairness to reign. '
Based on my own experience, Chinese people quite often use the word 'death', for example, in Chinese, when we are terrified, we say 'i am  to death'; when we are exhausted, we say ' i am tired to death'. But in English, people put it in a different way to express same feelings.
But you cannot say that Chinese are more mindful than English because Chinese say death more often.
Therefore, these researchers need to ensure that the persons that they pick to do the expriments should all speak same native language to avoid the situation above mentioned.
Just kidding...

StephenW

回复 positiveattitud 的帖子

Touche again. Some of these research are very flakey to me too - they are just too simplistic and subjective. On the other hand (you should notice by now I always have another argument), most Chinese will not use the word, "death", especially in front of us oldies. They would use "go away" 走了,悄悄的我走了. I like the article because it equates people who fear death (such as some religious people) as more prejudicial. I think culture plays a very important part in how we deal with death. I used to be fairly (i.e. not practising) religious, but I have second thought in the last six months. Therefore I would like to think I am more open-minded - but do I fear death less? I don't know.

positiveattitud

You are a wise guy
I was very scared of death when i was little. I used to sleep with lights on, funny,right？
After I grew up, I suddenly realised from birth to death, this is just a cycle of life, then i was relieved.

StephenW

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Thanks. But I still like to know why we are here? I once asked this question in an American forum. A person replied something like this: we have no purpose here, we are just an accident of evolution. I admire the certainty of his answer.

positiveattitud

StephenW 发表于 2011-3-7 22:40
回复 positiveattitud 的帖子

Thanks. But I still like to know why we are here? I once asked this que ...

Again, it depends on how you view things.
I would rather believe we are here for purposes.
We are part of the society are part of family. We are here to find the other half, to have a family and to contribute to the society if possible.
Apart from that I would like to try all of these delicious food and travel to these beautiful places. Can I call them 'purposes' too? ：)
My life is a journey, is an experience, is something ordinary to the someone else, but extrodinory to me. I am enjoying it.
Enjoy yours too, Stephen.

StephenW

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Ah.... Wait till you are at the end of your journey (you have a long way to travel yet, but fat from all the eating) and then you will ask: where have I been? Is there all there is to life? FOOD?(remember the song?). Good night.