Consequences of death awareness

eddiedean

So again, I am asking a question about a subject I am not too familiar with, just playfully interested.
As far as I have read, experiments concerning death denial and death awareness have caused individuals to think differently when faced with their own mortality.

Judges give higher bonds, people are less open to other cultures and religions, etc.

It seems that being reminded of death brings about a negative effect, enhancing the sense of your own importance and the importance of your own culture and group whatever it may be based on as opposed to 'others'.

But is there a positive set of thoughts, a positive response that arises from death awareness?
Have i just missed these responses or are they rare or not interesting or not as powerful as the negative mindset.

Has there been a positive response to the awareness of death?

Rich

↪eddiedean

One way to perceive death is a state of renewal.

We go to sleep each night without any intention and we wake up without intention. It is cyclical, and sleep can be considered a period of renewal. Similarly, with death, we wipe the slate clean, as we do v with each new game we play. We start each game with the skills that we have learned but we have an opportunity to apply these skills to a new game, or a new canvas.

Death in such a manner can be viewed as a new canvas.

Nils Loc

Judges give higher bonds, people are less open to other cultures and religions, etc. — eddiedean

Could you unpack and explain this a bit more with regard to death awareness. Any links to share about how such experiments were conducted.

How does one know when a judge is aware of his own mortality versus when he is not and whether that significantly (or statistically) influences such decisions?

CasKev

Has there been a positive response to the awareness of death? — eddiedean

The YOLO factor.

Metaphysician Undercover

We go to sleep each night without any intention and we wake up without intention. It is cyclical, and sleep can be considered a period of renewal. — Rich

I can't say that I agree with this. I determine things I need to do in the morning, before going to bed, and when I wake up those things are fresh in my mind. The power of memory is wonderfully capable of persisting right through sleep. Some times I wake up with the same song in my head as was there when I fell asleep. It may take conscious effort to remember things, but once they're there, the memories don't erase so easily.

Rich

↪Metaphysician Undercover

To clarify, the actual act of going into a sleep state and coming out of a sleep state just happens. They are not willful acts.

Metaphysician Undercover

↪Rich

But waking up is not a wiping the slate clean or starting a new game, because we carry on where we left off the day before, so how does the comparison work?

Rich

↪Metaphysician Undercover

Waking up from sleep is less than walking up into birth. With walking from sleep there is memory of this life (physical memory) as well as past (learned skills). Still, "It's a new day". The mind has been refreshed and there is the possibilities of something new.

Birth retains past skills but has erased physical memories (in most cases) cleaning the slate and creating the possibilities for an entirely new game. Both cycles have similarities but differences.

eddiedean

↪Nils Loc

you can look up experiments on death awareness conducted by Sheldon Solomon and his team.

Nils Loc

Scientific American: Fear, Death and Politics: What Your Mortality Has to Do with the Upcoming Election

Mortality Salience (wikipedia)

Terror Management Theory (Wikipedia)

It seems that being reminded of death brings about a negative effect, enhancing the sense of your own importance and the importance of your own culture and group whatever it may be based on as opposed to 'others'. — eddiedean

Why not just characterize this as a "positive" effect, especially in rare cases where an existential threat (terror) is imminent like war. The amplification on "self-esteem" by MS would make sense as an evolutionary adaptation, priming the brain in facilitating action, decision-making and movement to avoid death.

Consequences of death awareness

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