Life Affirmation

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Life affirmation is the process by which someone comes to appreciate the pleasures of life by accepting death and dying as a harsh reality from Mother Nature. This acceptance actually makes one have a different perspective of life and death. By accepting ones mortality, the mixed and eerie feelings of fear, sadness and anger give greater meaning to life and consequently make it all more precious. It is a reminder that that life is temporal, and hence, we should appreciate our existence but still acknowledge our non existence. These are the two sides of one coin that Mother Nature gave us, but many do not pose for even a second and look at what awaits them over the other side. To further postulate, I will describe the human life cycle, according to Daniel Levinson. His developmental theory consists of stages that are universal and extend from infancy stage to the elderly state. Daniel based his interviews on 40 men who were aged between 35 to 40 years and worked in different professions. He came up with a model that had five stages, namely the infancy stage (age 0-12), the pre-adulthood (ages 12-17), the elderly adulthood stage (age 17-45), the middle adult stage (age40-65) and the late adulthood (ages above 65). He identified the infancy stage as that where one had no cognitive senses and had no major decisions to make in life. Most of the experiences are basically learning and exploratory. In the pre-adulthood stage, there is acknowledgement of oneself and one is in a position to make preliminary choices of life. In the early adulthood stage, one makes initial choices in issues regarding the careers, love life, friendship that lasts long as well as lifestyle. Changes occur in life and one struggles to create a niche for himself in the society. One is cautious about progressing in life, majorly career accomplishments and family wellbeing. At this particular level, one is faced with many roles like parenting. When someone hits around 45, one starts to realize the parts in life that were neglected, and many try to make things right at this stage. In the late adulthood stage, a man appends most of his time reflecting on his past experiences, regrets as well as achievements. This is the stage where one creates peace with oneself and others, including God. Understanding life affirmation is very important. As illustrated by the life stages of human development, many people move from childhood to adulthood without enthusiasm and optimism. When they reach later stages of their lives, they become more cautious as they come to terms with the reality of death. Life affirmation helps one to come to terms with the harsh reality but rarely acknowledged death. By so doing, one has the chance to appreciate life, while preparing for the unexpected appearance of the grim reaper at any moment.
Life affirmation has got connections with humanities. In popular arts, death has been and still will be a popular art subject. It is depicted in many ways and such presentations are a form of life affirming tactic. In the golfer and the apple strudel, death is portrayed in a comical way such that it turns the highly dreaded fear into a source of enlightenment. Mythology is another source of death transcendence. In the Lord of the Rings, the Greek myth speaks of a field where the slain warriors live forever. However, in most arts, it is medicalized. The death will occur in a hospital where one is under the care of nurses and doctors. This brings out the picture that when the Grim reaper knocks the door, everything will be done to prevent make him abort his mission. It shows that death will never be left to chance. The song, Death and Transfiguration, by Strauss is an excellent example of how death is masked within the music.
The portrayal of death in literature has undergone a transition. Until the middle ages, death was represented as a natural part of life that was highly anticipated. The Greeks, for instance, tended to avoid deaths details in their literature because they wanted to lay particular emphasis on being alive, and not otherwise. The sociologist Philippe Aries termed this era’s philosophy of death about the tamed death and that it was expected at any particular moment in time. During the middle ages, the literature began to show a paradigm shift in the attitudes towards death. If we consider the works like The Prickle of Conscience, dated back in the fourteenth century, it connotes death as horrific and even extends to highlighting the significance of the process of death. The works of art during these ages, focused on Christ’s death and all his suffering, which can be depicted in the Danse Macabre where it emphasizes death using an image of a decaying skeleton. It was clear that death affected the body negatively and hence brought in an emotional view of death. It was humans’ natural enemy.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, there was a major shift in how death was viewed. This was as a result of the ongoing conflicts between religion and the sciences. Aries lays assertions on the fact that this era offered a vision of beautiful death. The novel by Hannah Foster the Coquette (1797) depicts the death of a heroine in childbirth. The late nineteenth century saw the development of the Victorian Cult of Death, which is used in this context to reveal the fascination with the subject. The twentieth century ushered in a culture that denies death. Considering the fact that this century was full of crimes against humanity that saw genocides and world wars and hence, the literature of this era shows preoccupation of death. In the famous poem by Wallace Stevens, Sunday Morning, he tries to explain the fact that death may actually lead to humans creating art to depict the lives we live as human beings. The history of deaths illustration in literature has been evolving from depicting a society that accepted death to one that views death as an apparent irrationality. People have had to find ways of dealing with this part of humans’ life, though rarely talked about.
Literature displays humanities emotional connection with life processes. Literature is concerned with works of art, ranging from the poems, paintings and sculptures. It is through these forms of literature that we, as humanity, can establish a connection with various processes affecting out existence. This creates aesthetic value of the work of art. Considering the issue of death, it is clear that through literature, humans can use literature to give their views of death. Since humanities deal with social sciences that delve into the way humans live, it is an efficient way of displaying humans’ emotional connection to the horrific experience of death. To further illustrate the use of literature to describe humans’ emotions with life processes, I will look closely at two works of art, the picture Death and The Miser and the poem the undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal trade.
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516) was a Dutch artist of the Gothic style. This particular picture was painted back in 1490 A.D. and is a tale that carries a stern warning to anyone who is unprepared to die. In the picture is a naked man, the miser, who is at this particular moment faced with the moment of his death. He appears to be a man of power, seen from his armor that lies at the foot of his death bed. This is an illustration that all the wealth was acquired through a struggle and hence stored close to the owner, next to the misers’ bed. The miser actually appears twice; the second time he is seen in full health and is adding some coins to his already acquired wealth. Demons are seeing lingering over his what would be called his safe. On his right, is his guardian angel who points towards a crucifix on the wall, as a sign of holiness. From under the bed, another demon is seen passing over a huge bag of gold to the miser. Yet another one is seen under the bed, lying in waiting for his master, the Grim Reaper, who is seen to be peeking from a slightly agape door, looking at the bed where he has come to pick his client, the miser. By looking at the face of the miser, he seems to be in a state of surprise in reaction to the arrival of the grim reaper.
The life affirmation process is seen in this art. The Miser is actually extending his hands to receive the bag of gold from the demon, which shows a willingness to continue living. Contradictorily, he is surprised at the arrival of the demon at his door to take his life. It is a battle against life and death, and clearly, the miser is not ready to face his death at this moment. He is willing to stay alive, but death has come for him, whether he is ready or not. Here, the miser does not want to confront his fear of death. His attachment to earthly wealth gave him the notion to continue living and fear the transition to non existence. This brings out the aesthetic value of the painting in relation to life’s processes.
The other work of art in scrutiny is the poem by Lynch Thomas, The undertaking: Life studies from the dismal trade. Thomas was a mortuary attendant in a funeral home. In this poem, he talks about life and death, as well as the process of mourning. He came to realize, in the course of his profession, that he came to learn that his job was more than just what was being done to the dead peoples bodies, but more of how we the living, responded to the demise of a beloved one through mourning. This included the rites accorded to the dead to hasten their burial and holding the demised as dear. During his lifetime in the undertaking business, he had enough experience to postulate how his death and burial would be, in such a way that would be viewed as dignitary as he had done to most of his clients. In particular, he speaks of burying a man, named Milo who was wealthy and owned a Laundromat. This demonstrates how the modern society has been unable to deal with issues related to death or the actual dead body. In another separate story, there is a company known as Uncle Eddie Inc, about an organization that leans up after those who have committed suicide as well as the natural order of life and the painful eventuality, death. He point out about the manipulation of the natural life process interfered with by issues like suicide and abortion. In this work of art, death is seen through the eyes of the undertaker. This particular work of art has great aesthetic value. In this art, Lynch depicted death as an inevitable stage in life and has to come at the very end, even if we are prepared or not. He has accepted death as being part of life to the point of dictating how his own burial will be carried out. Personally, he has accepted death as life’s terminal point and this is life affirmation process. He came to embrace death as an inevitable part of the human life.
In conclusion, I can say that life affirmation is a very important aspect that human beings have to come to terms with. Our life on planet earth comes with an expiry date that is neither known nor acknowledged by many people. In as much as we are alive, we should harbor the thoughts of the darker sides of life, namely death. It is through this acknowledgement of death that human beings can appreciate life. When one learns to appreciate life, there is an expansion of the horizons of what we can do because one realizes that we only have one life to live and so, should be at top notch. Life affirmation is very important because one is always aware of the contraries to life apart from being alive. Accepting death as a reality is life affirming, and those who acknowledge death do not face depression as a result of the natural fear of dying, the fear of being non-existent. As humans, we should overcome the barriers that tend to hinder us from accepting death as a reality, be it on religious grounds or cultural beliefs, and embrace with both arms, the harsh reality that Death is mandatory to all human beings. This will help develop a positive attitude towards the all time human nightmare, namely Death.

References
Colton, A, R Janaro, and D Gearheart. "OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying ." OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying . 4.1 (1977): 51-56. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. <http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&backto=issue,6,9;journal,247,259;linkingpublicationresults,1:300329,1>.
Janaro, R, and T Altshuler. The Art of Being Human. 10. Longman, 2011. Print.
Levinson, D. The Seasons of a Man 's Life. Ballantine Books, 1978. Print.

References: Colton, A, R Janaro, and D Gearheart. "OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying ." OMEGA--Journal of Death and Dying . 4.1 (1977): 51-56. Web. 16 Nov. 2012. &lt;http://baywood.metapress.com/app/home/contribution.asp?referrer=parent&amp;backto=issue,6,9;journal,247,259;linkingpublicationresults,1:300329,1&gt;. Janaro, R, and T Altshuler. The Art of Being Human. 10. Longman, 2011. Print. Levinson, D. The Seasons of a Man 's Life. Ballantine Books, 1978. Print.