Essay 1 Draft

      For over two and a half million years, homo sapiens have been birthing, evolving, and dying in a continuous cycle until modern day.("Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa?". ActionBioscience.)  Even though death is imminent, every individual approaches the subject in a manner that he or she may see fit. Whether following Hindu culture and conducting rituals over a deceased's body, working to extend life expectancies, or using a method of channeling to communicate with a spirit, humans around the world have devloped practices and beliefs that have proven death to be an accepted and inevitable occurrence. While humans have used many different menthods and treatments to avoid death, time has shown that dying is an unavoidable event.

     Scientists belive that, in Ancient Roman times, the life expectancy of the average human was only twenty-two to twenty-five years. (Rosenberg, 2010) As time passed and humans and technology evolved, the average American has increased his life expectancy to approximately 78.11 years.(Cental Intelligence Agency, 2010) Persevering and evolving through time, humans have pushed the boundaries of their bodies, resulting in the the existence of about seventy-two thousand centenarians in the United States today.(Centenarian, 2010) Human beings have been able to extend lifespans exponentially since the time of Ancient Rome, yet the specie is still unable to overcome all illnesses and dilapidation of the body. As lately as 2007, the leading cause of death in the United States is heart disease, claiming the lives of 616,067 citizens in just one year.(Jiaquan Xu et al, 2010) Although humans have witnessed visible progress in the battle against death, the fact remains that life is only a temporary state and that no one can sustain an earthly existence forever.

    The concept of life after death is is believed by varying religions across the United States. In a 2008 US Religious Landscape Survey, seventy-four percent of Americans stated that they believed in an afterlife. For ways to cope with death and beliefs in an afterlife, humans around the world have turned to religion and looked upon spiritual traditions and practices. In Asian culture, citizens often try to elude death by avoiding placing an ill person in a room with the number "four", and by also keeping an ill person's feet facing away from a door since a deceased's body is usually carried out of a room feet-first. (Sandra L. Lobar, 2006) Following a belief in the afterlife, it is customary in Hindu culture for a family to perform rituals around a deceased's body for ten days, while the spirit watches over the family before ascending from the body on the eleventh day.(Clements et al., 2003) Although humans across the world have tried to avoid death, citizens have found beliefs and practices that they may take part in that allow them to cope with death and accept its eventual occurrence.

     For another group of people, death seems to be only an obstacle that can be temporarily defeated through the use of channeling and Near-Death Experiences, or NDE's. Channeling, or a supernatural experience between a human and a spirit from another world, is a method of communicating with the deceased that is believed to have been conceived by Thomas Edison.(Grace Communion International, 1999) Through channeling, humans are believed to be able to communicate with deceased family members or friends, while the spirits return a message, usually in the form of advice. Another way that humans feel that they may win a battle against death is in a Near-Death Experience. While only a temporary victory, survivors of NDE's describe the inclusion of a life summary, an unpleasant sound, a "tunnel" feeling, and a feeling of warmth and love. (van Lommel P, 2003) According to a Gallup and Proctor survey given to a sample of Americans from 1980-1981, fifteen percent claimed that they had undergone a NDE.Although the use of channeling and NDE's may create the idea in some citizens' heads that they can conquer death by communucating with the deceased or overcoming a NDE, time eventually shows that the victory is only temporary.

     Since the origination of humans in the world, death has been a basic fact and conclusion to life. Through generations of growth and advancement, humans have been able to prolong the persistent battle with death. By extending life expectancies, following religious and cultural beliefs in the afterlife, and undergoing channeling sessions and Near-Death Experiences, humans have attempted to avoid death and elude its grasp. Yet, when time passes, humans age and bodies deteriorate, and the final result of a prolonged battle will reveal that death cannot be defeated.




SOURCES:
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        Sept. 2010.


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Xu, Jiaquan, et al. "Leading Causes of Death." Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2007).
     
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