Answer only ONE of the following:
1) Reflect on the shootings in Ottawa on October 22, 2014 using the concepts of Terror Management Theory and Mortality Salience Hypothesis that we learned about in the material in lesson 4 as well as Becker’s ideas that we learned about in the material in Lesson 3. You might use these ideas to reflect on the events themselves, or focus in on your own reaction to these shootings. Or you might want to reflect on the three speeches given by the party leaders found at this link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ottawa-shooting-harper-mulcair-trudeau-speak-about-attack-1.2809530
Whatever you choose to focus on in your reflection, be sure you are demonstrating that you understand the ideas from the lesson material that you are using.
2) What in your view is the main message of the film “Flight from Death”? Do you agree with this message? Why or why not?
3) What in your view is the main message of the film “Griefwalker”? Do you agree with this message? Why or why not?
4) Some NDE researchers think the evidence suggests that our consciousness continues after our physical brain is no longer functioning. What if anything would this mean for your life right now and for the future if somehow this was shown indeed to be the case?
5) Read the short book by Richard Beck called The Slavery of Death. This book is on reserve at the library. Beck is a Christian Experimental Psychologist who argues that the Christian message is about how we can be free from our slavery to the fear of death. Summarize Beck’s argument, highlighting how he uses Becker’s ideas in his interpretation of Christianity, and offer your thoughts about his views.
6) Using Solomon’s ideas from Lesson 4, do you think Buddhism offers a “better” illusion by which to live? Why or why not?
7) After reading Dembo’s article in Lesson 10, “Addressing Treatment Futility and Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry,” do you think the new legislation on assisted suicide in Canada should allow patients with unbearable suffering due to a mental illness to have access to assisted suicide? Why or why not?
8) WITH MY PERMISSION, write and respond to your own essay topic related to course material.
Importance:
• You will be asked to choose one of a selection of essay topics based specifically on the course material
• I will be looking for evidence that you are engaged in the course and thinking about the material and/or the essay question.
• These assignments are not research papers and do not require any outside sources.
• The assignment topics are designed to get you to think and I will be looking for your thoughtful responses to them. Try to find your own voice. Think about these questions for a while. Develop your own thoughts. Put them into your own words, your own way of saying things.
Text:
• Bonanno, George A. (2010). The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After Loss. Chapters 1 – 3. New York: Basic Books, pp. 1 – 43.
Readings on e-reserve:
• Becker, Ernest. (1973). “The Terror of Death.” Chapter 2 in The Denial of Death. New York: The Free Press, pp. 11 – 24.
• Greyson, Bruce (2010). “Seeing Deceased Persons Not Known to Have Died: ‘Peak in Darien’ Experiences.” Anthropology and Humanism 35: 159 – 171.
• Dembo, Justine (2010). “Addressing Treatment Futility and Assisted Suicide in Psychiatry.” Journal of Ethics in Mental Health. 5(1)
Films available on-line:
• Wilson, Tim. (2008). Griefwalker. NFB. http://www.nfb.ca/film/griefwalker
• Broome, Kate (Director). (2002). The Day I Died. United Kingdom: BBC. http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/day-i-died
• Gruben, David. (2010) The Buddha. Public Broadcasting Service. http://www.pbs.org/thebuddha/
Films you must order: (see Road Map for order form)
• Bennick, Greg (Writer) and Patrick Shen (Director). (2003). Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality.
• Hayashi, Yukari, Barrie McLean, and Hiroak Mori. (1994) The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Part Two: The Great Liberation. National Film Board of Canada.
Guidelines for writing your essay:
1. Avoid overly generalized opening sentences that really say nothing and cannot be substantiated. Go directly to your response to the essay topic.
2. Be sure to read the essay topic very carefully. You may have written a fine essay, but if you haven’t actually addressed the essay topic, your mark will suffer.
3. Put clear limits on what you will discuss. Resist saying everything! These are short assignments in which you demonstrate your ability to understand and to think; they are not your life work.
4. Provide transitions between topics; your thoughts should have continuity; they should “hang together.”
5. Support or illustrate your assertions. If, for instance, you agree with an author’s point, do not simply announce your agreement, but make sure you go on to say why you agree or disagree.
6. Likewise, do not simply record your reactions (e.g., “I found this subject interesting”) without saying more about your reactions (e.g., say why you found it interesting).
7. No bibliographic reference is needed for common knowledge (e.g., Canada is in North America) or for course material, but if you use course material, provide identifying information (e.g., a page number, a weblink, the minute number of a video, etc.) in the text of your essay so I can follow up your reference if I need to.
8. If however you do use outside sources, provide full references for quoted material including page numbers. Choose a reference form (i.e., footnotes, endnotes, text notes) and use it consistently throughout. I don’t care which style you follow, just be consistent.
9. If the topic asks for your views, use the first person (e.g., “I agree with so and so…”).
10. Avoid trying to get too many thoughts into one sentence. If your sentences are getting too long, see if you can divide them into two or three smaller ones.
11. Avoid using words like `he’, `him’, ‘man’, ‘mankind’, etc., to speak for all human experience.
12. Feel free to support your ideas with examples from your own experience, but use these examples only to illustrate, support or challenge some point. In other words, do not simply recount some experience of yours for its own sake. I have no way of marking your experience.
13. Avoid arguments based on any religious or anti-religious assumptions and commitments you might have. It’s not that these commitments are unimportant; it’s just that this course is about an academic approach to grief, death and dying. I have no way of marking your religious views. As with any personal experiences, feel free to talk about your personal religious views, but only for the purpose of making some larger point. In other words, do not preach or moralize from within any religious perspective.
14. Do not simply reiterate course material.
15. Proofread your work! If you do well in the above skills, but don’t have the writing skills to support your good thoughts, your mark will suffer.
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