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7.1 What belief or image do you have of leaving life and of what might happen afterwards:
I don’t know and I won’t guess. There is no information available so the possibilities are infinite.
It is like being asleep forever.
It is like going on a journey.
People go to a place where they can learn to be better human beings.
People are helped to atone for their mistakes in life.
People reunite with those they care about.
People come back to earth in a different form.
There are no worldly cares about money or food; everyone lives comfortably.
If the person has been true to their religion, the afterlife is paradise.
I might end up in an unpleasant or horrible situation for eternity.
I might be able to see people go on with their lives without me, as if I had never existed.
I might be able to see what I am missing, or see people I love but cannot contact.
It might be a positive experience, perhaps after an initial period of atonement or relearning.
I believe the following, even though I know there is no evidence for or against it:
If you knew that you could temporarily dispel the instinctual fear of leaving life and allay concerns about what might happen afterwards, the experience of thinking about your exit from life would be quite different. Even a modest reduction in this fear might mean that you could deal with the question of leaving life as you do other challenging problems. (A widespread reduction in this fear would have a great many other consequences that will not be discussed here -- see book Table of Contents.)
I’d suggest that there are times when you don’t have this fears.
One situation is when you feel so miserable that the thought that you would rather be dead – or at least unconscious or fast asleep -- crosses your mind. Being down with the flu or in physical pain, or being humiliated or grief-stricken can bring out these thoughts. Of course you not serious about leaving because you know the discomfort will go away. But what if you believed that it wouldn’t, as would be the case with a chronic or terminal illness or life imprisonment? You might be faced with such a situation in the last stage of your life, or even before.
Another situation is when you feel exhilarated or supercharged with energy. You might be high on a recreational drug or on a medication taken before an operation or diagnostic procedure.
You might be totally immersed in some exciting activity. During these times you may have noticed that while you are involved in that activity you aren’t afraid of anything – that it is your intellect rather than your emotions that keeps you from doing something like flying out the window.
Some possibilities: listening or dancing to rock music, engaging in hard competition or exercise, speeding along the highway on your motorcycle after a few beers, standing on a mountain top, returning a kickoff for the winning touchdown, or taking your bows at the end of a performance to thunderous applause.
Others situations might be: firefights or hand-to-hand combat in war or in street fights, being part of a mob, bungee jumping, skydiving and hang-gliding, free rock climbing, and religious ecstasy. It may be that in all these the levels of adrenalin or of other hormones protects you from fear of D&D. Could virtual-reality simulations of these situations be created to be available when you needed them in order to make leaving easier?
7.3 Have there been times when you have been aware that you were not afraid of dying, or that you were acting as though you weren't? If so, what were you doing or experiencing:
Exercising,
Fighting,
Listening to music,
Meditating, or in a naturally induced altered state of consciousness,
High on drugs,
Thrilled by speed,
Excited by danger,
Part of a mob
Very sick or exhausted,
Grief-stricken,
Acutely depressed or anxious,
Extremely confused, disoriented or out-of-touch with reality.
Virtual reality technology is developing rapidly. Consider this historical sequence: story-telling, printed books, radio, phonograph recordings, movies, TV, IMAX theaters, Disneyland and theme parks, computer simulation games, virtual reality goggles that respond to head movements with changes of scene, and the use virtual reality in control of pain.
I expect that the TV, movie and computer screens that we spend so much time in front of will become more enveloping by becoming larger and by involving more of the senses and shutting out more of the real world.
7.4 What do you think of the idea of using virtual reality technology to create a pleasant or exciting situation in which a person is not afraid of anything? Could immersion in the simulation help the person to leave without fear:
7.5 What if there were a computer chip that could implanted in your body that would contain nanobots who would either treat a suddenly-occurring medical condition on the spot, or, if they determined that you were about to die painfully from something like a heart attack, stroke, or from wounds from a car accident or shooting, they would put you asleep permanently. (If there were any question about whether your condition were terminal, the ‘bots would simply anesthetize you.) Would you have such a chip implanted:
Society, through its laws or customs, may decide to allow easier access to a pain-free and sure exit from life. This has already happened in certain parts of the world, and is beginning here in the USA in the form of attempts to pass laws legalizing what is misleadingly labeled as “physician assisted suicide”.
A further step would be to support or permit an increase in the number of people leaving voluntarily by increasing the benefits of leaving and the costs of staying. This is also already happening in the form of the rationing of health care, as certain expensive treatments that might help the patient are withheld in certain situations. Publicizing the threat of overpopulation and the huge cost of keeping people alive for the last six months of their lives will help this trend to continue.
Whether increasing access is a good idea is another matter. The costs, benefits and unintended consequences of these courses of action are discussed in the book and on a number of websites.
In any case, looking at some ways that society could make voluntarily leaving easier and more prevalent may give you some ideas that you could apply to your own exit or that you might want to work to bring about -- or to ban -- in the sub-culture in which you live.
7.6 Let’s say that you worked for an advertising agency and you were given the task of making leaving life seem more positive. How would you go about changing the images associated with this experience?
· What techniques would you use:
· What media:
· What symbols or images would you present:
· What types of people would you use for testimonials:
· Whom might you chose to be the poster boy or family:
Other brainstormed ideas:
7.7 Which of the following do you think would make leaving life easier:
Help in making the decision to leave, carrying it out, and in giving your survivors emotional, financial or other support,
Help with resolving conflicts with loved ones, and in helping them to understand your decision,
The opportunity for life review,
The availability of a painless method of stopping one’s physical functioning.
The availability of a method that provides an acceptable image of leaving to the person and his survivors (for example, “going to sleep” ),
Making leaving and its contemplation less stressful through the use of virtual realities, or by the use of recreational or other medication,
The opportunity to make leaving useful: by donating your body to science or for recycling in organ banks, or by participation either in experiments that could be lethal or in research that could be done only as people are leaving life.
Money for the person to use now or for his survivors, perhaps as compensation for money saved on medical costs or by sparing other resources, or by freeing a spot on the planet for someone else.
The assurance that the person leaving will be remembered with respect.
A cultural climate that encourages acceptance, respect, or admiration for those whose decide to leave.
General acceptance of voluntarily leaving life when life becomes “persistently intolerable” has its problems. For example, people would have to worry about making a decision about whether to leave, whereas before they didn’t have to think about it at all unless they were forced to.
And, won’t people, as their market value decreases, be constantly looking over their shoulder wondering, “Is it time for me to go?” or “Do people resent my staying around?”.
There will also be the unsettling effect on the acquaintances of the person who has left: “Did my friend make the right decision?” “Did I do all I could to encourage him to stay?”
In addition, there would be abuses, such as pressure on certain people to leave. As we enter the 21st century, we are in what has been called the “era of greed”, with personal happiness, status and the growth of our economy all being based on everyone's buying lots of things. Very Old people are using up money and resources that could go to younger people, who might be able to enjoy their possessions more. From an economic point of view, giving money and resources to a younger person who is still producing would be a better investment.
Another source of the pressure to leave would be the inconvenience and emotional drain of having to care for or be around people who are suffering. When both husband and wife are working, they have little time or energy to spare taking care of Very Old parents.
Pressure might also be applied to anyone whose QOL seems low: prisoners, the chronically ill, the physically or mentally handicapped, or anyone who is bedridden. They are also expensive and unpleasant to care for.
One way to control both abuses and the number of people leaving is to make approval of their exit contingent on certain conditions, such as those listed in the next question.
7.8 Which of these safeguards should be put into place to prevent people from making – or being pressured to make -- an irreversible decision to leave that would do more harm than good:
The decision should be left completely up to the individual.
There should be a waiting period of around ____ days/ weeks/months.
The person should be required to discuss his decision with an ethics specialist or with a mental health professional in order to determine: 1) the degree to which his action fits with his and society’s values; and 2) whether there is some way to deal with the medical, emotional or environmental problems motivating his departure; and 3) the extent to which his decision is driven either by pressure from relatives, friends or others who would benefit from his absence.
The person leaving should have an official advocate whose job it is to protect his personal and financial interests.
The person should be encouraged or forced to consider the effects of his actions on those around him.
The person should be encouraged or forced to accept help for his or her problems, such as treatment for depression.
As an intermediate holding action before safeguards are put into effect, laws and customs against voluntary leaving life should be left in place, but should be selectively or rarely enforced, at the cost of unfairness to those who are prosecuted.
7.9 Which of the above should be applied to everyone, including yourself, and which should be applied only to those people who are not so capable of making the right decision as you are:
7.10 What do you think of the idea of making empathy or “Golden Rule” training part of everyone’s education, as an antidote to the abuses mentioned above: