While reading chapter 9 of McAdams’ book, the first thing that stood out to me was the regeneration of life. Although the human life has a beginning and an end, it is part of the larger life of the universe. A life comes into being from molecules that existed within the parents. That being is constantly changing and being renewed throughout its life, and when the body can no longer survive, its parts become one with the environment. We have only an allotted time on this earth to make an impression or impact the world in some way. When we’re gone, we no longer have that opportunity. Many people will argue that the death of an individual has greatly shaped their lives, but I would like to argue that it was their life that made their death so meaningful.
McAdams also points out that humans like to replicate by having children. This gives them a sense of immortality in that they will leave something behind. I suppose this is true, but we also want to expand our “self.” I believe we want to have a connection to something, someone who is like us, much like good friends. We associate with friends who are either like us, or who we want to be like. We have partners because we want intimacy with someone we can relate to, who can back us up or challenge us in ways that will make us stronger. Our children are further divisions of this connectivity. A friend and a partner are two-fold. A child is three-fold; it strengthens your connection to the person you already care deeply about. This is why I believe pre-marital sex is wrong, although I too am guilty of this. Marriage is a commitment not to be taken lightly. It is a bond that you are forming with your partner. Those who have sex are responsible for the offspring they may produce, and should not brush off this responsibility. When a relationship does not work out, a child is left with missing pieces. The links are broken and life is never as full as it could have been.
On immortality, McAdams writes, “The human mind is associated with the immortality of the spirit, with soaring above nature, and with escaping clean away from the earth. The body is what connects us to mortality of the flesh. The mind is reason, and the body, emotion. The mind is abstract, and the body, concrete. The mind is represented by the Sky God; the Earth Mother represents the body. These associations are evident in myths and dreams” (pp. 225). These associations are used to explain a world in which we are no longer restricted to the imperfections of our bodies. Because we are all represented in human form, only a perfect God can allow us the freedom we desire. In attaining our freedom, McAdams writes that we use the concept of heroism, “a reflex of the terror of death” (pp 225). He also uses Lifton’s strategies to explain the human quest for immortality. While we all may use several of the five strategies, the religious concept is probably most common. It looks outside the realm of human existence, to those things our senses cannot encounter.
McAdams goes on into further details of the psychological nature of the human desire for immortality. This desire is summed up in five words: We don’t want to die! It is difficult for humans to grasp the temporal nature of our beings. Even for those who are deeply engulfed in their strategy for coping, religious or whatever, the concept is hard to accept. I am not really scared of dying because I believe I will be in Heaven with God, but I do fear the pain of death, and I fear leaving my family. I would not want my child to have to live without me on this earth, just as I dread the day my own parents will die. However, this IS an inevitable process that we all must come to terms with in some way, shape, or form. One particularly memorable line in the Bible states: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
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