The Value of Life and the Value of Death a Christian / Buddhist / Rationalist Dialogue

Introduction: In the past the question facing humanity was ‘how to survive?’ The issue facing us here is ‘how best to die?’ Our answer to these questions will determine the character of our laws and their application. What sort of world do we want? The great religions of the world have thought long and hard about these matters.

Life: A person can be: –alive physically, but dead emotionally; –intellectually brilliant but amoral; –can also be spiritually alive, and this vitality is expressed in the love of friend and foe alike in universal forgiveness. At that point there is an experience of the Divine Presence.

Life: The more we live in the present the more we perceive that we are living in an eternal now. The more we enter into our present joy, the more we see it as a promise of endless joy - endless openness. (contrast: ‘metaphysical closure’)

The value of dying It can make us question our life. What is really important? And so we come to wisdom. It can lead to reviewing our life and choosing what is good in it and so we make our life a gift to others. Each person can then say: –‘Such is my life. –It is a gift to you, just as the life you have chosen is a gift to me. –Even the manner of our dying is our gift to each other. –I am of eternal value to you, and you to me.

The moment of truth: In the process of dying our faculties fail, and we are stripped down to our essential being. Saint John of the Cross, the great mystic of 16th century Spain, describes ‘the dark night of the soul’ as the moment when understanding ceases and only faith remains; when memory is irrelevant and only hope prevails, when the person says simply: “Your will be done”. It is the moment of truth.

Interplay of life and death: According to the Christian tradition Jesus experiences life and death, good and evil, the highest heaven and the depths of desolation. He experiences every paradox. Therefore he has the fullness of knowledge and can draw close to everyone, whether alive or dead, and give them hope. He is the sacrifice which brings blessing.

Question to Lyn: The life of a day-labourer in India can be short and brutish. What would you say that could give fundamental value to his life?

Question to Di It is a Buddhist custom to dedicate the merit of one’s practice to the benefit of all sentient beings. In what way can one person’s dying become a value to another person’s living?