DEATH: Primitivist versus Modern views

Death through the lens of the primitive human has rarely been seen as a process nearly as terrifying as we, so-called, civilised humans see it as. Unlike us, primitive societies rely heavily on different phases of life, meaning they accept not only the rituals that come with moving to the next stage of life, but also its consequences. They know what to expect for every phase of their lives, and they know what is expected of them. Death is known to be inevitable, and although they share the same survival instincts as modern humans, fearing and defending themselves against predators, they do tend to avoid dangerous activities that are pointless within their culture. Yet, they do not fear natural death the way that we do. They embrace it gratefully. Even though they know better than any modern human that we all rot away, and to the soil we return, they accept the process of death with more courage than those who believe in a paradise and a creator.

Modern human beings have gone beyond what is acceptable when it comes to modern medicine and scientific advancements. Modern people lack the ability to accept death as it is; it does not stop at being kept alive chemically, but also through machines. Many feel the need to keep someone’s body alive, even when that person would be dead without the machinery, and they are no longer functional. It is an anti-human cultural atrocity. The same person without the modern assistance would have died a natural death; as it should be, people would have mourned, and eventually moved on with life after collectively grieving. Instead, we delay the death of the human to keep them around, selfishly so. We do not respect their nature nor our own.

Human beings have been spending more money investing in the promise of immortality, which is not a concept embraced by the primitive communities. Modern humans are hiring medical professionals to dictate a diet and treatments (such as ice baths) to avoid death by natural causes, and some are now betting on blood transfusions from younger people in an attempt to remain youthful. Around six hundred people are cryogenically frozen as of this moment, or as they say “in cryonic suspension.” Many have signed contracts with companies that sell the transhumanist idea of being frozen post-mortem in order to be reanimated in a future where technology allows for their revival. The modern human is obsessed with immortality and ends up not living life fully.

Contradictionally, in the modern world, we have a suicide pandemic. Whether it is assisted or not, many people are choosing to commit suicide due to psychological suffering and economic issues. Modern medicine allowed for many people to survive what they should not have survived from the moment they are born, the consequence is human overpopulation, which leads to stress as we are meant to live within communities of no more than 150 people each. It also leads to economic issues that put people in a permanent state of survival.

Such a pandemic does not exist in primitive communities that have not been affected too harshly by modern civilisation. Primitive people, regardless of how accepting they are of the fate of death, they value life for as long as it is there. They do not have access to modern medicine, but they are experts on herbalism. Unlike many modern humans, they do not abandon their elders or leave them to be under the care of strangers; they respect and take care of them until the very end.