Imaginations of Death and the Beyond in India and Europe

This volume explores current images of afterlife/afterdeath and the presence of the dead in the imaginations of the living in Indian and European traditions. Specifically, it focuses on the deepest and most fundamental uncertainty of human existence---the awareness of human mortality, on which depends any assignment of meaning to earthly existence as also to notions of worldly and otherworldly salvation. This central idea is addressed in the literature, arts, audiovisual media and other cultural artefacts of the two traditions. The chapters are based on two main assumptions: First, that one cannot report on the direct experience of death; so it is only possible to speak allegorically of it. Second, in contemporary Western societies, marked by structural atheism, people look at literature, the arts and mass media to study their depiction and reading of traditionally religious questions of disease, death and the Beyond. This is in contrast to Asian civilizations whose preoccupation with death and Beyond is persistent and perhaps central to the civilizations’ highest thought. The chapters cover a wide spectrum of disciplinary approaches, from psychoanalysis to religious, anthropological, literary and film studies, from sociology and philosophy to art history, and address issues of unsettling power: comforting illusions of afterlife; the relations between afterlife and fertility; visions of technological immortalization of mankind; the problem of thinking about death after the “death of God”; socialist utopias of bodily immortality; fear of Hell and punishment; different concepts in relating the living and the dead; near-death experiences; and cultural practices of spiritualism, occultism and suicide. Two Stories About the Unimaginability of Death 5 References 7 Acknowledgements 8 Contents 9 Editors and Contributors 11 List of Figures 16 Initial Questions 18 1 Moksha: On the Hindu Quest for Immortality 19 References 32 2 Threshold Images Between Life and Death in Western Literature and Film 34 References 46 Questions of Immortality 47 3 Illusions of Immortality 48 1 Introduction 48 2 Buddhaghosa on Death Experience and Attention to One’s Life in Total 49 3 Fernando Pessoa’s Fiction of the Interlude 54 References 58 4 The Quest for Immortality as a Technical Problem: The Idea of Cybergnosis and the Visions of Posthumanism 59 1 Introduction 59 2 Posthumanism and Transhumanism 59 3 The Posthumanist Utopia 61 4 The Gnostic Interpretation 62 5 The Body in Posthumanism 63 6 Conclusion 67 References 69 5 From Biological to Moral Immortality: The Utopian Dimensions of Socialist Work Ethics 71 1 The Invention of a Working-Class Culture 73 1.1 The Worldview of Working-Class Culture: Marxism-Leninism 74 1.2 Work and Worldview 75 2 From Science Fiction to Socialist Realism: The Socialist Discourse on Death 77 2.1 Between Science and Literature: Early Contributions to Immortality 78 2.2 The Conjunction of Death and Work 81 2.3 From Overcoming Mortality to the Prevention of Premature Death: A Change of Genre 84 3 Immortality Discourse in Real Socialism: The Ideas of a Soviet Biologist and Their Reception in the GDR 86 3.1 From Biological to Moral Immortality 88 4 Conclusion: The Roots of Socialist Work Ethics in Literary Utopia 90 References 92 Questions of Visuality 95 6 The Dead, Dying, and Post-death: Visual Exemplars and Iconographic Devices 96 References 109 7 Dream, Death, and Death Within a Dream 111 1 Starting at the End of Our Story 111 2 Rassundari Devi Experiencing Her Own Death 113 3 Freud on the Alleged Impossibility of Imagining the Death of Oneself 113 4 What Is It Like to Be Dead? Vedic, Upaniṣadic, and Subsequent Indian Philosophical Figurations of Afterlife 115 5 The Death Cosmogony, Hunger, Rebirth, and the Two Routes in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 117 6 The Materialist Challenge: There Is No Life After Death 122 7 Dying as Dreaming: Going Back and Forth in Time with Līlā and Padma in the Yogavāsiṣṭha 124 8 Līlā’s Lessons, and a Conclusion 126 References 127 8 The Afterworld as a Site of Punishment: Imagining Hell in European Literature and Art 128 1 Introduction 128 2 Measuring Hell 129 3 Heaven, Earth, and Underworld as a Cosmos 131 4 The Paradox of Punishment 136 References 138 9 The Afterlife of the Dead in This World: Ghosts, Art, and Poetry in German Modernism 140 References 150 Questions of Transition 151 10 “Death-x-Pulse”: A Hermeneutics for the “Panoramic Life Review” in Near-Death Experiences 152 1 Introduction 152 2 Life Review as an Element of NDEs: A Short History of Explanations Given 155 3 Searching for Hermeneutics: The Case of Wake-Up Dreams 161 4 The “Death-x-Pulse” and Life Review 169 References 174 11 Paths to Nirvana? Hunger as Practice of Suicide 177 1 Introduction 177 2 Trapped in the Wild 179 3 Wildlife, Birds, Paradise 183 4 There Is No Afterworld 186 5 Postscript 190 References 191 12 Afterlife and Fertility in Varanasi 193 References 207 This volume explores current images of afterlife/afterdeath and the presence of the dead in the imaginations of the living in Indian and Western traditions. Specifically, it focuses on the deepest and most fundamental uncertainty of human existence--the awareness of human mortality, on which depends any assignment of meaning to earthly existence as also to notions of worldly and otherworldly salvation. This central idea is addressed in the literature, arts, audiovisual media and other cultural artefacts of the two traditions. The chapters are based on two main assumptions : First, that one cannot report on the direct experience of death; so it is only possible to speak allegorically of it. Second, in contemporary Western societies, marked by structural atheism, people look at literature, the arts and mass media to study their depiction and reading of traditionally religious questions of disease, death and the Beyond. This is in contrast to Asian civilizations whose preoccupation with death and Beyond is persistent and perhaps central to the civilizations' highest thought. The chapters cover a wide spectrum of disciplinary approaches, from psychoanalysis to religious, anthropological, literary and film studies, from sociology and philosophy to art history, and address issues of unsettling power : comforting illusions of afterlife; the relations between afterlife and fertility; visions of technological immortalization of mankind; the problem of thinking about death after the "death of God"; socialist utopias of bodily immortality; fear of Hell and punishment; different concepts in relating the living and the dead; near-death experiences; and cultural practices of spiritualism, occultism and suicide Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Moksha: On the Hindu Quest for Immortality (Sudhir Kakar)....Pages 3-17 Threshold Images Between Life and Death in Western Literature and Film (Günter Blamberger)....Pages 19-31 Front Matter ....Pages 33-33 Illusions of Immortality (Jonardon Ganeri)....Pages 35-45 The Quest for Immortality as a Technical Problem: The Idea of Cybergnosis and the Visions of Posthumanism (Oliver Krüger)....Pages 47-58 From Biological to Moral Immortality: The Utopian Dimensions of Socialist Work Ethics (Anja Kirsch)....Pages 59-82 Front Matter ....Pages 83-83 The Dead, Dying, and Post-death: Visual Exemplars and Iconographic Devices (Naman P. Ahuja)....Pages 85-99 Dream, Death, and Death Within a Dream (Arindam Chakrabarti)....Pages 101-117 The Afterworld as a Site of Punishment: Imagining Hell in European Literature and Art (Friedrich Vollhardt)....Pages 119-130 The Afterlife of the Dead in This World: Ghosts, Art, and Poetry in German Modernism (Georg Braungart)....Pages 131-141 Front Matter ....Pages 143-143 “Death-x-Pulse”: A Hermeneutics for the “Panoramic Life Review” in Near-Death Experiences (Jens Schlieter)....Pages 145-169 Paths to Nirvana? Hunger as Practice of Suicide (Thomas Macho)....Pages 171-186 Afterlife and Fertility in Varanasi (Katharina Kakar)....Pages 187-202 Moksha : On The Hindu Quest For Immortality / Sudhir Kakar -- Threshold Images Between Life And Death In Western Literature And Film / G�unter Blamberger -- Illusions Of Immortality / Jonardon Ganeri -- The Quest For Immortality As A Technical Problem : The Idea Of Cybergnosis And The Visions Of Posthumanism / Oliver Kr�uger -- From Biological To Moral Immortality : The Utopian Dimensions Of Socialist Work Ethics / Anja Kirsch -- The Dead, Dying, And Post-death : Visual Exemplars And Iconographic Devices / Naman P. Ahuja -- Dream, Death, And Death Within A Dream / Arindam Chakrabarti -- The Afterworld As A Site Of Punishment : Imagining Hell In European Literature And Art / Friedrich Vollhardt -- The Afterlife Of The Dead In This World : Ghosts, Art, And Poetry In German Modernism / Georg Braungart -- Death-x-pulse : A Hermeneutics For The Panoramic Life Review In Near-death Experiences / Jens Schlieter -- Paths To Nirvana? : Hunger As Practice Of Suicide / Thomas Macho -- Afterlife And Fertility In V Aranasi / Katharina Kakar. G�unter Blamberger, Sudhir Kakar, Editors. All The Contributions In This Volume Were First Given As Talks At The International Conference 'figurations Of Afterlife/afterdeath' In New Delhi In February 2014.-- Acknowldegements Page. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Annotation This volume explores current images of afterlife/afterdeath and the presence of the dead in the imaginations of the living in Indian and European traditions. Specifically, it focuses on the deepest and most fundamental uncertainty of human existence - the awareness of human mortality, on which depends any assignment of meaning to earthly existence as also to notions of worldly and otherworldly salvation. This central idea is addressed in the literature, arts, audiovisual media and other cultural artefacts of the two traditions