Life can be seen as a biological process of self-regeneration of the physical body. Cellular maintenance is a task that is automatic, and proceeds until it is no longer feasible to continue do so. There can be many reasons for cells to cease their optimum renewal processes in the process of degeneration. However, we humans seem to be driven psychologically by a strong survival instinct even after the body slows its regenerative ability and moves toward what is known as clinical death.

In this respect, it is rewarding and meaningful to study the death process, because the cultural emphasis has always been on birth and the growing aspects of life. Death arrives all too soon, without what seems to be adequate preparation for it. Perhaps this is so in part because of the modern cultural taboo against cultivating awareness of the death process in our children. Generally, there seems to be a negative judgment regarding dwelling on death if one is active and healthy. It is possible that this human perspective is a direct reflection of our survival instinct, as if we believe (despite the evidence to the contrary) that we should stay in the physical body just as long as we desire.

Regardless of the relationship between the survival instinct and the lack of preparation for death, all humans share in the basic urge to experience life. Early on, what can be called the Evolutionary Imperative directs us immediately toward personal individuation and autonomy. As we grow into these states of awareness, the healthy, maturing consciousness has no choice but to psychologically repress its experience of trauma and separation from the womb. At a very young age, we suppress into unconsciousness what the great contemporary Indian mystic Sri Aurobindo has described as “The Vital Shock.” This powerful event is one which he declares is universal for humans, for in order to survive, there must occur “the recoil of awareness from the perception of the vulnerability and mortality of the flesh,” as quoted from The Grace in Dying. The denial of this trauma is automatic as we are encouraged by parents and society to grow and to achieve. In this context, our natural anxiety is usually discouraged, and suppression continues to occur.

In order to fully recognize our trepidation at facing our decline and eventual demise, it is important to understand just how strongly the forces of life have shaped us toward a lifetime of social contribution and success. By the time we reach old age, many years have been spent in physical and psychological service to these dictums. Our cognitive abilities and a sense of the personal self, which can be termed the ego, are refined and honed to move toward the achievement of power and control, however illusory they may be. Underlying these drives is a basic need for an emotional sense of predictability and acceptance, as well as the physical need to avoid discomfort.

In this respect, part of our emotional maturation—and the inevitable movement toward death—is learning to accept those circumstances which seem to conflict with our needs. As we grow in awareness and begin to temper our desires with the needs of others, we are training ourselves for a future in which we are forced to become more flexible. Indeed, getting older involves changing our perspective many times regarding the nature of reality, and our value systems change accordingly as we feel less inviolable. For many, the journey toward the limitations of aging, less-than-optimum health, and the realization of our mortality becomes the foundation for what has been popularly labeled the “mid-life crisis.” The development of coping skills for this difficult time through therapy, accompanied by a re-assessment of the lifestyle in order to maximize the quality of life, are hallmarks of this passage. Major life changes can occur which can manifest as being erratic and “immature.”

However we react, life is designed to set us on the course for moving naturally toward decline and death after we have peaked in our egoic development. The descent into the limitations of aging can seem unjustly premature and depressing, but in effect it can more easily be understood as the paradox between a sense of “losing ground” and the survival instinct to thrive. With a youth-oriented society driving us, rather than a celebration of ripening into maturity and the wisdom of age, there is more panic and resistance to the natural life process occurring than ever before. As people reach out for comfort, the psychological focus on this sense of loss and its emotional integration—as well as the emergence of interest in many kinds of spiritual paths—becomes evident.

Course Continued…