A Question of Life and Death

Last night The Academy Awards celebrated the film “Million Dollar Baby” by awarding it several Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. The film has been generating tons of debate and controversy for the ending which deals with issues of euthanasia.

Million Dollar Baby

Disabled groups hate it because that say it paints a picture of disability as no better than death and that the film is riddled with inaccuracies about disability. Pro-life groups hate it because it shows euthanasia as a moral choice (particularly troubling for them now considering other cases in the news). Clint Eastwood says that the film is not a pro-euthanasia film and that the results are the choices the characters made in the circumstance.

“It’s the same thing with the pro-choice or pro-lifers. People make a lot of comments who have never been in that position and don’t know what the circumstances are. You could do a million stories on that particular dilemma. But we are very judgmental right at the moment. And anybody who doesn’t agree with you is almost like the enemy.” – Clint Eastwood

This brings up an opportunity for modern Pagan leaders and commentators to define what they believe and why. Many of us wish that we were asked questions beyond the “101″ yet are afraid to come out and give an opinion informed by our faith. I’ll step my toe into the water and give some of my thoughts on this touchy subject.

One of the main tenents that could be held in common in all the various forms modern Paganism has taken is that we are given the opportunity to forge our own destiny. The gods and goddesses have placed in us the ability to make decisions of what we want to do with our life. Modern Pagan religions have ideals, goals, guidelines and even principles of unity, but few commandments and very little dogma.

This creates confusion for the outsider looking in for a monolithic definitive stance, since our ethics are often personal and arrived at through a mixture of religious/spiritual study and personal gnosis on how we feel those goals are best manifested in our world today. So you get Wiccan groups who advocate for and against abortion rights, some Pagans are pro-animal sacrifice while others are against eating meat and that is only the tip of the iceberg.

As for euthanasia I do believe there are instances that would make me instruct someone I loved to end my life. I (and other Pagans I would warrant) believe in the “good death”. That there are indeed better times than others to go and meet your makers and join your ancestors. For every inspiring story of someone who held onto life, there are others who lay in mental or physical agony often in states rendering them unable to communicate their wishes to extended family who may hold opposing views regarding life and death.

“Allied to seasonal festivals and the lifecycle of self-consciously mortal persons, Pagan rituals attempt to provide an encounter with death (perhaps as a personification) at least annually. Among the rhetorical carriers of Pagan intimations are both ancient texts (like the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Norse Sagas) and contemporary fantasy fiction (like Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series) in both of which death (or Death) is central.” – Prof. Liz Stuart

That quote above from a paper by Prof. Liz Stuart also touches on how most modern (and ancient) systems of Paganism have an attitude that death is natural and not something to be feared. Many Pagan views of life and death are misinterpreted due to the fact that the belief in transcendence, which is a part of most modern world religious is not something that dominates modern Paganism.

What does it mean to say that death is “natural”? It means that death is not the enemy of life but a necessary companion of it. We return to the earth and continue the cycle. We do not try to extend life when we feel it is our time to return to the elements; we do not lay in state awaiting a miracle of resurrection. We do not demonize the flesh, nor do we elevate it beyond its function. Even an individual’s personal gnosis concerning such matters could change within a lifetime, so it would be foolish to make a hard and fast pronouncement about the absolute morality (or immorality) of life-and-death issues, either for others or for oneself.

(Note: Discourse on this issue will remain civil or the comments will be deleted.)

Tags: Neopaganism