Table of Contents
Background of the Study
Fear of death is one of the several subjects of numerous philosophers from ancient to contemporary period. Epicurus wrote, “[To] Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothing to us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but death is deprivation of sensation. And therefore a right understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable…” Epicurus values pleasure because it is his standard for happiness. He does not fear death (but rather sees it as the greatest pleasure) because it ends pain. In contemporary philosophy, Thomas Nagel view death as something to be feared because it ends the goodness of life. He wrote, “The trouble is that life familiarizes us with the goods of which death deprives us.” Thomas Nagel values the experience of living in the world.
Death is feared because it deprives man for continuous possibilities of living in the world. Whatever man values in life impacts his perspective towards death. Fear of death concerns the search for the truth about what man values in this lifea.
St. Augustine’s fear of death concerns with man’s attachment to the temporal things they value. In his dialogue with himself, St. Augustine said that fear of death troubles him, then he asked himself, “So you love your health, your own life in the body, and to be surrounded by your friends. Otherwise you would not dread the loss of these things.” He answered, “I confess that is so.” It manifested on how he feared the death of his unnamed friend.
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He said, “I think the more I loved him, the more I hated and feared death as the dreadful enemy who had taken him from me.” Yet, St. Augustine is clear that although he loves his friend, he is not willing to die together with him. He left Thagaste and went to Carthage, there he find comfort with his other friends. Man tries to chase temporal goods to fulfill his longing for happiness but “they tear the soul apart through its unhealthy desires… there is no place to rest in them, for they do not stay put.” Thus, fear of death, as man’s attachment to temporal goods, leads him to restless pursuit for happiness.
Several people were mentioned by St. Augustine who overcame their fear of death. He was amused on how his mother, St. Monica, overcame her fear of death. He wrote, “she did not fear leaving her body so far from her own city. ‘Nothing,’ she said, ‘is far from God, and there is no reason to fear that he will not know where to find me so that he can raise me again at the end of the age.’”
St. Augustine attributes this state of her mother to her love for God which she has cultivated through True Religion. She was willing to give-up the externalities of African religious tradition, which was regarded as superstition by St. Ambrose. Upon her death, she was not concern where her body will be buried but she only wanted to be remembered in the Mass, which is a Christian worship that acknowledges God as the source of life. She was a pious member of Christianity which St. Augustine regards as The True Religion.
According to St. Augustine, “The way of the good and blessed life is to be found entirely in the true religion wherein one God is worshipped and acknowledged with purest piety to be the beginning of all existing things, originating, perfecting and containing the universe.” St. Monica overcomes her fear of death by ordering her love towards to the one God, the Highest Good, through True Religion. On the contrary, in De Civitate Dei, pagans, like Cato, were mentioned committing self-inflicted death or suicide. Cato committed suicide when he was held captive by Caesar at Utica. He envied Caesar for having the power to grant him and his son clementia, either death or pardon to those who fought Caesar.
Cato values power and honor in this world particularly the power of Caesar. He cannot take what he values so he sought death. He was motivated by envy and shame to commit suicide. St. Augustine said referring to the pagans, “…they were ‘avid for praise, liberal with money, pursuers of high glory and hard-won wealth.’ Glory was their most ardent love. They lived for honor, and for it they did not hesitate to die.” Cato, because of his excessive love for temporal good, sought death.
St. Augustine view death as the parting of the soul to the body. Death is only applicable to the body because the soul, the source of animation of the body, is not subjected to absolute extinction of death. Although, the soul cannot be extinguished by death, it is still mutable. This mutability is manifested in the soul’s capacity to change the object it values. The soul longs for the senses it receives through the body that leads to the attachment on temporal goods. However, temporal goods are not eternal, this makes the soul transfer its object of value. Thus, fear of death is a sign of this mutability of the soul because it is man’s attachment to the temporal goods. Man fears death because he dreads to loss the temporal goods he values.
The soul’s attachment to temporal goods was discussed by St. Augustine in his book On True Religion. He said, “A life [referring to the soul], therefore, which by voluntary defect falls away from him who made it, … seeks to enjoy bodily objects which God made to be inferior to it…” The soul tends to choose bodily objects which he refers lower objects.
Man fears death because of his love for temporal goods whereas he can overcome his this by putting God more valuable than temporal goods. This study will try to present how True Religion helps man to overcome his fear of death, which an excessive desire for temporal goods, towards loving God whom St. Augustine refer as Supreme Good.
Statement of the Problem
The researcher will try to answer this problem by first answering the following specific questions:
Main Problem
How man can overcome his fear of death through True Religion in St. Augustine Philosophy?
Sub-Problems
a. What is fear of death for St. Augustine?
b. What is true religion for St. Augustine?
c. How can fear of death be overcome through True Religion in St. Augustine Philosophy?
Significance of the Study
In general, the study will try to present the significance of true religion in overcoming man’s fear of death. St. Augustine did not define directly what is fear of death. However, he discussed why he fears death and he also discusses people who overcome their fear of death. The study aims to provide a definition to fear of death according to St. Augustine’s writings as a contribution to existing studies to his notion. Several people who overcome their fear of death was discussed by St. Augustine in his book Civitate Dei and the researcher will link this to On True Religion to extract St. Augustine’s notion on fear of death. The research is an attempt add to the studies of St. Augustine’s notion of fear of death.
Fear of death and religion seems insignificant nowadays because man is more concern on the things valuable for him. Fear of death shows the level of attachment of man to the things they value. Some are afraid to die because they are attached to the temporal things and do not want to leave them. However, death is an inevitable reality that assures that time with the temporal things is limited.
On the other hand, some do self-inflicted death or suicide because they are attached to their principles and beliefs. Such acts seemingly shows courage in facing death, however, according to Carol E. Straw, a scholar who studies St. Augustine’s writings, suicide is sign of cowardice and not a sign that fear of death was overcome. If suicide is a sign of cowardice therefore suicide is a fear that needs to be overcome. Understanding fear of death leads man towards overcoming it since man cannot overcome what he does not understand. Through understanding True Religion, man can know the things he should value in life.
