a summary of the topics - Université de Lausanne

II.3 The mind and death
The fact that the mind in all its complexity (imagination, emotion, curiosity, trust, creation,
empathy) might be associated with a defined physical area of the brain is somewhat
reassuring for Cartesian science. Yet, it does not solve the fascinating question of
the purpose of the mind and of how and why the mind helps us to live and die. Regarding
death, the Western scientific community has been recently confronted with narrations of
so-called near-death experiences (NDE), which are accounts of feelings and images perceived
by individuals who were confronted to death after an illness or an accident. These
accounts are products of the mind that can be recalled and retold. They are usually presented
as peaceful and appeasing. Moreover, since they occur during direful events they must
be associated with a state of physical or psychological terminal stress.
These phenomena have been variously explained by traditional and non-traditional sciences
(parasciences) including (1) neurophysiology (e.g. the dysfunction of visual perception or hypoxia-related
overproduction of endogenous opioids or dimethyltryptamine) ; (2) psychology
and psychiatry (e.g. an emotional reaction to threat or a psychopathological disorder
such as heautoscopy) ; (3) psychology and spirituality (e.g. the psychological need which
induces a cathartic effect in the individual in case of ultimate stress) ; or, (4) parapsychology
(extra-sensory perceptions such as telepathy and clairvoyance). Whatever the mechanisms
underlying these accounts, the question remains as to their salutogenic importance to help
experience more peacefully the ultimate stress of dying.
While the interrogation seems pertinent at the level of the individual, it also has a collective
dimension. Because modern medicine can declare the incurability of certain patients, it has
the power to predict death. Hence, just as society has created the new category of the frail
elderly, medicine has created a new category of the “dying patient,” who too are forgotten,
set aside, and confined to special entities called “palliative care.” Nowadays in the West
close to half of the people die in hospitals or nursing homes, often away from their families.
They are variously taken care of by nursing staff alone, or nursing staff plus relatives that
urgently come back to accompany the last moments of their beloved. In addition to this,
patients often die after a period of coma during which the absence of communication
opens the door to all kinds of imaginings and representations. There is a complex mixture
of non-acceptance and resignation in both caretakers and relatives. For instance, caretakers
may be frustrated because they did not succeed in healing the patient. On the other side,
relatives may not be prepared to accept death. Not being prepared to face death may create
anxiety and panic in the relatives, which may be very disturbing and difficult to handle by
the medical staff. In contrast, having been thinking and meditating on it may help experience
the situation more serenely and with more respect for the near-death person.
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