a summary of the topics - Université de Lausanne

I I. C r o s s -vi e w s f r o m t h e i n si d e :
Mi n d, M e m o r y a n d Rit u a l s
II.1 The mind and life
In humans, the notion of life is centered in the mind. It is the mind that generates the
consciousness of being alive by transforming sensorial inputs and perceptions into
emotions, representations, imagination and creations. This central position of the mind is
deeply ingrained in human evolution and already appears in the most ancient archaeological
descriptions of social behavior and rituals. Likewise, modern medicine defines death as
the stopping of brain function, rather than the stopping of other vital organs such as the
heart, which function can be replaced. The mind cannot be replaced. Like the walls of a
city, the mind encircles our understanding of what life is, and gives it its location, its unity
and its sense. Its immense potential of abstract creativity and emotions still escapes rational
description and understanding by traditional sciences.
In Western societies, mind and spirituality are defined as the search for the meaning of life,
and may be based on beliefs (religious or otherwise) even as they ground philosophy, the
arts and the sciences. They also involve many practices and rituals. However, seeking the
meaning of life is not a primary daily concern, not until individuals are exposed to the risk of
death for themselves or their close relatives. Such unexpected circumstances may generate
incomprehension, anxiety and fear when faced with the unknown and the loss of familiar
landmarks of everyday life.
From an anthropological point of view, the loss of these landmarks is related to the hope
of immortality, which is promised by modern science and which mixes with the hope of
immortality conveyed by spirituality and religion. Just as social amnesia causes the forgetting
of the frail elderly, Western societies have forgotten to think about the meaning of
life and death, or keep themselves busy to avoid thinking about it. Yet death is a reality of
life and both processes are fundamental extremes of the contribution of each individual to
the evolution of life on earth. The mind, life and death are so physiologically intertwined in
the human consciousness that they cannot be separated without the risk of a fundamental
imbalance in their apprehension. Thus, hiding one of them – e.g. death – may result in
pathological behavior.
9