Art as an instrument to understand the concept of death

MUSSO, CARLOS G.; ENZ, PAULA A.

ARCHIVOS ARGENTINOS DE PEDIATRIA

SOC ARGENTINA PEDIATRIA

Año: 2017 vol. 115

0325-0075

Whatsoever dieth and falleth, however andwheresoever it die and fall, it cannot fall out of theworld, here it have its abode and change, here alsoshall it have its dissolution into its proper elements.The same are the world?s elements, and the elementsof which thou dost consists. And they when they arechanged, they murmur not; why shouldest thou?Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-80)We continue with our series of articlesregarding Art as an educational tool in medicine.1This time, we will analyze the meaning of death,a highly helpful concept for every practicingphysician. In this article, we will describe theconcept of death in the light of two great poets,Jorge Manrique (1440-1479) and Rainer Rilke(1875-1926), based on two of their famous books:Coplas on the Death of His Father (Manrique), andRequiem (Rilke).2,3In Coplas on the Death of His Father, JorgeManrique wrote:?Our lives are fated as the riversthat gather downward to the seawe know as death.?As expressed by Manrique, death is notactually an instance of departing but a point ofreturn, since in the beginning there is only theinorganic plane (the sea), then comes a changein state with our birth into the organic plane (theriver), where we live until the time of death, whenwe return to that inorganic state (the sea). Deathenables the possibility of a new life because itobtains the necessary matter (atoms) and spacefrom the old life to develop the new one. Life islike a big jigsaw puzzle, in which the life cyclecan only go on as long as the course of death goeson as well, because the new is made from thereadjustment of the old pieces resulting from thedestruction of the old (Klimt).4,5Moreover, considering that biology hastaught us that unicellular organisms are literallyimmortal because they reproduce asexually andcreate new and identical organisms withoutleaving a corpse, organisms with specializedcells (sexual reproduction) diversify but becomemortal; so it is understood that death not onlyallows for the renovation of life, but also itsdiversity and sophistication.6In Rainer Rilke?s Requiem, he stated:?The great death which each one carries within thatis the fruit around which all things turn...?Art as an instrument to understand the concept of death?we live and exist from our own death, and deathbeats and grows within ourselves???we are the laborers of our life plot destined toreaping our own death...?As pointed out by Rilke, death does not emergeonly when we die, but it is there, present fromthe time of birth. We are dying as long as we livebecause we are beings meant to die (Heidegger).6,7According to the Stoic philosophers, life is like alamp?s light, which is the result of the consumption(death) of an oil from which it generates itself(Epictetus). For this reason, the dichotomy of lifeand death is a false one; both life and death arethe front and back of the same phenomenon: theexistence of entities (Bernard-Heidegger).6,8 Letus keep in mind that the only thing a man ownsis his present; his past and his future are mentalillusions, so no one loses any other life than the onehe now lives (Marcus Aurelius).8This is why defeating death does not meanopposing it (a useless resistance) but embracingand transcending it, giving life a meaning(redefinition), living life for the sake of love anddignifying actions (Frankl).9In his Requiem, Rainer Rilke also stated:?Death is the aggregation of existence.?With this phrase, Rilke underscores theconcept that, were it not for death and its limitingand inexorable condition, a man?s life wouldlack unity, would just become a pile of scatteredand disconnected events, given that these eventsare ordered based on goals (achievements andenjoyments) that individuals propose hurriedalong by the deadline imposed by the certaintyof their own death. As a result, this way deathcontributes to giving life its meaning (Simmel).10To sum up, understanding the concept ofdeath is critical for practicing physicians becauseit allows them to transcend the conceptualdichotomy of life and death and, therefore,acquire an inner strength to both care for severelyill patients and help them go through theiragonizing experience, making art a valuableresource to achieve such understanding.